[00:00:00] Keith Gooden: In today’s episode of the Motorhome Matt podcast.
[00:00:03] Matt Sims: Is this the worst position the motorhome industry has ever been in?
[00:00:07] Keith Gooden: And we answer your questions about external windscreen covers, getting internet signal, and which gas system you should choose. Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
[00:00:27] Matt Sims: And I’m Motorhome Matt.
[00:00:28] Keith Gooden: Industry insights and expert advice for the world of motorhomes, caravans and campervans. And it’s brought to you by That Leisure Shop and sponsored by Ripe.
[00:00:37] Matt Sims: Remember to follow on your favourite podcast app or if you’re watching on YouTube, click subscribe and the little bell.
[00:00:43] Keith Gooden: We’re on Facebook. Well you are. It’s Chat with Motorhome Matt. Tell us about it, Matt.
[00:00:48] Matt Sims: This is our brand new private Facebook group where you can join for free and post your questions, comments, observations, stories, whatever it is you want to post. I’m in the group regularly answering these questions and queries, so come and join the community. We’re increasingly growing the number of people in the group, both consumers and experts too. So lots of people are joining in. Come and join the fun. Chat with Motorhome Matt. Just search that on Facebook or just type into your web browser mhmp.info/chat.
[00:01:22] Keith Gooden: It’s time for our next fun Fiamma fact. Fiamma are, well, they’re a huge company in the motorhome industry, aren’t they?
[00:01:27] Matt Sims: Oh yeah. Based in Milan. They are global, yeah. And famous for motorhome accessories.
[00:01:32] Keith Gooden: And in the business since 1945. So for the last few podcasts, we’ve been doing our fun Fiamma facts. I think there’s five of them, but there might be 50.
[00:01:42] Matt Sims: There are only five.
[00:01:42] Keith Gooden: Oh, ask me the question. I’m ready for you.
[00:01:45] Matt Sims: So this week, Keith, Fiamma are famous for the wind-out awning called the F45. But how many F45 awnings do you think Fiamma have sold worldwide?
[00:01:58] Keith Gooden: Okay, I’ve been thinking about this. I’ve been doing a few sums, and I reckon 750,000-ish. Ish.
[00:02:03] Matt Sims: That’s a big ish. It’s a very good guess. Here is Charles Pozzi, co-CEO of Fiamma, to give us the answer.
[00:02:11] Charles Pozzi: I think well over 2 million.
[00:02:13] Matt Sims: Wow, that’s an awful lot of awnings.
[00:02:15] Charles Pozzi: It is. It is a lot. Yeah, we’ve been doing it for a while.
[00:02:18] Matt Sims: You certainly have. Now, I happen to know that the Fiamma bike rack was originally supplied to one of your big competitors, Thule.
[00:02:27] Charles Pozzi: We used to manufacture for them and they would put their brand on it. And I have the invoice. So my father showed it to me. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know it. He told me that.
[00:02:35] Keith Gooden: So five fun Fiamma facts. Five fun facts.
[00:02:40] Matt Sims: It’s showtime here on the Motorhome Matt podcast. Well, time for our show feature anyway, and I’m delighted to be joined by the team from the Warners shows and Out and About Live. Peter Vaughan, a very warm welcome to you.
[00:02:56] Peter Vaughan: Thank you.
[00:02:56] Matt Sims: You’re a very familiar face on YouTube to thousands of us, of course.
[00:02:56] Peter Vaughan: On Motorhome Campervan, yes.
[00:02:57] Matt Sims: That’s it. And Michael Douglas behind the marketing of all the Warners shows, welcome as well.
[00:03:05] Michael Douglas: Hello.
[00:03:05] Matt Sims: Now, Michael, you’re a familiar voice on the podcast, but we’re here today to talk about a brand new show to the Warners portfolio. Core values for you both within the business are to inform, entertain and inspire. And this runs through everything you do, both on the YouTube channel to inspire people to buy a motorhome and through the shows as well, by informing and educating and so on. But just tell us, what is this new show that’s coming up in April 2026?
[00:03:31] Peter Vaughan: It’s the National Motorhome, Campervan and Camping Exhibition. It’s the 17th to the 19th of April, and it’s at Stoneleigh in the heart of the Midlands.
[00:03:40] Matt Sims: Now, you call this an exhibition because this is not one you can camp at, is it? It’s a day visitor show only, which is a new kind of approach for a show that you’ve launched. And what can people expect to see?
