Consort Nova Van Tour - 2 Weeks in.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.พ. 2024
- Join us, Carol & Ken, as we show you around our new Consort Nova Motorhome.
In this van tour we demonstrate:
00:33 Remis blinds and front cab
01:41 Access to rear cab
01:53 Spinning the seats
02:35 Electric step
02:42 Hooking up to mains electric
04:11 Securing things in transit
06:07 Compressor fridge
06:58 Kitchen
08:32 Tables
10:01 Cupboards & drawers
12:06 Bathroom
12:46 Lounge
13:18 Windows & skylights
14:44 Power
15:48 Heating & hot water
16:59 Ventilation
17:41 Making the bed
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🔶 About us 🔶
Welcome to our channel! We're Carol and Ken, retired professionals turned van life enthusiasts. We share our adventures across the UK and Europe in our camper van, which we have just upgraded to a slightly larger model.
Our goal is to provide a relaxing, honest account of van life, with no scripted drama - just the real, day-to-day experiences of our travels. Many of our viewers find our content calming, and we hope you will too.
We're passionate about wild camping and love to share our knowledge and tips, from staying cool in the van to choosing the right toilet. We're always learning and look forward to sharing our campervanning experiences with you.
While we love the freedom of wild camping, we also enjoy supporting local businesses by indulging in delicious local food. Expect to see plenty of one-pan meals and restaurant visits in our videos.
We like historical sites, country homes, towns, villages, and the occasional city. We aim to share interesting facts and stories about the places we visit.
We post new videos every Friday at 6pm UK time, sometimes more often.
Our channel is perfect for armchair travellers, those considering a caravan or motorhome, or anyone looking to unwind after a stressful day. If this sounds like you, hit that subscribe button and join us on our journey. Your support, whether through watching our videos, subscribing, or contributing to our 'Buy Me a Coffee' fund, helps to keep our adventures going. We appreciate every bit of it. ❤️
🔴 Contact us @ lifeistooshortwildcamper@gmail.com
This episode was filmed February 2024.
#vanlife #lifeistooshort #relaxing
Hi everyone
We have just got back home from a 5 week shakedown trip in the new van. This van tour was filmed 2 weeks into that trip and some of the things have changed.
First let’s confirm the name of the van. Thanks for all of your suggestions and there were some rather clever ones. In the end we have named the van Snoopy because we like the character and it fits well with Carol’s nickname of Charlie Brown.
Changes so far since the filming of this walk through
Kens Back
The back rest is no longer being used. My back is currently back to normal and I now drive without it.
Hooking up to the mains
On a Consort van it’s important to hook up first and then energise the power. If you energise first the power will turn off as you plug in. If the Truma heating system is on that will throw up an error code.
Thermal Cab Blinds
During our 5 weeks away we never needed them and just used the Remis blinds. The Truma heater kept us cosy. Probably the lowest temperature we experienced was -2. Next trip we will leave them at home and only take them if it’s going to be very cold.
Using the footwells for unwanted items
This became a bit of a pain as the weeks rolled by mainly because we had a lot of stuff with us which we won’t have on trips going forward. We had loads of bags used to transfer what we thought we might need to Leeds. On the next trip it will be much easier.
Kiddies step storage box
It was a good idea but ultimately it failed so we got rid of it. It got in the way of getting in and out of the van and we have now switched to using a draw string bag for items that ‘live out’ in the van when parked up.
The fridge
We have cured almost all of the rattles in the van and the fridge was the worst culprit. The shelf above the veg drawer needs to have plenty of stuff on it for a quiet ride. The fridge can be a bit noisy in operation, it has a quiet mode for night time and we love the extra capacity.
The fridge door is magnetic but fridge magnets will not stick to it. We were going to start a collection but had to think again.
Cooker and oven
It is so easy to prepare meals in this van and so far we have not needed all 3 gas rings. The oven and grill work well, it’s easy to keep clean and the Ridge Monkey is now redundant.
Sink and tap
The van has a tall tap which makes it easy to fill pots and kettles. It does drip a bit when on the move so we have got into the habit of making sure it is drained before moving. It’s easy to do just turn the pump off and drain the excess into our fresh water filter jug in the fridge.
