George here talking about why the Hymer C544 is ideal for wild camping
“Wild camping in a motorhome is when you park overnight somewhere other than an official motorhome campsite.”
Before we picked the motorhome we were going to use for our epic full-time 18-month motorhome adventure, we put a lot of hard yards into our research. I hate to put a number on it because it will probably depress me to come face to face with the number of life hours that I will never get back. I hope this post shaves some time off your research.
If you’re wild camping, you will be staying in some fairly tight spots sometimes, and you will need to venture into town every week to buy supplies and park in carparks. That automatically rules out any motorhome over 20 feet, which makes your search for a suitable motorhome for wild camping a lot easier. It’s a bit like being a vegan. When I go to the supermarket 95% of the shelves is a no go zone for me. That means I only need to visit 5% of the shelves, which makes shopping so much quicker.
With a motorhome under 20 feet long you have the flexibility to go wherever you want, but if you’re tempted to get a larger vehicle wild camping will become a pain in the ass, and you’ll end up going to the official motorhome campsites.
Even when you restrict your search to motorhomes under 20 feet, it’s mind numbing how many chooses you’ve got, which will inevitably lead to paralysis by analysis. There’s just way too much choice even when looking fo small to medium-sized vans, to pop-top and high-top motorhomes.
Putting your thinking camp on before making the purchase will pay dividends. For guidance and reference, here are what we thought were the best motorhomes for wild camping, for long road trips, and for full timing.
As I mentioned above, if you want to “wild camp” you will need a compact motorhome.
To me, the definition of a compact motorhome is one that is under 20 feet. Anything over that and you’re in the realm of the large. You simply cannot wild camp for any length of time in a large motorhome. Trust me on this! Your mantra during your entire research time should be something like this:
“I shalt not get a motorhome over 20 feet long if I know what’s good for me.”
I’ve read on some motorhome sites, that you need one with as much space as possible if you’re going to live and travel in your motorhome for a long time. And that’s absolutely true if all you do is go to official motorhome campsites. But it’s absolutely the wrong advice if your aim is to wild camp.
A compact motorhome is much, much, much easier to drive than larger motorhomes. When you’re driving up or down a narrow winding hill inches away from scraping the sides of your motorhome, you will feel a crushing pressure that is all but overwhelming, especially when another vehicle comes in the opposite direction, and you have to back up 1/2 a mile. If you’re wild camping, you will be going off the beaten track a lot, and beaten tracks would scare the bejesus out of me if I was in a vehicle anything over 20 feet.
Benefit 2: Move Freely Around Towns And Cities
I’ve already mentioned this benefit in my intro. If, for example, you have a luxury £80,000, 23-foot motorhome and you find yourself driving around a busy town or city, you will prefer to be driving a beat-up, 30-year-old, £10,000 Hymer because the smaller vehicle is easier to drive on busy, chaotic roads.
Benefit 3: Easily Parkup In Towns And Cities
If you have a 23-foot motorhome, you will quickly find out that there is nowhere to park the thing when you’re in towns and cities. You’ll look great in your gleaming, expensive, large motorhome, but you won’t be able to park the damn thing.
Benefit 4: Travel Light
Minimalism is becoming a bit of a thing these days. If you type in “minimalism” to Google search you’ll see that there are 567,000,000 results for that search. That’s 567 million! Minimalism is all about living with less. The philosophy is about getting rid of excess stuff and living life based on experiences rather than worldly possessions. You will find that the less material baggage you bring with you, the lighter you will mentally feel. There’s something spiritual about traveling light.
Benefit 5: Save 18 Minutes Per Day Not Having To Shower
It’s amazing how quickly you will adapt to not need to take a 20-minute hot shower in order to start the day. All you need a sink full of water, a bar of soap, and your hands. This is similar to “benefit 4”, of keeping things minimal. You’ll love it.
Benefit 6: Fit In Your Garage
Most garages can fit a class B motorhome which will give you a bit of peace of mind, knowing it’s safe from thieves.
Benefit 7: Snackles (a.ka. snacks) On The Move
I am partial to snackling when driving. I try very hard to make sure they are healthy snacks. If, however, god forbid I forget my snacks before buckling in and setting off, I can turn to my partner in the passenger seat and politely ask her to get them for me, without having to stop the motorhome.
