How to avoid water ingress in your motorhome

Keith Gooden

In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast…

Matt Sims

I give my top tips to avoid a motorhome’s worst enemy, water ingress.

Keith Gooden

We’re back with Alan Rogers for another campsite of the month.

Matt Sims

And we answer your questions about hookups, beam deflectors and comprehensive insurance for non-EU countries.

Keith Gooden

Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans, all brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com.

Matt Sims

Please do remember to follow on your favourite podcast app, and make sure you click to subscribe on YouTube. Brought to you by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.

Alan Rogers’ Campsite of the Month

Matt Sims

It’s time for our regular feature, the Alan Rogers campsite of the month. Alan, welcome once again.

Rob Fearn

Hi, Matt.

Matt Sims

So Alan, this month, we’re not in France for the first time. We’re in Ireland, the beautiful emerald isle. So where are we?

Rob Fearn

Yeah, so we’re going to venture to Ireland this month, and we’re heading to County Cork. We’re down on the south coast in Blarney camping park.

Matt Sims

I’ve been through that region. So what did this campsite win? It won an award.

Rob Fearn

So, yeah, this campsite won the Small and Charming Campsite Award.

Matt Sims

I’m surprised you didn’t win that. Small, charming – that’s Alan all over. So what features can we expect to see, then, at Blarney Park?

Rob Fearn

Our small and charming category is for sites that are a lot smaller than some of the large sites we’ve been discussing in recent months. So this site’s only got 80 touring pictures. And with it being in a rural location in Ireland, it doesn’t have all the facilities that you’d expect of some of those larger continental sites that we’ve talked about.

Matt Sims

This is a very different type of campsite to those big more corporate campsites we’ve been hearing about in France.

Rob Fearn

It is. It’s just much more back to basics. It’s sort of like an extended CL or a CS that you might get here in the UK.

Matt Sims

So just explain to us what a CL and a CS are.

Rob Fearn

So a certified location or a certified site – four or five vans on a patch of grass, usually attached to a farm or something like that.

Matt Sims

And often in a beautiful location as well. Brilliant. Okay, so why would we want to visit Blarney? What’s there?

Rob Fearn

Well, there’s a world-famous castle. I’m sure you’ve been there and kissed the stone. You’ve got the gift of the gab, haven’t you?

Matt Sims

What are you saying? I have been there and I have kissed the stone. You’re right, yeah.

Rob Fearn

So as well as the castle, you’ve got the pretty harbour town of Cobh, which was the last place the Titanic docked before its final voyage. And you’ve also got the Jameson’s distillery in in Cork there.

Matt Sims

World famous whiskey.

Rob Fearn

Yes, absolutely.

Matt Sims

That’s reason enough to go, isn’t it?

Rob Fearn

Yeah, definitely. Three-acre park. Stunning views. From the top of the site, you can see the world-famous castle. The owner, you’ve probably met him at the NEC. He’s always on the Irish stand.

Matt Sims

He’s a top man. Proper Irishman.

Rob Fearn

Lovely Irish bloke.

Matt Sims

A very warm welcome from him whenever you say hello.

Rob Fearn

And the same on the site as well. When you visit, you’re welcomed as if you’re a member of the family.

Matt Sims

Sounds amazing. So when is the site open?

Rob Fearn

It’s open from quite early, actually, from mid-March to the end of October. Price-wise, it’s sort of in the mid-range again, so from about £30 per night.

Matt Sims

So that’s it for this month’s Alan Rogers campsite of the month. Thanks, Alan. And if you want to find out more about all of Alan’s campsites you can do so at mhmp.info/alanrogers.

Product of the week

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And me, Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. What is our product of the week, Matt?

Matt Sims

This is the Maypole auto tent. Oh, there it is.

Keith Gooden

I thought you were just happy to see me.

Matt Sims

Every day. It’s a tent in a bag, and you know, the best thing about this is not only is it easy to put up, it’s really easy to get back in the bag. How many times have you said that about tents?

Keith Gooden

I mean, it’s those modern tents… I say modern, about 20 years old. When you take them out of the bag and they spring out, you think, “That’s fantastic.” Try and get them back in that bag.

Matt Sims

You’re right. There’s a prize for getting them back in there. This one is dead easy. You just unfurl it and fold out the exoskeleton. There are no poles to assemble. They’re all attached to the tent.

