options on very small pvc's - can I pick your brains please (1 Viewer)

[Debs]

http://www.signaturemotorhomes.co.uk/globecar/hline/vario-499

You could just go up. Bob.

Lovely - sort of reminds me of the little hymer exsis which we had a chance to buy & just didn't appreciate it at the time

 

[mikebeaches]

I'm assuming the camper will actually be a 5.5m one as I wasn't aware the 5.0m one was available with a high top ... or is it?

Also an Adria Twin 500 at 4963mm:

 

[CWH]

A really interesting post, thanks; I've had a Suzuki Carry in the past (not for camping though) and I moved up from backpacking to a 4-berth coachbuilt; time to shrink again!
But maybe I misled you when I said "very small" - the Carry is 3295cm and my van is 5m so as I've been told above, it's not 'very small', and not even 'small' for a PVC. Even with that difference, you make a lot of valid points that I'll take into account when I'm making my decisions. Thank you, very useful input

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[Gromett]

I have fulltimed for 8 years now with almost 7 of them in a Fiat Ducato PVC which I converted myself.

A lot of good advice on here, will just add my opinions.

Q - should I replace the oven with a microwave or with drawers???
What about an external gas point - I'm thinking on the lines of keeping cooking smells out of the tiny van - I suppose that would mean taking an extra bit of kit for cooking on too.

No to a microwave in my opnion. External gas point can be handy in the winter to back feed Gas if you can't get off site due to snow and want an external cylinder. I wouldn't have it for cooking though.

COOKING: I've decided against the oven - never used the one in the bigger van - I'll have 2 gas burners and I have a double skillet. I have a mini-induction hob (with 1 suitable saucepan & 1 suitable fryingpan - these can also be used on gas) for any time I'm on EHU.
Q - are they much used? - what's the smallest 'accessory' I could get, to use outside? (I guess I only need a single ring.)
FRIDGE: 50 litre fridge/freezer
WATER: I'm seriously considering having a NaturePure system fitted - this will save on carrying an extra jerrycan in places where the water might be a bit iffy. I know a lot of people will drink whatever comes and I have in the past, but I fear water quality is deteriorating in many areas.

I have a 2 ring hob inside the van and one of the single ring portable jobbies for use outside. When I am on hookup I don't cook meat (bacon, chops etc) on the hob as it spits all over the van and stinks the van up. For that I have a George foreman Grill. When off hookup I cook it outside. I am relatively happy with this set up however there are occasions when I would love to have had an oven for a pizza, or to keep part of the meal warm while cooking the rest.
On the fridge front, If you are going to be hitting southern Europe, I would be considering a 12v compressor fridge and more solar panels. However a 3 way is still an excellent choice. This is all down to the balance of availability of LPG and Sun. For instance if you are going places where LPG is not readily available but Sun is. then the compressor makes more sense and visa versa.
Water: I would go for the Naturepure. However I would go for the SeaGull IV. I had one in all my previous vans and it is right at the top of my list for my next build. Lugging 4 5 litre bottles from the supermarket and finding somewhere to store them is a pain in the butt after a few years. That is also storage space that can be used for an additional battery.

ENERGY: 100 Ahr leisure battery. I've ordered the converter's 'standard' solar panel which is 80W.

If I were starting from scratch I would be aiming for 200AH of battery and 200Watts of Solar as a minimum for fulltiming and spending a lot of time off hookup. Especially if you are spending any time in the UK. The extra battery will allow you to do more than a long weekend and cover you for times when we get no sun for a number of days.
My personal choice is 500AH and 240Watts + of solar. This lets me go the whole spring, summer and autumn in the UK with a generator used only once when I had a big job on. I honestly don't think 100AH is enough if you are fulltiming. The other thing worth noting is if you can minimise how much you take out of the batteries they last a lot longer. So regularly taking 50AH out of a 100AH battery will reduce it's life span quite dramatically. However taking that same 50AH out of 200AH will give you a major boost to your batteries lifespan as well as giving you extra capacity to last longer. Taking that 50AH out of 2 batteries also means the rate of drain is lower and due to peukert's law this means your effective capacity is actually even larger.

Q - do you think this will be enough? There's the option of a 2nd leisure battery but this would take quite a bit of valuable storage space. There's also be mention of a possible EFOY - I don't know what this is - any help here please?
AWNING: I'm thinking this would be little used especially when I'm on my own. So rather than have the canopy, get some sort of a driveaway/ pop-up tent/ gazebo once I've been out a few times & know what sort of use I'd make of it.

