Campervan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A campervan is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term mainly describes vans that have been fitted out for use as accommodation. They are considered as an alternative to the purpose-built recreational vehicle or motorhome because they are smaller and handle more like most vans.

Typically, they are equipped with a "pop-up" roof which is raised during camping and can sleep usually two adults, although most modern campervans have a fixed hightop roof.

They have a very small kitchen with a small gas/electric refrigerator and a two-three burner gas hob and grill. For lighting, they would have dual-voltage lighting which can work off either a separate battery to the car battery known as a 'leisure battery', which are equipped in almost all modern motorhomes, or off the AC power, which is supplied in most campsites via a hook-up cable.

They are sometimes commonly known as Dormobiles or caravanettes in the UK, or as 'Kombis' in Australia and the rest of the world. This trend started in the 1950's after Volkswagen commissioned the Westfalia company to use the Kombi version of their Type 2 transporter as the basis for a campervan.

Since the 1970s, the Japanese full-size vans like the Toyota Hiace and the Nissan Urvan, as well as the Ford Transit, Fiat Ducato and the Bedford vans became popular as "base vehicles" for campervans.

There are several types of campervan all manufactured by Volkswagen but depending on their age they are coloquialy referred to as either a splitty (split windscreen) a bay (bay framed windscreen) or a bricky ("brick" shaped van). Every year VW vans of all age and type gather at Vanfest held in the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. This event takes place on the second weekend of September each year. It is a two day festival where many attendees choose to camp their in their vans. Of course you don't need to have a van to attend. You may just want to have a fun time and look at all the colourfully painted vans (even Scooby Doo replicas!). There are also fair rides and stalls where everything you would ever need for you van can be bought.