Keith Gooden
Welcome along to another Motorhome Matt podcast with me, Keith Gooden and the man that you want to hear from – it’s Motorhome Matt Sims.
Matt Sims
Bless you, Keith, how are you?
Keith Gooden
I’m fine, thanks very much. And you?
Matt Sims
Yes, very well, very well. It’s good to be back.
Keith Gooden
Yes. The weather’s getting better. We’re back together here in your fantastic podcasting studio and raring to go.
Matt Sims
We are indeed. You say the weather’s getting better. It’s raining outside.
Keith Gooden
It’s England. We live in England. It’s a temperate climate.
Matt Sims
Rubbish is what it is.
Keith Gooden
September is always a good month.
Join us at the Motorhome and Caravan Show this October
Keith Gooden
Let’s have some news first. What’s that in your hand, Matt?
Matt Sims
A coffee.
Keith Gooden
No, the other one.
Matt Sims
Oh, okay. Yes, it is exciting. This is a contract that we’ve just signed. We are going to the NEC Motorhome and Caravan show with a stand for the podcast.
Keith Gooden
So for those who are listening to this, who are dipping their toe in the water, what does the NEC show mean to the motorhoming and caravanning industry?
Matt Sims
Well, every October and February there is a huge show in Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre. And this year, it was back after several years off in February, and we are going to the October 2022 show. We have taken a stand. And we signed the contract. We’re good to go. It’s been sent off today.
So it’s the very first time that a podcast has featured at the Motorhome and Caravan show. In fact, I was asked when booking, ‘What’s a podcast?’ So we had to explain what we’re all about. So we will be at the show throughout the week with a stand that hopefully will look a bit like the studio. And we will be recording on and off throughout the week, recording some good friends of mine, some industry commentators and some industry peers. We hope to be interviewing members of the audience as well.
Around 150,000 people go to this show. It’s a big deal. And the other big part that we’re doing there is we have taken over the atrium. I’m not going to say any more at the moment. But let’s just say when you walk into the show, you will see Motorhome Matt. We have sponsored some big areas of the show. So we’re really, really keen on promoting the podcast, raising awareness of the podcast.
We’ve had some overwhelming feedback on how helpful it’s been, particularly for people who are new to this, buying their first motorhome, first campervan or first caravan. They’ve got lots out of it, which has been great. And that’s the whole point of it, really. It’s designed to help inform, inspire and enthuse you as the listener to get out there and go and explore the UK and beyond in your leisure vehicle.
Keith Gooden
And tickets are on sale now for the 2022 NEC.
Matt Sims
As we record this, they’ve gone live this week. Tickets sold out for the February show remarkably quickly. People were taken aback that they couldn’t just turn up. For years you’ve just been able to turn up, walk in and buy a ticket and in you go. No, not anymore.
The organisers are expecting the October show to sell out again, and it will sell out very fast. So today we’re recording this. Here we are, what’s the date today? End of June, isn’t it? The tickets are on sale now. So as you’re listening to this, quickly get to the Motorhome and Caravan Show website and see if you can get hold of a ticket.
Keith Gooden
Let’s hope they haven’t sold out by the time you get to them. So there are tickets on sale for the NEC show. You’re going to be there in all your glory. I understand you were recognised at the supermarket the other day.
Matt Sims
I was! My other half thought it was hilarious.
Keith Gooden
Motorhome Matt! You’re Motorhome Matt, aren’t you?
Matt Sims
That was exactly what was said, with a big point. And I said, ‘I don’t know who you are, I’m sorry!’ We were in Dartmoor as well. And we were walking. We were walking along the River Dart and someone else recognised me as well. It was funny. Brilliant. It’s lovely that people can say hello. Really nice.
Keith Gooden
They didn’t chase you with a shotgun?
Matt Sims
I managed to escape there. That’s a different podcast.
Keith Gooden
Now over the last few podcasts, we’ve been asking you to get in touch and we said we’re going to be featuring you on this podcast. And that’s what we’re going to be doing a little bit later on. Just how can people get in touch then, Matt?
Matt Sims
Really easily. So we’ve got this great new feature where you can feature on the podcast. So if you head to our website, www.motorhomematt.co.uk/askmatt, you can record your question. Just hit the orange button, hit record, listen to it, check you’re happy with it and submit it. And we get you asking us a question which will feature in the episodes.
Keith Gooden
So stay tuned to the end of this podcast. We’re going to be featuring some of you.
How the rising cost of living is impacting holidays
Keith Gooden
For this week’s episode, the main meat of it is the rising cost of living. It’s on everybody’s mind, Matt, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
It is.