[00:03:52] Peter Vaughan: They can expect four halls full of new and used campervans and motorhomes. So you can see right across the full spectrum of what’s on the market. Lots and lots of accessories, thousands of accessories on show as well. 175 exhibitors and 350-plus new and used vans.
[00:04:11] Matt Sims: So this is not a small show.
[00:04:13] Peter Vaughan: This is plenty to see.
[00:04:14] Matt Sims: Yeah. So Michael, what is it that makes your show so different vehicle-wise?
[00:04:19] Michael Douglas: It’s new and used so you can compare both side by side, all the extras that we do. So we have the Out and About Live advice centre. So there’s free talks every day from yourself, Peter, and you compare them all, and then lots of other guest speakers. Yeah. We also have the manoeuvring courses so people can get some tips and learn how to drive the bigger vehicles.
[00:04:39] Matt Sims: Yes. Yeah.
[00:04:39] Michael Douglas: And then at this show, we’re launching a few exclusive areas again to build on the inform and entertain and inspire. So we’re introducing a tech room.
[00:04:51] Matt Sims: So a tech room, what is that?
[00:04:52] Michael Douglas: There will be timed slots where you can go and learn about a specific category to do with technology and motorhomes.
[00:04:58] Matt Sims: Okay.
[00:04:58] Michael Douglas: For example, Bluetti will be there talking about batteries and this is an informal drop-in and ask-your-questions.
[00:05:08] Matt Sims: Okay. It’s not a presentation.
[00:05:09] Michael Douglas: They’ll bring some batteries for you to look at. Or you’re going to help people with Wi-Fi options.
[00:05:14] Matt Sims: Yeah.
[00:05:14] Michael Douglas: And you can touch, feel them, ask any questions.
[00:05:17] Matt Sims: An opportunity for a one-to-one session with an expert on a particular topic. And it’s a structured schedule and timetable. Got it. Okay. All that information of course is due to come. We’ve got Vanlife Eats there as well.
[00:05:29] Michael Douglas: Mark from Vanlife Eats will be doing cooking demos from his van and some in the advice centre as well.
[00:05:33] Matt Sims: And we’ve got Be Frank there as well, I understand.
[00:05:35] Michael Douglas: Yeah, they started at our Shepton show and Campervan Campout last year and people loved them. They talk about wellness and keeping healthy in your van, about dementia prevention. They’re going to be there doing their talks, and they’re not doing their fitness classes that they do at the camping shows, but they’re going to have a drop-in wellness advice table as well. So you can go and talk to them about anything to do with keeping healthy in your van.
[00:05:58] Matt Sims: So will you be doing the fitness classes, Peter?
[00:06:00] Peter Vaughan: I don’t think that’s really me.
[00:06:01] Matt Sims: Why not? They’re making me do it.
[00:06:03] Peter Vaughan: I’m more likely to be at Vanlife Eats.
[00:06:05] Matt Sims: I think I might be with you. I’m being made to do it. I need you there. I need moral support.
[00:06:11] Peter Vaughan: Moral support.
[00:06:11] Matt Sims: We need the oldies in the fitness class. Come on, join me. And as well as all of this, we’ve got Auto Guard there as well, talking about warranties. And we’ve got Campsite Finder, which is a brilliant feature on your website, which I’ve been looking at. And there are loads of campsites on it and they’re there as well, talking about how to find the perfect campsite. So how much is it to come for the day?
[00:06:33] Michael Douglas: It’s £10 in advance or £15 on the gate.
[00:06:36] Matt Sims: Now there is a discount code available. It’s 20% off when you use the code MotorhomeMatt. I’ll tell you how to find that again in a second, but just remind us again. Where are we, Peter?
[00:06:45] Peter Vaughan: And when? We’re at Stoneleigh, 17th to the 19th of April.
[00:06:49] Matt Sims: Head to mhmp.info/warners for details of this brand new show and all the Warners shows, and we look forward to seeing you in Stoneleigh.
[00:07:00] Keith Gooden: It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:07:02] Matt Sims: And me, Motorhome Matt.
[00:07:03] Keith Gooden: In the main part of the podcast this week. It seems we’ve had years of doom and gloom, but is the industry at a low, at a high or at that crossroads?