Forget EFOY unless you are rich.
I had an awning on my first two vans and it rarely got used.

CAMERA: comes with a factory-fitted reversing camera.
Q - thoughts on replacing it with a dual reversing + rear-view camera please?

I don't have any reversing camera and never have. I was taught how to use my mirrors and how to reverse on an HGV training course. That is worth a lot more than the mirrors in my opinion. The rear view camera is not that important. The only camera I would sometimes like is a blind spot one for when you are turning out of a junction that is not at 90°. For most of these you can position your van so you can see. However there are a couple over the years where I have had to just creep out and hope for the best..

CAB BLINDS: I'll need something internal - if I'm off-grid I won't want outside blinds.
Q - remis and/or internal thermal?

I can't really help on this one as my van has a bulk head between the drivers area and the living area. I have had remis before and tried internal and external silver screens.
The remis were a waste of time for me. They provided little if any thermal insulation during the cold season. They didn't stop light leaking out which means I couldn't stealth. They were flimsy and 2 of the clips broke on them. Internal screens are handy if you want to make a quick get away without getting out of the van. External ones are the best for every reason except the quick getaway. I am hopefully getting a trailer soon and when I do I will start carrying both internals and externals. The externals will be used when on campsites and internals when away.

TOW BAR: thinking possibility of then taking more 'stuff' & maybe a larger tent when there's more than just me travelling. Won't be often & won't be for v long tours (absolute max 2 weeks)

Q - pros & cons?

Check your payload. Other than that no cons. I have been persuaded of the benefits of a trailer by @Jim and hoping to get one this year once I have passed my +E test.

 

[CWH]

Another brilliant answer @Gromett , loads of food for thought, thank you. Some points I hadn't considered, eg back-feeding gas.
I sort-of understood a bit about compression & absorption fridges when I read up about them when the one in the coachbuilt went wrong; all of it now forgotten. But I'm expecting a balance of Northern Scotland & Southern Europe... so I guess it's a bit take-whichever-comes???
And I THINK I'm starting to get a bit of a feel for what you're all telling me about batteries & solar.
I'm sure I'm fine on payload Grommett & @airwave , basic is between 300 & 500kg and I'll up-plate to 3500 to give me another 200.
Absolutely - but I'm really inexperienced so need help in knowing just how 'simple' I can go and still be comfortable (Oh - and who're you calling Stupid??? )

 

[Cal54]

Wendy, I bet all this planning and waiting has got you well excited. I assume the build is on schedule? Where are you going for your first trip?

PS: nice van by the way. It's amazing what can be fitted into small spaces.

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[Gromett]

@CWH One more thing I should mention.

When considering power it is as important to consider usage as it is to consider storage and generation capacity.

For instance I upgraded my laptop and it went from pulling 7Amps to 2.5Amps. The other thing worth doing is if you read a lot, buy an ebook rather than reading on a tablet. If you read a lot like me I had to charge my tablet up ever other day or so. However the ebook can get me about 10 days or so.
It is also worth considering a very low power Chrome book if you just want to browse and email. Only taking out the laptop if you want to do something that requires the cpu grunt and memory such as video editing etc. Use the tablet for watching videos rather than the laptop or chromebook. Basically use the lowest powered device for that task at hand. Yes it means a little more expense up front but it means you are less likely to run out of juice when off hookup for extended periods of time.

Avoid using an inverter if at all possible and get DC/DC converters for everything else. For instance all my laptops and electronics work from DC/DC converters or USB ports I have built into the van.

I won't mention lighting as it has been done to death (LEDs obviously)..

Back on the generating front. a Sterling B2B is a worthwhile investment as is one of @eddievanbitz battery masters.

If you are going to get a generator, upgrade your battery charger to take full advantage of it. For instance most motorhomes come with a charger that does between 10-20 Amps of charging. If you have a larger battery bank than standard get an upgraded battery charger so you run your generator for less time to get the same amount of charge.
I went for a 60Amp Sterlin Pro. Really whacks the power into the batteries nicely. 1 Hour of running gets me 60Amps into the battery bank compared to the 25 Amps of my old one and 15Amps of my original one.