Protecting the seats
Lots of viewers suggesting we cover our seats to protect them which of course is sensible as things can spill and stain. We will protect the cushion next to the sink but we are fed up not getting to enjoy the seats as intended for fear of staining them. We will use them as intended and replace them if we need to. In the 4 years using Little Red we never saw the expensive seats we paid for and never had a spill.
Kitchen Towel Roll holder
Consort sell them in their shop and Scot the owner came up with the rubber band suggestion which works great.
Tables
We like the ease of the tables but they can wobble a bit in use. I think there is a bedding in period where the leg wears into the hole and becomes more snug. We have now upgraded to another table leg so we can use both at once if needed. The small one up the front is good for food prep and for my editing.
The wardrobe
By the end of 5 weeks we had swapped the use of the wardrobe. It now houses our crockery and pans and the extra space has completely stopped the noise they would make on rough road surfaces. The two drawers that were housing them are now used for clothes which is much more convenient for our needs.
Jackery 1000
This lithium battery can power mains items up to 1000 watts. It’s not had much use on the trip but is a very useful backup to the main leisure battery. From our experience so far on a winter trip keeping the leisure battery full is going to be fairly easy with our usage.
Pee bottles
Some of you will be surprised that we still make use of a pee bootle. We are predominantly wild campers. We did make use of sites on the shakedown trip as we needed to do a lot of organising and didn’t want to have to drive off with lots of stuff out. As you will see in forthcoming episodes we did plenty of wild camping. Pee bottles are easy to empty in public toilets. Carol uses the main loo and I use the bottle and this allows us to stay off grid longer and thus save money. We may invest in a second toilet cassette.
The TV
We almost didn’t get the TV as we never had one in Little Red. Glad we did though as it’s been brilliant. Easy to use and good for TH-cam. It fooled us though when we tested the DVD player as it wouldn’t accept the disk. Turned out that you have to switch to DVD mode first and then it will.
Windows
No idea if the heater cuts out on just electric as we will never be opening that window to ensure we don’t forget about the danger from the diesel exhaust. We will only be using the windows in the rear of the van and the skylights. It’s too easy to rip the side window off with the door.
Heki roof lights
Some will not like that the roof blind can rattle in high winds in the bathroom and lounge area. We just leave them ajar which stops the noise. The permanent ventilation works incredibly well at controlling excess humidity. In fact it might be a bit too good at it as humidity levels often reached 40%
There is a downside if you’re wild camping on a windy night under a street lamp. Then you need something to weight the blind down a bit which is pretty easy to do.
Battery to battery charger
It’s a 20 amp charger not 30. We may upgrade this if we need more power but will wait to see if that is required. I have a feeling we might not need more.
USB underneath drivers seat
We have had that changed to a traditional 12v socket as it allows us to run a small 300 watt inverter from the leisure battery. We do not have a large inverter on the main battery. We do have the 1000 watt inverter on the Jackery though. We can easily run a slow cooker but not an air fryer.
Truma Heater and Hot water
We had trouble with this system which you will see in a forthcoming episode. Consort were very quick to swap it out and we absolutely love the system. As keen off grid people we note that the tap wastes about a pint of water before the water comes through hot. We capture this in a jug and tip it into a 5 litre water bottle. We use it to wash the step which often gets dirty whilst driving.
We have changed the vented outlet in the lounge for the permanently open vent in the garage. This allows us to control the garage temperature so that we can put things in there that might need cooler temperatures. It’s important that the system has enough airflow as it can get very hot. This ensures the system remains balanced. Having a heated garage is a real luxury especially if you have no choice over putting wet items in there.
Making the bed
After 5 weeks of use we are now far quicker at making the bed than shown in the video. Like anything practice makes perfect and as long as you put cushions in the right place at the right time it is super quick and easy. The bed is very comfortable and we might not be making use of any mattress toppers. We will know this once we get a chance to test what we used in Little Red.
Without a doubt if you need to get up in the night for a pee then sleeping across the van is more hassle than sleeping down the van like you can in the Consort Reef. The Reef is a 6m van. If you want to sleep down in a 5.41m van then have a look at the Consort Vibe. At the moment we don’t need to get up during the night.
