A friend had some questions

How are the pole clips attached to the canvas?

Ours are attached via a small loop of black webbing which is sewn into the seam of the main Skadu canvas.

Here's a picture:

How do you attach the guy ropes?

There are 2 normal guy uses and we have added a third. The front edge of the Skadu has nylon D rings which has a short bit of guy to hold the suction cup and a longer guy to be pegged out along the side of the van or be attached to a wheel trim or wing mirror. In this case both guys are simply tied to the D rings. We found the supplied suction cups that hold the Skadu to the van not terribly good so bought much stronger ones (from Amazon).

When putting the Skadu up on poles we use 2 guy ropes coming out at angles from the pole. To attach to the pole we simply tie a small loop in the end of the guy rope and slip it over the pole's spike. Tension will subsequently keep this in place.

Because we had the Skadu up on one unsheltered site where the wind got up and was bending the poles and threatening to lift the entire awning we also added some guys to the back of the Skadu when it is in the configuration of one end on the back of the van and the other end on the ground (this is our normal use, to make a rear porch for the Romahome). These guys we tied to one of those small loops of webbing that hold the pole clips in - so our clips must be in strongly as those bits of webbing took quite a strain when the wind was blowing a hooley.

This picture just about shows both the two additional rear guys to hold the Skadu against the strong wind and also our new improved suction hooks (Oh, and we like those neat collapsible tables/stools too!)

Will the sides fit when the Skadu is on the van?

My previous blog post has a picture of the Skadu on the rear of the van (like above) but with the back end of the Skadu raised on its poles. That way it is pretty much the same height off the ground as if it were standalone on the 4 poles and so, as the picture shows the velcro-on sides fit pretty well.

When the Skadu is set up with one end on the van and the other on the ground (as in the picture above)  then attaching the sides means a lot of fabric will be on the ground. It may be possible to gather this up in some way and be able to peg it down but it won't be a particularly tidy solution.

Liz is a talented seamstress and she has made our own triangular shaped side panels which fit on the Skadu when it is as shown above. She bought some green ripstop nylon and spent quite a while fiddling with angles and dimensions to get it right.  It has the advantage that the new side extends along the van a little - on the side with the fridge vent the new side passes the vent thus stopping the wind blowing directly into the fridge vent, a major source of draughts in a Romahome. Of course we peg this well away from the van side as as not to impede the ventilation of the fridge.

Sadly we don't have a picture of this at the moment but will update this when we do.

Skadu Too - a versatile awning/shade/cover for everyone

Perhaps VDub owners might not agree but we Romahomers consider our vans to be the pinnacle of minimalistic campervan design. And Liz and I are always on the lookout for accessories that complement that minimalism; chairs and tables that fold away to nothing, collapsible or stackable pots and pans, innovative storage solutions, our van has them all. So when we saw a picture of someone with a Skadu on their van we knew we just HAD to buy one!

The Skadu is a minimalistic awning/shade that is held in a rigid half clamshell shape by three fibreglass tent poles. Two long (4.5m) fibreglass poles cross externally and fit into corner pockets and then pole clip along the length of the awning, a small tie holding the cross point in place. A shorter (2.6m) pole fits across internally and ensures bowing in the other direction.

There are no instructions provided, not even a diagram but assembly is both obvious and easy, although the longer poles are quite long and so a bit unwieldy but simply insert one of the (rubber protected) ends into a corner pocket and advance along the line of clips until reaching the opposite pocket. A little pressure is required to bow the pole to slip into the corner pocket but it's not much effort and certainly no more (and probably much less) than fitting regular awning poles. Repeat with the other pole and tie the cross in the centre. Now reach inside and fit the cross pole, again into two pockets but no pole clips this time. We found it easiest to bow this pole downwards or sideways and once in both pockets rotate into the upright position and tie off. To complete the assembly there is a small black mesh 'pocket' that simply toggle clips into loops on the inside roof; handy to allow small items or for a torch or light to provide night lighting.

The hardest part of assembly of the brand new awning was actually getting the pockets to open, but they were much easier on second and subsequent times once they had loosened from their factory newness.