[00:07:13] Matt Sims: Well, I’ve been immersed in the industry for years. Great pleasure to have been. So too is someone who’s owned a motorhome dealership, a business that hires motorhomes and now a retailer, owning That Leisure Shop, of course. But there’s one person in particular who has been just observing this industry as a journalist and commentator, and that is Peter Vaughan.
[00:07:33] Keith Gooden: Oh, me?
[00:07:34] Matt Sims: It’s not you. No, he’s even older than you.
[00:07:38] Keith Gooden: Peter Vaughan.
[00:07:39] Matt Sims: Peter is a journalist, Out and About Live, the Motorhome Campervan YouTube channel. And I had the great honour of welcoming Peter into the studio to discuss exactly this. Great to have you here. So I want to talk to you today about some of your experiences across the last, well, you’ve been doing this 45 years, man and boy.
[00:07:57] Peter Vaughan: Yeah. Started at 14 doing the buyer’s guide for them.
[00:08:00] Matt Sims: So everyone is now working out how old you are. I wonder if anyone is still alive that read that piece. So 14 years old, you wrote the buyer’s guide?
[00:08:13] Peter Vaughan: I did for them.
[00:08:13] Matt Sims: That’s amazing.
[00:08:13] Peter Vaughan: Yeah. I was planning to write a book, which never got written, on the history of motorhomes. And I met the founder editor of MMM, John Hunt, the late John Hunt. And while I was down there doing some research at his house, going back through old magazines, he said, you wouldn’t like to do the buyer’s guide for us, would you? I haven’t got anybody to do it. He said, I won’t publish it unless what you do is any good. So I sent him in a draft of the buyer’s guide.
[00:08:37] Matt Sims: Very reassuring words from any editor.
[00:08:39] Peter Vaughan: And he said, that’s great. I’ll pay you £30 a month, which I thought was £1 million as a 14-year-old. I thought I’d hit the big time.
[00:08:48] Matt Sims: Well, back in 1981, it nearly was. Yeah. So you’ve been doing this then for 45 years. You’ve seen a lot of change.
[00:08:57] Peter Vaughan: Quite a bit.
[00:08:57] Matt Sims: In our industry. In fact, when you started, Swift and Elddis must have just been, they.
[00:09:00] Peter Vaughan: Weren’t in the market. They were caravan manufacturers.
[00:09:03] Matt Sims: You see, I’ve grown up with just Swift and Elddis have always been there.
[00:09:06] Peter Vaughan: We had Auto-Sleepers, Auto-Trail in a small way. I think Richard Holdsworth was one of the big converters there.
[00:09:13] Matt Sims: Yeah. And Autohomes, of course.
[00:09:16] Peter Vaughan: Yes.
[00:09:16] Matt Sims: You still see the odd Holdsworth around.
[00:09:16] Peter Vaughan: Yeah.
[00:09:21] Matt Sims: Fleetwood Caravans, were they around?
[00:09:21] Peter Vaughan: Caravans, but not in motorhomes.
[00:09:22] Matt Sims: No. Yeah. Very true. So Adria would have been around, wouldn’t they?
[00:09:27] Peter Vaughan: No. In motorhomes? No.
[00:09:27] Matt Sims: No, not in the UK.
[00:09:28] Peter Vaughan: Probably not. Not in the UK.
[00:09:28] Matt Sims: Yeah, that’s very true. So you’ve seen a lot happening. Yeah, we talk a lot here and I know you do too, the kind of turmoil that we’re in as an industry. It feels very tumultuous at the minute. You know, we’ve been through the pandemic, wind back a couple of years before there, most of us have forgotten the threat of tariffs and Brexit. Yeah, I’m not going to say that again, but we’ve been through the mill. It’s been a roller coaster really the last eight, ten years, hasn’t it? But is it the worst it’s ever been or have we been in a worse place before?
[00:10:01] Peter Vaughan: I think we’ve been in a lot worse places. I remember going to the Earls Court show in London many years ago, when that was our big exhibition of the year.
[00:10:10] Matt Sims: It seemed to go on forever.
[00:10:11] Peter Vaughan: And dealers being really down in the dumps because the market was in decline and they were selling something like 3,000 vehicles, new registrations a year.
[00:10:20] Matt Sims: And of course, now typically it’s what, 16,000 plus every year.
[00:10:24] Peter Vaughan: And it seems to be growing and growing still.
[00:10:27] Matt Sims: So as you say, we’re in a better place now.
[00:10:30] Peter Vaughan: Much better.
[00:10:31] Matt Sims: Interesting.