Keith Gooden
Inflation currently is running at about 9.4%, I think.
Matt Sims
It’s scary.
Keith Gooden
It’s as close to 10% as to make no odds. So it’s having a big impact on all of us and how much money we have to spend on leisure and holidays and what we’re doing. How is it impacting the motorhome industry?
Matt Sims
Well, it’s an interesting one because we’re seeing in our hire business, bookings are down. Volumes of bookings coming in are down. Enquiry levels at the moment are down. We’ve looked at it and gone, ‘What’s happening? This is not normal. This is a new pattern.’
And I’ve actually spoken to several friends of mine who are competitors, if you like, around the country, and they’re all in the same position. Their bookings are down. Whether that’s because there are more motorhome hire companies than ever – people have gone and bought a motorhome and they’re putting them on these third-party websites for hire. And maybe that’s a factor. But even some of those platforms are reporting that bookings are down. So why is that?
Are people changing their spending habits? I haven’t. I’m not particularly frivolous. I’m not particularly tight. But as a family, we’re still doing what we would normally do. I put fuel in my car the other day. And I was actually listening to a podcast while I did it. So I wasn’t concentrating. It clicked off and I looked at the fuel pump. I won’t repeat what I said. But the guy on the other pump burst out laughing. I said, ‘I’m really sorry. I’ve just seen how much I’ve put in the car.’ It was over £150.
Keith Gooden
It is a lot of money, isn’t it? I pulled into a petrol station the other day to do just the same. And you have these self-service pumps now where you put your card in and it says you can fill up to 99 pounds. So I did and then put another card in to put an extra £20 worth. It’s just a joke.
Matt Sims
You’ve doubled the value of your car. I’ve seen it.
Keith Gooden
I did! The petrol is worth more. Yes, you’re definitely right. So the general impact on tourism – you’re saying it’s having an effect, which I thought was fairly unexpected for your business. I thought everybody was in for the staycation, but not the case.
Matt Sims
Well, I think they are. There are more motorhomes and caravans on the road than ever. Sales have been through the roof. I think there’s just a bit of a slowdown at the moment. The general consensus, which I subscribe to, is that there’s going to be a huge rush. And it’s going to be last minute.com.
And over the last few years, ignoring 2020 where everything changed, but certainly, since 2016 or 2017, we have seen more last-minute holiday inquiries than ever. And it became a new trend. We transformed how, in the hire business, we used to work. A motorhome would come back from holiday, we’d check it over, and then we leave it for a few days and it was cleaned just before it went out. We had to change that and they had to be cleaned as soon as they came back because it could be sat there for a week with no booking, and then suddenly the phone would ring.
So we changed how we operated as a reaction to what for us was a new trend. And I think that’s now become normal. We have the idea. And the internet and social media mean you can see something and you think, ‘That’s a great idea. Let’s book a motorhome holiday. I didn’t know you could hire one.’ Within a few clicks, you’ve booked it. So I think that’s going to happen. As a business, we’re online at Motorhome Holiday Company, so people can see the availability for themselves and easily make a reservation.
And I think that’s going to be a trend this year. We hope so. And as an industry, I’ve spoken to 8 or 9 other motorhome hire businesses, and we’re all in the same boat, some more so than others. But we’re all working on the basis that while inquiries aren’t coming in, they always do, and it’s going to be last minute. Now, that means if you’re in that position, I would consider booking sooner, whatever you plan to do, because there’s going to be limited availability very suddenly. At the moment, there’s quite a lot. That’s going to change.
As I say, I’m not really changing my spending habits. So I can’t really understand why this is happening. I think there’s lots of rhetoric around why. I think the reality is, when you go and fill your car, you’re reminded. And when you get to the tail, the shopping basket has gone up significantly in price. So often for many people, maybe there is more month than there is money. Maybe that’s a factor.
Keith Gooden
And of course, people are paying to their energy companies because they’re on a direct debit to save money, all their direct debits have gone up. And that’s a terrible shot. Mine went up the other day from £117 pounds a month to £300 a month for dual fuel. So if that’s happening to me, and it’s happening to other people. Again, the petrol pump and the till at the supermarket are another reminder that you’re poorer.
Matt Sims
Yes. In isolation, with these things you just go, ‘Oh, well,’ but when they combine, it’s a lot of money at the end of the month, isn’t it? It’s a big cost. So it’s also interesting that in the shop, in the retail side of the market, the leisure industry, there’s a real slow down there as well. And again, as an owner of an outdoor leisure accessory shop at www.thatleisureshop.com, we’ve seen a slowdown too. And that’s been odd. We’re new – we’re a year old right now.