So what does it look like once assembled?

Just a simple teardrop but even like this it is extremely useful. Pegged down it makes a good space to store camping accessories such as chairs and tables overnight in the dry, or even as a pitch marker with equipment and hook-up cable stowed out of the rain for those quick trips off site.

Hytop Romahomes like mine are tall, almost 2.3m tall, which means that many conventional awnings don't fit well. Let's see if the Skadu fares any better.

That fits nicely, and importantly, the fibreglass poles shape the Skadu so that just away from the van it is actually higher than the van; this is important, it means the back door doesn't foul on the awning. In fact the door opens almost all the way until it is flat with the van before it starts to rub on the Skadu; so many of our previous attempts at finding the perfect awning been scuppered by this problem.

Of course, the Skadu doesn't just fit a Romahome, it will fit any vehicle up to the Romahome's height and probably a bit taller. Shorter vehicles like vehicles based on Transit or VW vans will just have not such a steep angle for the Skadu but it should provide a back porch quite nicely.

The more eagle-eyed of you may have spotted a small rubber suction cup on the front of the Skadu. These are designed to hold it close to the van. In reality we found them to be one of the few things that didn't really work for us, we just couldn't get the supplied suction cups to stay stuck to the van - it didn't help that one of them had been rolled in the packaging and so was no longer flat - hopefully a little hot water will remedy that. However the idea is very sensible and we plan to replace the factory supplied sucker cups with a couple of better quality ones. The two guy ropes that are attached to the awning itself are terminated with a small plastic hook. This makes it a simple task to clip the guys to the wheel trim, or, as we have done, loop the guys over the van's wing mirrors.

So the Skadu works as a rear porch or sun-shade - what about vans with a side door or when you want a side awning?

It works just as well as when on the back of the van and once again it would work equally as well on vans less tall than the Romahome where the awning would cover an even bigger distance away from the van than the 2m in our case. And even simpler to install - in this case the two attached guy ropes have just been pulled over the roof of the van and clipped to the wheel trims on the opposite side.

Ah, but the Skadu also comes with 4, 3-section, painted, lightweight, steel tent poles which are 1.5m high when connected, along with 4 additional guy ropes. Each pole needs a couple of guying points so the supplied four guy ropes are only enough if you attach the centre of the guy rope to the pole and guy then ends; this means only one of the pair of guys will benefit from the tensioner. We decided it would be easier to have a separate guy rope for each guying point; since there are two guys that are permanently attached to the Skadu we provided two additional ones of our own, which are quite prominent in the photo below. Anyway, let's see what it is like as a stand-alone awning/shelter:

Well, I think I deserve a few minutes in the shade, don't you?

The Skadu original is as above, but  ours is the new version, the Skadu Too, which adds side panels to the stand-alone awning. The panels are shaped to fit and have small toggles which hold them in place at the centre of the long sides and in each corner. Then along the edges of both the awning itself and the side panels there are strips of hook and loop fastener to neatly attach the panels - a few tent pegs at the ground and you are done. Sadly your reviewer forgot that he would need additional tent pegs for the side panels so the photograph below shows them billowing out a bit because they are not pulled tight to the ground.

There are two long side panels and one rear panel with the front being left open for access.

So a thought, if the awning was on the van would the panels be a close enough fit to be useful. Our van is a bit tall so not a perfect fit, but still a very useful wind-break

On the side of our van the awning is even higher so the side panels are not likely to be a great fit but the addition of the poles does make an interesting high awning for meeting or sheltering under

Of course the back panel would fit, and lower profile vans like Transit or VW based vehicles may find the side panels fit even in this configuration.

So in case you have lost count, let's look at the configurations I've explored with this versatile awning

1. Flat on the ground
2. Back of the van to ground awning
3. Side of the van to ground awning
4. Stand alone awning/shade on 4 poles
5. Raised awning on the back of the van
6. Raised awning on the side of the van

And combinations 4, 5 and 6 have the option of a rear panel/windbreak being attached, with option 4 allowing for side panels too, along with option 5 on our van and possibly option 6 for lower height vehicles.

