Ernie: TechTalk

I’ve had a few questions asking for some more details about Ernie the Van, why we chose to spend 6months living in a Ford Transit and the pros and cons of different types of campers. So I’ve put together a quick post that might be of interest if you have the same types of questions. If you have any more specific questions – leave them in the comments section below.

To date, we’ve covered about 2000km so far (including the drive from the UK to Denmark prior our trip starting) and spent about 14 nights in the van - so we are beginning to know him pretty well.

If you are looking into getting a camper – the type you choose depends on what you are looking to do with it – whether living full time in it, just weekends away, using it as a daily driver for work as well, etc... Essentially the more it is used as a 'live-in vehicle' - the more creature comforts you will want. At one end of the scale - a daily driver used for occasional weekends away, you will want as normal a van as possible. Think a normal van that happens to have a fold out bed. Just somewhere to crash for the night instead of finding a hotel, motel or BnB. Many vans on the market have fold flat rear seats already, you might not even need a specialist campervan ‘conversion’. I’ve also been told cars like the Honda Jazz make excellent beds in the rear.

If you're going on regular weekends away - you'll want a small kitchen facility, some curtains for privacy, maybe a pop top roof so you can stand up and get changed, cook etc. You might also consider a chemical toilet. If you'll be using it for longer trips - say a week or longer, you'll probably want more storage space, in which case you'll want a permanent high-top. Finally - if you are living in it full time for an extended period - that's when things like a shower and fixed bed become quite nice. On this scale - Ernie is a 'week long adventure' van. Obviously since we are living in him full time, we are sacrificing some comfort, but we couldn't commit to a A$30,000+ van for just 5months of ownership. In an ideal world with lots of money - a slightly larger van would have been perfect for our trip :) but whatever... we're still young!

So Ernie is a high top van, Ford transit with a 2 burner stove, sink, fridge, fresh water supply, chemical toilet, gas locker with 7kg gas bottle and a couch that turns into a bed. The van swallows a huge amount of gear (we have all our living stuff, plus camper chairs, table, stack of books, games, etc... I had considered buying a remote controlled airplane in Prague (because it was cheap) and I could have stowed that as well no problem.) We also had installed when we bought it:

- a rotating swivel for the passenger chair (it means the chair can spin and face the 'room'. It makes the living space super roomy.)

- a bike rack for two bikes.

- a table that clicks into the sink/stove bench, that forms a good dining table.

For campers electricity comes in three types: 12Volt from the alternator when the engine is running, 12Volt batteries or electric hook-up. Ernie has several 12 volt batteries. One for the 'car' (basically starting the engine only) and two for 'leisure' (running the lights, fridge, water pump, etc when stopped). He also has the option to 'hook-up' to electric, meaning you can charge the batteries when stopped and run off regular 220-240V mains (with normal powerpoints - you can plug in a laptop, or hairdryer or even an iron!). We have been using the hook-up mainly to power our little space heater to warm the van up in the morning :) otherwise we wouldn't need it at all. The leisure bats can run the van (lights, fridge, pump) for at least 3 days without starting. (Could be longer but we haven't stayed anywhere longer than 3 nights so far. We can report back on this.) Water - Ernie has a big freshwater tank that can be filled from a cap on the side of the van. I think it’s about 60-70 litres. Big enough for at least 3 days (see above reasoning). It’s clean and we drink out of it no problem. Ernie does not have a grey water tank on board - anything that goes down the sink is directed to a hose that flows out underneath the van. When we park up, we have a 20L plastic jerry-can type thing that catches the waste water. We can then dispose of it into a dedicated grey water disposal point found at campsites or just throw it in a hedge (we use organic washing up liquid so we don't hurt any plants or waterways). Our previous van (Tonks - 1986 VW Type25) had an on-board waste water tank. The only difference really was that we could brush our teeth in a Tesco carpark and not have to worry about anybody seeing some water dripping out the bottom of the van.

Tonks was a 'proper' conversion done by a famous German conversion house - Westfalia. that meant she got an on-board petrol fired heater, double glazed windows and insulated fresh and waste water tanks. Ernie’s windows are all single pane which means he does get a bit colder at night. We slept a couple of nights in the van when it got down to zero outside, and were perfectly happy under our doona in the bed, but getting up the next morning meant turning on the space heater for 30min or so - otherwise quite chilly! In Ernie, the bed is a couch during the day, and folds out (called a "rock and roll bed" in VW camper lingo) into the bed at night. It takes about 5 seconds. Ernie's Bed is about 1.5m wide (about the std double bed width) by about 1.9m long. It’s actually one of the biggest beds I've seen in a camper - even in the really expensive campers the beds aren't this size.

Toilet - we have a chemical toilet which is pretty simple but works well. It works the same as every portable toilet out there! google it :) we have no problems with any smells - as its entirely sealed. We had a slight issue with our toilet that was mentioned in a previous post, but that was our own operator error with the new toilet, and never happened in our previous van...). Depending on the type of trips you want to do it with a camper - you may or may not need a chemical toilet, but if you want to really explore an area away from campsites – then it is a must. The toilet lives in its own little box that acts as a spare seat or leg rest in the van.

Mechanics - we just had a front wheel bearing start to make some noise on our drive through the Czech Republic, so we dropped him into the ford dealership Friday morning in Krakow, and he was out and finished by the afternoon. Things do breakdown in campervans - as Murphys law dictates. We broke down in Tonks in Spain, and because she was a VW and not so common - we had to wait 4 days while they shipped out a part from Germany. But Ford Transits are everywhere, so no problem to get parts. Something to think about when buying a camper for long-distance touring!

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