Finding the perfect vehicle for a low cost camping tour of Europe
As all my camping holidays to Europe start in the UK, a channel crossing is always needed, and this can be the most expensive single cost of a holiday, especially if you choose the wrong vehicle. Ferry companies charge extra for high vehicles, trailers, and rear mounted bike racks.
There are a few different combinations of vehicles that you could go camping with car and trailer tent, car and caravan, luxury custom built motorhome, converted mini bus, or just a car or van.
To keep costs low I think the best vehicle is a DIY motorhome or camper van. If you're going to remain static for a couple of weeks then a caravan or trailer tent might be a good option because when you arrive at your destination you have a car to go off exploring in. But speed is limited when towing to your destination and channel crossings are more expensive than a single vehicle.
Custom built motorhomes in the price range that I could afford are slow and terribly fuel inefficient, their height makes channel crossings expensive and European breakdown cover also seems more expensive for this type of vehicle.
Converting a van into a motor home requires a lot of thought, and when you've finished and used it you will probably sell it and make the next one differently, or rip the insides out and start again!
When I was looking for a vehicle to convert I considered a recently retired ambulance, several mini buses and a few panel vans. I decided against the ambulance, it was Mercedes based and the engine was a 3litre diesel, it was going to be expensive to run and it had many not standard parts. There are some really nice converted ambulances out there, but I was concerned about availability of spares in Europe.
So it was between the mini buses and the panel vans. Most people make their first camper from a mini bus, but the more I looked into to it, the more I went off the idea. To start with a mini bus has a lot of glass in it, single glazed glass that is going to get very cold in spring,autumn and winter. Glass everywhere also means that everyone can see all your stuff when you're parked in a car park, and you also need curtains. The only advantage I thought a mini bus had over a panel van was the upholstered roof in the back, but to make an all year round camper, or even a camper that doesn't get to hot in the summer of southern Europe, you need an insulated roof, so that nice upholstered ceiling is going to have to be removed anyway.
A mini bus might appear to be the perfect vehicle to convert to a motor home, but there's too much glass in them for my liking!
So I chose a panel van, if the budget would have stretched to it I would have got a sprinter or crafter, but I ended up with a medium top LWB transit. This transit stands 2.2 metres high without the aerial (which was removed entering a car part with a 2.2 metre height limit!) and at that height it qualifies for the cheapest fare for a motor home on the cross channel ferries and channel tunnel.
I've insulated the transit with the Kingspan that I bought on ebay for £10 an 8x4 sheet and added a couple of windows and skylight, also from ebay. These are proper motor home windows which are double glazed and can open outwards, they are also tinted so need for curtains.
Camper Van or Boat – secord battery isolator not Split Charging
There are some pretty sophisticated split charge systems aimed for use on boats and campers on the market. A split charge system will only charge the auxiliary or leisure battery once the starter battery or batteries have reached full charge.
If you just run a fused wire from the positive terminal of your starter battery to your leisure battery then when you drain your leisure battery power will be then be taken from the starter battery and your camper van will not start. If your starter battery is low then the starter motor can draw current from the leisure battery and if you don't have a fuse in the wire, then the wire can overheat and melt it's plastic casing.
You can buy a relay from maplin that will charge the weakest battery in the van for less than £10, but you would have to make some kind of casing for it and mount it in the engine bay near the starter battery, I didn't want to do this so I opted for the even cheaper option which is a battery isolator switch on the leisure battery. I ran a wire with an inline fuse from the positive terminal of the battery to one side of the isolator switch, and a wire from the other side of the switch to the positive terminal of the leisure battery.
It's no fun camping in the middle of nowhere if you can't be confident your vans going to start! A 12volt panel mounted volt meter will show you the condition of your starter or leisure battery.
When I park the van up at night I isolate the leisure battery by turning the switch. This means that anything that runs off the leisure battery can only consume power from that battery and one it is drained the starter battery will not be used. In the morning I start the van and allow it to charge the starter battery before opening the isolator switch to let the leisure battery charge.
I have also fitted a panel mount digital voltmeter with a 3 position switch, this can display the charge of either battery or be switched off. It's always useful to know how much power you have in your batteries and when you are traveling at night in the rain with headlights and heater running the alternator does not produce enough power to increase the charge in either of the batteries.
Unlike a split charging system, you decide when to charge the leisure battery. It adds the risk of human error(forgetting to isolate the battery!) but there is less wiring and less to go wrong that a split charge relay system.