[00:10:31] Peter Vaughan: And there’s a lot more choice on the market. I mean, back in the early days, I remember Pilote and Hymer really were the only imported brands.
[00:10:42] Matt Sims: And now you’ve got vast choices.
[00:10:42] Peter Vaughan: Yeah.
[00:10:42] Matt Sims: I mean, there’s way more imported brands than there are UK home-grown brands, aren’t there? Yeah. Do you think our industry is at a bit of a crossroads right now? And I’ve alluded to the C word, the pandemic. Yeah. We had this ridiculous demand. We then have suffered huge rising costs, which seem to have stabilised a little bit. Regulations on motorhomes seem to be tightening. Customer expectations, I think, are changing. Does this mean the industry is very different now to where it was ten years ago?
[00:11:16] Peter Vaughan: In all my time in the industry, it’s been constantly evolving. I don’t see that it’s particularly changing any more rapidly now. We had the shock of the pandemic and the impact that that had with vast demand and no supply because the manufacturers couldn’t get components, couldn’t get chassis. But that’s all settled down. There’s no worries about getting base vehicles now. There’s been a bit of overstock, but that seems to be settling. And I think the market’s getting into a good place. We’re getting some exciting new product at slightly more realistic prices, or manufacturers are putting more spec in for the same money. The worry about diesel disappearing, that’s not so much of a worry now that it’s been confirmed that we can still have diesel motorhomes up until 2035 at least.
[00:12:07] Matt Sims: Yes, but it’s still there on the horizon, isn’t it?
[00:12:10] Peter Vaughan: It is, but it’s far enough away that we don’t have to worry about it too much.
[00:12:14] Matt Sims: Is there a risk, though, that the boom and the growth in popularity of this pastime we both love, has that masked some underlying issues with build quality? You say supply’s increased again. It is now three to five months to get a motorhome, but people are still struggling with the final build quality with many manufacturers. It’s a constant theme here. Have we kind of masked over that a little bit?
[00:12:41] Peter Vaughan: I think build quality is always, there’s always been issues, but manufacturers go through difficult times and, you know, they’re hand-built products. I think the expectations have become higher because the prices have become higher. And you’ve got a lot of new people into the market that are expecting, you know, BMW or Mercedes build quality when these things are not built by a robot.
[00:13:05] Matt Sims: That’s a challenge though, isn’t it, for manufacturers? So the customer now is often sat in a BMW dealership or a Tesla dealership, you know, where they’re getting exceptional levels, hopefully normally, of customer service. And it’s not always matched by our industry because dealers don’t have the ability to give that level of aftercare.
[00:13:23] Peter Vaughan: No, I think you’ve got to manage expectations that, you know, these are very, very different products. If you buy a brand new house, you have a snagging list, don’t you? You don’t expect it to be perfect first time out.
[00:13:36] Matt Sims: No. And that’s interesting. I would never buy a brand new house. I have many friends that did and I never put myself through that. I would always rather have a used house. We have a very old house.
[00:13:47] Peter Vaughan: Yeah.
[00:13:47] Matt Sims: It’s, our house is almost falling down and we love it. And I guess there’s a sentiment there with buying a second-hand motorhome, isn’t it? Someone else has rattled all the problems out of it. You talk about the audience changing and customer expectations changing. We do try and kid ourselves, I wonder sometimes, that the audience at shows are getting younger because we want to have this kind of new flow-through of people coming through. Is it true? Are they getting younger?
[00:14:14] Peter Vaughan: I think we’ve seen some younger people coming into the market, yeah. Especially immediately post-Covid, particularly into the VW pop-top market. That sort of size of van that can easily replace a car. And you see a lot of those with young families. But you’ve also got the industry responding with vehicles that look a bit more dynamic, a bit more youthful. They’re not just a white box on wheels. If you think of things like the Swift Trekker, it looks very off-road.
[00:14:46] Matt Sims: Hymer MLT.
[00:14:47] Peter Vaughan: Yeah. And you’ve got Bailey’s Enduro as well. They’re vehicles that look younger, a bit more.
[00:14:55] Matt Sims: Funky.
[00:14:56] Peter Vaughan: A bit more adventurous.
[00:14:57] Matt Sims: So is it the case that the audience is getting younger, or is the audience just getting funkier?
[00:15:02] Peter Vaughan: I think a bit of each probably, but I think a lot of those buyers of those sort of vans are people that have perhaps a more youthful attitude to life. They’re more likely to go skiing rather than cruising.
