It’s a question that’s often asked on social networks: what equipment or accessories do we think are essential for a motorhome vacation or trip?
We’ve had our motorhome since the spring of 2021, and we love this way of traveling. We lived in it for 10 months during our tour of Europe, then used it many times when we came home for vacations.
It’s like a second home to us. So we didn’t hesitate to do a lot of research and make a few small adjustments to make it feel like home.
We tried tooptimize space and buy accessories to protect our motorhome and keep it as long as possible.
Kitchen and bathroom equipment
We’ll start this article with what we think is the most important thing: creating the kitchen and bathroom equipment you’ll be using every day.
Foldable drainer + draining mat
L’égouttoir pliable, vous allez certainement y penser, par contre, nous vous conseillons d’opter pour un tapis d’égouttement en microfibre pour poser votre égouttoir. Même si vous égouttoir est équipé d’un bac pour récupérer l’excédent d’eau, il y a toujours quelques fuites.
It’s also handy if all your dishes don’t fit into the drainer. Then you can hang your rug over the shower to dry!
Protections
Protective felt
C’est également un indispensable pour éviter le bruit et protéger votre vaisselle. Nous en avions inséré une feutrine un entre chaque poêle et casserole.
Non-slip mat
Comme pour les feutrines, c’est important de protéger vos placards, notamment ceux de la cuisine. Car quand vous roulez toute votre vaisselle, va bouger et donc frotter un peu l’intérieur de vos placards. Nous avions inséré un tapis antidérapant dans chaque placard.
Coffee maker
Oubliez la Nespresso ou Senseo, gourmande en énergie, car quand vous serez en bivouac, vous n’aurez pas accès à l’électricité. Nous avions donc opté pour une cafetière italienne, il suffit de remplir le récipient d’eau et le récipient pour le café puis de laisser chauffer sur le feu. C’est un produit que nous avons utilisé tous les jours et nous trouvons le café excellent.
Barbecue grill
Nous nous sommes équipés d’une grille à barbecue en cours de voyage, vous trouverez de nombreux espaces pour faire du feu. Vous pourrez ainsi y faire griller vos viandes et poissons ainsi que vos pizzas.
Water can
Generally speaking, a tank in a motorhome can store between 100 and 120 liters of water. We bought 2 x 20-liter cans during the trip, to give us greater water autonomy.
Foldable bucket
It’s a basic, collapsible bucket or tub for washing clothes, carrying things…
Solid shampoo
Two essentials for traveling light and 0 waste! We’ve been using these products ever since we returned from our round-the-world trip.
Aujourd’hui je prépare moi même notre shampoing solide, dites moi en commentaire si la recette pourrait vous intéresser.
Interior fittings
A second point not to be overlooked is the creation ofstorage space that’s easy to use and doesn’t require too much work.
Hanging organizer
In our opinion, this is the must-have addition to make life easier in the motorhome: thehanging shoe organizer, close to the front door. For our part, we used the bottom pockets for our shoes.
Our daughter has easy access to it. Then, in the top pockets, we stowed outdoor accessories such as hats, gloves, neck wraps, umbrellas, etc. for cold countries, and sun cream, hats and glasses for hot countries.
As well as the equipment we used to go out at night, such as our USB-chargeable headlamps, which have been with us ever since our round-the-world trip. In short, another must-have accessory that will quickly pay for itself.
Storage nets
Nets to be put absolutely everywhere, it sounds very simple, but we hadn’t thought of it before we left… We’ve made a note of it here, as we’ve subsequently had trouble finding any.
We recommend that you each put one above your bed, and I used it to store my reading book, my sleeping mask and my earplugs (some bivouacs weren’t always very quiet). We also had several in the lounge area to store our phones (so we didn’t have to look everywhere for them) and our travel guides.
Foldable clotheshorse
C’est selon nous, également un indispensable, lorsque vous rentrerez d’une session piscine, plage ou d’une randonnée arrosée, si vous aviez prévu de prendre la route ou que le temps ne permet pas d’étendre vos affaires dehors, avoir un étendoir au-dessus de votre douche vous sauvera la vie.
Water from wet clothes can run directly into your shower tray.
Hooks
It’s also a must-have for keys, tea towels and hand towels…. we recommend small adhesive hooks so that you don’t need to make any holes and can remove them easily.
6. Fit out the hold with storage boxes and bags
Some travelers leave with a very well-organized hold, with lots of shelves. If, like us, you’d like to carry out as little work as possible (perhaps to make it easier to resell your vehicle).
We recommend plastic storage boxes. We had 1 large one (1 metre by 50 cm), in which we stored things we hardly ever used. Then two small ones, on top, one with our outdoor stuff, mask, snorkel, snowshoes… and another one with our daughter’s manual activities, painting, stock of toys, little treasures brought back from our walks…
Sorry for the mess in the photo, we were in the middle of tidying up and cleaning out our cargo hold. There’s also a box for storing less frequently used shoes.
Converting a closet into a shelf
We had left the hall closet as a closet when we left, what a mistake, we really didn’t have enough room to store our things and the organization didn’t suit us.
So we added 5 shelves and a pull-out drawer for vegetables. Finally, our coats were folded in one shelf, we had all the others for storing things and what a gro sgain of space.
Electronic equipment
Weather station
We bought one during our trip, as we were using our daughter’s bath thermometer, which wasn’t accurate enough.