Keith Gooden
Yes, but we know that there are not fewer people motorhoming and caravanning. We know that people have gone for it as an option rather than going abroad. So are they just leaving it parked on the drive, do you think?
Matt Sims
Again, there’s lots of rhetoric around why. And I’ve spoken to the wholesalers that support us. And they are all seeing a slowdown. They’re seeing some of the big retail brands doing flash sales now, half price. That normally happens in September. So some of the bigger brands who have big mouths to feed are being forced into a corner, almost, to run a sale. That is great if you’re the consumer. So there are some deals to be had. But wholesalers are not hitting targets.
And some of that is around supply. So for us, our warehouse is – the guys have a problem. It’s full. We are now suddenly very stocked, and some of that stock was ordered in October. So it’s June right now. And we’ve waited 7, 8 months for it to arrive. So lots of businesses – and we’re tiny compared to some of the big household names. But we’re seeing that we’re not quite overstocked, but there will be big players that are. And of course, as soon as it’s delivered, you’ve got to pay for it. And so that creates a cash flow problem for these businesses.
So they’re saying, ‘I want to hold back, I’m not ordering anymore. You’ve just delivered me 100 of those. I don’t want another 100. Let me sell those first.’ And we’re seeing a bit of that. It means we’ve got lots of products to sell. So it’s industry-wide. There’s no pattern for this year. That’s the general consensus. And we’re making up the rulebook as we go this year. So we’ll see what happens here. Perhaps let’s revisit it in October and see how the year has gone.
Keith Gooden
Yes, a political party during the week started talking about, ‘Backlog Britain,’ and how things are being delayed. And maybe this is another sign of that. That is rhetoric. That is a slogan, but there’s a grain of truth in there. And there are a lot of people going on holiday. We know that UK tourism is booming, but people are using up their vouchers from holidays they booked, say, 2 or 3 years ago. I know I am this year, hopefully, fingers crossed, if my flight’s not cancelled.
Matt Sims
Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? That’s rife at the moment. My 20-year-old daughter just completed her first year at uni. She was going off on holiday with her friends to Greece – all cancelled. EasyJet said, ‘No, we’re not putting the flight on.’ So they’re having to rebook.
One of our own team, her holiday’s being cut short – flight cancelled. So the first few days of their holiday is gone. So they’re going to fly later. And this is happening for everyone. I’m off to Spain. One of my other daughters has just finished her GCSEs. So we’re off as well because she’s worked so hard. And hopefully, I’m taking her away for 4 nights. We’ll see if the flight happens.
Keith Gooden
And what they’re doing when they’re cancelling these flights is they’re not cancelling both legs and saying, ‘You have to rebook the whole holiday. And here’s a compensation.’ They’re cancelling one leg of the flight. And so the return leg still stands. So you’ve still got to get out there first on a delayed flight, but you’re returning the booking that you made earlier. So you’ve got a shorter holiday. And it’s more uncertainty, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
It is, yes. And certainly, in the hire business, we are seeing people coming in saying, ‘We’re seeing the pictures of all these queues at the airport, hugely crowded airport terminals. We don’t fancy it.’ They’re not going to go for a foreign holiday on an aeroplane and they’re coming in talking to us about possibly doing a motorhome holiday this summer.
And as I say, they’re coming in now to talk about going away next week, next month. Normally people are booking for next year at this point. And it’s not. It’s all short-term.
Keith Gooden
And we were joking about the weather at the beginning of this, weren’t we? I did make the point that September in this country does tend to be a bit of an Indian Summer, doesn’t it? So there’s still plenty of time for you to book your motorhome or your caravan and have a great time.
Matt Sims
Let’s hope we get an Indian summer. Yes.
Keith Gooden
Well, we do more often than not, don’t we?
Becky from Caravanology
Keith Gooden
You’ve been talking to somebody, one of your friends, haven’t you?
Matt Sims
I was catching up with a dear friend of mine, Becky. Lots of families, as we say, are thinking of heading off on a different type of holiday for them. Maybe for their first time in a caravan or campervan. Maybe they bought one a couple of years ago and are thinking, ‘Well, let’s just not fly. Let’s stay in this country and do something,’ but for many families, that’s a challenge, particularly if you’re a single mum.
Becky’s husband isn’t interested in going in a caravan or campervan. And so Becky took the view, ‘Blow it. I’m taking the kids. I’m leaving you at home, then.’ And she did, and I caught up with Becky. It was back at the NEC show in February, actually. And this is her story.