That's some flexibility

Even more, the poles don't have to be fully erected so it would be possible to use just one pole to raise one end of the awning half a metre or two poles one metre rather than the full 1.5m height.

Our plan is to us it:

Flat on the ground - when we go offsite we can drop the awning off the van and simply peg it to the ground. It has plenty enough height to stow our chairs and other non-valuable odds and ends underneath safe from the rain. Also a good place to stow the hook-up cable since it will have been disconnected. Of course, we will only want to leave this useful bit of kit at sites where we feel safe to do so!

At the back of the van to provide a nice bit of shelter for when we come in from the rain and want somewhere dry to take off our coats and kick off our boots. Also plenty enough space to use the Cobb cooker in the dry or sit and read, enjoying a glass of wine. On the back of the van we could also use poles to allow adding the rear and side panels; this could provide a makeshift privacy tent for the loo or shower, as well as a wind-break.

On the side of the van when we want to sit out in the shade of the sun. Indeed we popped out for a couple of days to a campsite to take the photos for this review and we spent much of the time sat under the awning reading. It is a good size for the two of us and would probably be fine for four.

Another use when the awning is one the side will be to allow our washing to dry and air without the risk of rain. We tend to go away        for a couple of months at a time so clothes washing is, unfortunately, a necessity. The awning provides ideal protection from the elements.

Stand-alone as a shelter or gathering place for when we go on 'meets' with friends. Plenty tall enough to stand under and enough space for a couple of tables and a few chairs. We can even add on a side or two to provide a windbreak or a bit of additional shade. Also the awning is versatile enough that it could be appended to someone else's awning as an extension, to make a really large gathering place.

We are impressed with the versatility of the Skadu and the additional sides included with the Skadu Too increase the different number of uses we  might be able to find for it. It is definitely a keeper and will live permanently in the van. It may not be for those motorhomers who want an awning with all the mod cons but for campervanners travelling light who want a versatile shelter from the sun or the rain it could prove very useful, along with those who want additional shade to perhaps augment their more traditional awning.

Pros:

• Incredibly versatile, will probably fit almost any van, or can be used stand-alone
• Lightweight and a small pack size (6Kg and 55 x 17 x17cm)
• Very easy to erect
• Good quality and well made
• Nice touches like fluorescent guy ropes, the little ceiling mesh for a light or storage, a mesh window with roll-up cover.

Cons:

• Lightweight aerodynamic shape may require careful placing and guying in windy conditions
• Rubber attachment suckers a great idea but didn't stick to our van (we will be buying better ones, though)
• Two more guy ropes would have made guying easier (we supplied our own)
• Picky, but a double zip meeting in the centre of the packing bag would make packing slightly easier than a single zip (although the bag is generously sized so careful packing is not absolutely essential)

Other:

No tent pegs supplied. I didn't list this as a Con as we carry a supply of good quality rock pegs in the van so the last thing we need is another pack of cheap tent pegs!

This review is based upon a private purchase of the Skadu for our own use. It was prompted because the awning is sufficiently new, unusual, and versatile that I wanted to share the idea with others, particularly lightweight campervanners like ourselves.

The Skadu Too is manufactured by Femkes Rooftop Tents in the Netherlands - https://en.opjeautoslapen.nl/ and distributed in the UK by   Specialist Motorcaravan Services https://www.specialistmotorcaravanservices.co.uk/ and at the time of writing was listed at £139 in either Green (as featured above) or Grey.

Someone asked what storage was like on an R20 - a video is probably the easiest.

Bear in mind, Brian The Snail is an R20 hytop built on the older pre-2010 Berlingo chassis. Vans post 2010 have a different cushion layout and a different locker layout.

Also Brian The Snail has a pullman style layout with the option of a rear and forward facing seat (both with seatbelts). This means that the centre locker in the passengers side may not be available if the van is configured in pullman layout. For this video the van has been configured in conventional twin bench layout - this can be seen by the additional GRP panel which bridges the pullman feet gap and makes a third, centre locker on the passenger's side.

