What else do I need?

Buying a new Motorhome is an excitng time, but it can also be an expensive one. Here's how to spend your money wisely.

by Julie Wills

Now that you have - or are expecting delivery / collection of - your wonderful new-to-you Campervan or Motorhome, what else do you need to buy?

The answer is: not much.

Don't get carried away

Looking at the various online Forums, Social media groups, etc., it's easy to get carried away buying "stuff" for your exciting new home-from-home. However, weight (see MAM / MPTMW in Terminology), space and money are all finite, so my advice is to use what you already have, until you decide what you really need.

If you ask the question online, you'll get loads of suggestions about what you need. Bear in mind that one person's essential piece of equipment can easily be another's waste of space, so choose wisely.

Everything must earn its keep

Space and weight are limited, so make sure that everything you carry around with you earns its keep and is necessary - for you. I try to work on the principle that everything we carry must either have at least two uses, or must do one thing well enough to justify its inclusion in our payload.

Dual use items

Tea towels - possibly the single most useful thing on board. Not only can they be used for drying up, but they are great for packing crockery and other fragile items to prevent rattles and breakages, or to dampen rattles (e.g. the grill pan or hob cover)

Fabric oven gloves can be used as pot stands and to prevent rattles. And silicon pot stands can be used as oven gloves ... and to prevent rattles.

An IKEA oven glove / pot stand

Layered clothing - a sleeveless vest can be worn on its own when it's warm, or as a layer of underwear when it's cold

"Capsule" clothing - as far as possible, try to take a selection of clothing that's all interchangeable. That way, if you spill something on your t-shirt, you can still wear the trousers with other things if they're still clean.

A small washing up bowl (one that will fit in your sink) - not only can you do your washing up in it, you can store and carry things in it too, such as washing up liquid, your kettle, etc.
Note that it can be taller than the height of the sink itself. If you can't close the sink's lid when the washing up bowl is in it, you can store it somewhere else instead. Ours lives in the cupboard under the sink.

Sleeping bags / duvets / pillows - can be rolled or folded into cushion covers to use as scatter cushions or bolsters in the day time.

A rectangular ridged frying pan - can be used as a grill pan as well as a frying pan. We have one from IKEA which also has a folding handle and fits perfectly in the grill for storage or use.

Items that do one thing really well

A small foldable / collapsible whistling kettle - we have a 1.6 litre Vango one with a folding handle ... and that's still twice as big as we really need
Insulated mugs - can be used for hot drinks on the road or away from the Motorhome, as well as inside it.

Things you won't already have at home

If you've never owned a caravan or motorhome before, there are a few things that you definitely won't have at home which you do need to consider. Some or all of these may come with your Motorhome though, so check what you're getting with it before you spend unnecessary money.

Essentials*

Levelling ramps
These allow you to get the MoHo level, even on a moderately sloping pitch. Being reasonably level can be important, as most 3-way fridges won't work if they're on much of a slope. Being level will also help to stop you rolling out of bed in the night.
*Some people never use ramps, but my secret superpower is my inbuilt spirit level, and I don't feel comfortable unless the floor and work surfaces are pretty much horizontal.

Gas bottles
Unless your MoHo uses an LPG tank to store gas for onboard cooking and heating, your MoHo should have a regulator to attach to the gas bottles; make sure you know what type it is, and therefore whether you need orange (most common in the UK) or blue gas bottles. Normally you'll get a refund on your empty bottle when you buy a new one.

EHU cable and 3 pin convertor
To plug into the mains on a campsite, you'll need an EHU cable, which has weatherproof circular connectors at each end. At home, you'll want a convertor so that you can plug it into a three pin socket. This allows you to get the fridge cold and the leisure battery charged before you leave home.

Desirable

A whistling kettle
Forget your domestic electric kettle. It's not impossible to use them when on hookup, but why carry something that you can only use on hookup? I'm a big fan of being able to make a cuppa no matter where I am, and a whistling kettle on the gas hob will always work, no matter where you are. But if you don't have one, in the short term, you can always boil water in a saucepan.

Things you already have

To start off with, you can make use of things that you already own. Spend some time in the Motorhome before you splash out on things that the Camping shops sell. Apart from anything else, the camping brands are often sold at inflated prices, just because they have a niche market. You can often get similar items much more cheaply if you think through what you actually need.

If you have a picnic hamper, you already have a perfectly usable set of crockery and cutlery in that. Personally, I'd take proper cutlery from home rather than the flimsy stuff that usually comes in a picnic set, but the mugs plates and bowls will a great starting point, even if you want to treat yourself to something a bit more robust later on. If you don't have a picnic set, and your normal crockery won't fit in whatever space your Motorhome has designed for crockery (if any!) pack it all in a box padded with tea towels, and other soft, useful items, like oven gloves, a roll of paper towels, etc. Being in a box makes it easy to carry in and out of the house.

Things to consider once you've used your Motorhome a few times

Lightweight crockery.
Make sure you check the size of your kitchen lockers before buying, to make sure that your crockery will fit in the designated spaces. Or if it won't, decide where you want to keep it instead, and what you'll keep in the crockery locker.
You'll probably find a wide range of branded crockery in camping shops or at shows. Corelle is great, but expensive. We bought a plain white set at a show. And then I discovered IKEA's Oftast range, which is made of the same lightweight tempered glass, but at a fraction of the cost.

Oftast and Corelle side by side

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