New Motorhome Owner? Here's the kit you REALLY need...

Hey guys it's Kat from the Motorhome Travel website Wandering Bird where we share tips and tricks for traveling the UK and Europe by motorhome or camper. Today we are answering a reader question over what essential accessories a motorhome or camper, I guess, should have. So we're going to start at the front and work our way back. We'll probably forget several on the way, but let's try and limit it to 10 to 15 really essential things that every van should have. Go on then, pick one. Okay, can I throw a couple in at the end that we have as well because of the type of camping we do. They're not essential for everyday travel stuff, but it's what we have. We haven't even started yet and this has been over complicated. You know when you feel like you should have started a video and just done it yourself? I know, I'm sorry. So me, right at the very front, apart from the engine and cab seats obviously. And tyres and all this stuff. Top of the list for me, sat-nav. It's got to be. Sat-nav's top of your list? Are you starting at the front? All right, all right, all right. Food is the highest part of all this, but we'll be nice. Snacks. The sat-nav because there's many times whereby you're researching where we're going to go, where we're going to stay. I'm driving and it just is. Not just that, when you've got, especially for a motorhome, not so much for a campervan, but if you've got a motorhome, knowing where low bridges are or narrow roads. Admittedly, we still drive down them even when we shouldn't. Yeah, when are you going to release our latest trip? I'm not. Two lots of narrow roads that are just impossible. And they were both my fault. I messed up completely. Yeah, trying to get down a narrow road with a trailer and then turn around. It was a horrendous, horrendous mistake on my part. So a sat-nav is really, really important. Okay, my turn. I thought you didn't follow the sat-nav at that point. Well, yeah, we were looking for fuel and it went wrong, went horribly wrong. Hang on, my turn now. Okay. See, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say the reversing camera. No. You're not? No. I would say the reversing camera, especially if you're towing a trailer. It helps, but it's not. No, possibly not an essential. Okay, go on then. You can have blinds. Are they extras now? Yeah. So we have blinds at the front. Okay, I'm not good at this game. Oh, Karcher. Is that an essential? I love our Karcher. I've got to say, yeah, it kind of trumps the sat-nav at this point in time. The Karcher just... Hang on, hang on, let me... I don't know if I can do that. There we go. We've got it all hooked up there. It's great. Go on then, you can unhook. And we have it on a command strip with a little strap as well. Yeah, it's brilliant getting rid of condensation and stuff. You need to do a video on that. It's rechargeable. And no, this is not promoted video. We paid for this ourselves. Yeah, we charged that up probably about five months ago and we've never actually recharged it. In the morning, it takes me less than a minute to clear every window that's condensated, and that's not a minute each to do the lot. Yeah, it's brilliant. All right, then what's your next one? Essential kit for the motorhome. So we're working from the front back. Just pick one. Um, I mean, the power packs. Yes, for us. If you want to stay off grid ever and you have any electronical devices, you need a power pack. Electronical. Electronical. It's a word, it's a made up word, but I say it a lot. I can't say the real thing now. Electrical. Um, yeah, it's brilliant. Electrical device. Stop it. Um, yeah, our power pack for epic. I'm guessing things like chargers and phone chargers that are at the top and music is important, but it's not essential. Um, OK, next essential item that we have got is Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi. Definitely Wi-Fi. Really important. Yes. Yeah, we have used a dongle for years. Um, OK. It was good enough to get around Europe and stuff, but we have just got a, what would you even call it? A proper Wi-Fi. It's a router with a high gain antenna that's fitted to the roof of the van. Yes, because that is, yeah, that's really, really made life easier. Especially for now for uploading videos and things. The next essential one, for me, I mean, it's a pair of gloves for, um, for dealing with the trailers and that lot all the time. Yeah. And I guess also a basic tool kit. Yeah, we carry tools anyway. Um, so I suppose a tool kit, spare bulbs, spare fuses. Next thing, bathroom. Oh, toilet chemicals. So we have been doing an experiment for a long time where we've been using these washing tab things and everyone was like, oh, they're the same as toilet chemicals. They are not the same as toilet chemicals, um, because they just don't work as well, especially when you go up into high altitudes, we've discovered. So yeah, proper toilet chemicals are way better. But the best thing of all is a that we really want to get fitted again. Yeah, we're going to sit on this one because the, we spend most of our time either at very low altitude or very high altitude. In the middle of nowhere. Um, and unfortunately the high altitude pressurizes the toilet cassette and that just creates smell. It does. So yeah, proper chemicals and make sure that they're chemicals that can be safely disposed of as well. Cause not all of them can. I would like to say, I have just started using the Thetford cassette toilet cleaner for your waste tank and for your toilet. I've got to say awesome piece of kit. