Thinking of buying a VW Campervan? Ep.2. Our conversion decisions...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- Making the decision to buy a campervan is not easy and can lead to very costly mistakes. In the second of this 3 part series, we look at what things we looked to include in our campervan conversion, what worked well for us and what we would have done differently if we had our time again.
We bought our VW campervan 5 years ago and have never looked back. In many ways, the freedom that it afforded us helped us make our decision to early retire at the age of 51 and enjoy a more adventurous life together.
We are Richard and Jackie and we live in the UK. Our plans for early requirement include relocating to the Yorkshire Dales, developing our forever home and travelling the UK, Europe and eventually the world in our VW campervan Nelson.
You will soon realise that we are complete TH-cam beginners with all the challenges of creating and publishing videos ahead of us, not to mention uploading when on the road.
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Many thanks,
Richard & Jackie
Timeline:
00:00 Welcome to Early Retirement Wanderlust
01:23 Pop Top Roofs
02:05 Rock n Roll Beds
02:44 Window blinds- Vanshades
04:18 Tailgate rear door
04:46 12v Electric System
06:31 LPG refillable tank
07:17 12v Fridge
07:48 Heating
08:34 Lighting
09:47 Kitchen
10:07 Water storage
11:44 Coming up in Thinking of buying a VW Campervan? Episode 3...
How EXTREMELY fantastic, informative and helpful! 🙂🙂🙂 Thank you EVER so much. Really appreciated. 🙂🙂🙂
Thankyou! We watched lots of videos when we bought the van 5 years ago to help us make our choices so hope it does help people a little bit
Thank you, lots of great simple ideas that would suit us, big fan of the roll up bedding. Cheers
We sleep better in the van than at home it is that comfy!
Great content, really like the fantastic photography.
Thank you
Very useful, thank you very much.
Thank you 😊
You mentioned in this video about you'd talk about your orange canopy in your next video.
Don't think you did. Can you give me any details about it
And if you did talk about it. Which video?
Please
Hi - sorry we filmed these a while ago and I can’t remember if we have shown it in any other video 😬 it was from a company called funky leisure online - they still do them as I checked last week 😊 there is some footage of it in the heavy rain in our istrian coast in Croatia video we released last week 🚐
Great video. What Ah leisure battery do you use? I've heard 105 or 110 Ah is pretty limited as a fridge will use a fair amount of that over 1-2 days, and if you can only drain it half way, then being off grid (without solar) may be limited to only a day or max 2?
We have two 110 Ah batteries that we have just replaced after 4 years that we thought was a pretty good lifespan. They we about £120 each to replace. You are quite right that this 220 Ah total gives us a workable 110 Ah.
If you want to be off grid, we have found that this is adequate with our solar set up in the summer. It keeps the fridge going and meets all our other 12v needs. Ideally we would want more but it adds weight and takes up space and we are not at the point of wanting to switch the whole system to Lithium.
Hope this helps? 👍 R
How do you manage in the hot summer? Thanks.
We put the window vents in and the roof up with the vents open but there have been a couple of times where we have really struggled particularly in Croatia as it was sweltering and still! We bought a USB fan which gave a slight breeze 😬
Can I ask which company undertook the conversion, and would you recommend them? Thanks.
Hi we used auto barn in Stoke. We have been happy with our conversion but it was 6 years ago so not really in the loop of upto date reviews of their conversions
It would be interesting to see just how you pack your stuff under the seat and in the boot. I play VW Tetris! Especially the cadac as I binned that in the end because of its size and bought a ridge monkey grilla instead. Do you ever travel with anything in the main body of the van?
Definite Tetris at times particularly on a long winter trip when you need the most winter gear! We have 2 long thin crates that we stack behind our seats full of things like shoes, wood and generally bulky stuff that we can slide under the van when we park up for the night. Obviously nothing too expensive in there in case it gets stolen! We have very limited space under the seats as we have 2 leisure batteries there but a fab long cupboard at the back that we can fit chairs and big orange screen. I think in May we did a video on packing the van for Europe. New year will be interesting skiing for a month as we are buying our own skis and boots 🙈 there have been times when the middle of the van is rammed with boogie boards, wetsuits, cycle gear… we just shove it in the pop top at night as we don’t sleep up there
@@earlyretirementwanderlust I've a RIB bed so everything gets stored there with only the box of camping bits, waste tank and shoe box in there (plus anything capable of being shoved in small holes! 🙈🤣) on the back seat in the boot, goes the dog trailer for the bikes and the rucksacks. I just try to keep the inside completely clear. Have you a portapotty?
I have the same orange screen! 🤣 Leisure battery and solar also under the front seats. I've just had a new one fitted today ready for France next year. Ouch! 🤣🙈
When you have so many hobbies there is kit everywhere and that's the downside. How will you transport the skis? Have you a roof rack?
@@earlyretirementwanderlust and those net screens look amazing!
The skis will live in the boot room while we are on the campsite and then just with all the other pile of stuff in the middle when we travel which can be a pain when we stop for a tea and lunch en route. Where are you off to in the summer?
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Brittany. I'm freaking out a little as I'm a planner and this is the first time not a single site is booked 🙈😳🤣 We are going out of season but I've since found out it coincides with a bucket load of French bank holidays! 🙄🤣 My first time driving abroad and really excited about it. We sail to Roscoff in a dog friendly cabin as the hound is coming too.
I cracked the tap when I didn't drain the water down one winter (had the same pool of water on the van floor) so am fastidious now about that and won't use the water tank through the winter...and that was just in the UK 🤣