Matt Sims
So I’m here with Becky from Caravanology. We’ve been having a lovely chat about Becky’s journey so far. Caravanology is a YouTube channel. She’s been caravanning with the kids on her own. Tell us a bit about that. How did you end up with a caravan and kids on your own? What happened there?
Becky
Well, I guess as a family, we’d gone through tents and decided that was cold and miserable and we hated the pack up. So we went into a folding camper. Then the kids got a bit big for that, so we went to a trailer tent. It sounds a bit mad, but actually, there was more space. And then after that, I was absolutely convinced we needed a caravan because it’s so much warmer and so much nicer and has all the facilities and so on. But my darling husband – how can I put this – dislikes caravans. I’m sorry people, but that’s the truth. After a year or so of trying subtle, nice ways to convince him that it would be warm and cosy and lovely, I just thought, ‘Blow it,’ got my chequebook out and decided we were having a caravan.
And I just told him that was that and the caravan was for us. And I towed it with a Volvo XC60 for a couple of years. I gradually came to the realisation that it would be even better if I towed it with a VW van or a van of some sort. So now we’re towing with a VW van that’s a day van and an occasional camper with a little Eriba caravan on the back. I guess I started doing that because I thought it was really important to get the kids out in the fresh air.
And we had run out of stuff to do locally, so I wanted to take them further afield. But taking them further afield meant that we had to stay somewhere and I certainly wasn’t interested in B&Bs and so on. So I thought a caravan would be perfect because it would give us our own little space. We’d have all our stuff with us and we’d all be perfectly well set up and everybody would have a space. So that’s how we ended up with a caravan.
Matt Sims
You’re away with the kids. How many kids have you got?
Becky
I’ve got 2 boys. And I started taking them away on our own when, I think, the youngest was about 8ish and the oldest must have been about 11. So obviously, we’d been camping all together before that, but they were that end of primary school beginning of senior school sort of age.
And I have to tell you, they were an absolute nightmare when we first started going away because the eldest is very particular about things and really didn’t want to get involved. And the youngest is my super keen, wonderful helper, but he does have a habit of running around crazily with a steady winder and it made me panic a bit about the caravan.
Matt Sims
It’s a weapon to him.
Becky
Absolutely. And they’re small boys, so anything becomes a weapon, right? And so I had one extra helpful one and one completely non-helpful one that liked to just get a chair out and sit in the way. But I’m pleased to say after a bit of nagging, a bit of shouting and a bit of nice cajoling, they are now a very well-oiled team.
Matt Sims
Did you do this pastime as a child then? Or is this something that’s brand new to you?
Becky
Yes, so I come from a caravanning family. So owning and running a caravan didn’t scare me at all. I was always my dad’s number one helper, I guess. So we did quite a lot of trips around the UK.
And I think I was about 9 or 10 when we first ventured into France. And then we spent every summer, a couple of weeks at least in France every year and it was brilliant. Just so much freedom. And I just remember all these relaxed days. And so I was interested in recreating that for my kids.
Matt Sims
Fantastic. I know you have, and we’ve been talking about your passion to encourage other mums to get away with their kids, whether they’re on their own or not. What would you say to mums who are thinking ‘Well, I couldn’t possibly tow a caravan. It’s not something I could do.’ What do you say to those people?
Becky
Sometimes we just have to put our big girl pants on, don’t we, and just get on with it? I was absolutely terrified, I can tell you, the first time I actually towed the caravan. I’d towed our folding camper before, but that’s a relatively small trailer. So I was absolutely petrified, I can tell you. I don’t often get scared, but I was shaky when I pulled off of the lot with the caravan the first time.
What I did was literally just go 15 minutes down the road to the nearest campsite first off to check everything worked but also just to get over that scary moment. I had to go on the motorway, which actually sounds scary. But I think that was quite sensible because it’s a long straight road. You don’t have to think about corners or anything else. So that worked out really well.
So girls, just do it! It’s great being out and about and you get this amazing sense of accomplishment. I think if you just sit around in your house thinking about what could have been, then you just worry about these things. So I think just do it. It is going to be probably very scary at first. If it’s not scary, then probably it should be scary. You’re not worrying enough.
But you’ll get the hang of it within 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Just watch what the caravan’s doing, and take one of the club courses or go and have a couple of hours with a trailer driving instructor which will give you huge peace of mind. Because running a caravan these days is really easy. They’re much heavier than they used to be when I was a kid.
Our family caravan, my dad and I could push it around with no problem to get it into its parking space. But these days, they’re all so heavy. Get a motor mover on it so that if you get stuck just unhitch the thing and motor move it around. In fact, one day I got stuck in a Lake District country lane. It was an absolute nightmare. It was sleeting. It was the middle of winter. The sat nav cut out and we lost all phone signals. And I’d followed a wrong turn somewhere coming out the back of a service station. And we just ended up on pokey little country lane and it was getting thinner and thinner and thinner.