[00:15:18] Matt Sims: Yeah, yeah, I know, I understand. I hear what you’re saying. But there is undoubtedly, though, there is a group of younger people coming into the market. The van life hashtag has become ever popular on Instagram and there is a big trend, isn’t there, that now it’s very accepted that you can work remotely anywhere, and people are choosing to do that from a van and live in a van full time. That wasn’t the case 45 years ago when you were 14 or 15. Did you aspire to live in a van?
[00:15:44] Peter Vaughan: No. Definitely not. No. Definitely aspire to having a van.
[00:15:48] Matt Sims: Yeah, but that’s a trend that’s fairly recent, isn’t it? And become very acceptable.
[00:15:52] Peter Vaughan: Yeah. And I think it’s been driven by house prices, hasn’t it? And the lack of those sort of 100% mortgages that people had and got themselves into trouble with. And it gives people an opportunity of living a different lifestyle without that millstone of a massive mortgage.
[00:16:08] Matt Sims: I think that’s where it started. I think it’s become a catalyst though. I was chatting to a friend of mine who was at work, and they said, where do you live? He said, I live in my van. This was seven or eight years ago. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. And now the response would be, oh wow, I’d love to do that. And I think it has become very accepted. And I think it’s become aspirational, actually, to engage in van life. And you know, I meet loads of people, especially at shows, who are long into retirement and they’re moving into a van. Yeah. You know, this is not exclusive to a younger generation and demographic. I’m seeing people in retirement do it. And I think it’s become a new trend. And as I say, very acceptable to live in a van.
[00:16:52] Peter Vaughan: Yeah, it’s a different lifestyle, isn’t it?
[00:16:54] Matt Sims: Yeah. But how do manufacturers respond to that? Are they innovating enough, do you think?
[00:16:59] Peter Vaughan: Again, the mass manufacturers have to appeal to a mass audience, don’t they? So if you’ve got very specific needs, then it’s often the smaller converters that fulfil those needs, but even the bigger manufacturers are fitting more lithium batteries, more solar panels, more compressor fridges, more diesel heating. So they’re getting away from the idea that you go to a campsite and hook up to the mains electric every night.
[00:17:27] Matt Sims: I want to focus on values. I mentioned earlier how screen prices are rocketing and they’re kind of levelling out a little bit at the moment. Do you think they’re going to soften? Used values? Are they going to soften a little bit more?
[00:17:38] Peter Vaughan: I think it depends what you bought and when you bought it. If you bought in the sort of panic post-Covid where I’d go to dealers and they’d got hardly any stock and they’d say, well, somebody walked in yesterday and paid £100,000 for that, never having a motorhome before. And they didn’t really know what they were buying. So if you bought at that sort of peak, maybe three years ago, yeah, yeah, you might have a bit of pain if you want to sell it now. I see some of the very old, much older vehicles suffering a little bit because they’re going to be impacted by low-emission zones and, you know, clamping down on some of those more polluting vehicles. But they’ll still have a value because there’ll always be somebody that wants to get in at the bottom of the market.
[00:18:21] Matt Sims: Affordable entry point. Yeah.
[00:18:23] Peter Vaughan: But I don’t see any real issue with second-hand values because there’s still such demand. Our show attendances have been well up in the past year. We had 6,500 more day visitors across the year at Warners shows, and that just shows how many people are still thinking, I want to buy a campervan or motorhome.
[00:18:46] Matt Sims: And what’s really interesting in the advice centre, I get the pleasure of kind of polling the audience and I always say, how many of you are here at a show for the first time? And you’ve seen it, it’s regularly over half the room, sometimes 90% of the room, of hundreds of people with their hand in the air at a show for the first time, which is, I think, really encouraging that we’ve got kind of fresh interest coming to the shows. And you’re right, your footfall has been up. All of the shows, they’re just growing, aren’t they? And more and more businesses as well looking to exhibit as well, which is obviously really important from a commercial side in terms of dealerships. I want to pick your brain on their future. It’s been a challenging landscape for many and we’ve seen some big household names going to the wall this last year, which has been really sad. But do you think we’re going to see mergers and acquisitions or even new businesses coming into our market, perhaps from the motor trade?