Pull it up, push the little bit at the top down, and the tent pops open. My daughter’s used them. She’s been to lots of festivals with her mates. It says two berth, but there are four of them at least in this tent at Reading Festival. And she loves hers.

And we sell loads of these at shows. So they are great. They’re £79.99. They take up very little room when they’re packed up. Super easy to put up. Four pegs around the bottom. That’s it – easy, brilliant. For this season’s festivals, it’s ideal.

Keith Gooden

If you look at the news footage of Glastonbury Festival, when it’s finished, everybody says, “Look at the mess they’ve left.” They just can’t get the tents back in the bags. It’s that simple.

Matt Sims

This is a tent you would want to take home and use again. Really, easy to use. And you would want to reuse and reuse it. They’re great.

How to avoid water ingress in your motorhome

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. Let’s talk about the main point of this podcast this week, water ingress.

Matt Sims

It is indeed the enemy of the motorhome. Do you know what water ingress, or water leaks, as you like to call them…

Keith Gooden

I do like to call them leaks, but you don’t like me calling… it’s just silly, isn’t it?

Matt Sims

Water leaks sounds like an American president. But it is the enemy of the motorhome and it can get very expensive very quickly if you get water ingress in your motorhome or caravan.

Keith Gooden

And the thing is, it doesn’t need to be like a puddle forming on top of the motorhome. It can be, you’ve explained, through capillary action. So two different bits of the motorhome join. Maybe the join has worn out over time, and water can get in.

Matt Sims

So water can get in and go uphill, and then find its way into the motorhome. So where your water’s coming in the motorhome is not necessarily where it’s leaking into the body. So it’s all about sealant.

So we had lots of people ask us, “Matt, what can I do to make sure I don’t suffer from damp or water ingress in my motorhome or caravan?” So I thought it’d be great just to give some helpful hints, tips and advice on how to make sure you’re not suffering from this – what can be a very expensive problem.

So the first thing I would say is a regular damp check. Now, when you have your habitation check, which I recommend you do annually and have done professionally, the engineer will use a very expensive meter, normally called a proto meter. They cost about £700, and that cheap one for £10 from the supermarket is not going to do the same job at all.

But they will check the entire motorhome in all the places they know to check for any high readings of water ingress, so any damp in the walls. Because the thing is with water ingress in a motorhome, it’s not like a house. When you walk into a damp house, the smell is horrible, because what you’re smelling is damp plaster.

Now, there’s no plaster in your motorhome, so you’re not going to get that smell. So it’s a very different experience, getting damp in a motorhome. But there are some visible signs if you have it, which I’ll come to in a minute. But my advice is, don’t park it somewhere like under a tree, where tree sap is going to eat away at all the sealant and rain is going to gather on it.

And it’s not going to evaporate quickly on the roof, because pooling water on the roof, as you say, that will eventually eat away at the sealant and can cause all sorts of problems. So you want to make sure the motorhome if it’s exposed to the elements, that it is outside and the sun can get to it and evaporate the water off the roof.

Keith Gooden

But of course, people, like to fight for the spaces near and under trees, don’t they, because they’re in the shade, especially when they’re driving their car. So you’ve got to break that habit, because, as Matt says, put it under a tree and you’re more likely to get water ingress in a motorhome, whereas if you’re parking your car in the shade on a summer’s day, then it’s going to stay cool. So it’s counterintuitive.

Matt Sims

It is, particularly if you’re going to leave it there for any length of time. So the roof’s just going to go green, and that algae that forms will eat away at your sealant. Another factor as well as frost damage.

So the tiniest crack in a bit of sealant on the roof, frost will get in there, freeze the water that’s got in there, and that will cause the crack to expand. It will then thaw out as the weather warms up, and it will happen again. The water will get back in. It will freeze again, expand further, and then the next thing you know, you’ve got water coming through.

Keith Gooden

And that’s how potholes are formed as well in the road, isn’t it?

Matt Sims

Exactly.

Keith Gooden

Water gets into a small crack, gets into the substrate, and it freezes. It pushes the substrate. Water expands when it freezes, remember.

Matt Sims

This is why you should always leave your taps open in the winter as well, so any water left in the tap can expand out of the tap. Now, I’m always asked, Matt, should I use a cover? Should I put a motorhome cover on my motorhome? We’ve unpacked this in the past.

Keith Gooden

But you shouldn’t, should you, because you get condensation.

