George talking here about the BIGGEST MISTAKE people make when buying a camper for wildcamping
Table Of Contents
What Is Wild Camping In A Motorhome?
The Biggest Mistake: Going Over 20 Feet
100 Hours Of Research To Find The Perfect Motorhome
Compact Motorhomes Under 20 Feet Long
9 Benefits Of A Compact Motorhome
Hymer B534 B Class Motorhome Review
Hymer B544 B Class Motorhome Review
“Wild camping in a motorhome is when you park overnight somewhere other than an official motorhome campsite. You can buy an app on your smartphone that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of FREE wildcamping spots in the UK and Europe.”
Before we picked the motorhome we were going to use for our epic full-time 18-month motorhome adventure, we must have spent 100 hours researching which motorhome to get (lots of searching online and offline).
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 not annoy everyone in town when parking up (which you will do if you rock into town with an RV).
You want your motorhome to fit in a SINGLE CAR PARK SPACE (just like in the image above).
You definitely DON’T want to park like this…
The motorhome in the image above has TAKEN UP FOUR CAR PARK SPACES!
If you take up four car park spaces in the UK, you’re liable to get lynched by the town folk!
Hmmm, it’s time for an analogy…
Knowing you can’t get a motorhome over 20 feet long is a bit like being Vegan (umm, which I am). When I go to the supermarket, a whopping 95% of the shelves are a NO GO ZONE for me because they have meat and diary produce. That means I only need to visit 5% off the shelves. And that makes shopping so much quicker for me!
Now you know that all motorhomes over 20 feet long are off-limits to you, you will save yourself a ton of time and effort. 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 choices you’ve got, which will inevitably lead to paralysis by analysis. There’s still a lot of options when looking for motorhomes under 20 feet long, but at least it’s more manageable.
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, 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 B motorhomes are small, streamlined, and cute.
Nimble and more fuel-efficient than Class C motorhomes, they are perfect for wild camping, or long road trips. Most Class B motorhomes have all the luxuries that provide a home from home including galley kitchens, beds, and restrooms. The length varies from 19 to 24 feet and usually is a two birth (sleeps 2 people).
Most Class B motorhomes can be parked anywhere you can park a car or van. Be aware, however, that Class B motorhomes are taller than a van or SUV and will require more clearance height. Only once on our trip did we came to a very low bridge, that we couldn’t go under. You will, of course, not be able to go under those height barriers on lots of beach, town, and city car parks.
All you need to know about Class A and C motorhomes is that they are too long for wild camping.
They range from 23 to 30+ feet long. If, however, you want to waste a few hours researching Class A and C by all means go ahead, but if wild camping is the thing that rocks your boat, you’d best avoid buying one.
Length: 19.8 feet (606 cm)
Width: 7.5 feet (227 cm)
Height: 9.5 feet (290 cm)
Price: £18,000 (1997)
Class: B
Overview
It’s a nice 2 berth model with an amazing rear lounge layout. A rear “U” shaped lounge is ideal for relaxing during the day with a good book and during the evenings, and it quickly converts into a double bed.
Storage is not a problem with plenty beneath the rear seating and even access from outside in order to store those chairs, etc.
The front side washroom has all you need with a vanity sink, toilet, and shower.
The mid kitchen is functional with a combination oven/grill, 3 burner gas hob, sink, and large fridge, everything you need for your meal requirements.
Over the cab, you will find a large pull-down double bed. We added solar panels to ours so that we didn’t need to bring a generator (which is loud, heavy, and smoky).
The gross vehicle weight is just 3100Kg, therefore it can be driven by anyone of any age with a full UK driving license.
Positive
This is the motorhome we eventually choose to do our full-time motorhome trip in 2014. The rear “U” shaped lounge was a big positive for us because of the amazing views it gave us. Though, the biggest positive was the roll-down bed. Having the bed above the cab effectively made the motorhome 5 feet longer. We never felt like we were cramped, and that’s bearing in mind we had a young, highly active collie dog with us.