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really good stuff. It works really, really well. Yeah. I didn't even know you'd use that. Lots of things that you don't know. Okay. I'd say we should probably film it, but does anyone really want to see that? Really? No, no, no, no, but it's not a paid promotion. We bought all this stuff. I bought it as a, a, a, a way of trying to just, just get rid of some of the smells out of the waste tank. Okay. Um, okay. That was mine. Yours next one. Funnel or jerrycan or collapsible jerrycan or something allows us to refill the water tank when you're parked or miles away from anywhere that you can't get out. I've got a thing to show you. Somebody in my Facebook group put a photo of, it's almost like a bend like that. What kind of Facebook group is it? I've got to ask. And this bit goes into the motor. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. And then you pour the liquid. I'm just carrying on regardless. And you pour the liquid into that on the outside of the van. It's a shiwi. It's a shiwi inverted. But it was an awesome idea. So we have a collapsible 15 litre water tank. That's brilliant. Just brilliant piece of kit. It folds flat. You can hide it under any cushion. Yeah. It's really, really, and we've used that loads of time because often, especially in Europe, campsites have like two taps and they're miles away from wherever you happen to be. So even though you have a hose pipe, which is an essential accessory, how long is our hose pipe? We have two hose pipes. One was just broken. That was the flat one again. Sick to death. Yeah. So we're not going to get another flat one that goes up in a reel. The other one is a flexible expandable thing that is okay. Okay. And how long are these? It's supposed to be 25 metres because sometimes we're camping, we can be 40 metres away from a wall. Which is why I would always say like 15 to 20 metres on your hose and then get a collapsible. 20 to 25 metres. But not a flat one. We're always pushed on our hoses when we're having to use campsites. Yeah. That's why we have the collapsible thing. That's why we have the collapsible thing. Because where you're sat right now, underneath it, is the inspection hatch for the water tank, which means that every time I'm filling the water, all I do is lift that cushion up, drop a little bit of Aquasol down there. Aquasol is good too. Aquasol is a very good one. Yeah. Especially where we go because the water is just awful. But if you had a shiwi, I'm going to call it that because that makes sense in my head, you wouldn't have to lift up the inspection hatch. That's right. Which would make sense. Exactly right. That would save me a whole headache. So you should have bought a shiwi. Should have bought a shiwi. Okay, next essential thing. Oh, smoke alarm. CO2 detector. Yeah, they should be fitted. We've got both. We've got a cavernite outside and we've got a smoke alarm. They should be fitted as standard, but older vans might not have them as standard in there. And a fire blanket. We also have a fire blanket. A flyer blanket. A flyer blanket. We fitted that ourselves. All right, go on then, you're going, what's next? So next on there is... Are there any other ifs? A loft. We love our lofts. Plates and cutlery. Mugs. But they're obvious. These. These are fab. These are amazing. Although there are some really cute ones that I've seen that have got little vans on them and stuff. But these, honestly, I'm really rubbish at hot drinks. I'll make one, have like three sips and then forget it exists. And three, four hours, easily. Yeah, it's brilliant. I generally, the last thing I do before I start driving, make coffee. That's it. He makes it at all times. He always makes his own coffee. Always. OK, before we disintegrate on that too much. OK, outside stuff. So we've done hose pipe, electric cable. How long do you recommend? How long do you recommend? We carry two because, again, we've ended up... Well, the two came from the generator, to be honest. Because what I started doing, if we needed the generator when we were in Norway and things, and we were around other people, I'd hide the generator 40 metres away. Would you say a generator was an essential item? For us, yes. It works. Although we've only used it three times. Those three times have been critical. Yes, but we do spend nukes. I have two other items that for us are essential, but nobody else, I believe, is going to need them. OK, we'll go with the normal ones and then you can you can do your random ones. Outside, mirror protectors. Those are amazing. And I would always recommend the better ones, the slightly more expensive ones. I think they're Milenko ones. And there are two different types, short arm and long arm. So make sure you buy the right type for your van. But yeah, the number of times we've scraped the mirror protector, normally in Italy. You say that. Croatia, that time, a German motorhome came straight at us. Wiped out the mirrors completely and not a mark on them. No, they've been really, really good. We do go down some very narrow passageways, though. Even when we don't mean to. As much as we'd like to blame everyone else, a lot of these. In France, we've had transit. I'm just thinking about that tunnel in Italy where it just wasn't physically wide enough for two vans. That was ridiculous. We both stopped and we both had to fold things in. And we still scrape down. Yes, sometimes the road is not wide enough. OK, outside. Oh, chocks for levelling. Chocks for levelling. We haven't used them in ages. We've used them more on campsites than we do while camping. That's true. No, we don't tend to use them when we are camping. No, but we find flat places. That's true. We keep driving until we find one. We just sleep at a 45 degree angle. Nobody cares. They're normally that exhausted by that. I'll tell you what is. I've got one that is imperative based on this last trip. OK, I'm