To continue our original thread…
‘Full time through winter in search of new life'
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/full-time-through-winter-in-search-of-new-life.275773/
It’s now been nearly 5 months of living in our camper while travelling around France searching for a business opportunity. In the previous thread I focussed a bit on all the little issues that appeared with the 20yr old Hymer when it was pressed into continuous service. It was all minor stuff, and thankfully, once resolved, there were no more problems with the van.
We have now seen 22 possible campsites including two chateau based campsites. We’ve also seen four gite complexes and travelled more than 10000km in the van since last October including a trip back to the UK for the new year. All but 10 nights have been spent in the van.
As I’ve outlined before, we spent some time prepping the camper for offsite full timing in winter, self contained offsite or wildcamping had to be possible with so few campsites being open in France in winter, also to save cash as we are living off the interest generated from the capital from the sale of our UK house.
The prep included as many solar panels as I could cram onto the roof, lithium leisure batteries, 150A alternator, uprated 2kw inverter, integrated MPPT/B2B and a full leather interior to help with keeping the interior clean and reduce the problems of having our labrador living in the van with us. It also included semi-air suspension at the rear with compressor, control panel and reservoir, a bespoke tyre deflation/inflation system to help with getting out of mud, a chassis mounted motorbike carrier and 225cc motorbike and a push bike on a ‘modified’ Fiamma carrier as secondary and tertiary transport, and a bespoke system for making our own water (see last weeks post where we were finally forced to use it). I fitted a gas oven for slow cooking and supplementary heat, a microwave into the old CRT TV cabinet, and for when the hot weather comes, a low power air conditioning unit that can run off solar power alone. The van is a twin floor Alko-chassis winterised job and already had a twin bottle 22kg or 40litre Gaslow system and Oyster satellite system. I finished it with a 3.5m omnistor safari tent for more space when needed and a 14 speaker sound system and sub, modern double din Kenwood head unit with car play, DAB and all that good stuff in a custom made dash top housing binnacle with twin reversing camera display and dash cam display. I configured the system for music, or, at the flick of a switch as a home cinema by taking the TV digital audio out as a source. I tried to improve security with a quality safe bolted to the chassis, a new alarm and discreet web-enabled security cams allowing me to keep an eye on the van remotely. To remain entertained and connected we sourced 150Gb french sim cards and I brought my collection of 1Tb of movies on a hard drive.
We had a few minor problems, all occurred before Christmas and were with the old hab systems, minor stuff and easy to fix like pipe and tap leaks and fridge systems etc. I had to replace the rhs semi-air air spring twice. Everything else has worked very well. I think that there are always problems just around the corner with any piece of equipment or machinery, and if you use it very infrequently you see them appear infrequently. But when you put it into hard full time use they all seem to appear at the same time….
Anyhow, all the little problems appeared, I fixed them all and there have been no more problems. It’s testament to the old philosophy that you need to actually use stuff I guess…
We have managed the 5 months without once staying in a campsite, and we only had to make our own water once. I’ve mentioned before how easy it is in France with their system of ‘aires’, and even in winter, in most parts of the country you can eventually find a tap that works. Some departments, however, do make it harder to isolating every water supply for the winter. The worst seemed to be in the South East, anywhere South or East of the massive central.
These notes are not relevant for summer only travellers, as it is beyond easy to find a tap, they are on every aire. Through winter, which seems to be from 1 December to 1 April (where most of the taps are isolated), our default was the various apps to see where someone else had found water in an aire, then it was public loos on or near the aires, then churchyards, then public loos in built up areas (tricky), then the numerous springs and fountains a la source (in mountainous areas), then, as a last resort, making our own water using RO system (we have ways to collect rain, but we didn’t see any rain from 18th January to 14th March).
For power, I over-specified the solar system, knowing we would struggle in winter with charging the batteries. My working brief from Beatrice was that we should be able to live as ‘normally’ as possible. That meant permanent 240V, unrestricted use of all lighting, hairdryers, microwaves, internet, TV’s, laptops etc. I managed to squeeze six 100W panels on the roof, which was a challenge on a 6m van, working around an 800mmx400mm central elevating skylight, the satellite dish, two more 400x400 vents, the a/c unit and the airing cupboard roof vent. To achieve it I actually had to replace the airing cupboard roof vent cover with part of a solar panel, meaning there is a fist-sized hole in the camper roof and the only thing above it is the solar panel…
With two 100ah lithium batteries, and a 25/50A integrated MPPT controller and B2B, I was interested to see how it would all work through winter.
First to say is that in the real depth of winter, that’s roughly December and January, there’s almost no point to any amount of solar. Even if you can park completely away from any trees or buildings, the sun is just too low in the sky to provide any power. Coupled with that, the long hours of darkness and need to have lights and other electricals on place high demand on the systems that the panels haven’t a hope of meeting. For winter travelling with todays electrical loads - you really need a B2B charger. Mine was invaluable. On several occasions in December and January I isolated the solar input to the integrated Renogy device to make it take the full 50A from the alternator when I ran the engine. 25A plus maybe 2A from the panels was just not enough.
