UKH

i am converting my van and intend to spend the winter in scotland this year.

Has anyone any thoughts or experience with setting up a dry room or getting kit dry after a day out, while living in a van?

I am looking into buying a gas heater, made for campers for general warmth and comfort. i figure it will dry out clothes and ropes but also thinking about the condensation build up.

i am also thinking of covering front seats in plastic and using cab as drying area.

Look forward to hearing any ideas! Thanks

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

I'd be more inclined to use a small woodburner/solid fuel stove, & have vents/skylights for moisture to escape thru.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Not a van solution but when I sleep in the car I hang a rope between the two roof handles above the passenger and drivers seat window for hanging clothes then stick the heating on for half an hour with my gloves on the dash, gets the worst off.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Regardless of drying stuff out, you're going to get condensation build up. You'll probably create more from cooking and breathing to be honest, especially if you're long terming in it. From experience, a lot of winter van living involves some driving every day - to get to hill/crag, going shopping, finding somewhere to shower etc. These are the times to get the heaters blowing on max and things drying out - gloves and hats etc on dashboard; rack/harness/ropes hanging from ceiling behind the seats and blowers pointed at them; boots in the passenger footwell facing heater blowers; jackets and trousers inside out on the passenger seat to dry the insides. After that, when you're parked up, anything else is a bonus!

Roof vent would defo be the first thing I would think about - if you can fit one yourself it actually seems to be a reasonably cheap job (current van doesn't have one, next van definitely will!). Failing that, for a cheaper adn easier solution of sorts, invest in the "weather deflectors" for the front door windows - means you can have both windows down an inch or so and if you've got a breeze then it helps a hell of a lot to remove condensation.

I've got a "bike box" arrangement in the back of my van which gets lots of hanging lines in it for winter trips when there's no bikes in it. This seems to be the easiest way to section off wet/stinky kit from the living area, as well as letting you hang a lot of stuff up and keep it out your way (crampons hanging from ceiling whilst you're cooking ain't great...). Anything you hang up in the "living area" will just pick up extra condensation when you cook as well.

All depends on your budget and van layout I guess - if you could create a boxed off area and afford to buy and run a heater in it, as well as vent that area, you'd be well on your way to a solution I reckon. But taking a 10 mile drive with heaters on max is still your best friend!

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

This is the drawback of using vans in the winter.

Taking 2 lots of kit can help but storage is an issue.

Fit a webasto or similar and leave it running with windows open a bit while you are in the pub or out for the day. You could also consider fitting a 12 volt extractor fan.

All this will help but will not be as efficient as a good drying room.

I have given up on my van in winter other than for single day hits or if the weather is absolutely stellar. It makes more sense both logistically and economically to use a bunkhouse or hut.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

In my DIY transporter-camper plans, I've more or less concluded, that I want separete "gear storage" and living quarters. This means building a separating wall roughly half a meter from the rear door(s) with hooks and whotnot to hand stuff like ropes, tools, rack, crampons and shell jacket plus troos. What is also needed is a separate vent on the roof and heat.

For heat I was planning on using the standard Webasto and just putting in a tri-valve or something on the warm air piping. One would lead to the back and the other the the back compartment. I might even be tempted to build a sort of boot-dryer there (ie. hose with plugged tube at the end with holes, that fits in the shoe).

If you're installing gas for a stove anyway to the van, an additional (radiating) space-heater could also come in handy. but beware, you'll need empty room around those (ie. it's going to eat up valuable space). Plus warm/hot moving air is better than just radiating heat. So perhaps look into (marine) heaters that both move air and warm it.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

I'm planning the same thing (might see you in some carpark somewhere!) and my plan is to use the diesel heater blower I've installed leaving the roof vent slightly open. I will get a couple of drying racks from the pound shop and put up all my wet clothes on them. Hopefully this will dry most stuff. Still not sure how best to dry ropes though.

In reply to Ramon Marin:


What you'll want it to hang 'em from somewhere, a closed space with a vent at the top and forced heated air from the bottom...

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Good luck!

I spend weeks at a time in my van working, but I agree with the chap who says 'use bunkhouses' if you want to be dry and comfortable in reality. I am in the lap of luxury in my van, as it is a small motorhome rather than a van per se, and therefore I have heaters and a toilet area where I hang kit. That said, without a small generator going, I can't use the blowers long enough to really get stuff dry like gloves, sacks and ropes.

I use silica boot dryers from Dampire to good effect, but I see they have gone bust, shame.

I try to take enough spare kit that I can just forget the wet stuff for a week or so, go home, clean and dry everything, and back again. You could use laundries (there's a good one in Caol outside FW), but service washes are expensive.

During summer months, I set up lines as the other poster said, across the seats etc, but even then the van can feel musty, and leaving windows open isn't usually an option due to midges! Finally, if the winter is as cold as we want it to be, the condensation will be significant, really compromising your ability to dry things.