The Truma heating system is more than powerful enough to keep us warm in just a thin sleeping bag. We run the van at 12c during the night.
In 5 weeks we never left the bed made up as we liked the lounge too much. In future episodes we will show how we sometimes use the bed for lounging during the day.
Love this update, very imformative. Some of the changes you have made since the vlog is interesting and useful to know. Love watching your vlogs. May get to meet you on the road someday 😊
Pleased to hear everything is OK with the van and you're both now safely back home. Bet first thing Carol was looking forward to was a long hot soak. 😊🐕🚙
It is just lovely! I can’t tell you how much I like it as your little red camper, as cute as it was truly made me feel too closed in! This is just magnificent and open!!! You don’t feel closed in the least. The complete opposite in fact! Just a brilliant purchase that will meet your needs AND MORE! Congratulations on a wonderful choice! May you have many adventures and happy days in this stunning new van! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you so much. We love it too 🙂
Brilliantly clear video which will be so helpful to anyone buying the same van.
Glad it was helpful 🙂
Cautionary tale: The usb leads on your dash, make sure they are routed under the window well away from steering column. We got a usb cable wrapped around our steering column as we were going around a busy roundabout in Inverness. It jammed though thankfully steering was unaffected but it cost over a thousand to fix as it took out part of the steering module and we had the airbag light come on. It was an expensive mistake but we always route cables well away from the steering column now when charging phones in cab.
Good tip. The cables we had on the trip are far too long so we are swapping them out 👍
Thank you for showing your lovely home on wheels😊
It's all very lovely guys! Snoopy is going to be a right treat for you both, and you totally deserve it.
PS thanks for all the organisation tips, we are terrible at it so it really helps 😀
Hi. We are looking forward to finding out what you guys are doing next. What a trip you have had in India. I envied everything you ate 😁👍
Liked seeing various angles of Ken filming Carol making uo the bed. gave an insight into how to film.
thankyou, a great tour of your van.
Great video . Thanks 🙏
Great van tour .. enjoy next part of your trip
Love the van guys! Love from Ireland! ❤
Excellent!!!! you will have many amazing trips.
Glad to see all going well 😄
Lovely
Just for info. Hookup mains cable. Plugs into van first then other end into site socket. That way you are not trying to plug into van with live lead. Safety first. Food for thought. Also when on sites wash up kitchen stuff at there facility. Take it all over in a collapsible bucket. Saves your water, cuts down on waste water etc etc. Old George ps A lot of LPG are being taken out of garages in the UK and being replaced by car charging points. Very few cars run on LPG nowadays and they make more money charging cars.
Good points. Time will tell on LPG availability. We only use it for cooking and its a big enough tank to provide time to find more.
Thanks for the van tour really enjoyed it. Looking forward to your future adventures in snoopy
Why would petrol stations want cars sitting on their forecourts charging up on EV hook ups?.......it's a bit of an urban myth
Lovely van🎉
Lovely all very nice and cosy! :-)
It’s a lovely van ❤xx
Great van tour, love the step idea. Happy travels 😊
Love the van. We wish you many happy travels and adventures. Lovely to see you enjoying the extra space and luxury xx
Great video, looking good. Have fun and stay safe.
Thank you both for the tour,it looks lovey.wishing you both many amazing trips in Snoopy!
Your van is gorgeous enjoy yr travels 😊
So well organised you must love the layout 😊
Thank you both for the tour it’s a great set up all the comforts of home such great storage the kitchen is amazing especially the fridge the bed doesn’t take much effort and so much space enjoy all your travels you both deserve it .xx
Missed yous, I'm jealous, looks brilliant.
Thanks so much
👍🙏😃 Nice and cozy Van.
So happy to see you guys happy with the new van. Congrats! And looking forward to see your next adventures
Very cosy. 😊
Blooming fantastic van got everything you need. I love it. ❤❤ can’t wait to see your adventures in this ❤
Looks a really comfortable van, looking forward to seeing your continuing journeys. Thanks
Hi luv good for you guys living your dream! 😁
What a lovely van, it is really well thought out.