Matt Sims

I used to believe that covers weren’t a good idea. I now have to say I’m a fan of a motorhome cover, and I use one on our van. Ours is a metal van rather than a coach built motorhome. Breathable covers. This is the key.

Put a tarpaulin over it, it’s a recipe for disaster. But put a proper, breathable motorhome cover on it made by someone reputable like ProTech, or Maypole makes some budget ones as well, which are universal in size. We sell them at That Leisure Shop as well. Go and have a look at those.

Buy the size that’s right for your motorhome, and it will cover the van. And they’re a great security device as well, brilliant deterrent to wandering eyes because people can’t see what you’ve got, so they can’t see what’s under the cover. So that’s going to protect it from tree sap.

If you have to park it under a tree, definitely fit a cover. In my experience, a cover does not exacerbate damp. It doesn’t cause it. They are breathable. A proper cover is breathable, and yeah, water will get through, but it will also dry out.

Keith Gooden

Don’t use bin bags or that plastic that people cover allotments with. Don’t use that.

Matt Sims

Bin bags?

Keith Gooden

Yeah, plastic. It was plastic, but the thing is, condensation will… if people haven’t got a lot of money, or they think they will make a saving, you know…

Matt Sims

You’d need quite a lot of bin bags to cover a motorhome.

Keith Gooden

Ah, you just spend the night sewing them.

Matt Sims

The biggest issue with using a tarp, apart from the fact it causes condensation and damp – they move around and they do scratch your vehicle. It’s tying the blessed things down. In our storage business, we’ve got a few customers that use tarps to cover their motorhome for whatever reason, perhaps they’re leaking, and the number of times I’ve found them on the other side of the yard because they’ve blown off in the wind… we’re going to sort of ask them not to use them anymore.

Keith Gooden

You should stop your owners blowing off in the wind. So what about pressure washers? I tell you, the great thing about getting a pressure washer is that you get that selection of wands, don’t you, and then you get that one which is fantastic at doing the patio or the paving outside your house, which is like 10 times strength. That’s good for using on your motorhomes?

Matt Sims

Ideal. Go for the Paul Daniels one. No, definitely don’t use the patio cleaner on your motorhome! So a lot of people say you should not use a pressure washer on a motorhome. So in our hire business at Motorhome Holiday Company, we use a pressure washer on all our motorhomes every day.

But the key here is we’re using a very expensive pressure washer. It costs thousands of pounds, about five grand. The wands, as you call them, or the lance as we actually call them… they’re a very special shape, and the pressure has been detuned so that it’s not intense.

A pressure washer will blast any loose sealant straight out of the crack, allowing water in there, not to mention getting water in the fridge, vents, flood in the back of the fridge, getting it inside your roof lights and all sorts, and soaking the bed.

So the guys do use a pressure washer, but ours is a very expensive one that we can change the shape of the water that’s been sprayed and the pressure. And they are very, very effective, and they carry chemicals and all sorts as well. So they’re a multi-purpose device, but going and buying a pressure washer from a local pressure washer market stall… is that a thing?

Keith Gooden

A pressure washer market stall?!

Matt Sims

From a shop. I’m trying not to say names. I always get told off when I say brands.

Keith Gooden

Just say, “A shop!”

Matt Sims

You know what I mean, the yellow ones beginning with K, for example. So go and buy a pressure washer from your supermarket or shop, they are designed to wash a metal car, and even then, I’d be careful, but they are designed to clean your patio – ideal.

But even then, you should be careful, because you can ruin your patio very quickly. Frost will damage that as well. So buying a professional pressure washer is a very good idea, and if you’re not sure, just don’t use one. The other question people always ask me is, “How do I clean the roof? Can I walk on the roof?” Now, walking on the roof can be perilous. You can slip and fall.

Keith Gooden

Is it bad for the motorhome?

Matt Sims

You can also cause the roof to move about, yeah. And this can cause strain on the joints because your weight is a downward force, and that’s pulling in on the walls which could cause damage and could cause cracks to appear.

It depends on what the motorhome is made of. Pressure washing the roof is an easy way to clean the roof, but again, you need to be super careful, and inspecting the sealant whilst you’re up there is a sensible thing to do. So if you see little cracks appearing in the sealant, just put your fingernail on it and check, if is it loose. Does it need over sealing, or does it need removing and filling in with new sealant?

