The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

Casper, I've only been to the north in the van - Dolomites, Lakes, Verona, Venice & Trieste.
As you say the people are friendly and willing to help - it's just that in the middle of summer the campsites get jam packed and noisy - not our thing. We had some friends spend a few weeks on the Croatian coast and it was the same there.

That was my thinking also - the fuel tank filler takes up a bit of room on the passenger side and the extra room on the other side effectively gives 100mm extra armroom in bed.
Over time the way we use the van has changed, and we find that we only ever turn the drivers seat. That being the case I'd say that putting the units right up to the back of the drivers seat would have been a better option, since the passenger seat can be pushed back further when turned. Would have given the missus a bit more legroom too 

No it shouldn't damage anything.
I wondered if it might give starting problems if the leisure battery was discharged, but my head started to hurt.

If you are triggering the relay from the ignition then you will be starting the engine with the liesure battery as well as the main battery?

Have been meaning to update the build log with the winters work, but here's the short story
Mixed results. I didn't seem to be getting the full 100W, rather half that @3A in full summer sun - but I suspect that this is a measurement problem with my meter, which after mods was showing 4A in yesterdays sun.
The panel is mainly used to power the fridge, however once the battery dropped below 12V, it would stop working due to the voltage drop at startup. So that meant it would only work for 2 nights using about 25% of the battery capacity.  Increasing the wire size and providing a local ground will hopefully fix that and allow me to use 50% of the battery.
However the main issue, that none of the manufacturers will tell you about, is that any kind of shadow on the panel will kill your output voltage. So on my panel covering an area as small as 5cm x 5cm, will stop the battery charging. So with the roofbox in place, and the panel on the rear of the roof, its almost impossible to get a full days charge. So for this year I've moved the panel to the roofbox.

After saying all that, although it was not as good as I had hoped, it was great to be able to park up and go out all day without having to worry about what might be happening with the fridge. On other thing was that we went away for 10weeks over the winter, and left the van outside - with the battery connected. Since the solar controller also trickle charges the main battery, the van started instantly when we returned.

With the van we've always used P&O at Dover, and Stena for Liverpool-Belfast without issues at checkin.
Have used DFDS in the past and found them cheap but very unprofessional.

Oddly according to the DVLA, the "body type" e.g. motor caravan, only defines what the vehicle looks like, and not what it is necessarily used for. The "taxation class"  e.g PLG defines how it is being used. However for motor caravans under 3t, they also confirm that PLG is the correct taxation class!
With the ferry company, I think that they just want to make sure that the vehicle is not a commercial van, so side windows and general camper layout should be enough. The risk is that they could treat it as a van or motorhome, which will be more expensive but I was ready to argue the point on the basis that the body is the same as the 806.

With my online bookings, P&O Dover usually take a £5 deposit, rather than the whole amount.

I ended up fitting a switch to the side and the rear doors, to disable the central locking when needed.
In addition I found some sash jammers that were a good fit for the front doors

Lift the cover out and stick your hand in to the right, and there is another drain hole. It it should be dry, but if it is blocked then there will be water lying there. The other end of the rubber pipe is flat, so it does not take a lot to block it up.
I found this out last winter, when I lifted the front rubber floor, and found water - a lot of water. Had to get a dehumidifier, and run it for a week with the rubber lifted off the floor.

If you are staying in campsites, then electric is a good option, especially given the size constraints in the van.
We have used all sorts of methods, but I have to say that the single ring induction hob has been the easiest to use.
For backup the £10 aerosol type cooker works fine and refills are easy to get. Also handy is are the resealable Coleman type canisters with a small ring (like msr pocket rocket) - when you just want to boil a kettle.
In the past we have used campingaz 2 ring burner with a 907, and it lasted for months -so  we switched to a 904. But tbh I found the whole thing a bit bulky. Using the BBQ is another way to save on gas.
In a van this size, personally I don't really want to be cooking inside, so this has a large bearing on what systems to use. I've seen examples of small van conversions with built in gas rings, which to me,  just seems impractical.

Yes, the back of mine is rusting as well. I just scraped as much of the rust off as I could, filled in the holes,  painted with some rust inhibitor and hammerite. I'll need to do the same again this year - so its a bit of a losing battle, but maybe it helps to slow the process a bit. When I lifted the ramp floor, I could see that water had been getting trapped and the metal floor was starting to rust.
In the end I had to put a floor down, due to the the fixing points on the bed being narrower than the ramp well.