Negative
The wing mirrors were easy to snap off when going off the beaten track. We broke the same wing mirror three times on our trip. For some reason, Hymer made the wing mirrors on the B534 immoveable. That meant when you thud into a tree that you didn’t see at the side of a narrow road, the thing would rip off, and we’d sheepishly have to stop the motorhome, and spend the next few days trying to find a mechanic to reattach it. On most other motorhomes, if you hit the wing mirror it closes up and no damage is caused, other than your pride for hitting another tree.
Length: 18.5 feet (564 cm)
Width: 7.5 feet (227 cm)
Height: 9.1 feet (280 cm)
Price: £15,000 (1991)
Class: B
Overview
It’s a nice 2 berth model with an end kitchen and washroom. Large drop down double bed above the cab. Swivel captain seats. Some models are 4/5 berth. L/shape dinette. Dinette has two seat belts. Speaker system. Large hymer skylight. Loads of storage lockers and a wardrobe. The kitchen areas has a 3 way fridge, 2 gas burner hob, sink and drainer, extractor fan, skylight, ample storage, and a clock. The washroom is a wet room style washroom with a cassette toilet, vanity units with mirrors, sink, shower with tray, and skylight. The heating system is a Trauma boiler hot water system and has a Truma hot air blown heating system (great for cold winter nights). The windows are double glazed with nets and blinds throughout. The extras usually include an awning, gas bottle with hose and regulator, 240 hook-up lead, roof rails, and ladder.
The gross vehicle weight is just 3100Kg, therefore it can be driven by anyone of any age with a full UK driving license.
Positive
This is the second motorhome we purchased, and our current one. We liked it because it was 1.3 feet smaller than the B534 (our previous motorhome). This made it easier to drive and to park. It was had a much better engine which made driving up hills a lot quicker.
Negative
The B544 we purchased was a bit of a lemon. We had to spend a small fortune to make it roadworthy, including redoing the gearbox, which was a specialist job and took the guy 6 months! That’s 6 months of no motorhome trips. Nightmare. The brakes were also very dodgy! But, if you buy a 30-year-old motorhome, you must expect it needs a bit of working doing on it.
Length: 15 feet (457 cm)
Width:
Height:
Weight: 2350 kg
Price: £7,000 (1992)
Class: B
Overview
It’s a nice compact 4 berth model with a kitchen and washroom. Large double bed above the cab. Dinette area has seat belts. Speaker system. Large hymer skylight. Loads of storage lockers and a wardrobe. The kitchen areas has a 3 way fridge, 2 gas burner hob, sink and drainer, extractor fan, skylight, ample storage, and a clock.
The washroom is a wet room style washroom with a cassette toilet, vanity units with mirrors, sink, shower with tray, and skylight. The heating system is a Trauma boiler hot water system and has a Truma hot air blown heating system (great for cold winter nights). The windows are double glazed with nets and blinds throughout. The extras usually include an awning, gas bottle with hose and regulator, and 240 hook-up lead.
The gross vehicle weight is under 3100Kg, therefore it can be driven by anyone of any age with a full UK driving license.
Features
- 4 berth Motorhome
- 2 Seat Belts
- Diesel
- Manual
- 1929cc 5 speed gearbox
- Left Hand Drive
- 5-speed gearbox
- Hot and cold water
- 2 Sinks (WC & kitchen)
- Fridge
- Cooker with two hobs
- Trauma heating system
- Shower and toilet (WC)
- Very large over-cab bed
- Dinette converts to a double bed
- Plenty of storage
- Radio/CD player
- Bike Rack
Positive
This might be the next motorhome we get. We like it because it has the same quality build as our Hymer B544, and it’s only 15 feet long (3 feet shorter than the B544). We’re planning on making more smaller trips, (day trips and weekend trips) in the future, and this shorter Hymer is ideal for that.
Plus, we would also use it as a “second vehicle”. My partner and I both work from home, so we only have one car. The smaller size will make it even easier to drive and to park. And because it’s a classic Hymer, it will probably go up in value.
The price is also a positive, as you can snap one of these up for under £10,000.
Negative
The Hymer Camp is small, at only 15 feet. It wouldn’t suit a family with a dog! But it is ideal for a couple with a dog. The bed is “fixed”, which means you don’t get a nice big view when parked up, which you would get in a Hymer B544 because of the roll-up bed
I hope that’s helped you in finding the best motorhome for wildcamping.
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