We wish you lots of happy travelling and look forward seeing your new trips
Great infomative video. Love your new van. Hope you have many happy travels in Snoopy.
Congratulations on the new Van, it looks great 👍🏻 😊
It’s a brilliant van! You will love every minute in it, I am sure. 👏
That's a nice van
I was just this morning thinking of you guys.
It is lovely to see the smiles on your faces when you talk about your new pride and joy. ❤ Safe trips to you and the new van.
I love your van and am glad you are getting so much pleasure from it.
Very interesting tour of Snoopy. It's a top quality build for sure.
Looking forward to your future adventures.
Lovely to see you happy and well.
Congrats on the new van. That was a very comprehensive and thorough tour. Kudos.
Happy Journeys
Your van is just perfect. Love the seats. Very bright and comfy looking. Brilliant for lots of nooks for storage. Hope you can get on great when you wild camp.
Thank you for the van tour. All set for new adventures. X
You bet! 🙂
Thank you so much for the van tour. The set up is cosy and comfortable. I like the way you make your bed with a large sleeping bag 😊
thank you for the tour now lets roll
Thanks guys ,loved that tour ,you have really settled in. It looks so cosy .
It certainly is cosy. Thanks for watching 🙂
Great upgrade, lovely van tour, love your videos so keep them rolling
Cheers Paul 🙂👍
Hello you two, wauw, need I say more. Nice that Ken's back is back to normal. Lots of fun and entertaining for us to come. See you next time.
This van is genius. Great choice! Thank you for the detailed tour.
Our pleasure! 🙂
Hi Carole and Ken. Consort and you have thought of everything, it is an incredible van. Our only experience in the 1980's of a Ford Transit Motor caravan was a whirlwind tour from the Home Counties to The Isle of Skye over 5 days and the top speed in the wind was 40mph!! You join us today from a glorious scene near The Bill with warm sunshine and no rain. It is our 41 years Annie and the weather is similar to all these years ago in Bournemouth on our honeymoon with the children now adults. We will be celebrating more in the coming days with family and friends arriving. Warmest Regards Crawford
Have a fantastic time. Sounds lovely. 👍
So nice for you. Roomy. Such a difference. You get on and enjoy.
Thanks 🙂
Great review on the van tour thanks for sharing 😊
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Looks like you've got it all sorted! Can't get over how much room you have! Brilliant 😊
Yes, we love the extra space. Thanks for watching 🙂
i enjoyed the tour of your van Carol and Ken.... it's great to see how you enjoyed it all, Have a great weekend and thank you for sharing untill the next video 😉👍
Thanks, you too! 🙂
Thank you Carol and Ken. We enjoyed the tour of your van. You've got everything well organised . Hope you have a great weekend . Best wishes Dave and Dawn ❤️
Thank you! You too! 🙂
It's great to see you making the van your own, and enjoying doing so! I reckon there's many happy travels to come........
Hope so 👍
What a lovely video nice look round your motorhome see you both next time .
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Great van tour, thanks for showing us around, interesting and appreciated. All the very best, David & Rachel 👍
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching 🙂
Totally awesome. Hope you both enjoy the new van. waiting for new adventures
Best Regards Martin
Thanks Martin 🙂
Thank you for showing your detailed video.Interior design is very good👏👏.Video is showing each and every corner to more detailed.👌👌🙋
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching 🙂
Hi guys, luv the van -really suits you and you have it organised beautifully 👍🏻
We are getting there. The next trip will be a good test as we will only have what is needed 👍
Looks a really nice van, we are looking for something very similar. It's good to see how you make the van your own.
Aww Snoopy is certainly cozy & comfortable 😎 What a lovely van 🚐 I just read you’re updates too 😊 Glad to to read your back is much better 😄 I did think you would soon get annoyed with storing things in the footwell, but you don’t know these things until you give them a try. You’ll find your own way & what works best for you. Thanks for the tour! Em & G 💜
Looks to be a great setup! Well done on your beautiful choice.
Thank you 🙂
Love this van, thank you for the set up demo.wishing you lots of lovely adventures, Elaine from Brisbane,Australia.
