In all of the vehicles I’ve lived in, I’ve never had a fancy set up. No big electrical systems, solar panels, batteries or gadgets. To me, the simpler, the better. Less to break, less to maintain, less to fix. And if it does need fixed, it’ll be a quick, cheap job.

In the eriba, even on a pitch, I’m trying to continue to live without all of it. Most campsite pitches do have electric hook up available for caravans, but I’ve found that the price of the pitch hugely increases, and if we’re looking for spots that maybe aren’t on a traditional campsite… it might not even be an option. So here’s how I live in a caravan with no hook up.

The power bank. We’ve had this trusty little goal zero yeti for about 5 years now and it’s been in every van we’ve had. It’s the smallest size you can buy, and we charge it as we drive with the 12v socket. It powers our phones, tablets, our ‘big’ light (a goal zero hanging spotlight) and our extra lighting, USB rechargeable lanterns. I do charge my Dremel, and I used to power my electric spinning wheel with it too. Steven does charge his steam deck with it, but it will suck the life out of it quite fast. If you want to power more, then I’d recommend going for a bigger power bank, and maybe getting yourself some solar panels (the goal zero ones literally just plug into the back. No need for inverters/solar control etc).
Lights, as I’ve just mentioned, are all powered by the little power bank. We have a few battery powered fairy lights too, and tea lights for atmosphere.
A hand pump tap in the sink. No wires, no pump, it literally just screws into the sink or counter top and has a pipe below going directly into a small water tank. You pump up and down to pull the water up and there you go. No running hot water I’m afraid… you’ll have to heat it on the hob or on the log burner.

Cooking with gas. We have the original eriba kitchen still, even though I’ve gutted everything else, and it has two gas hob rings, with the gas bottle sitting outside at the nose of the caravan. A gas bottle can last around a year and is about £28 to swap over. If I wanted to, I could power the fridge with gas too, but to be honest… it’s not worth it for how much gas we’d go through. I’m never too far away from a shop and it’s just about buying sensibly and planning, to get around that issue.
Other things I’ve seen people in vans need electricity for in vans tend to be things like ventilation fans… I just use a USB powered desk fan, which barely uses any power from the goal zero. Windows open, fan on, we’re all good.
The big one… heating. For me, a home isn’t a home without a log burner. On long dark winter evenings it provides dry heat, and a warm glow. It’s also excellent back up for cooking if the gas runs out. I love that a log burner will never get an error code or run out of power, and even if you run out of wood, you can always just pop out and forage some from outside if you’re absolutely desperate. I prefer to burn compressed heat logs as they smoulder for longer, and fit into the tiny little lenny burner.

Converting a van, or living in a caravan doesn’t always need to be about kitting it out with every expensive ‘van life’ gadget you can find. And even if you just start simply, you’ll probably discover that you need a lot less of the things you thought you did. Every person and tiny home is different, and everyone has different priorities, but I think living small and simple for a lot of people is about escaping the rat race, so discovering that you don’t need to splurge on lots of over priced things straight away is always nice. Save your money, spend it on fuel.

Also, something to note… at a campsite I do have access to fresh water, laundry and showers, so if you plan to live on the road you might want to consider those things. We tended to just visit a campsite every week or so for those bits, while in a van.

Posts

Simple Caravan Living