[00:19:43] Peter Vaughan: I’m not sure. I mean, our market is quite different from the motor trade. People walk in, they go, yeah, can I have that in blue? Yes, we can deliver it next week. So it’s not like that in the motorhome market. People take a long time to decide and then sometimes wait a year for the right vehicle to be delivered, having specced it to their specification, their colour scheme, their furniture colour, and had it built.
[00:20:08] Matt Sims: I mean, I have concerns that the motor trade are looking at us thinking, wow, there’s a great margin in that.
[00:20:15] Peter Vaughan: We’ve seen this, haven’t we, over the last five, ten years probably, motor dealers coming into the motorhome market, but they don’t often understand how different it is. Those big margins are tempting, but it’s a much longer sale. You have to have much more expert salespeople.
[00:20:35] Matt Sims: Yes. And tools and kit. If you’re going to do it properly, you know, you’re right. It’s a much longer journey toward a sale, which frustrates, I imagine, most car dealers because, as you say, they’re used to people walking in going, we’ve got a red one or a blue one. Which one do you want? And they leave with the car.
[00:20:53] Peter Vaughan: And the workshop facilities, you know, to get in something that’s eight metres long and weighs five tons and put it on a ramp and fit a gas tank underneath it. You’ve got to have those sort of facilities.
[00:21:04] Keith Gooden: So that’s Peter Vaughan, the journalist and Out and About Live and the expert’s expert. I hope you don’t mind me saying that.
[00:21:11] Matt Sims: No, no, not at all. I have a huge respect for Peter, yeah.
[00:21:14] Keith Gooden: So are we on the up?
[00:21:15] Matt Sims: I think we are. I think there’s lots of changes to come still. We’ve talked a lot about EV and how that’s going to impact the motorhome world. I think we’re going to see new badges on radiator grilles. We’re going to see new dealers. Peter and I touched there on how the motor trade is taking a big interest in this niche because the margins on the face of it look huge, but so are the costs to deliver it. I was still seeing new people coming into the market. All the shows I’ve been to this year, it’s a high percentage of people who are at a show for the first time or looking to get a campervan for the very first time, so I think it’s a very exciting time to be in the motorhome industry, and I am still very upbeat about it.
[00:21:57] Keith Gooden: Excellent. Nice one. It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden.
[00:22:01] Matt Sims: And me, Motorhome Matt.
[00:22:02] Keith Gooden: It’s brought to you www.thatleisureshop.com
and sponsored by Ripe.
[00:22:06] Matt Sims: Get 15% off your premium with Ripe. The discount automatically applies when you click the link in this episode description.
[00:22:13] Keith Gooden: It’s the Q&A, the questions and answers. You ask the questions, he, Motorhome Matt, gives you the answer. If he doesn’t know, he’ll ask somebody who does. First of all, we’ve got Faye Whitaker, who calls us from Essex.
[00:22:25] Faye Whitaker: Hi, Matt and Keith. Last year we purchased a Roller Team T-Line 700. This is our very first motorhome and we’re loving the adventures we’re doing. My question is, can you recommend or would you recommend an external windscreen cover to stop condensation on the inside of our motorhome? We have internal blinds that pull up, but it’s a bit of a pain every time we want to leave site, we shut down all the blinds and there’s condensation in the windows. So is there anything you could recommend for us to use? Or if anything works, doesn’t work? What do you guys use? Thank you.
[00:23:02] Keith Gooden: Cheers. Much appreciated. Thanks for the question. So, Matt, what’s the answer?
[00:23:06] Matt Sims: Yeah. An external silver windscreen cover is absolutely the answer. You’ll be amazed how it minimises, doesn’t totally eliminate, but it does minimise the condensation on the inside of the windscreen, which is often described as wetter than an otter’s pocket. We use one from, I think ours is made by Maypole, but Hindermann are another brand. You can also Google Polarys or Rainbow. There are lots of brands out there that make them. The important thing is to get either a Fiat Ducato or Ford Transit. You didn’t say which it was, and that Roller Team is available on both chassis. So make sure you buy one that’s designed for the Fiat Ducato or the Ford Transit for the right year of your model motorhome.
[00:23:47] Keith Gooden: So that’s for an external windscreen cover. I mean, if you just covered it internally, does that not stop the condensation?
[00:23:55] Matt Sims: No, it doesn’t. It helps. But an external one really does keep the windscreen warmer, which stops it condensating. And it also stops draughts as well.
[00:24:03] Keith Gooden: Yeah. Because it’s your hot breath, isn’t it? We’re generating the cold glass.
