Time to warm things up

As regular readers will know, I'm a big advocate for being as comfortable as possible whilst camping. Years of camping under canvas in the rain have taught me to keep things as dry and warm as possible - once you start to feel cold and damp it's already too late!

Camping in the depths of winter in the UK comes with some great perks -  the campsites are generally quieter, the scenery is as equally stunning as Summertime, Christmas shopping trips are cheaper than finding city hotels and, most importantly; it fights-off that 'hibernation' feeling when only camping from April to October.

So to complement the insulation work (one of the first jobs done on the van), time has come to think about comfortably camping in the van all-year-round.

After a few phone-calls, we made our first visit yesterday to Ribblesdale Auto Electrics in Preston to discuss the fitting of an Eberspacher Airtronic D2 kit.

The Airtronic seems to be the tried-and-tested route for heat in many motorhomes. Excellent quality, reliability, warranty, after-sales and service make this unit the obvious choice. Having seen a few of these already fitted to T5s we knew it could be done.

We chatted with Graham, a friendly and knowledgeable chap at Ribblesdale, who suggested the unit be fitted internally under the driver's seat - the advantages being that there is less ducting of hot air, therefore more efficient heat and the unit is sat 'upright' as oppose to on it's side when fitted under the vehicle (the unit can be side-mounted but again, doesn't run as efficiently), internally-mounted also has the advantage of keeping the heater itself clean and dry, away from the elements - potentially increasing the lifespan and lengthening service intervals.

So, we're booked in. For the end of October - they've said one full day for fitting and testing, but to be on the safe-side we're letting them have the van for two days. We've gone for the full package which includes a 7-day timer (just like your central heating at home) and an extra silencer so as not to annoy any neighbouring campers.

I'm so looking forward to reporting back after a toasty night away in the depths of Winter!