This video also shows some of the additional storage options we have added to our setup. The primary one is the use of Really Useful boxes as part of the bed extension. Instead of using the supplied extender panel we pull both front seats as far forward as possible and then stuff the gap with the Really Useful boxes bring them up to the level of the bench seats. This has the advantage of having clothing readily available (in the boxes) without having to delve into the lockers and also emptying much of the luton, making it also available as readily accessible storage.

Oh yeah, and the van is REALLY empty at the moment!

One FAQ on the Romahome Facebook group is about Gaslow refillable LPG conversion.  Rather than keeping replying and getting my replies lost in Facebook's ephemeral system let's do it here.

Our R20 Brian The Snail came fitted with a 3.9Kg Propane bottle. This is fine and would last us at least a year if we weren't running the fridge off gas (i.e. just using it on hook up). But a few things made me want to convert to a refillable system

Firstly was a thought of doing more wild camping, or at least smaller, more basic sites so that hook-up might not be the norm.

The second reason is perhaps the more important - there is no warning system or fuel gauge on the propane bottle so we could run out of gas without warning and no cuppa!!!!!! An Englishman (and woman) deprived of their cup of tea is not a pretty sight. Of course, bigger vans get round the problem by simply carrying a second cylinder and either have an automatic changeover or simply manually swap when one cylinder empties. So we could simpy carry a spare cylinder but there's not enough external locker space so it would be taking valuable space inside the van - nope! Some people get round the problem by also carrying a small portable stove, the sort that run off small aerosol can type cylinders, but again, anything that takes up space inside our van is a no-no - we need it to be uncluttered if we are going to spend 2 or 3 months away in it.

Finally we had been reading that Propane is hard to find in Europe and so we might want to consider changing to Camping Gaz on any European excursions. Again too much mucking about as I wanted Propane here in the UK because of its superior winter performance.

So, we popped to our local Gaslow supplier and found, to my frustration that a 6Kg cylinder just fails to fit the R20 locker. Really annoying but we settle on a 2.9Kg bottle and a refillable system where the filler is directly connected to the bottle. To my surprise the supplier suggested this is a simply self-install exercise, so we left with a bottle (filled, of course), a self-fill adapter and a new hose. Our existing Propane regulator was fine for LPG (I think I remember that correctly, that it didnt need changing). Oh, the other thing we left with was a much emptier wallet!

Fitting was almost a doddle, the new hose is stiff and to route it to the bottle involved tortuous bending so we popped back to the supplier and bought a right angle coupler to fit to the bottle, this made the hose fit so much neater and with less twisting.

Most forecourts don't like self-fill and will actively stop you doing so - this is because many folks try to fill standard gas bottles without the 80% safety cutoff othat is built into Gaslow. Gaslow do produce a list of self-fill friendly places but we found a couple of these closed when we were in the need of gas, so after a year of self-fill we aded the extra convenience (and additional cost) of adding a proper external fill point. Easiest way to preserve the van integrity was to have it mounted in the external locker door. Now one thing I'd be uncomfortable with was taking a whacking great big hole saw to my van so we booked an appointment at our local Gaslow supplier to have one of their mechanics do it. And a good job was done too, the filler cap fits neatly in the door and a new, expensive, high-pressure hose connects this to the fill point on the bottle.

So, now the van has a proper external fill point just like an LPG car or a van with an underslung tank. It can easily be filled at any LPG supplying service station.

Thoughts, it was expensive. We probably will take several years to break even, if at all! But for us we feel it worth it. The gauge on the bottle is easy to read and gives us an instant check on gas level so we can fill in plenty of time for that desperate cuppa. We've filled in Ireland and have adaptors to allow us to fill anywhere in Europe.

