Do you really need a caravan with the lot?

COMMENT

You don’t need a tandem axle caravan or expensive airbag self-levelling suspension, and you don’t need to cloak your caravan in checker-plate armour.

You also don’t need a macerator-type toilet, a grey water tank, two large gas bottles, two spare wheels, a separate interior shower and toilet, both indoor and outdoor kitchen, an extra-large domestic-grade fridge, a huge battery, lots of rooftop solar panels, or a big inverter to run a coffee machine, an induction cooktop or air-conditioner.

In fact, to live comfortably in a caravan, off the grid in a National Park, or in an Australian free-camp, you really don’t need that much at all, so if free-camping is your aim, save your money.

What you need to stay off the grid

So, what are the essentials for happy self-contained living away from 240 volts power for a few days, or up to a week?

For a start, choose white as your caravan’s colour. It will keep it cooler and allow your fridge to run more efficiently. If you doubt this, visit a caravan yard on a hot day and place your palm on a sun-exposed white caravan and then a coloured one. Then try checker-plate – ouch!

Brightly coloured caravans just don’t work in the real world.

Also, choose your van’s wall construction well. Traditional ‘stick and tin’ ribbed aluminium walls are now ‘old school’ compared to the better-insulated composite panels of many modern vans, as they cool down faster and are lighter.

The worst are the smooth aluminium clad walls which are heavier than both the former and retain their heat – particularly if you choose one of the bright fashion colours on offer. Remember, this is an industrial product designed for air conditioned high-rise buildings where weight is not a factor.

Make sure your van or hybrid camper has a way for trapped heat to escape. Pop-tops are naturally good at this, but if not, a rooftop vent or fan is a good idea. Remember, hot air rises.

Keep your cool when choosing a fridge

If possible, park your van so that the fridge-side is not in the full sun any more than necessary, as the heat transfer through the walls will reduce its efficiency.

If you’re only planning to spend days, not weeks off the grid, then a three-way fridge with a maximum capacity of 150-170 litres should be OK as long as you run it on gas.

It’s hard to get far away from a food source these days, so if you have a large fridge you’ll need to over-purchase to fill it up and this will use more energy to cool. But, if you don’t fill it up, its contents will move and spill when the road gets rough. Catch 22!

While a three-way fridge will maintain its cool on the 12v setting while you're travelling, that won’t work when you're camped overnight and will quickly drain your tow car’s or van’s battery. Gas is more efficient overnight.

If you're planning a longer free-camp, then a 12 compressor fridge makes more sense, provided you have an ample power source to replace what it draws from your battery.

How many solar panels?

A smaller fridge needs less power to keep its cool and so you will need fewer solar panels to replenish your battery. Now remember, solar panels need light to function, so while parking in the shade keeps your van cooler, your solar panels won’t function properly, if at all.

That’s why I travel with a portable solar panel in addition to rooftop solar, so I can leave the van in the shade and keep the panel in the sun.

Talking of fridges, I always plug my van into mains power at least 24 hours before I travel and run the fridge on full cold during this time, meaning the current it draws will be less on the long first travelling day.

Filling empty wine casks with water and freezing them also reduces the power load and stops the fridge’s contents from sloshing about.

Grey water?

Well, dropping your sullage onto the ground or worse, underneath your neighbour’s van is plain unfriendly when you're free-camping, but if you haven’t got a dedicated tank to catch your shower or sink waste, there are budget alternatives.

A 20-litre plastic jerrycan with a short flexible hose connected to your drain pipe should be enough for the daily waste water for two people, and you can donate its contents to needy plants on your travels.

Alternatively, you can choose from a range of wheeled waste water tanks priced from around $70 upwards to do the job. Failing that, a cheap plastic bucket!

In a smaller van, fitting a dedicated grey water tank under your van will limit the space you should allow for fresh water and for this you should work on at least 20-30 litres a day for two and then use it sparingly.

A built-in water filter, or at least an inline one, is a good idea if you're travelling in bore water country and don’t want your hair to resemble rusty wire.

A plunger water pump can replace a power-hungry electric pump and less lights equals more battery life.

How much battery power?

You can get away with a single 125-150Ah deep cycle battery if your free-camping aspirations are limited to a couple of days at a time and you have a three-way fridge, but I would recommend two of those with a good DC to DC charger to maximise the charge current.

Of course, a lithium battery is a much lighter solution that while more expensive, will hold its charge longer and recharge faster, but you really need to be free-camping regularly for many days at a time to get the value. Having said that, it’s becoming the battery of choice in most serious off-road caravans.

I’d also fit at least 300W of rooftop solar (in two 150W panels) and carry a spare 80-160W folding panel for shady camping to ensure you're replenishing what you're drawing, with a good solar regulator.

You’ll need to plug it into an Anderson plug, best located out of stone’s harm on the inside of your A-frame.

What about the toilet?

Well, I’m a fan of the old-fashioned cassette system, as if you use biodegradable chemicals and carry a shovel, you can bury its contents well away from a water supply in the bush.

With the more modern macerator and other systems, you’ll probably need to find a dump station to pump its contents into and on some inland highways these are few and far between. If you don’t like digging holes in the bush, buy a spare toilet cassett

Separate shower and toilet ensuites are great, but they take up space, which means a bigger, heavier van to tow. If you have both ablutions together, make sure the floor drains well as your visit in the ‘wee’ hours will see your feet get wet from undrained shower water.

While you’re showering, put your ‘smalls’ in a plastic basin that you can stand in and trample them clean.

Alternatively, make do with a cheap portable toilet and an outdoor shower, but you might need bathers as well as the basin if the neighbours are watching!

Leaf spring, coil or airbag suspension?

How much do you need in the way of state-of-the-art independent suspension underpinnings to get to these idyllic free-camping places? Not a lot really and, in rough terrain, chassis and suspension strength and good ground clearance are ‘king.

Forget an extended draw-bar. It will make towing more stable at speed, but it will limit your maneuverability off road and make river crossings tricky.

Forget checker-plate on the sides and rear of your van too, unless you want to protect it from shrub scratches. Remember the bush adage ‘green is good; brown is bad’ when choosing which part of your surroundings to engage with.

And have you ever seen stone chips on the sides or rear of a caravan? All that can be said in checker-plate’s favour is that it’s relatively light.

Cooking bare essentials

Cooking is another thing that’s over-complicated in many so-called ‘off-road’ caravans.

A portable two-burner gas cassette cooker is all you really need, and it can be used inside or out, depending what you're cooking and the weather.

Who cleans all those fancy slide-away stainless-steel kitchens anyway?

We carry a small single gas cylinder with a screw-on single burner for egg and spluttering bacon breakfasts.

An inverter for your pod coffee machine. Really? Re-discover ground coffee and a plunger and don’t buy food that needs to be microwaved.

KISS principle

So in summary, keep your caravan and its contents light and simple.

You don’t need dress shoes for cheap bush camping, and washing under the arms will get you three days out of your shirts and blouses.

What's more, two pairs of jocks and socks will last forever if you trample one set while you shower, and save gourmet meals and barista coffee for big city restaurants.

Finally, spend all the money you’ll save on travelling more!

Related:

Rise of the off-road, off-grid caravan

Top-10 most expensive caravans

Should you get lithium batteries?

Do you need airbag suspension?