Had our Beach since February and have done a few trips, a mixture of camping and cottages. Going forward it has to be more camping than cottages for spontaneity, cost and our 2 dogs. You might recall that we have been through a T5 and a T6 conversion and a Crafter conversion so we should know what works for us but there are a few differences this time not least of which is a second dog. Also we are well and truly retired so travels may be a lot of short trips although we can't make up our minds about a long one for next year.
Anyhow after a trip to Busfest and a good poke around other peoples vans and the few serious stalls that were there we have made some decisions about making storage work better while we are travelling. Up to now everything has been a bit of a mishmash and just piled in the back which gets frustrating after a few days.
First off we will add a second 100W panel and replace the Epever BT adapter that doesn't work with the fixed display. This should help ensure that our battery stays topped up for a couple of days Parked up.
We have been using a Halfords fan cooled box and a second small between the seats fan called box. Normally they work fine but Busfest was just too much for them so we have ordered an Alpicool CF35 for the back but will keep the between the seats cooler for lunches and drinks on the go.
For years we have used a couple of grips for our clothes, these always get buried in the back or left on the seats taking up spaces. I have always like, and now my OH is persuaded, the VanEssa rear window bags, a bit pricy but seem to do the job very well so these are on order.
Storage in the back is cavernous but getting stuff in and out is a pain and has involved hands and knees and diving in all of which is a pain as we passed our 70ths this year. Clearly a sliding tray was required and I did toy with making my own but in the end have lashed out on the pukka California-Camping item.
I'll post some picks to this thread when I'm done.
Anyhow after a trip to Busfest and a good poke around other peoples vans and the few serious stalls that were there we have made some decisions about making storage work better while we are travelling. Up to now everything has been a bit of a mishmash and just piled in the back which gets frustrating after a few days.
First off we will add a second 100W panel and replace the Epever BT adapter that doesn't work with the fixed display. This should help ensure that our battery stays topped up for a couple of days Parked up.
We have been using a Halfords fan cooled box and a second small between the seats fan called box. Normally they work fine but Busfest was just too much for them so we have ordered an Alpicool CF35 for the back but will keep the between the seats cooler for lunches and drinks on the go.
For years we have used a couple of grips for our clothes, these always get buried in the back or left on the seats taking up spaces. I have always like, and now my OH is persuaded, the VanEssa rear window bags, a bit pricy but seem to do the job very well so these are on order.
Storage in the back is cavernous but getting stuff in and out is a pain and has involved hands and knees and diving in all of which is a pain as we passed our 70ths this year. Clearly a sliding tray was required and I did toy with making my own but in the end have lashed out on the pukka California-Camping item.
I'll post some picks to this thread when I'm done.
Last edited:
