The trip was a good opportunity to see how the five of us would cope in the van together, and the weather certainly helped us bed in and work out the best way to do things. All in all everything worked out really well. The two boys (3 and 7) slept in the roof, and beside my eldest sliding out one night (we were on a bit of a slope), only to continue sleeping on my daughter in the cab bunk, everyone slept well. Luckily I had put a net across the hole in the pop top, which broke his fall (he ended up face down about 6 inches from the floor!), but it prompted us to add wheel levellers to our shopping list!The only other real issue was the position of the gas bottle. It lives under the rear seat, but faces the boot so you have to take everything out, and then reach right under, to turn the gas on and off. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and thus far this appears to be the only thing that was ill planned.
As a result I am now going to get the gas locker turned through 180 degrees and an extra door put in the under bed front panel, so access is much easier. There is then no need to leave the van to have a cuppa in the morning - not a problem in the sun, but...
Hi again
ReplyDeleteI have just managed to sell my 'midlife" crisis 2 seater toy and am now in the position to start getting excited about a camper. I think I have found a van and we are booked in and deposit paid for the conversion. So a few questions if I may (should have probably asked earlier as the answers may not be what I want to hear but hey!!)
1. How do you REALLY find it with 5 of you in a SWB T5 camper.
For our main trips away (hopefully starting with a 2 week trip touring round the French alps next summer) there will also be 5 of us. Me and the wife 2 lads 8 and 11 and Millie a very petite 3 years old. We plan to get some sort of quick erect drive away awning and Millie will sleep on a cab bunk. So space when on site should be ok but at night and if we are only stopping a night when its not worth the hassle of the awning it might be tight on space. Plus luggage and "stuff" might be an issue for a long trip, as we have all the usual beach holiday junk plus a load more :-) I am not trying to kid myself and realise that it will be cramped but for ease of everyday use (occasional school run, days out with the bikes etc) the stealth look for a bit of wild camping (or sleeping in a laybay as the wife calls it), mid 30's to the gallon, and speed of set up when you arrive and pack away when you want to go out for the day its got to be a load better than a full size motor home or dare I say a caravan!!!
Also thought about a LWB t5 but, I think they are just a bit to big for everyday use and finding a coloured tailgate one is almost impossible. Plus the extra space is all in front of the RIB so your actual extra luggage space when traveling is negligible.
I really want to keep the full width run of furniture as I am not keen on the lines of the 'L' shaped units so I have plumped for a 2 seat RIB and will keep the double up front. Not ideal apparently on long runs due to its up-rightness but we shall cope. How have you found your front double.
What cab bunk did you get and how do the eldest 2 find the reimo bed?
Cheers
Phil