Pros:

• Fillable from any LPG supplier
• Readily available on the continent
• Decent fuel guage to keep you informed of gas level
• Ridiculously cheap to refill
• There's a worldwide FillLPG Android app listing LPG filling stations

Cons:

• 2.9Kg a bit small - it has to be over  half empty before taking the minimum 2l fill
• Filling can be a bit daunting the first couple of times untill you get used to it
• Will LPG become harder to get as electric cars become the norm?
• The hose means the locker door doesn't drop down fully, just to 90deg or so
• Expensive
• It's almost embarassing paying a couple of quid or so for a fill!

For us, we thought the expese well worth while, it's much easier to ensure we don't run out of gas. Remember we NEED that cuppa!

One problem with most QRP based vans is that there is no natural groundplane for radio aerials - easy on a car with metal roof but non-metallic GRP doesn't work. And BrianTheSnail suffers from this in spades. Additionally, despite being only 9 years old the van has radio technology much older - no aux-in, no Bluetooth, no USB, no MP3. What, me, such a technophile having a system so outdated - shame on me!

So pop into the local Halfords and the Sony MEX-N4300BT is a brand new model, has an excellent sub £100 price and all the features I think I want. One ordered and, what the heck, it's come in much cheaper than expected I'll pay the extra for them to fit - yes, I know it should be pretty much plug and play but somehow it never seems to work like that when I do it.

Oh, no DAB? I don't listen to the radio (I prefer CDs or will now stream from the phone) but Liz does. She didn't really have a requirement for DAB so we decided to save a few pennies and not bother. Until we spotted that Amazon has the tiny Pure Highway 200 DAB adapter down from £100 to £32. Now Pure is pretty much the leading brand in UK DAB so this ought be good - worth a punt at that price, surely?  

And it is impressive. Decent DAB and it will either connect to the radio with a line-in jack (which I'll do when the new Sony radio is fitted) or re-broadcast on FM (which is what I need in the interim). It is simple USB powered and comes with a 12v cigarette lighter USB plug which also has a 12v cigarette lighter socket on it so it doesn't take away your valuable 12v connection. But since I already have phone charging USB sockets in the cab I can simply use one of these. Yep, that works.

The interior windscreen sticky amplified aerial appears to work well on the drive but taking the van for a spin I'm suffering lots of dropouts. The Pure has a signal strength view option and I can see that the, apparently decent, on-drive signal is, in fact, only 20%. I need a better aerial!

Let's try the cheapest mag-mount 1/4 Amazon has to offer, £7.89! It's meant to be roof mounted but the van's roof is GRP, remember. So try the bonnet - signal strength 60-70%, that's better. But the bonnet isn't the most convenient place for even such a small 1/4λ antenna, so what about the door pillar with the antenna close to the GRP - hmm still 60% this might work *

Now I can glue a little clip onto the edge of the luton to hold the top of the aerial tight against the GRP. This will, hopefully, deter vandals, make the antenna less prone (hopefully not at all) to the magmount blowing/shaking loose and also holding the antenna in place in the unlikely event that it does.

To be continued when the new Sony is fitted tomorrow and when the DAB radio and antenna have been given a test run or two.

*The dirty marks are from the my fingers covered with the muck from inside my door seals where I was trying to conceal the cable as it came into the van

A couple of years after buying our R20 from new one of the hinges on the glass hob cover broke. A very talented friend amazed me by repairing it with a plate and some tiny set-screws. But last year the other hinge broke. After much effort we sourced a replacement but I wasn't too happy when it came to fitting it this - the original GRP screw holes were a bit too tight, probably because it was awkward to get to and new holes might be difficult to squeeze in.

So the replacement cover has sat under the spare bed for a few months. This last week's project has been to build a better one. We decided on a piece of 6mm MDF cut to exactly 400mm by 450 (but 405*450, my original measurement would have been better). B&Q do sa so much better job of doing this than I ever could! The MDF was then drilled and 8mm dowels inserted where the feet need to go - the front ones on the corner, the back ones further in to stop it moving forward or sliding round the corners. The dowels didn't provide enough height offset and anyway softer rubber feet would be less prone to journey rattle. So we bought a cheap pack of 4 rubber walking pole ends which are 40mm long and ideal - packed the dowels out with a bit of tape, and the feet slip on nicely. Cover with a bit of Blue Peter's favourite sticky-backed plastic and job's a good-un.

