The Van.

Having decided to upgrade from our previous van, we decided we wanted a whole new level of comfort and convenience in the new one. We put in over 6 months of research into what we wanted, what lay out we desired and which brand produced a van of the quality we were after as well as being able to offer the extras we needed.

Our short list of essential requirements were for the van to be a full van (rather than a pop-top, of which we had grown tired) with a full ensuite, washing machine, on board storage for a generator, solar power, leather clad cafe dinette, and a kitchen featuring a large fridge and an oven. Naturally, this also had to come in at a price that was within our budget.

As it turned out, a local caravan manufacturer, Maywest Caravans, was able to provide us with everything we wanted. Without going into the details, we did have a bit of an issue when the quality of the flooring material was sub-standard upon delivery of the van, but this was later rectified, and we are now extremely happy with our home on wheels.

The layout we settled on has a front bedroom, mid-kitchen on the drivers side adjacent the cafe dinette on the passenger side, rear entry and full width rear bathroom, all shoe horned into a carcass measuring about 21 1/2 feet. Total length of the van is in the vicinity of 8 metres, whilst it weighs in at about 2.8T fully loaded.

The cafe dinette suits us better than the traditional ‘L’ shaped lounge we’d had in the old van, as it gives us our own individual chair. Not to mention that at night the dogs use one side each as a bed. Hence the requirement for leather upholstery, to aid in the ease of cleaning. The bedroom features a full sized queen bed, with a concertina door dividing it from the rest of the van. This is great for when one of us is up either early or later than the other, or for when we’re arguing and don’t want to look at each other (it’s yet to be used in anger however). There’s a similar concertina door into the bathroom, which has a full size shower cubicle, miniature 3kg washing machine and chemical toilet. I had always said that if we were to get a loo, then it would be Becs job to empty it. I hadn’t counted on the heft of the full canister (almost 25kg) however, and with her back, she can’t carry it. So now it’s my job, much to my disgust. As for the kitchen, we have a decent sized fridge/freezer that can run on electricity, battery power or gas, depending on what we have available.

Power wise, we specified LED lighting throughout, so as not to draw to much power from the twin 100AH deep cycle batteries. Charge is kept up to these via a top of the range Redarc power management system which automatically chooses the best method of charge from 240 volt power, 12 volt power or solar from the 100W panel mounted on the roof. From our so far limited testing of the system, I dare say we would be pushed to run out of power in the batteries through normal usage. For free camping, we also carry a Honda generator, in a slide out compartment at the front end of the van. This is powerful enough to run the either the microwave or reverse cycle heater/air conditioner, but not both at the same time. We can also use it to top up the batteries when were’ re camped and haven’t had a decent dose of sunshine to kick start the solar charge.

There is also underbody water tanks holding up to 180L of fresh water, distributed around the van via a 12V pump, passing through a 21L hot water system. The hot water system runs on either electricity or gas, again dependant on what we have available to us at the time. The two 9kg gas bottles on the draw bar would probably see us through a couple of months of travelling, whilst the water storage would be enough for a few days free camping without the need to replenish. We could possibly manage a week if we kept our showers to a minimum.

Of course, even though I had a huge amount of input into the design and construction of the van, there is still things that I would change next time. I’m not even going to get started on them though, or else before you know it I’ll be lining up at the caravan dealership, putting my order in for a brand spanking new 5th wheeler.