Keith Gooden

Is that sealant you’re talking about the stuff we use in the bathrooms?

Matt Sims

No. So that is internal use, not external use. So we recommend a range of products that we use. I would be taking it to a caravan service centre. They will happily reseal your motorhome. It doesn’t take very long.

You’re probably going to spend tens, maybe hundreds of pounds, but it’s not going to cost a lot of money compared to the £5,000 or more that a damp repair could cost. So keep an eye on sealant. There was a lady who just bought a motorhome from us here, and she asked me this. I thought, gosh, what a great question. “How often should I be checking my sealant?”

Well, if you have a hab check done every year, it will get inspected, hopefully, if the service centre that does it is reputable, but there’s no harm at all in several times a year, getting up a ladder, using a cushion to lean against the motorhome, tying it to the ladder and resting it against the motorhome, climbing the ladder and having a look around the perimeter of the roof. Because that’s the obvious place that water’s going to come in. And just keep an eye on your ceiling. Check if none is missing or if it’s not cracking up.

Keith Gooden

So just walking upstairs and using a pair of binoculars?

Matt Sims

I’ve heard about you walking upstairs using binoculars.

What are the early signs of motorhome water ingress?

Keith Gooden

So what early signs should we be looking out for actually in or on the motorhome for water ingress, then?

Matt Sims

So it’s really hard to find sometimes. It’s not always obvious. Staining on the wallboard is one. So that can be the wood stain coming through the wallboard. So the wallboard is laminated, and you can get dark staining on the walls.

Little cracks appearing in the wallboard can be a sign. Where the wallboard joins together and you’ve got that tape, if the tape is coming away or the gap is opening up, that can be a sign that the wallboard is swelling or shrinking as the water is soaking into it. If you get pimpling on the wallboard or stippling, so really pointy bits going on, that is a sign that water has been in that wallboard and dried out.

And as it dries into the interior where the heat is, it pulls the wallboard into the van, and you get like a porcupine effect on the wall. And if you’ve got that stippling, you have had damp, and you may still have damp, so it’s definitely worth getting that investigated.

And obviously soft squidgy wood, because most motorhomes have wooden interiors. The wall boards themselves are literally board. They go soft and squidgy with water. So keep an eye on that. Check around the bottom, like the skirting board area.

Just put your fingers in around there, because water will naturally go to the ground with gravity. So check around the bottom where it can gather and check that’s not going soft. Obvious water in the motorhome – you might get pooling in the garage or somewhere in a corner of the living area. If you see that, then that definitely needs looking at.

Keith Gooden

It could be squelchy underfoot, couldn’t it?

Matt Sims

Could be. The floors often are wood, and they’re often not undersealed. And someone did ask a question recently, didn’t they, about under-sealing a motorhome. And my advice was if it is wood, definitely a good idea. If it feels squelchy underfoot or it feels different, get it investigated straight away.

The other thing about going on the roof, checking the roof… I see this a lot on Facebook, where you get something called delamination. So the roof starts to look like a lunar landscape. It’s all lumpy, and it’s almost like it’s moving.

Now, many manufacturers of motorhomes… Roller Team are a classic for this. They don’t actually bond the outer surface of the motorhome to the infrastructure underneath it, and that is to allow the roof to expand and contract and move around. Whereas if it was bonded on, it would actually move the wood or the fabric that’s making that superstructure of the motorhome.

Keith Gooden

It’s easy to underestimate, isn’t it, even on a normal British summer’s day, how much materials do move when exposed to the sun.

Matt Sims

Especially plastics. They’re going to warm up and expand and contract. So if you ever go on the roof of your motorhome and it looks really lumpy and bumpy, don’t necessarily panic. They’re often like that from brand new very deliberately. If you see it, though, however, on the side walls – the walls normally are bonded.

If you start to see it, it’s called delamination, where you get this lumpy effect on the side, you probably have got a damp issue going on. And it’s caused that glue to give up and the outer surface of the motorhome to pull away from the timbers underneath it, or the structure underneath it. And it’s called a delamination. That’s a surefire sign that you’ve got some damp going on.

Keith Gooden

Just to reiterate that there will be no smell, because there’s no plaster.

Matt Sims

No smell, yeah, in the same way as you would have in a house.

Keith Gooden

But if your carpet is a bit damp, then you’ll get the smell.

