Bedding
Your bed needs to be easy to get in and out of easy to make up or change the sheets. The most popular configuration for couples is the island bed with a proper innerspring mattress which allows both you to get in and out of the bed without having to clamber over each other.
Cooking
Some people are happy with a hotplate or two and maybe a grill, others like to have a full featured cooker complete with oven so that they can enjoy a roast dinner or fresh baked scones while on the road. A BBQ on a slideout means that you can enjoy the outdoors and be part of the social crowd while cooking.
Gas
Two gas bottlers will prevent you running out of gas in the middle of cooking dinner. If you’re using gas for hot water and refrigeration as well you’ll be better off fitting the bigger 9kg bottles.
Suspension
Suspension is one area where it’s worth spending some money as poor suspension, especially when travelling over rough roads, will inevitably cause damage to the caravan and its contents.
The best type of suspension is what is known as independent suspension. The most popular style is coil springs with trailing arms and twin shock absorbers. The ultimate is undoubtedly the air bag version.
Vehicle Components manufacture air-bag suspension, so we asked their general manager Mathew Claringbold for his comments on why caravanners should consider fitting independent air suspension to their existing or new caravan.
“Simply put, air suspension is built purposefully for trailers to provide better protection and a softer ride for the trailer and its contents over a wider range of terrains,” Mathew says. “This means that at the end of a hard day’s travel, your caravan and its contents will be still be in sound condition which is why we recommend it as the ultimate option for the discerning caravan owner”.
Solar power
Fitting adequate sized solar panels and a solar charge controller (necessary to prevent frying the batteries) will enable you to free camp for an unlimited time.
DC/DC charger
All good power systems should also include a DC/DC charger for charging the house batteries from the tow vehicle while on the move. This also requires a ‘hot’ wire between the caravan and the tow vehicle to be installed, preferably via an Anderson plug.
Multi-stage battery charger
To get the longest life and most energy from your expensive deep cycle batteries you should recharge them via a multi-stage mains battery charger when connected to 240V power.
Inverter
Inverters convert 12VDC battery power into 240VAC power so that you can have mains power while free camping. Only pure sine wave inverters should be used with medical devices like CPAP machine or other sensitive electronic equipment like computers or digital TVs.
Portable generator
Use a portable generator as a backup to the solar panels by recharging the house batteries via the mains battery charger or to run 240VAC appliances that draw more power than the inverter can deliver.
LED Lighting
The benefits of LED lighting are huge as they give heaps of light for very little battery power and last virtually forever. They are standard equipment in most new caravans and converting older vans with halogen or incandescent lighting to LED can often be a simple as swapping over the bulbs to LED equivalents.
12V fridge/freezer
12V compressor fridges cool down much more rapidly than the older absorption cycle 3-way fridges and perform better in tropical areas but they require a high capacity DC power system.
External drop down table
Drop down tables attached to the outside of the caravan give you somewhere to put your drinks or nibbles when having happy hours and are also handy when cooking outdoors. Simple enough for anyone to install with a little care.
Storage
Apart from ensuring that your van has enough storage space for life on the road, you need to ensure that you can easily get at what you’re storing. DIY mods that can help here are things like installing slide-out pantry racks, external access hatches for cupboards under seats or beds, and gas lift struts on beds.
Awning and annexes
Most new vans are equipped with roll-out awnings as standard but these can easily be fitted by a competent DIYer if required. As an upgrade, consider getting an annexe kit, consisting of at least three walls which can fitted as necessary to provide shade or a fully enclosed room.
Toilet and showers
These days it’s getting hard to find a new van that doesn’t have a shower or toilet. While some older vans can be upgraded to install these items it can be an expensive mod than should be left to the experts. A much cheaper option is to use an external separate shower and toilet tent with portable hot water system and a porta-potti style toilet.
Tyre pressure monitoring system
A tyre pressure monitoring system gives a real time display of all your rig’s tyre pressures and temperatures and will alert you to punctures or overheating tyres well before the inevitable blowout would occur. A TPMS can pay for itself in saving one tyre.
17. Entertainment system
A car stereo with AM/FM/CD/USB and a LED/LCD TV with DVD/PVR will satisfy all your entertainment needs and many can run on 12V DC. Both are relatively cheap and easy to install.
External antennas
For best performance of your TV, entertainment system and mobile phone inside the van, you will need to fit an external antenna for each device.
Satellite TV
To watch TV in really remote places you’ll definitely need a satellite TV system with a satellite dish and decoder as well as the TV itself. Entry level systems use a folding satellite dish that has to be manually aligned to the satellite whereas the top line systems have a permanently roof mounted dish that can be automatically aligned.
Power mover
A 12V DC power mover will enable you to put the van in the tightest of spots at the push of a button on the remote control. The most effective and powerful models are permanently mounted and have a metal roller that is engaged against the van’s tyres when needed.