 

[Gromett]

Just had a couple more thoughts.
It is worth getting a cheap £20 feature phone and keeping it charged up but switched off. You might drop your smart phone, it might break etc etc. If you live in a house this is not a serious issue but when fulltiming it is probably quite important to have a backup phone.
This is the one I use. The battery in this will last a month if not used.


It is also worth getting at least a basic toolkit, recovery gear and safety gear.

 

[Langtoftlad]

It is worth getting a cheap £20 feature phone and keeping it charged up but switched off. You might drop your smart phone, it might break etc etc. If you live in a house this is not a serious issue but when fulltiming it is probably quite important to have a backup phone.
This is the one I use. The battery in this will last a month if not used.

Great idea - I have one of these Nokia 105's and they are great.
My 'enhancement' to this suggestion is to spend a couple of quid more & get the dual sim version...


Stick a couple of cheap/free PAYG sims in from other networks rather than the one you use normally - then you have the belt'n'braces of possibly getting a signal if no coverage by your usual phone.

BTW - did you say what you were getting?

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[CWH]

Where are you going for your first trip?

I wanted to go to Scout's do but won't get the van in time
Maybe Skye???

When considering power it is as important to consider usage as it is to consider storage and generation capacity.

I do need a new laptop, this one's on its last legs; I do read loads; I don't really need much computing power, just emails, Fun, a bit of browsing, some writing. 2 USB ports enough, or would you think 4?
Don't understand the following: inverter, Sterling B2B, battery master. (Told you, I know nowt!)
I have the world's biggest collection of hi-viz but I take your point.
Never heard the term 'feature phone' however I've only just got a smartphone (a couple of weeks ago) and still have my steam-powered TRUE PAYG - on a different network @Langtoftlad . I never have phones switched on except when I want to use them.

BTW - did you say what you were getting?

Not on this thread, no. I'm trying to avoid jinxing the build. But I think you know what it is

 

[Gromett]

I do need a new laptop, this one's on its last legs; I do read loads; I don't really need much computing power, just emails, Fun, a bit of browsing, some writing. 2 USB ports enough, or would you think 4?
Don't understand the following: inverter, Sterling B2B, battery master. (Told you, I know nowt!)

If you don't use any software other than a web browser then a Chromebook would probably be an ideal solution for you. They are extremely secure in comparison to all other OS's. There are limitations such as not being able to run windows software. They are very low power usage and the Battery lasts a lot longer than in a standard laptop.
Using an Ebook for reading, and a tablet for watching TV (Netflix/Amazon etc) and you can cut your power usage by quite a bit.

Inverters convert 12v DC to 240V AC. This allows you to use normal mains equipment. However their efficiency leaves a lot to be desired. So for instance rather than using an invertor to power your laptop charger you use a direct DC/DC convertor. For instance my laptop uses 19VDC. If I was to use an inverter I would be converting 12V DC to 240V AC then back to 19V DC. Each conversion process takes power and a loss through inefficiency. It is far better to get a high performance DC/DC converter that will convert 12V DC directly to 19V DC.

Sterling B2B is a battery to battery charger. In most motorhomes something called a split charge relay is used. This lets a small amount of current from the van battery flow to the leisure batteries. This is not an active part so the charge reaching the habitation batteries will always be lower than the van battery. A B2B is an actual active charger. It will persuade the alternator that the batteries are low and the alternator will then produce full output. This is then fed to a proper multi-stage charger which means you get a full and proper charge into your hab battery when the engine is running. I have a 50Amp B2B (currently broken) which was a life saver when taking long trips.

A battery master basically trickle charges the van battery from the hab battery if the hab battery is over a certain voltage. It is more important to have a full cab battery when travelling so you can get it started in the morning Used in combination they give you the best of both worlds especially if you have solar panels as well.

 

[Jenben]

I do need a new laptop, this one's on its last legs; I do read loads; I don't really need much computing power, just emails, Fun, a bit of browsing, some writing.

For reading a Kindle is ideal, a basic one will not need recharging for quite some time.

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[Huwmari]

We, too, have gone the other way - from a van conversion to a two-berth coachbuilt but still just under 6m and wouldn't want anything bigger. We seldom have EHU and that immediately frees you up from carrying stuff like microwaves and other electrically powered gubbins but we do use our gas oven daily for toast as the grill is inside it and also for cooking dinners when, either because of inclement weather or the aire in which we find ourselves at the end of a day precludes cooking outside. With a window or two open, we don't find ourselves suffocating in cooking fumes. If you do decide to do without an oven then I would seriously consider having a side roll-out blind to give shelter from sun or rain when cooking outside. If you are going to use the aires, as we do, I would forget about all other sorts of awnings. They will take up valuable storage space and you can't use them on the aires anyway. Storage of larger items can be a problem if you are constantly having to move them around in order to sit down/make up the bed, etc and a fixed transverse bed would be a good solution - no bed-making at all and oodles of storage underneath. Keep us all informed as to what you end up with and how you are getting on with it.