Matt Sims

That could smell, yes, absolutely. It’s very difficult to detect damp sometimes. You need to know what signs to look for. But the classics are, as I say, staining, obvious signs of water in the motorhome – where’s it coming from?

And remember, where it’s pooling is not necessarily where it’s leaking in. Stippling is a sign you’ve had damp. And soft, squishy wood – that’s a surefire sign. When we embark on a damp repair, we take the bit apart where there’s evidence of damp. That can expand and expand. And I’ve had motorhomes in the past come into us where it’s the entire side.

Keith Gooden

You’ve got a little story about a motorhome, haven’t you, that came in?

Matt Sims

Several! So we had a relatively new motorhome come into us – six years old – for a habitation check, and there was a pooling of water in the garage. We thought, “Is a pipe leaking?” Anyway, on investigation during the damp check, there was damp in the bottom corner of this motorhome, and it was actually coming in the roof in the top corner.

The owner had noticed the sealant had cracked whilst they were cleaning the roof back six months ago. Well, six months later, damp check being done, lo and behold, there are high readings of around 25, 30, in the rear corner of the motorhome.

So we then instigated a damp repair for that corner, which turned into quite a hassle, because the rear bumper had to be removed. Even at that early stage, that was going to cost a couple of thousand pounds to repair. It’s labour that costs the money, you see.

It takes so much time. We were able to get that repair done and the sealant fixed, and the motorhome lives another day. But if that was left, that could have spread all into the back wall, all across the garage floor, into the side wall, and could have been £10,000 or more to repair very quickly. So if you see damp, do get it fixed straight away. And please get a damp check every year. It’s really important.

Keith Gooden

Don’t think, “Oh, I’ll get round to that in a couple of months’ time once I’ve saved up.” Once you get water… it’s like when you get water in your house. Deal with it immediately.

Matt Sims

Another tell as well – I’m not going to name anybody here. We sold a motorhome, and the guy had some water coming in through a roof light, so the window in the roof. And he took it to a dealership local to him, who said, “Oh yeah, the roof’s all damp, mate,” and quoted him £15,000 to repair. This was weeks after we’d sold it, and we had done a habitation check on it.

I was in disbelief. I said, “No, I don’t accept that. Something’s gone awry here,” and we had had a lot of rain. It was probably a few months after we’d sold it, to be fair. So he said, “Well, I’ll get a second opinion.” Took it to another dealership, and they said, “Yes, the roof is wet and it needs a whole new roof. It was an Auto-Trail motorhome, I’ll say that much.

And it was a tag axle Cheyenne. It’s a big, big motorhome. And they said, “Yep, roof’s gone. £12,000.” I said, “Well, I’d like to investigate because three months maximum after we’d sold it to you, this problem has become so real.” Because we would have picked it up. And, you know, here we would have fixed that before we sold it.

So he agreed. He brought it back, and with Bristol Caravans, who I rave about, locally to us, Oakleigh and I spent an hour stripping out the inside of this motorhome to get to where this water was coming in. And yes, there was a leak.

The roof light sealant had failed, and water was coming in, and it was leaking in quite a way from where the leak was occurring. And we went around with a damp meter. There was absolutely no reason at all to replace the roof on that motorhome. Not at all. There was no damp in it at all.

We videoed this so that the buyer, the new owner, had the peace of mind that it wasn’t damp, and I think we spent £500 or £600 quid repairing it. It took a bit of time, but we resealed all of the roof. There was some crazing on the roof exterior. You know, you get this spider web effect, where the outer coating of the van had started to crack in the sun with age.

We chose to pay to have that all repaired and re-sprayed, just in case that was going to cause a problem. We resealed it all, and it was literally hundreds of pounds. So sometimes going to a reputable dealer will save you thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds.

But the question here is, how do you know they’re reputable? Both of these companies are reputable brands. I’m not going to name them, but they will be known brands to everyone listening to this podcast, I am sure.

And the first one wanted to say, “Yep, just put a new roof on it. £15,000.” I think it’s daylight robbery. So it’s definitely worth getting several investigations into this. And if you can, ask if you can see the investigation.

So when the roof interior is taken out, the window surrounds are taken out, ask to go and see it. Say, “Can I look at the damp meter readings with you?” And if they’re reputable, they will happily do that. If they’re just generating work for themselves, they absolutely won’t. And I suggest you put the keys in ignition and drive somewhere else.