going to go for two that I think are quite essential. One is a solar panel. Well, obviously, if you're going to be spending any time off a campsite, which a lot of people in motorhomes do, I think a solar panel is really important. And the other one's an awning. And on this motorhome, we thought we weren't going to fit an awning and save the weight. And we lasted less than a week before we were in France in the middle of last summer, wasn't it? 40 degrees. Oh, my God, it was so hot and you just couldn't escape it. So we ended up having to order an awning from the UK. They wouldn't ship it out because it was an awning. They refused to ship internationally. We had to drive back to the UK and collect it. So, yes, I think they just essential item that we would have been absolutely crucified with in the last 48 hours without the Milenko tracks for getting off muddy grass. As part of our worst trip in the history of motorhoming trips ever, we managed to get ourselves stuck in a campsite towing a trailer. We weren't even supposed to be staying in this campsite. The roads were crumbling all around us. And the floods were horrendous. So we poured into this campsite. We desperately needed to empty the toilet and sort ourselves out. And we got stuck. It wasn't good. But we had to get a Dutch guy wearing bright red trousers to come and save us. I said come and save us. Yeah. I don't know what he did. This is a good lesson, to be honest. We went onto a field that was graveled, that we looked like proper pitches. Actually, they just poured gravel over us. Because of the storms, we got onto the gravel and sank about three times. Yeah, we weren't foolish enough for once to actually drive onto a field when it had been raining on top for three days. It looked like gravel. So we assumed it was solid. It wasn't. And then it just sunk. It was a mess, wasn't it? Two hours. Yeah, it did take two hours. So, yes, we couldn't have got out of it. What are they called? Mud mats? I don't know what they're called. But they're plastic tracks. You buy them as pairs. And I bought two pairs. And we had this conversation when I bought them. We're never going to need two, you said. Oh, yes, we are, I said. No, we won't. That's just a waste of money. I promise you, one day it will save our life. That was yesterday. It's amazing how good his memory is for things that are all my fault. Okay, go on. Let's move on to your second one. On the outside, the Milenko door lock. Is that an essential? Where we go, yeah. Now, the reason we like the Milenko door lock, and I've done a whole video on this, is that you can lock it from the inside and the outside. So it's brilliant. It's easy to fit. Really easy to fit. I've still got two. I thought those were your two. No, they're not my two. Oh, I thought we were done. I was about to start wrapping up. Right, go on then. So these are two random ones for us. But go on, explain. Satellite phone. The amount of times we're up a mountain with no phone, no signal. It's not an essential. Do not go out and buy a satellite phone, unless you use my Amazon link. In which case, go and buy a satellite phone. It's not an essential. And then the other thing, again, because a certain somebody likes to find the most beautiful and spectacular mountains in the middle of nowhere. You'd miss me if I didn't. You're right, I would. But then says, I need to get on my website. I need to get on my blog. I've got people that are asking me questions. I need to answer them. We've got no network. We've got no signal. So I have now brought a mobile phone booster system, which is very complicated. Have you? Oh, God, yeah. You're sat under it. Or you're sat on top of it. One or the other. A bit of both, actually. Yeah, it's way too big for what we did. But actually, in the middle of nowhere, I jumped on it. So we don't use this normally. This is just here for you to pull out when I'm complaining that I haven't got internet. But of course, you never need it. Dear. Yes. Yes. You don't need to check your email at all or answer phone calls. It's always down to me. Definitely. Yes. But it's there. Do I get a medal for not answering back? No, you just answered back. I didn't answer back. Video evidence that you answered back. I was sarcastic. I wasn't answering back. Oh, my Lord. But actually, it can literally, you point an antenna at the nearest town and it generates a 4G network. That's not an essential either. Right. I think on that note, we're going to stop that. I can't think of any other essentials. And I mean, actually essentials. Drone? Yeah, the drone's an essential. No, no. GoPro? It's not an essential. Mobile phone? Mobile phone's an essential. I'm glad we're prepared for this. We're very professional. If you'd like to see more equally professional and hopefully vaguely helpful videos and you haven't already subscribed, then by all means, hit the little subscribe button and the bell and I'll tell you what our next video is. If you want a list of the essentials that have actually been thought about and pre-planned and considered, it's only an essential. I'm wrapping up. Can I just finish? Snow chains or winter tyres if you're going in winter. If you're not getting a winter, don't worry about it. Travel all year round. Hang on. No, no, no, no. I've got an important one. It's really important. Head torch. Actually, that's on the list. Head torch? It's on the list. It can get in. I use that all the time. See? You do. And you can't look cool in a head torch. We've tried it extensively on some much, much more attractive people than we are. All these head torches that look really smart and everything. Forget it. Energiser head torch is an awesome piece of kit. Other makes are available. Energiser head torch. I'm going. Goodbye.