Sorry to be negative here, but with all the relative luxuries I am lucky to have, it's still a chore in winter....the nights are long to be cooped up in a damp, fusty environment, when there's a warm fire, lit kitchen and a drying room at the bunkhouse.......

On a slight side-note, after having had the MH for a year now, done 13k in it and used it all through the winter for jobs, I cannot help but wonder why fashion (IMO) drives everyone to conversions and VW's if you are seriously going to use it for work or extended play? My MH is only 5.5m long, does 33mpg, and is very comfortable, I have a shower, a toilet, heating and room to swing a proverbial. I can survive freezing conditions in relative comfort, and unless you have a 4x4 VW, can get to most the places vans can in snow. Surely a cheap old small MH is more practical, wouldn't cost a lot more, and certainly more comfortable? I don't mind not being 'cool'......

In reply to JohnnyW:


A few of the reasons might be, size... For me, it's going to be the only car and I do live in the biggest town in Finland and do have to drive downtown. So it needs to fit into garages (generally 2m limit) and also ferries and such are more spendy on an RV/MH than on a van.

Another thing to consider, is going abroad. Generally camping not on (paid) camping grounds can be a no-no... And RVs stick out really easily, where as a stealthy van might just make it without incidents. Same goes for burglars, an RV might be a good target where as a van might not (as long as it doesn't look like a conversion, climbing mobile).

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Just done exactly what youv'e asked for the Scottish season, newish van, new conversion. I've made a combined shower cubicle come drying room, Propex heater blows hot air through it then out the skylight in the roof. Not had chance to try it out yet but hope for good things as last year in the old small van condensation from wet gear was a bugger. Agree the odd day in a bunkhouse is handy if its really minging. I used to lap the ropes out across the dashboard, if its a sunny it dried, but all that water had to go somewhere! Found out were, when I drove off I got a free shower from the roof, not a great fan of leaving the window open in the van with the gear on display either, hopefully the new cubicle will fix this!

In reply to JohnnyW:

I agree with a lot of that tbh, but main drivers for us going for van over something more comfortable were that we can get onto the Calmac Ferries as a car if under 5m (so no prebooking and a LOT cheaper) - which we do a few times each year visiting family / holidaying and also the Stealth factor - for some reason folk are a lot less annoyed by white vans parked up for the night than motor homes....

Also our setup still lets us use it as a van which comes in handy quite a lot.

MH would definitely feel like a world of luxury though, esp in winter!!

Cheers,

Stu

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Hi Rhys,
I tend to take multiple outfits so that I can have something dry on every second day or similar, but also plan around passing a pub or similar every couple of days so that I can sit and steal heat to dry off what I'm wearing + a sneaky extra layer or 2. Depending on where your aiming for that may or may not be practical.

For anything longer than a week in winter, I'll end up spending a night in a hostel/hut/bunkhouse. Check with local community councils though, quite a few in the highlands/Islands will be able to point you at somewhere in their area that you can have a shower etc for £1. A warm shower and a radiator that you can drape stuff over for 45mins makes a big difference to a dreich trip!

Gloves are the biggest pain for me though as stupidly expensive. I experimented last year with putting re-chargeable hand warmers inside them, putting them in a box with some silicon boot drying balls as a mini drying room for gloves and socks. Worked OK, at least normally ended up with the interior of the gloves drying out....

If you've a LWB van you can setup a drying room / cupboard quite easily with a heater and de-humidifier (not as effective as a hut room though as no power for de-humidifier). Unfortunately our van is SWB so nowhere near enough room for that!

Unless your really skint I would consider booking a hostel / bunkhouse. Go for somewhere central where you can head east or west to chase the weather. Plus you get to socialise with folk other than your climbing partner.........
You can then use your van for the odd night away from the hostel for stuff further afield.



Cheers,

Stu.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

If you have the power for it, leisure battery, goal zero etc then why not try a small dehumidifer?
They seem to be cheap and compact, would it work?

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

This sort of thing could be part way to an answer to the problem:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AZZB5UY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UT...

I'll be getting some shortly for our van, I'm hoping it will take the edge off the coldness.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Take a lot of clothes. I found travelling in November for six weeks meant that even the most technical light weight fabrics could take quite a while to dry. I had a washing line rigged up behind the driver and passenger seat, and another on the non side door side of the van. Shoes in the passenger footwell while you're on the move with the heater on, gloves and socks on the dash board. When the weather and your plans allow, hang stuff outside - my bike rack on the back did a good job as a washing line.

In reply to Rhys Macallister:

Blocking off a section at the rear of the van worked for me.
https://verticalfever.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/p1070841.jpg
Just needed to route a pipe from the airblown system into the 'garage' and make sure there is some kind of ventilation on the roof to avoid condensation, I installed a spinning roof vent that was cheap and easy to do. If your van has 240v hook up available then I would also recommend a ski boot dryer which are reasonably priced on Amazon and buy a decent dehumidifier to use once in a while too.
There are a few bunkhouses here in Fort William that may allow you to use the drying room for a small fee, you just have to ask around.
Best of luck