GISMOS AND GADGETS



 When it comes to motorhomes and campers there is an infinite number of so called must have gismos and gadgets. Over the years we have had some excellent items that have proved very useful but just as many that have fallen fowl to the 12 month rule and ended up in the garage of our house never to see the light of day again. The 12 month rule is that... if an item has not been used at least once in previous year it gets taken out of the van no exceptions ! Below is a list of the some of our favourites and some that didn't get the use anticipated.  

 The first and top of the list for any van is the humble leveling ramps, ask any one that's had a motorhome for any length of time and they will tell you that everything works better when the van is level . The fridge works better you will sleep better but more important your drinks won't slide down hill when your relaxing of an evening , the second item which should be purchased in conjunction with the chocks is a spirit level to help you get the ramps in the best position... just take it from us level is best.This is also a well known spectator sport where your fellow campers will take great interest in your levelling technique when you pull onto your pitch !  

 The next is solar, this is not really a gadget but is probably one of the most useful upgrades you can do to your unit. If you're doing a self build it should be part of the original design,  if retrofitting an older unit this is a pretty straight forward diy job if you're competent.The only scary bit is drilling the hole in the roof, measure many times drill once . Any dealer worth his salt should be able to fit a system in a couple of hours .I won't go into the size or type of solar array that would be best as this is a matter for each individuals power requirements. Our current set up is 1x100w panel into a MPPT controller feeding 1x100ah  lithium battery, this set up has served us well we seldom plug in except when its included in the pitch price and can stay off grid indefinitely so long as we get a decent bit of sunshine. We are just 2 persons and are not very power hungry. I may add another 100w panel for the winter months .

Next is a TV . There are some who refuse to fit a TV into they're camper but most of us enjoy a bit of TV of an evening specially during the darker months or to keep kids entertained of a rainy day . Im not going to recommend any particular model but try and get a 12v smart model this will enable you to run your tv while not hooked up and a 12v model will be much easier on your battery than running a 240v TV using a inverter 12v TVs have become much more available in recent years a quick search will find a decent model for just over €150. 

Up to recently we always had a satellite system of some sort fitted. In the early days we used a dish mounted on a tripod  in later years upgraded to fully automatic self seeking systems theses have served us well over the years with a 85cm dish you can still receive Irish TV with a sky sub over most of Europe.  However we now feel there are much better and cheaper options available for receiving TV content. With the price of data getting cheaper and streaming devices and services becoming more user friendly I feel that the days of the dish are numbered the sat dishes and associated decoders are among the items that found there way into the garage at home. We don't carry any satellite receiving equipment at all at the moment. If your considering a satellite system of your motorhome just check out all the available options, you can buy a lot of data for €1500 which is what you can expect to pay for a fully auto system .

To follow on from that we are recent converts to the Amazon fire stick streaming device.This simple to use simple to fit device is a game changer, its just plug in and play it needs internet access but with a couple of streaming apps like Netflix's, RTE player BBC Iplayer there are many more, this should provide you with all the Tv content you will ever need . They are cheap as chips.... just get one. 

Again to follow on my next item is a wireless modem with a sim slot, some will tell you that you can hotspot from your phone and yes most of the time this will work fine but we chose to get a dedicated sim card modem this gives much better 4g signal it also has the option to add an external antenna for a stronger and more reliable signal plus its easier when abroad to buy a local SIM card and just fit it into the modem. You can connect up to 10 devices to the modem again try to get a 12v model .We have not yet fitted a wifi antenna but its on our to do list. With the roll out of 5G make sure any equipment you buy can handle this to help future proof your system. We have a Huawei B353 4G it works well but we will most likely update to a 5G modem soon. The Netgear Nighthawk comes highly recommend but the M6 is a bit pricey I'm not sure we would be prepared to pay that much for a modem. 

 In spite of the above I'm not that great with the techie side of things so let's move to something more practical. We both thought this item would be a god sent but turned out to be a white elephant. Polly might have a different view but I feel that the the fold up washing machine turned to be a useless bit of kit and was more effort than it was worth with having no way of heating the water and no spin on the unit it would be just as easy to hand wash if it was only a few items or just wait until you had a full-load and use a proper machine there are lots of them about now. I'm sure there is some people who get good use from the washer but not for me , there's one at the back of our garage if anyone wants it !

Another motorhome staple is the barbecue we have tried a few, like most things camping it comes down to personal choice as to which is best. The cadac safari chef is very popular it is light weight and folds up into a very handy carry bag it comes with all the accessories you need. I didn't really get on with it, for me there was to much washing up for a one ring cooker so we moved ours on. We now have a Boss Louisiana which is a more traditional gas barbecue its quite a bit bigger and heavier than the Cadac but doesn't need to be assembled for each use however it takes up more space if that's an issue. We are very happy with the Boss and find we barbecue a lot more since we changed from the Cadac .

All of the above will require a gas supply we have fitted an external gas point another mod I find very handy this means we don't need and extra cylinder     

I'm going to stop there I have only scratched the surface on this subject as I said the list is endless folding buckets, infrared mozzie zappers, led strip lights, chairs, tables and many many more I'm sure you all have your own favourites. Maybe share with us in the comment's your own personal favourite

Until next time happy camping and don't forget to wave 









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