OUR ESSENTIAL LIST OF SET-UP ITEMS

1. Good floor matting. 

This is one item you don’t want to skimp on!! Having a quality floor mat might cost you a bit, but they are worth their weight in gold! They keep the rest of your van heaps cleaner by allowing all the sand and dirt to fall through the mat before it makes it’s way into your home on wheels. 

We use a C-Gear Multi Mat for our ground matting and shade/privacy screens (discount code below) and also a Muk Mat at our door (discount code TIAV15). This Keeps all the dirt and sand from getting inside our caravan and my fave bit of gear.

4. A range of different hose fittings and hose bags to store the above!

If your like us, you will probably leave a few hose fittings attached to different taps around the country and not realise it until you pull up at your next site and go to plug your hose in. We carry a ziplock bag full of different hose fittings and joiners to cover any hose drama we come across along the way. 

5. A filter housing for dirty/bore water.

Depending on where your travels take you, there is a good chance tat you will come across bore water. We use an inline filter housing to filter our water either before we fill our tanks or before it plugs into our water mains on the van. The filter takes a lot of sediment and smell out of the water and you can also get filters that help remove bacteria.

6. Levelling ramps for those awkward sites.

These little beauties are like gold!! Nobody likes sleeping on a random tilt and constantly rolling towards your Mrs or the edge of the bed. An extra minute of Setup time to throw these under you caravan wheels, can make a whole lot of difference to your comfort. 

7. A battery impact gun or drill for the stabiliser legs.

Some may say this isn’t essential, and they maybe right…. But i tell ya what, if you travel full-time, you will want one!! We use ours to extend and retract our stabiliser legs most times we setup. Yes, you can wind them up and down by hand, but this gets old quick!! We carry an impact gun, but you can also use a cordless drill with a socket.

8. A range of different pegs and a good whacker.

Short pegs, long pegs & Hex pegs. You need a few different choices for the different types of ground you’ll come across around the country. We invested in some HEX PEGS for securing our awning into tough ground. They are installed using the impact gun or drill and they are perfect for securing your awning on windy days. 

9. A trailer coupling lock to prevent/deter any would be thieves.

If someone really wants to steal your van, they probably will! But at least if you have a hitch lock fitted it will be a good deterrent for those would be thieves looking for an easy target. There is some flash models around, and you generally get what you pay for. We now have a cruise master offroad hitch on our van and they run a cool bi-lock pin for security.