Keith Gooden

So do you think with these dealers who were giving these quotes it was ignorance or they were just, as you say, making work for themselves?

Matt Sims

I wouldn’t want to say! I’m definitely not naming them, but it was absolutely shocking for me. I was taken aback.

Keith Gooden

Let’s just go through the checklist, then, of things you should be looking for. Sealant around the roof and window?

Matt Sims

I keep going on about sealant, but many motorhomes… these days the wooden floor goes in, and then the sides go on top of the wooden floor, and then there’s a plastic capping that goes around the outside.

If the sealant along the top of that capping fails, the water will run down inside of it, and it’s going to make contact with the edge of the floor and then soak into the floor, ruining your floor. Fixing that is an absolute headache, because the floor went in first, before the walls and before all the furniture. So getting in to repair that is a difficult job. So check your sealant and check it twice. Really important.

Keith Gooden

Places where things have been installed – what sort of things?

Matt Sims

Yeah, so say you have a television aerial or satellite dish or Wi-Fi aerial or solar panel – where these things are drilled into the roof, they need to be sealed properly. And this type of accessory being fitted might compromise the manufacturer warranty.

So very often, increasing numbers of manufacturers are putting 10-year water ingress warranties on their motorhomes, because they’re that confident they’re not going to leak. But if you then drill a 25mm hole and put a Wi-Fi aerial on the roof, if it’s not sealed properly and it leaks, the manufacturer is not going to take any responsibility for any damp repair that can be blamed on that drilled hole. So make sure you double check any aftermarket fixtures and fittings.

Keith Gooden

And the glands – heh, heh – carrying cables.

Matt Sims

This is like Beavis and Butthead. “Huh, huh. He said glands.” Yeah, likewise with a solar install… we had a situation recently. Someone bought a brand new motorhome. It was a beautiful KNAUS motorhome, stunning.

And there was water coming in the bedroom. It was literally a month old. The engineer, in their wisdom, had used cable conduit, a box conduit, where he clipped the lid on – which is fine, as that’s often used and sealed onto the roof – to run the cable from the solar panel all the way around the motorhome into a cable gland. And what was unwittingly happening is the rain was gathering inside that conduit, and it was like a rain channel, and it was making sure it was running in through the cable.

Keith Gooden

It’s called a rat’s tail, where you use a piece of rope or chain to guide water, say, into a water butt or something like that.

Matt Sims

I thought that’s what you were trying to grow.

Keith Gooden

No, no, no. So it formed it into a rat’s tail – so the water flows over the top.

Matt Sims

It was very effective, but it got the curtains soaking wet! And Jon Gooch, the lovely Jon from Life Beyond Bricks, he was here helping us. Jon’s a bit of a habitation engineer when it comes to motorhomes, and we couldn’t figure out why this was leaking.

Jon did. He said, “Look what’s happening. It’s gathering in the conduit. So it took us a while to find this problem, but we drilled some holes in the conduit so the water could ‘frun…’ frun? Run freely within… and have some fun…

Keith Gooden

Frun really?

Matt Sims

And so the water could flow into the conduit, but then it would get back out. And we changed the gland for one that was sealed so water had no chance of getting into the motorhome, so check your glands as well.

Keith Gooden

Okay, then, so run out right now to the motorhome – check everything that Matt’s been talking about, because you never know. You might find something that could prove expensive.

Matt Sims

Yeah, absolutely. And do get a habitation check every year. I have this debate all the time. “Oh, well, I can do most of it myself.” Get one done. Go and do it.

Audience Q&A

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. It’s our Q&,A the question and answers, where you ask the questions, and Matt, the expert on the Motorhome Matt podcast, answers them. And if he doesn’t know, he’ll find somebody who does. First of all, Matthew Barnes is in Kent.

Matthew Barnes

Hello, Matt and Keith. I’m also Matt – I know! Who would have thought there’s more than one of us. I live down in deepest, darkest Kent, and I’ve been watching your YouTube podcast now for about a year.

I’ve already liked and followed you, and I really do enjoy your content and the humour that you two produce when you get together. My question is about electric hookup on the campsites and what I can and can’t run. I’m really thinking here more about the earache I get from my wife and whether she can use a hair dryer.

I find it all very confusing with watts, amps and volts. And I wonder if you could give it to me in layman’s terms. And apparently it gets even worse if I leave the UK and head to Europe. Keep up the good work, guys.

