Kathryn Bird shares five winter upgrades for motorhome living: a mud mat and indoor slippers to keep the van clean, floor rugs and a 500W portable heater for warmth, a Kärcher window vacuum to handle condensation, an electric blanket powered by EcoFlow battery, and shoe warmers to dry wet boots.
Ooh, it is definitely beginning to feel wintry, and what I wanted to do in this video is share with you a few of the things that I've got in my motorhome which makes spending time in the van in the winter months just that little bit nicer. So the first and most important thing is to stop bringing mud and dirt and damp stuff into your motorhome. So I take off coats and wellies or shoes or whatever at the door, and the first thing I've got is a muddy mat. It is absolutely brilliant. It catches all of the little bits Bits and dirt. If you've got a dog, it will make sure you dry all their little paws as well as you walk in. We're going to talk about dogs in a future video specifically, but the muddy mat just stops anything else sort of coming into the van, so it stops the rest of the interior getting dirty. To that effect, I recommend having a pair of indoor van shoes. Obviously, these are slippers, and they're lovely and warm and toasty, and I highly recommend them, But otherwise, just have a pair of shoes that you just wear around the motorhome and then keep your outdoor shoes somewhere near the door so that it doesn't, like I say, bring a load of dirt and muck and stuff into the van. The next thing I recommend is to get some sort of rug or extra covering on the floor. You will find it so much warmer if you put that extra layer between the cold outside and you inside the van. So I have a couple of rugs that I put down in the winter months and it does make such a difference. Making it all a little bit warmer. The third thing that I highly recommend you get is some sort of additional heater. Now, I've got gas heating throughout the van. It's great, it works, it's brilliant, but sometimes I either want to be a little bit warmer at a particular area, which is normally the bed area, because obviously the heating outlet comes out under the bed and I'm on the bed. Sometimes it can feel a little bit cool on the bed, so I have one of these little heaters. It's tiny, it's low watt, you can run it off an EcoFlow as I've done. Let me just see what the wattage is on this thing. It is 500 watts, give or take, so it's really low wattage, and just to warm up a particular area, it makes such a big difference. Next thing I recommend, and this will not come as a shock to anyone who's followed me for a while, is one of these Kärcher window vacs. They are the best way and the most fun way to get rid of condensation. Now, there are other ways that you can get rid of condensation in your motorhome, but this is just so much fun, and it just makes the windscreen lovely, and it means you don't get all those horrible drips that go onto your dashboard as well in the winter. I also am in love with my electric blanket. Pretty sure this one's around 300 watts, and I can run it off my EcoFlow on number 1 or 2 all night. As you can see, Mac is a fan, he loves the electric blanket, and it's just nice getting into a nice warm bed when it's quite chilly and cold outside of the motorhome. Another extra that I completely forgot to add are these shoe warmers. These are fab. So get your EcoFlow, turn it on, turn them on. Oh, hang on, oh wait, got to turn them on first. So you got to turn them on. Can you hear that? And then if you want to be really— You could put them in your slippers. Or in your wellies or in any other shoe. They're also really good for drying out like wet shoes, hiking boots, any of that kind of stuff. And then— oh, they're getting warm already! When you're ready to put them on, your feet are all nice and warm and toasty. It's totally self-indulgent, but it's such a good purchase. I love them. And the last thing I highly recommend that you get is a thermal window screen. Now, I got this one from Rainbow Screens. I love the eyes, it's fun, and it's always a good talking point, but there are loads of other ones that you can get as well. Make sure you get one that fits your particular model or Chassis, for example Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxers, and all the other different types that you can get. Make sure you get one that fits your specific motorhome, and then if you put it on when you're up at a campsite or any approved official place, then you will not get any condensation at all inside the hab area in your van. Right, I hope you found that useful. If you did, a thumbs up is always very much appreciated. I will be sharing some more things that are useful, especially if you're touring with a dog, very soon. Make sure you're following for that. And if you do want to find out more about motorhoming winter, you'll find this video really helpful. I'll see you there. Take care. Bye.
