VW T5 Campervan and Sea Kayaking Pt1

It looks like the perfect sea kayaker’s vehicle.

A great base for several days away from home, with no B&Bs to pay and the freedom to come and go as you please. The reality is somewhat different.

(More - Pt 2 of this article. All Campervan issues.)

It’s almost a year since we bought our VW T5 Campervan, so now is a good time to think through some of the good and bad points of using it for sea kayaking.

Firstly, the conversion. We looked at several models but settled on one by Jerba Campervans, who’re based just outside Edinburgh in North Berwick. Family owned, Simon Poole has been superb to deal with, and deal with him we have had to do. Because as this tale, told over several days will reveal, we have had more than our share of problems. Poor Simon, he now dreads opening e-mails from me.

I'll start by explaining what we bought and why.

It’s a Cromarty conversion, based on a long wheelbase VW Transporter T5. Customers first specify the van model they want, and Jerba go and buy it. If you decide you want air conditioning (we didn’t - mistake) or rear parking sensors (we did - great idea) then this is the stage to do it. It comes as a basic panel van and, in the case of Jerba, they fit windows along the side.

This threw up our first problem. Some VW side windows leak. It’s a known fault. But who should fix it under warranty? VW, who supplied the window, or Jerba who fitted it?

In theory, it should be able to be fixed by any VW Van Specialist under warranty. But Howco in Inverness simply did not want to know. So I had to drive it to Edinburgh Van Centre, the company which supplied the van to Jerba and between whom there is a long standing relationship, to have it repaired. Simple enough, but that’s a six hour return trip.

This should be the first point of concern for anyone having a conversion. Does the conversion alter anything in the VW Warranty? And if it does, who’ll fix it should anything go wrong? Its seems obvious now, but it never crossed my mind at the start.

After reading this, Simon Poole subsequently wrote the following and asked me to add it:

When we order from VW we order a Window Van and not a Panel Van, this means that all the windows are factory fitted and not later by us. Your leak issue was the seal on the slide opening window and all such warranty issues will be covered for repair by any VW Commercial Van Centre in the UK.

I'm sure he's right, but Howco in Inverness did not want to know. However, Simon adds the following:

Our conversion doesn't affect the VW warranty and in fact in the last few weeks we have been approved by VW as one of their official suppliers of their T5 Motorhome based vehicle (only 5 other UK converters have this - Bilbo's, Autosleeper, Reimo, Murvi and Torbay. All based down south). It's been a long road to gain this, but it now means that we are recognised as a leading converter and have started appearing in the motorhome press!

The Motorhome spec vehicle is basically a T5 with quite a few bells and whistles - colour coded bumpers and mirrors, upgraded radio, cab comfort items including carpets, extra vents, storage pockets etc etc. It's not a base spec that suits everyone as many folk are happy without colour coding and carpets!

The Jerba conversion is superb. It makes fantastic use of space, with lots of well placed cupbaords, room under the triple rear seat for storage, and an easily converted, large rear bed.

We nearly bought the short wheelbase, but we’re relieved we didn’t. That extra 40cm in front of the rear wheel arch adds very useful space, and means one person can do things in the van while the other is in bed.

It adds to the price, but does not make it any more difficult to drive. (Except when parking in supermarkets, but then with kayaks on the roof, you have to take care there anyway). It also adds nothing to the official fuel consumption figures.

Ah yes, fuel consumption. Under 30 mpg is normal. We bought the 2.5L engine, on the advice of a builder friend who advised the 190 lacked pull.

I’m not sure it was a wise move, but anyway, the fuel figures are similar.

Naively we wondered whether this might be the only vehicle we’d need. Living in the Highlands, where a trip to the nearest supermarket is 50+ miles, we quickly realised this was not an economic option.

So the van tends to be used for sporting occasions; when we’re heading out kayaking or mountain biking and need a base to work from. It tends to sit around for a couple of weeks at a time, especially over winter. That feels like a waste of tax and insurance, but it’s too expensive to use as a run-around. We haven't really ocme to terms with this yet.

It’s fantastic when we want an early start on the day. We can head out the previous evening to launch site and go from there. It has quickly become our holiday home - on wheels. It doesn’t feel at all like camping, except when we have to go to the toilet. More about which later.

While we were filming the jounrey section of the DVD, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, it was our mobile base. Some long shuttle journeys were involved in moving it, Jim’s borrowed van and Gordon’s mini-bus up the coast.

Immediately we finished filming that, we were off to the Western Isles for three weeks kayaking and filming Patrick & Mick's attempt to kayak to the Faroes.

Again, it was a superb base. I thought we’d eat out, but we ended up eating in the van almost every night. Sometimes we stayed in campsites, other times we camped wild. It was summer, so the wet kit easily dried outside before we went to bed.

With the awning up, we had far more space than we needed. As far as I can see, for two people the main advantage of the awning is that it reserves your spot on a campsite. If you've paid for a couple of nights, but head off kayaking during the day, it's not great to discover someone has nipped into 'your' spot while you were away. Carrying thhe awning take up a lot of luggage space, but it is useful in that regard.

It also serves as an 'air-lock' for midges! Keep a coil burning in here and they won't get near the van.

What made this such a comfortable base, even in the hot weather of June, is the pop-up roof. Hinged at the rear, the raised roof has a window in the front and midge netting on the sides. With the roof down, we’ve a snug space. With the roof up, two people can easily stand and move around, and with the netting uncovered, a cooling breeze can blow through the van.

We developed a 'system' involving plastic stacking crates. we kept our clothes in these, and our kayaking kit in tough, waterproof garden crates. The lids could be fastened onto these, and we stored them outside the van wherever we stopped.

One problem. Our roof collapsed!

Back in May, at the Scottish Sea Kayak Symposium, we were carrying the Cetus’ on the roof and sleeping in the car park at the Gaelic College, when a kayaker I was speaking to looked over my shoulder and pointed. “Your roof - it’s bent”.

So began a saga I shall continue in another posting.