 

[CWH]

If you don't use any software other than a web browser then a Chromebook would probably be an ideal solution for you. They are extremely secure in comparison to all other OS's. There are limitations such as not being able to run windows software. They are very low power usage and the Battery lasts a lot longer than in a standard laptop.
Using an Ebook for reading, and a tablet for watching TV (Netflix/Amazon etc) and you can cut your power usage by quite a bit.

Inverters convert 12v DC to 240V AC. This allows you to use normal mains equipment. However their efficiency leaves a lot to be desired. So for instance rather than using an invertor to power your laptop charger you use a direct DC/DC convertor. For instance my laptop uses 19VDC. If I was to use an inverter I would be converting 12V DC to 240V AC then back to 19V DC. Each conversion process takes power and a loss through inefficiency. It is far better to get a high performance DC/DC converter that will convert 12V DC directly to 19V DC.

Sterling B2B is a battery to battery charger. In most motorhomes something called a split charge relay is used. This lets a small amount of current from the van battery flow to the leisure batteries. This is not an active part so the charge reaching the habitation batteries will always be lower than the van battery. A B2B is an actual active charger. It will persuade the alternator that the batteries are low and the alternator will then produce full output. This is then fed to a proper multi-stage charger which means you get a full and proper charge into your hab battery when the engine is running. I have a 50Amp B2B (currently broken) which was a life saver when taking long trips.

A battery master basically trickle charges the van battery from the hab battery if the hab battery is over a certain voltage. It is more important to have a full cab battery when travelling so you can get it started in the morning Used in combination they give you the best of both worlds especially if you have solar panels as well.

D'you know what: I understood ALL of that aren't you clever Grommett Thank you

 

[paddymcc]

We attach a £25 awning bought at Decathlon to our van. Came with 2poles but found more in a charity shop that offer more flexibility. It folds up to a pack 30cm x10 x10 or so. Also have a pop up like the one featured above to store our inflatable canoe in etc.

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[Langtoftlad]

@CWH Having worked it out ... I'd certainly suggest to think long & hard about the 'dealer fit' awning !
Not only is it expensive compared to somewhere like @Johns_Cross_Motorhomes , the brand doesn't get very positive reviews .
So if it was me, I'd be waiting to see if I actually wanted one - but get a different brand [Fiamma?] and wait for one of John Cross's free fitting offer at a show.

On mine - I'm getting extra battery, solar panel, tow-bar, TV and Remis blinds from the standard list of options .

 

[Gromett]

I was going to get one fitted for my over wintering when I was staying at a place that was too far from the nearest LPG station. I was going to order a 47KG FloGas cylinder and have it set up next to my van with a bottle mounted regulator.

I may still get an external point on my next self build, and carry a spare calor cylinder in the trailer when I get it. Decisions decisions.

 

[CWH]

Ha ha - don't know whether to give all of that a Funny, Thanks, Like, Informative, Useful or whatever - I think Jim should give us a button for "all of the above"

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[CWH]

Who cares??? you gave me loads of useful informative thoughts!
But I don't somehow see a bloke using my avatar picture...

Funny though isn't it, even just writing on here, we "speak" differently to men than to women. Wonder why? But if it makes my tech/mech/eng ignorance more acceptable, I'm all for it

 

[Reallyretired]

If weight or space is an issue, an extra solar panel is much lighter than an extra battery, and doesn't take up any useful space (unless you are planning on a roofbox)

 

[Minxy]

If weight or space is an issue, an extra solar panel is much lighter than an extra battery, and doesn't take up any useful space (unless you are planning on a roofbox)

... but you can put a flexible solar panel on a roof box.

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[Gromett]

That is correct, as I understand it the BBQ outlet is from the regulated side of the supply. so you can't connect a bottle directly to it as this would put unregulated gas into the system. I have a small bottle mounted regulator which I will use.

I think there is a way of connecting an unregulated bottle directly to the LPG filler point though, which should achieve the same thing? But I can't confirm that one.