[00:24:07] Matt Sims: Yes, that’s right. And we generate lots of water into the air, the humidity of us sleeping, and it is an incredible amount. So yeah, they are definitely worth investing in. Not expensive and a must-have.
[00:24:19] Keith Gooden: Cheers. Dave Williams is in Preston.
[00:24:22] Dave Williams: Hi, Matt. Thoroughly enjoying the podcast. Great work, both of you. I’m just inquiring about the Pathway 4G. Did you go back to the NEC to see if you could get a signal? We’re going to Europe for a couple of months over the summer, and I’m interested in getting one so I can make sure I’ve got Wi-Fi. I’d be interested in your comments.
[00:24:44] Keith Gooden: So that’s Dave Williams in Preston. And he’s referring to Colin in Harrow, who’s the man whose lifetime ambition seems to try and catch you out. Harrow Colin. And about getting the Pathway signal at the NEC, did he say he couldn’t get it or something?
[00:25:03] Matt Sims: So he was on a CL not far from the NEC, and he had no phone network. And he was wondering if the Pathway would work there. So I took his challenge and said, I’m going to go there with a Pathway and see if I can get a network. I’m afraid to say, Dave, that I didn’t get a chance to go to the CL, I don’t know. But I can tell you that we were staying up the road from that CL and we had a really good network on a Pathway. So whether there’s a little black hole there, I don’t know. I am still one day going to go there and test it. I can’t remember the name of the CL, but we had really good network at the NEC all week. I have to say, on the Saturday when there were, I don’t know, 25,000 people in the hall, our Pathway did slow down a little bit, but you had 20-odd thousand people walking around using a device in their pocket.
[00:25:54] Keith Gooden: Yeah. You’re using a cellular network and they’ve got buckets of bits. And you know, the more people there are using it, the smaller amount of that bucket of bits you get. So it’s going to slow down, isn’t it?
[00:26:05] Matt Sims: So we, but we did manage to keep using it. And we’re in this huge, what’s called a Faraday cage, which is the metal box that is the NEC. So at the Airbnb house that we stay at, it’s not far from the CL and I did have a Pathway there and it did get a network.
[00:26:20] Keith Gooden: A couple of questions for you. What’s a CL?
[00:26:23] Matt Sims: Certified Location.
[00:26:23] Keith Gooden: It’s a campsite, part of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Five pitches is the maximum number of pitches that a CL can have. Means they don’t have to have planning permission. Usually they just have fresh water and somewhere to dump your toilet. And often a beautiful view.
[00:26:36] Keith Gooden: Lovely. And what’s a Pathway?
[00:26:38] Matt Sims: A Pathway 4G is our little internet router that we sell at That Leisure Shop, created by a business I own called Belmont Leisure, and we have sold thousands of them. You literally lick and stick it to the window or a wall. No drilling. Put any SIM card in it and it just works.
[00:26:53] Keith Gooden: And you can use it in hotels, can’t you? It doesn’t have to be in a campervan.
[00:26:56] Matt Sims: No, not at all. You can use it in the summerhouse. One of my colleagues, Darren, uses it at the bottom of his garden in his summer house, where he’s got an office and no internet, and he just has it stuck on the window there.
[00:27:05] Keith Gooden: And it’s got two big sort of rabbit ears on it, which are aerials, and they pull in that weak signal.
[00:27:10] Matt Sims: They do. And they’re really, really effective at pulling a signal from far away, and I’ve pulled a signal in for our internet use where there was no phone network at all on my mobile. So there have been a massive success, really, because you just plug it in, push the SIM card in. They work all over Europe. They’re just so easy to use. £229 is the retail price, and we are delighted that they’re starting to crop up in camping shops all over the UK.
[00:27:37] Keith Gooden: Excellent. And YouTuber Kat, Wandering Bird, used one all over France with great success. We also had someone who said it’s worked through the Mont Blanc tunnel.
[00:27:46] Matt Sims: I know. He literally, I met him at the Manchester show and I said, well, how do you know it was working as you drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel? He said, because we were streaming internet radio. I thought, well, if it’s going to stop working, the sound is going to go, isn’t it?
[00:27:59] Keith Gooden: So that’s the first thing to go as well because it uses a lot of bits.
[00:28:02] Matt Sims: Yeah, I was stunned and so was he. So yeah, people have had huge success with it all over Europe and further afield. So the team here are brilliant at supporting customers if they have a technical problem. Frankly, if you need an easy, low-cost way of getting a solution to get internet in your motorhome, campervan, or wherever you’re going, then check out Pathway 4G.