Thank you! 😃
Hello. Thank you for the van tour. That is very nice! I enjoy your videos very much and look forward to "going" on more adventures with you folks. 😊
Thanks Steven 🙂
It's lovely to see you both happy and relaxed.All due ,no doubt, to this lovely van and the many benefits it has over Little Red (bless him).I can't wait to see how you do wild camping in it, so until the next episode, stay safe and well.
Thanks Barbara 🙂
Its a lively van. Hope you have lots of adventures in it. Look forward to seeing your videos x
Thanks so much! 😊
Thank you for sharing all the details of your experiences. It looks like you have things fairly well figured out. Happy wild camping to you both. Mary
Cheers 👍
thank you very much for a very interesting film, I always look forward to the next film, greetings from Per in Norway👍🇳🇴😊
Thanks for watching!
Oooh interesting, might have to do some more rearranging when we get home😂. Looks really cosy and tidy 🙂
Well done, you two, I can see you're really enjoying your new "not so red" camper.
Cheers 👍🐸
White gets dirty quick. I used to clean Little Red panel by panel 😁👍
Thanks for the walk through of your van. So many great features but come nighttime in my motorhome, I do really appreciate my fixed double bed . Your van is fantastic and I’m looking forward to viewing your adventures. Cheers.
A fixed bed is always more comfy and convenient. We had that in our caravan. 👍
Nice tour of your van. Looks very well built and thought through. Consort have really done well with all the power as well. ( solar etc) thanks for showing us round. 😊
Thanks for watching and commenting 🙂❤️
Nothing like agood shake down cruise to begin to make your camper feel like home. Love the name Snoopy. Safe travels
Thank you 🙂
Thanks for sharing your beautiful new van with us - it's really nice. The update post is great to, we all adapt as we go don't we. I was concerned that we all saw where you keep some expensive items 🤔 hopefully they got a nice hidden storage space somewhere else now 👍
Its definitely a lovely little home on wheels ! The comfort and space must be amazing . Nothing like your own facilities as well . 😊
Yes never thought I would say it but the loo is very nice to have 👍
I really enjoyed your van tour. Nice to meet u both. I’m lorna
Hi Lorna
Hi Carol and Ken,very opportune,just back from Consort, we said on the way up, if we are blown away,we will order, ,if not stick to our CV20, starting with the factory tour, led by Jane, we were blown away, the build quality is second to none, ,the underside was shown to us, no pressure to buy, our tape measure came out, three hours later, our order for the 6 metre PACE model was in . So well done to Scott and Jane for their superb, vans and to you for the tour of the Nova ,Enjoy it
Well I am glad your experience matched ours as we were very impressed with the build quality and no pressure to buy. We were the same on the way up. If the build matched the brochure we were in. When do you think you might have it?
We have a couple of French trips booked, we had hoped for early June ,but it looks like 1st week August now ,after our two trips, still got to sell CV first
Brought back some memories of our much loved tourer. I gave up with making up a double bed in the end , made the beds up into two singles to avoid the climbing over each other. I am sure your van will give you much pleasure over many years, looking forward to seeing your adventures
Yes climbing over each other is not great. Luckily we don’t need to do that often.
Hello Carol and Ken 🖐. I really like your new van Snoopy (love the name😊). Snoopy is cosy and practical at the same time. You will have a good time travelling. Have a great weekend and thank you for sharing 🖐
Thanks Anita 🙂
Beautiful little van that. You’ve made a great choice. (We have the same yellow cushions in our motorhome) ❤
Thank you 🙂
Hi Ken and Carol. Being a bit of a van lifer in Australia, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of your lovely new van 2 weeks in!
