The Campervan and Motorhome Book

You know you are ready to move up to motorhoming when your back protests every time you wind up the stays, you make excuses not to tow, there's nowhere left to put anything, you feel the need for better security when free camping, you hate making camp in the rain and you need the "security" of a toilet right behind the drivers seat etc. Along these lines the book starts off on how to choose the right vehicle, as motorhomes are just as bigger minefield area as picking a caravan/camper and of course they are generally much more expensive. Very good sensible advice here on travelling lightly with a huge emphasis of the number one enemy weight. There are excellent lists of the estimated weights for everything you are likely to carry - a real eye opener! In our case we were over to blazes with books! 

Collyn suggests that you buy the smallest vehicle that will suit your needs. He discusses the choice of fuel in great detail even to the point of explaining graphically just how a diesel works. There is even a chapter on building your own vehicle such as converting an old bus etc. This is an excellent section and covers the weight of various materials etc. Electrics/solar/batteries is covered in excellent easy to read and understand detail and enough info provided to allow you to easily assess your own wattage. The solar section even gives maps of expected sun hours all over Australia for both winter and summer. Lighting types and inverters are well covered as Collyn is very heavily into self sufficient off road camping so he really knows this subject. A'vans are spot on as they use Halogen globes in the reading lights  - but not the main and the outside light! We liked the fridge section as it is not at all vague and at last the actual brands are mentioned.  Fitting a 12 volt compressor to a small domestic fridge is also covered.  Now this is true DIY!

Of particular interest to those about to retire on just the pension is an enlightening section on budgeting on the road listing all expected costs. According to Collyn, with the right setup your costs can actually be lower than living at home. We only have one criticism of the book - it desperately needs an index! An example - we read the book for this review and remembered seeing a reference to a company who guarantee to get medical help to you anywhere in Australia. An A'vanner emailed about medical problems on the road and we could not find the reference again!

The book is A4, plastic cover, sturdily wire bound and runs to 85 pages. Our son publishes music books and we have found this to be the most robust type of binding presently available. This book can DEFINITELY benefit camper and caravan owners not even thinking about moving up to motorhoming just yet. Cost is $37.00 which includes postage anywhere in Australia.  Absolutely recommended.

Bob Eustace

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