[00:28:22] Keith Gooden: James Brocklehurst is in Sheffield. Hi, Matt. We’re looking to purchase a new Hymer motorhome and are planning to spend 90 days at a time between Europe and the UK, but are confused over which gas system we should have installed or be using. Could you please help? P.S. love the podcast. Thanks. Cheers, James. So, Matt, what do you reckon?
[00:28:43] Matt Sims: I reckon if you’re going into Europe, a refillable system is definitely worth considering. So the Calor gas bottles are UK centric. You can only get them in the UK. If you go to Germany, you would have to buy a German bottle. You’d then want to store your Calor bottle. You’d probably have to change the regulator as well because it’s a different connection. It’s just complicated and frankly expensive. Whereas refillable gas is available, gas pumps, so Autogas, you know, you see it on fuel stations, is far more prolific there in Europe than it is here. The pumps are slowly disappearing from mainstream outlets. Motorhome dealerships are introducing it. But the reason is people don’t use gas to run their cars anymore. Increasingly it’s all EV. And so fuel stations are converting that real estate to EV chargers and getting rid of the gas tanks. That’s why it is starting to be in decline here in the UK. So I would suggest a refillable solution, either a fixed tank that goes under the van or replace the Calor bottles with one or maybe two, something like Gaslow. They’re yellow. There are other brands too, and you fit a refill point to the outside of the van. Now, this is a critical point about the refill point, because if you use a Safefill bottle, you have to take it out of the van and put it on the concrete and put the pump on it to refill it. That is not allowed in Belgium. I’ve actually been stopped in France doing this and I’ve been stopped in the UK. In fact, the Morrisons garages were recently given a directive not to allow it to happen because there’s an element of danger to it. So I’m no longer really using my Safefill bottle. If you want one, I’ve got one going cheap. You could buy one gas bottle or you could buy two. It depends how long you’re going for. A good compromise is one Calor bottle and one Gaslow and have it installed. And yes, you are going to outlay probably £500 or £1,000 to have this system fitted, but you are going to save a whole lot of hassle and money on the alternative, which is buying a gas bottle for every country you visit.
[00:30:48] Keith Gooden: It’s booking season, sites, ferries, insurance, lots of card details flying around.
[00:30:53] Matt Sims: Exactly. Yeah, which is why I use NordVPN. Every time you’re typing in personal information on public Wi-Fi, you are taking a risk.
[00:31:02] Keith Gooden: Well, even on, say, a cafe connection.
[00:31:04] Matt Sims: Especially there. NordVPN encrypts your connection so your data is protected. And with Threat Protection Pro, it blocks dodgy links and scam sites before you click something you might regret.
[00:31:16] Keith Gooden: So it’s protection before the problem raises its head.
[00:31:20] Matt Sims: That’s it. Yeah, I’ve got it running constantly now. On my laptop, on my phone, everywhere.
[00:31:25] Keith Gooden: So, Matt, where do you go?
[00:31:27] Matt Sims: Head to nordvpn.com/motorhomematt where you’ll get four extra months included for free. And there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
[00:31:36] Keith Gooden: So it’s worth doing before your next trip.
[00:31:38] Matt Sims: Definitely.
[00:31:40] Keith Gooden: So, Matt, how do people get in touch?
[00:31:42] Matt Sims: We would love it if you did. I always say this, if you’ve got the question, I guarantee there are hundreds of others with the same question. Just head to mhmp.info/askmatt. Fill in the form and we’ll read it for you. Or click the orange button and record it. But please remember to tell us where in the world you are and why not join us in our brand new private Facebook group? It’s called Chat with Motorhome Matt. Just search it up on Facebook or head to mhmp.info/chat and it will take you straight to it. A private group so you can post without your friends and family seeing what you’re asking, but come and join the community. Loads of people joining in, both consumers and experts from within the industry. And I’m there regularly too.
[00:32:26] Keith Gooden: And if you’re looking for trusted brands and services, then make sure you visit the Motorhome Matt Approved directory. It’s at mhmp.info/approved.
[00:32:35] Matt Sims: And I always ask you to do this, but please, if you’re listening, follow on your favourite podcast app or if you’re watching on YouTube, make sure you click subscribe and the little bell.
[00:32:47] 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 ThatLeisureShop.com.