Cheers 👍
good vid on trhe new van keep up the good vid thank nice van nicew set up thanks lee
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks Lee 🙂
Great van tour thanku - love the double sleeping bag idea - much better than my usual evening routine of fighting with the duvet covers, mattress topper and sheets ! We will be on the look out for one as soon as we get back 😊
There are downsides to all bedding. The downside of the sleeping bag is the zips. When you get too hot you can’t just throw it off. When it’s cold and you are half asleep you can’t be bothered to zip it up and eventually you have to. 😁👍
Ha yes I suppose - my husband just looked horrified at being zipped up inside a bag with me 😂 apparently I snore!!! 😳 Definitely want to try it out though
@@ShaliDino haha. Worth a try to see how you get on. We ended up sleeping on top of the sleeping bag with the duvet over us 🙂
Hello Ken & Carol You have really made SNOOPY look like a home on wheels 🙂💙🙂
love the new name 🙂💙🙂
Thanks Faith 🙂
What a wonderful van you have - thanks for the tour! I’ve had gas ovens in RVs (North America) and love them. One helpful trick is I put a pizza stone or unglazed ceramic tile on the bottom of the oven rack above the flame this helps regulate temps!! No hot spots, it does take just a bit longer to come to temp but so worth it! ☺️
Really enjoying your adventures!
Thanks for the tips!
Thank you for the van tour, suppose you do have the option of two singles for ease of use. Hope you have a good week👍
The bench seats are not long enough to stretch out as 2 singles. Due to a bike crash as a kid I can only pee with a catheter so I never have to get up at night. Carol can sleep toilet side when the time comes 👍
Watching as per on a lovely quiet Sunday morning with a cuppa tea 🍵 and dunking biscuits 😋 As the McCoys sang "Hang on Sloopy'" but in this case it's 'snoopy' 😊😊great name for a really nice van that you are now making YOIRS to your satisfaction not someone else's!!!!! I like individuals who do what they want not what other people suggest or have ! Nice one Ken & Carole I like the 'Snoopy Campervan' 👌 🎉
We both liked Snoopy and so did many viewers. We are the ones that have to live with it 😁👍
@@LifeistooshortCK it's just a fitting name to go along with Charlie Brown🙂👌
I have serious van envy. :) I only have a minivan.
Now that I've got the back seats out and the cot in, I've found there isn't much room for everything else I had planned on putting in it.
But I will make do and, hopefully, get it all kitted out before wildfire season.
Jon in rural BC, Canada
Well our previous van was small but huge fun and very simple to use 😁👍
It looks like you you have made great use of the space. Thank you for a tour around Snoopy! I think I’d just leave the bed down to flop on during the day and just put it back if I had visitors though 😂
We thought we would but we like the lounge too much 😁👍
Great video we are in the process of converting a Peugeot Boxer and we love your cab lights which we are now trying to work out if we can retrospectively install them instead of another light set up we had planned. We were in two minds over having a cooker/ grill but we're erring on having them having heard Getaway Geese say they wish they had one, I think you've decided us.. We just now need to build our kitchen..Many thanks for the vlog and your update after 5 weeks in the comments was brilliant. All best wishes to you both.
The oven and grill are lovely to have. All the best with your build 👍
Loved the tour of the new van. It is comprehensively kitted out and the finish looks excellent. Enjoy your travels and let us know if the extra height over Little Red has hampered you getting to any of your planned destinations so far. Health to enjoy Snoopy.
Only once in 5 weeks as you will see 👍
If you string a suitable length bungee cord between the cab grab handles you can use it as a drying line for towels etc. We had a plastic boot tray at the door for stepping in with wet shoes.
Great ideas. Thanks 🙂👍
Lovely van, looks very comfortable. I bet you don't know yourselves with all that storage and space!! When you first put the sleeping bag on the bed I thought it was a single opened out and that you intended using it as a sheet, lying on the slippy/sweaty nylon side... thankfully not haha. Wishing you many more happy adventures x
Not sure if the sleeping bag is staying yet. Probably not. 👍
Hi Ken and Carol. Really liked Snoopy except for the bed layout. Very well built. I purchased a ratcheting paper towel holder on Amazon for Slydell. No need for a rubber band and inexpensive. Can't wait for your Grand Adventure in Snoopy.
A fixed bed is best but we are happy with the compromise 👍
Recalling your previous video where you were talking about having 4 for dinner, and you would sit in the front with tray tables. If you got an extra table leg, you could use both tables at once.
Yes, we now have two table legs so that would work 🙂👍