What, what's that funny bit on the wall above the cover?

There's two of 'em! Well we need to put the cover somewhere safe when cooking but it's a bit big and, unlike the original it doesn't have hinges to hinge it up out of the way. So a couple of strong (but tiny) neodymium magnets attached by the same sticky-back plastic and a couple of simple iron washers under the plastic on the board mean that it will hold in place nicely.

The angles in the van make the patches not quite as square as we'd like - work in progress

Choosing the washer sizes appropriately means we get nice snappy fit without it being too strong to risk pulling the magnets or washers off the wall/board.

Looks like the board will be rattle-free when down and will 'hinge' up nicely when cooking. Maybe we'll cover the underside in a more heat reflective plastic if this gets marked but it seems a decent workable solution.

Anyone want to but a new replacement hinged glass hob-cover cheap?

Keeping the cold air out of the van is essential. It doesn't help that the R20's rear door is notoriously ill fitting and so allows for the wind to whistle in. Floor length rear-door curtains are an absolute must.

Our curtain rail sits just below the rear light and is held on with two, very strong, suction hooks

A simple tie-back which velcros to close and also has a small velcro pad on the outside to stick to corresponding velcro on the van and so holds the curtain and fly-screen mesh back in place when not used

There's also a couple of bits of velcro on the opposite side of van with corresponding velcro on the curtain and fly screen so either or both can be held in place across the door as needed.

A tip - when emptying the loo, tie the curtain back and then lift the bottom half of the curtain up onto the sink. This gives clear, unfettered access to the loo compartment.

So that's the back door draughts taken care of. The other major source of cold is from the cab. The van does come with curtains to the cab but these are both quite lightweight and also not long enough to drape right to the floor and stop low-level draughts. Easy to replace with longer heavier curtains and the 'bobble' caravan tape such as this from Amazon

However for us it made sense to have another floor length curtain hanging from the driver and passenger seat headrests. This doubles the insulation and provides handy storage pockets, including one cab-side which contains our hi-viz vests, thus conforming to laws which say you must have access to such from the driving position.

The curtain is simply suspended on a curtain wire which is attached to the front seat headrests. Well, not quite so simply - it's a heavy, insulated curtain and so weighs down on the wire bowing it to quite a catenary. Some form of stiffening is required. I found a thin fibreglass rod, probably a kite spare or similar and it is almost the perfect length to slip in the curtain channel next to the wire and provide the necessary stiffness. I've just poked an end out below so you can see

The above works for us.

For the moment! As always we are playing, exploring, experimenting on ways to improve comfort in Brian The Tardis Snail.

Gosh - BrianTheSnail got mentioned in dispatches on SMHF when someone was looking for ideas for projects with her sewing machine for her campervan.

Here's some of ours:

Firstly - draughts are a PAIN! There are 3 major sources of draught in our R20, the cold cab, the ill-fitting back door and the fridge vent. The latter is hard to block permanently and neatly and so best avoided by parking the van so the vent doesn't face into an oncoming biting wind and also by simply draping a towel over the fridge where it meets the GRP to stop winds whistling through the gap. However the cab and back door need good curtains. They need to come down to floor level and close/cross so there is no gap between them, which also stops light from the cab if need be (although the silver screen does that also)

Here's our front curtains:

They are lined and heavier and longer than the originals supplied with the van and simply replace them using the same caravan curtain tape on the same curtain runners. The middle curtain is supported by a standard net curtain wire attached to the front seat headrests. This isn't strong enough to support the new heavy curtain without it drooping significantly so a piece of thin fibreglass rod (a pole from an old kite) is slipped in to the curtain channel to provide added stiffness. Note the pockets for Kindles, specs etc. On the cab side there is a velcroed flap covered pocket containing two hi-viz vests thus satisfying EU requirements for having access to such vests from inside the cab and also providing nice out of the way but easy access storage for them.