We found that 200ah of lithium batteries would last for approx 3 to 4 days (100% charge down to 20% charge) in December with virtually no solar recovery and no running of the engine. This was with us using a microwave every morning to heat up milk for coffee, the heating (blown air) on full time and most of the lights and the TV and amp on every freezing and dark evening.
When the sun comes back it’s a very different story. By late February there was never a need to run the engine when static, as the panels could bring both batteries back to 100% in one day if there was a bit of sun. By early March, the panels could bring the batteries to full before lunchtime if there is sun, or within a day even if no sun at all.
As of now, 17th of March, we have started running the fridge on 240V during the day, powered entirely by the batteries, invertor, and ultimately by the solar panels. It reduces LPG consumption.
We found that our two 11kg LPG bottle gaslow system has worked beautifully. With it providing all heating, all cooking (we cook every day as thankfully Bea loves to cook all fresh food from scratch even in the little camper galley, I am very lucky), and also powered the fridge when not driving, a full 40litre recharge at a petrol station costing €30-40 lasted for two weeks in the worst of the depths of winter with a bottle changeover needed after approx 1 week. This was where night temperatures were always below zero, often well below, and we had to leave the heating on all night, even with the essential silver screen securely fitted.
Now well into March, the silver screen is not required, and the heating is off through the night, with nighttime temperatures now usually well above zero, an LPG refill is already lasting 2-3 times as long. The only times now where we still need the silver screen and the heating overnight is when we are at altitude, above approx 1000m, as is most of the Ardeche - also the place we found it hardest to find water.
Mechanically, I can’t shout high enough for this old Fiat 2.8JTD based Hymer bus. It’s been spot on. I’ve now done 30,000km in it in the five years we’ve had it and we’ve never had any mechanical issue. As a starter bus for those thinking of taking the plunge with a limited budget, I don’t think you can go wrong with an old Hymer. It has never leaked at all. The waterproofing design is amazing, no leaks at all even though I have turned the roof to swiss cheese
The next update will be on what we have seen so far, why it’s been rejected and what we may have ultimately decided to go with. We can’t live in this thing forever… In our earlier post we made clear we want an ‘aire de camping car’, possibly combined with a bit of camping or glamping. It’s been very hard to find these two things, I’m sure that many of you will understand the reasons why.
Cheers
Dawsey
‘Full time through winter in search of new life'
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/full-time-through-winter-in-search-of-new-life.275773/
It’s now been nearly 5 months of living in our camper while travelling around France searching for a business opportunity. In the previous thread I focussed a bit on all the little issues that appeared with the 20yr old Hymer when it was pressed into continuous service. It was all minor stuff, and thankfully, once resolved, there were no more problems with the van.
We have now seen 22 possible campsites including two chateau based campsites. We’ve also seen four gite complexes and travelled more than 10000km in the van since last October including a trip back to the UK for the new year. All but 10 nights have been spent in the van.
As I’ve outlined before, we spent some time prepping the camper for offsite full timing in winter, self contained offsite or wildcamping had to be possible with so few campsites being open in France in winter, also to save cash as we are living off the interest generated from the capital from the sale of our UK house.
The prep included as many solar panels as I could cram onto the roof, lithium leisure batteries, 150A alternator, uprated 2kw inverter, integrated MPPT/B2B and a full leather interior to help with keeping the interior clean and reduce the problems of having our labrador living in the van with us. It also included semi-air suspension at the rear with compressor, control panel and reservoir, a bespoke tyre deflation/inflation system to help with getting out of mud, a chassis mounted motorbike carrier and 225cc motorbike and a push bike on a ‘modified’ Fiamma carrier as secondary and tertiary transport, and a bespoke system for making our own water (see last weeks post where we were finally forced to use it). I fitted a gas oven for slow cooking and supplementary heat, a microwave into the old CRT TV cabinet, and for when the hot weather comes, a low power air conditioning unit that can run off solar power alone. The van is a twin floor Alko-chassis winterised job and already had a twin bottle 22kg or 40litre Gaslow system and Oyster satellite system. I finished it with a 3.5m omnistor safari tent for more space when needed and a 14 speaker sound system and sub, modern double din Kenwood head unit with car play, DAB and all that good stuff in a custom made dash top housing binnacle with twin reversing camera display and dash cam display. I configured the system for music, or, at the flick of a switch as a home cinema by taking the TV digital audio out as a source. I tried to improve security with a quality safe bolted to the chassis, a new alarm and discreet web-enabled security cams allowing me to keep an eye on the van remotely. To remain entertained and connected we sourced 150Gb french sim cards and I brought my collection of 1Tb of movies on a hard drive.
