2015 Conclusions

Following what's likely to be the last camping trip of the season here's the promised round up.

Nights Away

I've been away for a total of 28 camping nights, 18 of these were on Caravan Club sites, 3 each in boatyards and a pub caravan site, 2 in a festival temporary site and 1 each at a watersports centre and a friend's drive.

Of those 3 nights were at no-facility locations, I can certainly manage those for a couple of days.

Viability

There's no question that for me it is viable to have the campervan, but that's largely because I also use Dai as my every day vehicle. On that basis I can discount the general running costs as I'd be paying those anyway. At a quick guess for the 25 nights I paid something for I averaged £15/night which would total just £375. The 28 nights in even a cheapish hotel or guest house would probably average £60 a night before even considering that I do much of my own catering. Add on another £10 for that and I've saved around £1600. Of course I'll only know about depreciation when I sell Dai but typically it will be less that a car would be so I can disregard that. There's been some additional other costs such as the Waxoyl but overall I'm happy with the finances.

Awning

One of the things I wanted to think about this year was an awning, and whether I need or want one. The answer is a resounding no! The only circumstances where an awning would be useful would be if I was on a no facility site for several days (as it could house the larger porta potti) or if I wanted guests stopping. If either circumstance occurs I'll think again but until then I know I can manage without and indeed it would just be a nuisance with little benefit.

I wouldn't mind a sun shade but it would be difficult to fit one on Dai so I'll leave that for the future.

Washing Up

OK, not a major conclusion, but I realised most of the way through the summer holiday that it was silly to be boiling a kettle to wash up after meals if the site has a perfectly good washing up area with unlimited free hot water. They're quite sociable places as well. One tweak to facilitate this is one of the collapsible washing up bowls.

Jobs to Do

There's only one important job and that's to tackle the surface rust on the sills before it gets worse. As soon as I get a fine weekend I'll get on with that. I'm planning to largely empty the cupboards this year to help reduce condensation problems and inevitably I need to give the whole 'van a good clean.

Storage

I think I largely got the storage arrangements right last year. One thing this year though is a tendency to have some of the camper stuff (e.g. the window screens) stored away when I'm driving day to day but then put them in the front footwell when I go away to free up the storage for clothes, etc.

Changing Dai

Barring a major influx of funds I'm definitely planning to keep Dai until mid-2017. This year has proved the viability and suitability of Dai for long holidays. I would like to find something a bit bigger with two particular changes. I'd like a camper that doesn't use the front vehicle seats as part of the bed, the current ones are comfortable enough but they do take a bit of time to make up and take down and something flatter would be better. The other thing is a recurring theme of campervan owners - better toilet arrangements! I just need to wait and see what's available when I start looking, but if I can't find anything I'll just keep Dai for longer.