The Right Stuff?

So, what is the right stuff, then? Well, this is a debate you can have with every campervan enthusiast in the world! The question refers to what do you actually need from your campervan and what do you need with you to make your trip comfortable? I’ll try and explain my reasoning for how I am organised for our adventures, and you will, no doubt, disagree at least partially!

Firstly, what do you want to do in your campervan?

For me, I like to sneak away for even a micro-break of 24 hours, off grid, and solo. I just drive to one of a few favourite spots, park up, have a cuppa and stare out the window for a few hours, emptying my head of work, and life. I will likely have a few ciders, a meal in the form of some sort of ready-meal followed by some savoury snacks to go with the cider, watch a dvd, and turn in early-ish. In the morning, it’s a cup or two of coffee, with a pastry or muffin for breakfast, pack up, and home.

Alternatively, my wife and I will go off for one or two nights, perhaps to two different campsites, perhaps one off-grid and the other a formal site with facilities ( we like showers and toilets!), and we will cater as before, with perhaps a meal out in the eveing one night, or perhaps a cafe breakfast instead, very rarely both. If our journey takes us more than a few hours, we might stop at Subway for a sandwich to take ready for a lunch stop.

Or rarely, we get away from work and family commitments for multi-day adventures, like the NC 500 trip, 5 nights in the Bongo. As these are supposed to be holidays, we agree that if it can be avoided, why create washing-up? We eat out, we buy “meal deals” for on the go, supplemented with a salad tub, fresh fruit, the occasional packet of chocolate digestives. We either have a ready-meal ( details later) or eat out in the evenings. We eat well, on tasty food, with minimal fuss and washing up consists of cups, the occasional whisky glass, and cutlery.

At no time do I feel the need for a fully comprehensive fitted kitchen complete with two burners, and a sink! And here is my reasoning….

How much time do you spend in the van actually prepping, cooking and washing up in a day? An hour, in total? Using…. essentially, hot water? How much washing up is required? A wet-wipe, a rinse with boiling water (outside) and a dry with a tea towel? So, what equipment do you actually need to carry out these activities? Well, I have made a small two seater table, which folds up when not required at night. I have a plastic file box in which lives a kettle, plates, cups, tea, coffee and sugar and cutlery. This doubles up as a small table for an electric kettle to sit on behind the driver’s seat, propped on the “dickie seat”. I have a single burner camping stove and spare gas. A packet of wipes, a cloth and a tea towel. That is basically the extent of the catering facilities in our Bongo! This, and a coolbox for one night trips, or a small 7ltr portable mini fridge for campsites with hookup, purely to keep the ciders chilled. Finally, a 10 ltr water container with tap provides water for at least three days, normally.

I would argue that this is all you need in a Bongo. Space is at a premium. The entire van interior is only 4 metres long and 1.2 metres wide. If you want to sleep in that space, then you will need a fair chunk of the floorspace for your bed to extend. The front seats, although they can be made to swivel, along with the engine “mound”, mean that more than a metre of the van is not available for sleeping in. It just makes sense to me to keep the space as adaptable as possible, which limits any permanent fixtures. If solo, then a bed of less than a metre is useable, but for two adults, just a bit cramped.

many folk would disagree, and prefer to be able to cook conventionally, and wash up, and keep loads of stuff in cupboards. They love their house on wheels, and I can understand how comfortable it is, to be able to tackle whatever you want to do, without shops. But that vital space is more important to me, and means we can both sit comfortably, even at opposite ends with the passenger seat swivelled ( covered in another post), we can sit at the table if we choose. But most of all, come time for bed, the table folds up and the bed slides flat, and we have floor space between this and the front cab.

And that’s the way we like it!

There’s loads of storage under the rock n roll bed as well, enough for a folding camping table, window covers, small toolbox, collapsible basin, the canopy, the stove, and food and snacks. We use the back of the seat towards the rear window for bedding storage, and take small holdalls with a change of clothes.

What of the ready-meals?

Why cook, or even prep food, when you can just add hot water? From extensive backpacking experience, the absolute tastiest, easiest, lightest and best value meals are already made and there for you. Just pop into any decent camping shop. There are “wet meals”, in pouches, just sit the bag in hot water and eat once heated ( these can even be eaten cold, as it’s already cooked!) Preferred choice is the dehydrated meals, available in loads of varieties and calory-portions. This is real food, cooked, then dehydrated, and because it is designed for expeditions, the nutritional macros are actually healthy and balanced, especially if you add a salad tub, fresh fruit etc.

And for your brew? Use powdered milk! You have water with you, so you don’t need a fridge just to keep a pint of milk cool.

I hope I have at least inspired some thought process into what you actually need or want from your van? A comfortable space to sit and relax, adaptable for getting changed, sleeping, eating and chatting. A moveable base camp to enjoy the outdoors. We think that’s exactly what we have, and are quite happy with our minimalistic interior!