We had a few minor problems, all occurred before Christmas and were with the old hab systems, minor stuff and easy to fix like pipe and tap leaks and fridge systems etc. I had to replace the rhs semi-air air spring twice. Everything else has worked very well. I think that there are always problems just around the corner with any piece of equipment or machinery, and if you use it very infrequently you see them appear infrequently. But when you put it into hard full time use they all seem to appear at the same time….
Anyhow, all the little problems appeared, I fixed them all and there have been no more problems. It’s testament to the old philosophy that you need to actually use stuff I guess…
We have managed the 5 months without once staying in a campsite, and we only had to make our own water once. I’ve mentioned before how easy it is in France with their system of ‘aires’, and even in winter, in most parts of the country you can eventually find a tap that works. Some departments, however, do make it harder to isolating every water supply for the winter. The worst seemed to be in the South East, anywhere South or East of the massive central.
These notes are not relevant for summer only travellers, as it is beyond easy to find a tap, they are on every aire. Through winter, which seems to be from 1 December to 1 April (where most of the taps are isolated), our default was the various apps to see where someone else had found water in an aire, then it was public loos on or near the aires, then churchyards, then public loos in built up areas (tricky), then the numerous springs and fountains a la source (in mountainous areas), then, as a last resort, making our own water using RO system (we have ways to collect rain, but we didn’t see any rain from 18th January to 14th March).
For power, I over-specified the solar system, knowing we would struggle in winter with charging the batteries. My working brief from Beatrice was that we should be able to live as ‘normally’ as possible. That meant permanent 240V, unrestricted use of all lighting, hairdryers, microwaves, internet, TV’s, laptops etc. I managed to squeeze six 100W panels on the roof, which was a challenge on a 6m van, working around an 800mmx400mm central elevating skylight, the satellite dish, two more 400x400 vents, the a/c unit and the airing cupboard roof vent. To achieve it I actually had to replace the airing cupboard roof vent cover with part of a solar panel, meaning there is a fist-sized hole in the camper roof and the only thing above it is the solar panel…
With two 100ah lithium batteries, and a 25/50A integrated MPPT controller and B2B, I was interested to see how it would all work through winter.
First to say is that in the real depth of winter, that’s roughly December and January, there’s almost no point to any amount of solar. Even if you can park completely away from any trees or buildings, the sun is just too low in the sky to provide any power. Coupled with that, the long hours of darkness and need to have lights and other electricals on place high demand on the systems that the panels haven’t a hope of meeting. For winter travelling with todays electrical loads - you really need a B2B charger. Mine was invaluable. On several occasions in December and January I isolated the solar input to the integrated Renogy device to make it take the full 50A from the alternator when I ran the engine. 25A plus maybe 2A from the panels was just not enough.
We found that 200ah of lithium batteries would last for approx 3 to 4 days (100% charge down to 20% charge) in December with virtually no solar recovery and no running of the engine. This was with us using a microwave every morning to heat up milk for coffee, the heating (blown air) on full time and most of the lights and the TV and amp on every freezing and dark evening.
When the sun comes back it’s a very different story. By late February there was never a need to run the engine when static, as the panels could bring both batteries back to 100% in one day if there was a bit of sun. By early March, the panels could bring the batteries to full before lunchtime if there is sun, or within a day even if no sun at all.
As of now, 17th of March, we have started running the fridge on 240V during the day, powered entirely by the batteries, invertor, and ultimately by the solar panels. It reduces LPG consumption.
We found that our two 11kg LPG bottle gaslow system has worked beautifully. With it providing all heating, all cooking (we cook every day as thankfully Bea loves to cook all fresh food from scratch even in the little camper galley, I am very lucky), and also powered the fridge when not driving, a full 40litre recharge at a petrol station costing €30-40 lasted for two weeks in the worst of the depths of winter with a bottle changeover needed after approx 1 week. This was where night temperatures were always below zero, often well below, and we had to leave the heating on all night, even with the essential silver screen securely fitted.
Now well into March, the silver screen is not required, and the heating is off through the night, with nighttime temperatures now usually well above zero, an LPG refill is already lasting 2-3 times as long. The only times now where we still need the silver screen and the heating overnight is when we are at altitude, above approx 1000m, as is most of the Ardeche - also the place we found it hardest to find water.
Mechanically, I can’t shout high enough for this old Fiat 2.8JTD based Hymer bus. It’s been spot on. I’ve now done 30,000km in it in the five years we’ve had it and we’ve never had any mechanical issue. As a starter bus for those thinking of taking the plunge with a limited budget, I don’t think you can go wrong with an old Hymer. It has never leaked at all. The waterproofing design is amazing, no leaks at all even though I have turned the roof to swiss cheese
The next update will be on what we have seen so far, why it’s been rejected and what we may have ultimately decided to go with. We can’t live in this thing forever… In our earlier post we made clear we want an ‘aire de camping car’, possibly combined with a bit of camping or glamping. It’s been very hard to find these two things, I’m sure that many of you will understand the reasons why.
Cheers
Dawsey
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