Cette station météo est équipée de capteurs sans fils donc vous pouvez en déposer 1 dans l’habitacle et 1 dans le compartiment à gaz par exemple.
You’ll always know what the temperature is inside and outside the motorhome, so you’ll know what to wear when you go out.
JBL bluetooth speaker
For travelers (like us) who can’t do without music! We always carry our JBL Flip bluetooth speaker in our backpack or camper van, and find it really hard-wearing. After many years of use, it’s still as good as new. Note that it can withstand a few splashes or a little rain.
Reading light
Nous avons acheté nos liseuses en 2016, avant de partir en tour du monde, nous avions opté pour la marque Kobo de la Fnac. Édit 2023, elles sont toujours en excellent état après de nombreuses années et heures d’utilisation.
You can easily download several books before you leave or during your trip, so you don’t have to choose just one to limit the weight of your backpack, suitcase or vehicle. It’s an easy , pleasant read. It’s a sustainable purchase for all voyagers, big and small!
This reading light is backlit, so you can read in dimly lit places (buses, hotel rooms and when everyone’s sleeping in the camper van).
Alarm
We fitted ourselves with a motion detector alarm that we activate every time we leave the house, so that if someone breaks in, it emits a loud, unpleasant noise, which we hope will deter potential burglars. Just remember to activate it on your way out and deactivate it on your way in.
Outdoor equipment
Wedge
This is one of the accessories you’ll be taking out most often. For our part, we really needed to be flat to sleep properly , and our daughter enjoyed helping us with this family task. Of course, we recommend you buy a spirit level.
Water hose
We recommend you choose an extendable water hose for easy storage in your hold.
Sika
Les joints de votre camping-car sont fragiles, nous vous recommandons d’avoir toujours à portée de main du Sika, de la colle pour les joints de votre camping-car.
Laser
Think about it, it can be useful for measuring the height of a bridge, because as you can see in some countries, such as Italy or Greece, to name but a few, bridge heights are not always indicated.
It saved us in Italy, in the Puglia region, where we really thought we were going over a bridge, but when in doubt we checked it out, and the verdict from our laser was that we weren’t going over at all. We can’t always rely on our human eyes to measure distances or heights…
Folding saw
À avoir également à portée de main, une scie pliable, vous pourriez en avoir besoin pour couper une branche qui vous empêche de passer ou pour couper du bois pour les feux de camps sur les bivouacs quand c’est autorisé.
Children’s accessories
Our daughter had just blown out her first candle when we bought our campsite, so we had to equip ourselves to adapt the spaces for a baby and then for a little girl during our 10 months in the motorhome.
Of course, our daughter didn’t lack for anything during our long trip, and she even took her baths in a bathtub – the ultimate luxury.
Folding bathtub
Nous avons opté pour la baignoire pliable Stokke (très légère, la qualité est vraiment top avec un petit bouchon pour vider l’eau), qui rentrait pile-poil, dans notre douche de salle de bain. Nous l’utilisions également beaucoup pour les bains à l’extérieur.
It’s great to be able to take a bath in a camper van – our 3-year-old daughter still uses it. There’s also a deckchair for the little ones. It’s the thing to have when traveling with a small child.
Car seats
It’s something we spent a lot of time on, as we knew it was going to be used since we drove it for around 15,000 kilometers.
The Isofix system is not generally found on motorhomes, except on very recent models. For example, ours is a 2011 model, with no Isofix system, whereas our 2006 car has an Isofix system.
As you can see, we had to buy a car seat with a belt attachment system. So once again we scoured the internet for reviews, and now we consult the Sécurange website every time we buy a car seat.
Nous avons opté pour le Maxi-Cosi Beryl (qui ne pivote pas) en camping-car il y a plus de place, notre fille pouvait monter dans son siège toute seule.
Baby carrier
Our daughter was 1.5 years old when we left, so we decided to take our ergonomic & physiological baby carrier with us.
Umbrella bed
Carpets
It’s also an accessory we use almost daily, so you can sit quietly outside, discreetly, or have a quick lunch without having to take out your tables and chairs. We recommend you take a thick one to make yourself comfortable.
Customized netting
We created a bespoke safety net for our daughter’s cot, as we wanted a system where she could be safe at night but still be able to get out on her own if need be.
Matthieu’s mom was responsible for the design and manufacture of this super net. If you’d like more information, we can send you our plans.
Accessories for digital nomads
As you probably know, we travel and work at the same time. It’s already quite an organization to reconcile everything, and we also do our utmost to work in good conditions.
This starts, of course, with quality equipment. So we invested in a laptop stand and a keyboard.
Notebook stand
We really like this model, because it’s easy to use and compact (another very important criterion for us), for a small budget.
Keyboard and mouse
Matthieu works on a Mac and I on a PC, so we each chose a model adapted to our computer and Bluetooth. Mattieu is very pleased with his purchases, which recharge via USB.
While I find my PC keyboard very pleasant and similar to my computer keyboard, the only downside is that it runs on flat batteries, so I have to remember to switch it off after each use to try to conserve the batteries as long as possible.
And sometimes we work on our camping chairs…
Now you know everything you theoretically need in your motorhome! If it makes you feel any better, we bought a lot of equipment along the way. Tell us in the comments what your vanlife indispentables are!
Nous nous sommes également équipés pour nos 15 jours en camping-car en Bretagne et pour nos 4 mois en Scandinavie. Si cet article a été utile n’hésitez pas à déposer 5 étoiles ci-dessous.
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