Keith Gooden

So that’s Matt Barnes in Kent.

Matt Sims

Thanks, Matt.

Keith Gooden

Other Matt, what do you reckon?

Matt Sims

Easy. So this is all about Ohm’s law. But if you start Googling Ohm’s law, it gets really complicated. So I cheat. So I’m going to get chastised for this, because this is not purely correct electrical maths.

Check the hairdryer. That’s the first thing to do. I did Google hair dryers. So now my other half thinks she’s getting a hairdryer for a birthday. 2.4 kilowatts is a very standard kind of power rating of the hairdryer. Power is measured in watts.

Now, campsites are often measured in amps. So how do you convert watts to amps? You divide by volts. So let me explain. We live in a world where, in this country, our voltage is typically 240 volts. Not quite correct, it’s 230, but let’s go 240. A 2,400 watt hairdryer divided by 240 is going to draw 10 amps.

So on a campsite, there’s only five amps, like they are often in France. So you’re going to trip the power because you haven’t got enough capability there to allow that much current, which is measured in amps. So 2,400 watts divided by 240 is 10 amps.

So if you’ve got a one kilowatt or 1,000 watt appliance, divide that by 250 -let’s just round it up a bit. You’ve got four amps. And if you’re on a five amp supply, that will be fine. So I generally take a kilowatt and divide it by four because 250 volts is close enough. That will give us the number of amps. Does that make sense?

Keith Gooden

Yes, it does. Yes. I was always taught that volts is the power that pushes the electricity down the wire, and how fast that goes is the amps, and then the power that comes out at the end is the watts. I like your way of dividing into it. So when you go to, say, France, are they on 230 or 120? No, they’re on 230, aren’t they?

Matt Sims

230 as well.

Keith Gooden

But if you go to America, they’re on 120.

Matt Sims

Yes, or 110, even. So across the continent, often the campsites have much lower power outlets, which is why, if you’ve got a Truma boiler, you’ve got the option of one kilowatt or one flame or zigzag, the lightning symbol, or two.

Now, I again round that up. It’s actually 800 watts or 1,600 watts. I round them up to one kilowatt or two kilowatts, particularly for people who don’t understand this. And so if you’re in France, you need to be using the one kilowatt because that’s four amps. So one kilowatt, 1,000 divided by four, four amps, and that’s going to be fine. That should work.

If you’re on two kilowatts, 2,000 divided by four, you’ll draw eight amps. So you need to make sure you’re on a campsite that is offering you at least eight amps. And campsites usually are measured in amperage, how many amps they are going to give you. Some might be power.

But normally, power is a method or a measurement for consumption, not supply. As you say, amps is about how much it takes to push it down the cable. The four is the key. So 250 volt, use that voltage.

Keith Gooden

Because everything’s between 230 and…

Matt Sims

Somewhere around there. You’re close enough. Now, the other thing is a word of warning. If your wife’s using a hairdryer and she’s got it on full power, 2,400 watts, and you’re on a 10 amp supply, you’re using all the power.

If you then flick the electric kettle on, that’s two kilowatts. Another 2,000 watts. That’s another eight amps. Suddenly, 18 amps. You add the two together, trip, bang! Your motorhome’s going to trip out, or the campsite is going to trip out, or worse than that, you trip the trip in the warden’s office and take the whole campsite out. That is easily done.

And in the winter, I see people using electric patio heaters and all sorts to warm their gazebos and their awnings. And I see the whole run go dark regularly because we’re all just drawing too much power. So that’s how you do the basic maths.

So I would suggest you get your wife, if it’s tripping out the motorhome, to use a lower power setting on a hair dryer. Don’t use the electric kettle. Same for your heating and hot water. If you’ve got an electric option, don’t use that. Use the gas option if you’ve got one available instead.

Keith Gooden

Always remember, converting electrical energy into heat is the most inefficient way of using it. So you’re going to consume much more. There you go, Matt. I hope that’s helped you.

Keith Gooden

Colin Boardman is in Grange-over-Sands and says, “I have a Fiat Ducatto based motorhome with full LED headlights, the 2023 model year, for driving on the continent. Do I need to put the beam benders on the headlights? I haven’t found a definitive answer on the internet, and even my Fiat professional dealer doesn’t seem to know. Do you know?”

