Getting ready for life on the road: Part One

This weekend we spent some time in the van, figuring out what needed to be done to get ourselves 100% ready to hit the road in December. It’s a big transition to go from living in a house with all the mod cons right there in front of you to being in a camper van, especially as we will be aiming to spend only one to two nights a week in campsites with access to power, water and ablution facilities.

How are we going to do this? I’m glad you asked! Here’s the inside view of a couple of basic truths behind the glamour of life on the road…

POWER

We have a van with a solar panel on top, so when it’s sunny, we draw down power into two house batteries. This is awesome, but currently we don’t have the ability to translate that power into off-grid oomph as we need an inverter. What this piece of wizardry does is convert 12V DC power from the batteries to AC power which means we will be able to use our 240V devices such as laptops and our microwave. So, on the list goes the inverter.

WATER

We have a 90L fresh water tank on board, which sounds like a lot until you go for your first jaunt! When you have water plumbed to the house, you use water from the tap all the time. I mean, why wouldn’t you? You wash your hands, drink a glass of water, make a cuppa, rinse off the apple you’re about to eat… And you can, because you will never run out. Suddenly, when you only have 90L (which includes water for showering!) you tend to become a bit more judicious about how much water your use.

I’ve found myself coming up with new ways of measuring what I use, such as only boiling as much water as I need for one cup of tea, and using FAR less water to clean plates and cups. For us, the getting ready is a change in mindset in how we use our water in the van.

TOILET STUFF

I’m going to give it to you straight, folks. If you’re not one of those people who is willing to go public with your poop, you’re not going to have a good time. We have an onboard loo in the form of a Thetford cassette toilet, but we generally try to avoid using it for anything more serious than bladder relief. However, life, location and biology are going to get the better of these intentions, so we have been looking for ways to defume the situation.

After a bit of research, including looking longingly at composting loos which we can’t afford to fit into our van, we found that the worst of the stank comes from the gas build up in the lower tank as the “material” breaks down. To alleviate this and the need for chemicals in the loo, we have decided to get a SOG system installed. This basically ventilates the lower tank, removing the gases and assisting the “smelly stuff” to break down naturally. Apparently, it’s much less stinky when it comes time to empty the cassette as well, but we will let you know just how true this actually is.

And on that delightful note, I’m going to sign off for today! Tune in next time for more insights into our preparations for full-time van life.