Benefit 8: Passenger Can Go Toilet While On The Move
My partner must have one of the weakest bladders on the planet. She is constantly going for a wee, but that isn’t a problem when you have a class B motorhome. She can simply unbuckle herself and saunter over to the toilet while I’m still driving (and get me some extra snacks on the way back).
Benefit 9: Local Car Mechanic
Class B motorhome chassis, engine service, and MOTs are available locally. It’s essentially a big car, so doesn’t require you to go to a special motorhome dealership to get your brakes fixed. Just pop down to your local, friendly car mechanic.
Class C are also motorhomes and not campervans. Unlike their larger cousins (Class A motorhomes), they are more compact and usually more suited to hooking up at campsites.
Class C motorhomes are the go-to motorhomes for people who don’t want to off-grid (the B-class are best for going off-grid), but want most of the luxuries of a C class without the eye-watering price tag.
C class motorhomes are usually fitted out with most of the same mod cons that accompany A class such as fridges, heating, bathrooms, dinettes, and hobs.
They are the mid-size option between Class A and Class B vehicles, and range between 19 to 33 feet in length, ensuring there is ample space to strut your stuff.
You can usually kip (sleep) up to six adults when using the additional foldout beds.
Class C motorhomes are built on a truck chassis.
A more budget-friendly option than a Class A, Class C motorhomes range from around £10,000 for a second hand one up to £40,000 for a brand spanking new model.
Length: 19.6 feet (5.98 m)
Width: 7.5 feet (2.27 m)
Height: 9.1 feet (2.8 m)
Payload: 525 kg
MTPLM: 3500 kg (Can be driven on a car license)
Fiat 2.8 JTD: (Released mid 90’s to early 2000’s)
Price: £25,000 (2006)
Class: C (5 berth)
Overview
Dinette Area: Large table where four can dine comfortably.
Kitchen Area: Thetford Fridge next to the habitation door that works on 12v and 240v hookup. Large workspace on the other side of the door. Three-burner hob and small oven/grill. Two overhead lockers provide plenty of storage for plates and cups, and the large cutlery drawer will tuck away your knives and forks nicely.
WC: Separate shower cubicle. A large mirror. Roof light. The separate shower may be an enticing reason to buy if you will actually use the shower (though, most people rarely use showers). Most motorhomes have an integrated hand-basin/shower. Thetford cassette toilet.
Bed I: The over-cab bed area is a surprisingly large space, much larger than most over motorhomes with over-cab beds. The only downside is that it isn’t a “drop-down bed” like in the Hymer B544, which reduces the view out of the front window.
Bed II: The dinette area transforms into a double bed.
Bed III: The sofa opposite the dinette can also be a bed.
Storage: Hymers are notorious for the incredible amount of storage space! Outside, one of the great selling points is the long, wide, storage locker that runs almost the full width of the van. It’s ideal for storing large items like skis, ramps, cables, spare oil, etc. Inside, there is a lot of storage under the seat bases for bedding, while several roof-level lockers line the areas above the lounge and dinette.
TV: There is a TV locker above the foot of the bench seat but it would need a slide-out tray to mount the telly on, to make it viewable from all the lounge seats. The wardrobe wall is also a good place to fit a TV bracket (though, I recommend travelling without a TV).
Locker: There’s a huge locker to store even more stuff.
Shoe rack: There is even a shoe storage rack next to the habitation door. Hymer really does think of everything! Plus, there’s a special place for shoes in the wardrobe.
Heating: Trumatic C 6002 EH which provides hot water and heating that runs on gas, or electric, or a combo of both. You won’t believe how warm and toasty it gets. You’ll love it.
Awning: Fiamma F45i awning.
Bike Rack: Thule (fits 2 bikes)
Sony CD player.
Lighting: LED (most owners convert the lights to LED).
Positive
Feel like you’re in a 5-star hotel. Very luxurious!
The 5.98-metre length means cheaper ferry rates.
Large skylight in the dinette area.
Six belted seats including driver, and front-seat passenger.
Reversing sensors.
Negative
At 19.6 feet (5.98 m) it’s still a good option if you like to go off-grid, but it’s a foot longer than its Hymer B544 counterpart.
I hope that’s helped you in finding the best motorhome for wildcamping.
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