The back curtain is similar but there is no curtain pole over the back door so one had to be improvised:

Annoyingly I didn't snap the two super strong suction cups that have hooks just the right size to hold that thin (and hollow, which is why it bends slightly) dowel rod.  The hooks are sufficiently strong that the curtains have only fallen down a couple of times in quite a few years. Note the mesh fly-screen - a cheapie store magnetic one cut down to fit. With a combination of velcro on the curtains and van we can have the curtain right across to stop draughts or at nightime or held back with a tie-back and similarly for the fly-screen.

That's draughts done - now comfort and warmth. Cushions are simple - this velour may not be the final covers (it's just something Liz had to hand) but we have two of these, memory foam (cut from an old mattress topper) cushions to go 'neath our derrieres

But we also like good back support - so a couple of lumbar cushions - mines an old crescent shaped buckwheat-filled neck cushion whilst Liz has a more conventional lumbar roll - the fabric was choosen because it has both an owl (Liz's motif) and a snail (mine).

But  if, like us, you sit sideways across the van the R20 really needs cushions for the upper-back. A recent change has been to prototype some small feather filled cushions which can be put in a special case to make back cushions and then removed at night and used as conventional (albeit a bit smaller than normal) bed pillows. Liz sits behind the sink so there is no back rest at all, just the bare GRP, and the seat-belt buckle so she has two cushions an 18"x12" one and a 12"x12" in a specially constructed case

I sit on the other side and so already have the van long backrest cushion for the lower part so my case just contains an 18"x12" cushion - not bothered to photograph. The cases will definitely not be that drab green next year - these were prototypes, knocked up out of a couple of old pillowcases. At night time the 18" cushions make our pillows whilst the 12" fits in the gap between use - making pillow coverage across the width of the van. Oh, how do they fit? We bought some 1/2" aluminium tube and it fits neatly into cup hooks screwed underneath the van's pelmets. IKEA Sunnestra hooks fit neatly onto this and the other end hooks into a but of curtain header tape on the back of the cushion cover case - as shown below..

Whilst on the subject of comfort - no van is complete without a quilt or blanket, useful for legs in the evening and as an extra layer on top of the sleeping bags when the nights get cold. We still haven't decided whether to drape them over the seats but Liz added 'pockets' to her quilts so they would fold up neatly into the pocket and so make nice scatter cushions. Of course, having the bed pillows hung up as backrests during the day means they are out of the way and so don't take up storage - otherwise they would have been the scatter cushions - and then what would we have done with the quilts?

We've got three different hand-made quilts in the van with different designs and ideas but they all fold up and tuck in like this.

Finally storage - our ever-continuing quest to find neater, more elegant solutions. The first thing Liz made was a hanging cutlery/utensil holder. It's made out of that plastic table cloth material so should anything not be scrupulously dry it doesn't mark

And recently at the head end of the bed (we sleep with heads nearer the cab) she took advantage of the new aluminium rail to make little storage hangers for specs and phones etc.

Now here's a simple idea but one we find effective. Little drawstring bags to hold our pewter pint tankards and stainless steel tea mugs. The mug bags aren't shown in the picture below because after a few weeks of merely being rinsed out the mugs need a proper, at least twice, dishwasher clean to remove the tannin stains (yeuk! think what all that tea is doing to our stomach linings). Anyway the tea mugs and bags are in the house but here's the pint tankards, note the his'n'hers colour coded toggles.

Now, you might be tempted to hang your pewter pint mugs by the handles directly on hooks. DON'T! You can clearly make out the discolouration on the fabric, particularly to the left of the shot where free-swinging pewter has rubbed off and left an 'orrible mark. Not sure how we are going to clean that.

There are a few advantages of hanging cups and mugs - they are horrible shapes to store in tiny cupboards and take up an inordinate amount of space. And you certainly don't want to stick 'em in a locker where they might roll and migrate to the bottom of the pile and then you have to mutter and curse whilst firkling about trying to find them when you need a cuppa desperately. No, hanging them means they are there, ready and waiting for the kettle to go on (or, in the case of the pint pots, for the beer to be opened - note the easy access corkscrew/bottle-opener in the early photo of the kitchenware!)