Ventilation
To get the best ventilation through your van you will need at least one roof hatch. One of the best we’ve seen is a thermostatically controlled hatch which incorporates a reversible 12V DC fan (so that it can suck or blow air) and a rain sensor which closes the vent automatically if it starts to rain.
Central heating
For true luxury, nothing beats a gas or diesel powered heater. With one of these units installed you can camp in the coldest places, even in the snow, and still be warm and sung inside. Not cheap, but definitely worth it – just ask the lucky vanners that have one.
Off-road hitch
It’s a good idea to replace the standard ball hitch in favour of an off-road version if you often take your van on rough tracks to get to the best free camping places. There are lots of models to choose from, but they all offer greater articulation between the tow vehicle and the caravan.
Stone protection
Any van that goes off sealed roads needs some form of protection from stones and other debris that is kicked up the tow vehicle. This protection can include chequerplate on the front and sides, a vertical or horizontal fabric stone guard, a rear windscreen protector and large rear mudflaps on the tow vehicle.
Integrated vacuum cleaning system
Just like a luxury home, your ultimate caravan can also have an integrated vacuum cleaning system to make sweeping up a breeze. With a stretchy but lightweight hose you could even use it to clean out the tow vehicle and the external hatches on the van. Needs 240V AC to run.
Washing machine
Washing clothes is a job that never ends and to make life easier when free camping why not install a washing machine. Some manufacturers have targeted the RV market and have washing machines that are extremely low-weight and can be run from low power inverters.
High lift jack
Changing a flat tyre on today’s caravans usually requires a high-lift jack due to the high ground clearance of the chassis. For safety reasons it’s best to use a jack like the TrailMate that doesn’t need to be placed under the van.
Undoing wheel nuts
A lot of tyre places use air ‘rattle-guns’ to tightened up wheel nuts which means that it can be almost impossible to get them undone when changing a wheel. Using a 12V impact driver or a torque-multiplying wrench will make undoing these much easier.
Annexe matting
Placing an annexe mat under your awning will make life more pleasant by keep the dust and dirt under control. A large piece of shadecloth will suffice but there are plenty of better options on the market that trap the dirt and keep it from going through the mat without killing any grass that may be underneath.
Fresh water
Most caravans come with at least one fresh water tank but free campers often need more water than the original tank can provide. It’s usually a relatively simple matter to add more tanks but be aware that water is very heavy and it’s easy to overload your van by carrying more water.
Grey Water tanks
More and more land managers are insisting that free campers are ‘self-contained’ which means that they must carry out all their grey water (any used water apart from the toilet). This is most easily done by installing a grey water tank, but be careful how this affects the van weight.
Water level gauges
It’s not much fun running out of fresh water or having a full grey water tank when you want a shower. The easiest way to keep tabs on how much water you have in your tanks is to install a water level gauge for each tank.
Wireless security system
One way to protect your valuable investment from being broken into or stolen is to install a wireless security system. Some systems have inbuilt GPS so that they track the whereabouts of your van and report its location back to you or the security company as soon as it gets into mobile phone range.
Power stabilisers
A cheap and effective way to wind corner stabiliser up and down is to use a cordless drill but a much nicer way is to install power stabilisers which can be hydraulic or electric. There are even some systems available that will automatically level the van using heavy duty stabilisers that have been built for this purpose.
Powered jockey wheel
With the heavy ball weights that a lot of new vans now have, raising or lowering the A-frame to level the van can take some effort. If a 12V powered jockey wheel/stand is installed this effort is eliminated by the touch of a button.
Battery management
A battery management system can replace a solar charge controller, a multi-stage mains charger and a DC/DC charger and will automatically select the most appropriate power source. Its remote monitor will let you keep tabs on vital information like charging source, current in, current out, battery state-of-charge and battery hours remaining.
Eliminate dust
The only effective way to prevent dust from entering a caravan while travelling on unsealed roads is to use a positive pressure ventilation system. This will ensure that filtered air entering the van keeps the air pressure inside the caravan greater than the air pressure outside.
38. Dual battery system
To make sure that you never flatten the starter battery in your tug by leaving the portable fridge or camp lights running on 12V for too long, fit an auxiliary battery and a battery isolator. That way you’ll always be able to start the vehicle in the morning
39. Reversing camera
Reversing cameras can be a godsend when it comes to reverse parking the caravan and can also be useful when travelling to supplement the towing mirrors. Some allow multiple cameras and so can be also used for hitching up. Wireless ones are simple to install but wired units are reported to have better performance and fewer problems.
40. Improving towing power
Everyone wants more power for easier towing uphill and faster overtaking. An easy way to achieve this if your tug has a modern common rail diesel engine is to fit a performance chip and free flowing exhaust system. These systems are not cheap but many offer at least 20% more power and torque with better fuel economy thrown in as a bonus.