Matt Sims

So you’re lucky to have LED headlights. This came up again recently, didn’t it? It was an option that Fiat offered and then withdrew because they ran out of the components to fit them, and so everyone was back to standard headlights.

My advice is to do the garage door test in the dark. So drive up to a garage door or a wall or a fence, a vertical flat surface. Drive up to it and look at the shape of your headlights at night. If they are symmetrical, so they are kind of hooped, and they go down on the left and the right, you don’t need to fit the beam benders, the little sticker on the headlight.

If they’re asymmetrical, and they go up – on the left hand side, it’ll be in this country – to light up the pavement, when you’re driving on the continent, you’ll be blinding the oncoming driver. You would need to fit the stickers.

My experience is that the LEDs are symmetrical. They go down at both sides, or even that they’re flat. They’re a flat beam. You can see this really visually up against a wall at night. If they’re flat, you don’t need to fit them.

Keith Gooden

And when we talked about it last time there was mention, with some vehicles with LED headlights, that you can change the shape of them from inside the cab, there’s a control.

Matt Sims

So that tends to be a BMW feature. BMW as yet have not made a motorhome, to my knowledge. But on the dashboard you can, yes, edit the control – left or right lane driving. In some A class motorhomes, so the ones that look like a bus, they might have round headlights, and they might be xenon.

And there’s a lever on the back of them where you can actually adjust and turn the light and adjust the beam, therefore, for when you’re on the continent. I remember the Adria Sonic had that feature. Ours did. But just point them at a wall at night time, wait for the sun to go down and see what shape your lights are, and you’ll be able to work this out.

Keith Gooden

And even if you have to put the beam benders on it, it’s only the work of a few minutes. So it’s not the end of the world. Thanks, Colin.

Keith Gooden

Steve Saunders is in Nottingham. “Hi, Matt and Kevin.”

Matt Sims

There it is. Ring the bell.

Keith Gooden

Ding, ding! He says, “Quick question. In just over a week’s time, I’m driving to Greece via Belgium, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. I spoke to the insurance company who informed me I’m only covered for third party in Montenegro and Albania.

That obviously is not great. I just wondered if you had any experience or ideas on how to get cover for these countries. Many thanks,” says Steve. He says, “PS, sorry, Keith, it does make me smile at your face when people call you Kevin on the podcast.”

Matt Sims

Or Chris.

Keith Gooden

Oh, well… have you got an answer for Steve?

Matt Sims

Well, we went to Ripe, sponsors of the podcast, and we asked them for their view. And they said, “We can provide cover for all member countries of the European Union, as well as Andorra, Gibraltar, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro.”

Keith Gooden

Do you mean Herzegovina?

Matt Sims

That place. I’ve never been there, Maybe we should put on the list.

Keith Gooden

It used to be Yugoslavia… didn’t it?

Matt Sims

I’m sure it was. “The reason is that green cards are not required for these countries, as they are member states or signatories to the EU motor directive. If you select EU cover under your policy with Ripe, you would be insured fully comprehensively in these countries. If you do not select EU cover, you would be insured third party only.”

Keith Gooden

And you can do a top up, you know. Because I always insure my car just for the UK, and if we have a pop abroad I just do a top up. And it costs £25 or £30 for a week. So you can save a little bit of money.

Matt Sims

It would on your car. I’ve seen it.

Ask Matt

Keith Gooden

Okay, then, Matt, that’s the Q&A for today. I’m a poet, and didn’t know it. How do people get in touch?

Matt Sims

Easy. Just go to mhmp.info/askmatt. We’d love it if you could record your question. Then we can play your voice into the podcast. Hit the orange button. You can listen to it back and press submit. Or you can fill in the form and ask your question that way. And then Keith and I read it out.

Keith Gooden

And how do you subscribe then, Matt?

Matt Sims

You can do so if you’re watching on YouTube. Hit the bell and the subscribe button. And our YouTube channel is brought to you by www.arobasecreative.co.uk.

Keith Gooden

If you care and you have a flare, you can share!

Matt Sims

You’re going on like Shakespeare today. We’d love it if you did share with a friend. Just share a link to the podcast and help spread the word of the podcast. You never know. They might find it useful and maybe entertaining as well.

Keith Gooden

Thanks for listening to the Motorhome Matt podcast. Remember to check back here for more episodes full of hints and tips and helpful advice. We’ll see you soon for another Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.