Hope this is of interest

In our quest to ever increase space in our R20 hi original (pre 2010) Pullman we have added to our stock of Really Useful boxes.

In the Luton we have 3 35l boxes, blue for him, pink for her and white for general. The personal ones hold raincoats, (fake isofill) down jackets, over-trousers, hats, day-sacs etc. The general one contains towels, tea-towels, swimming costumes, winter socks and hats plus odds like spare toilet rolls. These fit nicely in the Luton with enough room behind for our rotary airer and plenty of space to the side for bedding (squashed into large dry sacs). There's also enough clearance on top to store the table.

The white box is hidden behind the other two

One the loo we have always had two 12l Really Useful boxes which stack there nicely and used to hold our kitchen and tools but we found recently they are better purposed holding 2 pairs of shoes each.

The recent addition is 4 9l Really Useful boxes. One now holds spare kitchen bits and the other useful tools and things like batteries. The remaining two are full of spare food. These boxes stack nearly in the aisle when traveling but are a great fit, along with their 12l counterparts in filling the gap between pushed-forward driver and passenger seats. This serves two purposes, it gets them out of the way when lounging in the van and also makes a nice base to add cushions to extend the bed by 30cm when sleeping.

The driver's seat space is cramped because of the spare wheel but one 9l box edge-on will drop into the floor and two others will stack neatly atop despite being a tight fit. On the passenger's side, again an edge-on 9l box on the floor but this time there's enough space for two 12l boxes on top.

Also visible is the Mr D's cook pot in its insulated cover and you might just make out the blue which is two more small dry-sacs which contain our every day shoes (or Crocs when we are out walking).

This arrangement now means we have to store nothing on the front seats (unless we are dumping or coats or day-to-day sacs in a hurry) and that the lounge itself is completely uncluttered.

Slowly but surely we are increasing our space. We are carefully not to carry more and so increase weight. It's increasing comfort and ease of access to the things we need which are important to us.

This started as a thread in the SmallMotorHome Forum, with a new user asking about storage. I thought I'd jot down some of the things that have worked for us in our (older style) R20 Hi.

Liz and I have taken it as a major challenge to try and cram as much as possible into the tiny space whilst still having everything close to hand. Oh, and without any permanent modifications to the van. Oh and whilst spending as little money as possible.

Really Useful Box company do a 12l box, two sit nicely on top of the loo in an R20

These boxes hold spare kitchen bits, including our small 12v cordless kettle, batteries, tools, and other odds and ends

IKEA do some great pots that clip neatly onto the pelmet - originally they were the Bygel range which were quite rounded and came in a range of colurs but they have recently replaced them with white, square Sunnestra potsa which look a little neater and hold a little more.
This picture shows a translucent Bygel pot next to 4 Sunnestra ones

These little pots are brilliant at holding the day-day essentials, pens, pencils, small tools, medication, sewing bits and scissors, hairbrushes, torches etc. Overnight they hold spectacles within easy access so last thing at night it is easy to take of specs (and ear-rings in Liz’s case) and drop them into a pot where they can be quickly found if needed

A couple of other things to note in that picture - our home-made cutlery and utensil hanger

The opposite pelmet has more Sunnestra and our coffee mugs and all important beer tankards

Yep, that's it, just two mugs and two tankards - one each for Liz and I - if you visit us please bring your own coffee mug (and your own coffee - we only have filter coffee for our filter coffee mugs (not pictured).

By the way, those jackets on the drinkware are not for insulation - merely to stop clanging together when travelling.

That chrome rail has recently been replaced by 4 cheap IKEA Sunnestra hooks which clip onto the pelmet a bit better but may not be so secure for the mugs - an ongoing experiment.

One last item on the pelmet is our home-made washbag

B&M/Home Bargains or maybe even Poundland do a short double over-the-door towel rail one which is perfect size for the rear high locker doors

and the single version cut at about 3/4 length and a dowel inserted makes a rail that can open to allow inserting a kitchen roll