And there was no way I was going to be able to reverse turn the caravan around. So I just thought right, ‘Blow it, we just need to go back.’ So I parked the car, unhitched the caravan with just enough room to spin it in the road and then parked it literally in somebody’s gateway while I moved the car past and then just rehitched it again. Oh, the kids were hangry at that point.
Matt Sims
Hangry?
Becky
Hangry. They were really hangry. It was coming up to dinner time. They have little tums. We’d been on the road for quite a long time because we were on our way to Scotland actually that time. I’ve never felt so depressed and annoyed.
And right at that moment, the eldest, who’s really not known for his fondness, comforts, expressions of love, shall we say? He turned around and said, ‘Mum, we know you can do this. You’ve got it.’ And I nearly cried. I really did. It was just wonderful. And he’s never expressed any other fondness or gratitude or admiration since but I’ll remember that moment forever.
Matt Sims
I bet you do. Yes, of course, and so you should. Well, that’s fantastic. And of course, the kids love being away, don’t they? You’re giving them some great memories, as you have yourself from your own childhood. I think it’s fantastic. So mums, if you’re listening, Becky’s advice is, ‘Just do it.’ Is that right?
Becky
That is absolutely perfect. Just get on with it. You can overcome any problem. There will be problems, but just have faith in yourself that you can do it.
Matt Sims
Brilliant. And we’re here at the NEC show, as you can tell by the noise if you’re listening. And Becky mentioned the caravan towing courses. They offer them here at the show for free, don’t they?
Becky
They do indeed. I’ve seen quite a lot of people out and about with white faces to start with, but the smiles seem to come on in the first few yards. So I think it’s a fantastic thing that you can do at the show. It’s really, really important and it’ll give you that faith.
It’s certainly something I was worried about before I ordered ours, mainly because I guess I was sort of leading the purchase and I was panicking about, ‘Do I go for a huge long great big caravan or a small short one? Does it really make that much difference in terms of towing?’ So do come to one of the shows and do have a go at the towing tuition because I think that’ll give you a lot of peace of mind and help to really focus your decision.
Matt Sims
Brilliant, great advice.
Follow Caravanology
Matt Sims
So where do people find you, Becky? Tell us again.
Becky
So they can find me at @caravanology on Twitter, or my YouTube channel is Caravanology with Becky.
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast.
Audience Q&A
Keith Gooden
I’m Keith Gooden. But our expert, as usual, the man who knows everything about motorhoming and caravanning – it’s Motorhome Matt Sims.
Matt Sims
I don’t know about everything, Keith. Definitely not everything.
Keith Gooden
Now, Matt, we’ve been asking people over the last few podcasts to get in touch with us and ask questions of you, putting you on the spot. And that’s exactly what’s been happening.
Matt Sims
It’s been great. It’s been great. You can do that. Just go to www.motorhomematt.co.uk/askmatt. And we can get your voice on the podcast.
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. Leave your name and where you’re from as well because we always like to give you a big plug. First of all, we’ve heard from Rebecca, haven’t we?
Matt Sims
Here she is.
Rebecca
Hi, Matt. Rebecca here. We’ve just bought our first campervan. And we are very excited. We bought it from a dealer, 2 hours from our house. And my question to you is, do we go ahead and get any extras fitted, for example, television or Wi-Fi with the dealer 2 hours from our home? Or do we get it done closer to home? I’d love to know your opinion on that.
Keith Gooden
So Rebecca says should she get it fitted at the dealer or get those extras as an after-sale?
Matt Sims
Yes, good question. Thanks for that, Rebecca. At the point you’re buying it, there’s an opportunity to negotiate the cost of those extras into the deal. It sounds like Rebecca hasn’t done that. And so they are going to be an after-purchase extra. She’s purchased 2 hours from home. Now, for many of us, that’s normal because there’s not a dealer that’s selling that motorhome. You have to travel to go and get the motorhome you want.
So there may be a reason to get it done at the dealer for convenience, so you pick it up and test everything and away you go. But what happens if there’s a problem? That would mean potentially you’re driving all the way back to the dealer, which can be hundreds of miles. With fuel costs, as we were talking about earlier, that’s going to be a big expense. So I think things that are invasive to the motorhome, where you’re drilling it and cutting into it, would be a good idea to have done at the dealership because there are potential warranty impacts.
So if down the line there’s a water leak where a television aerial or satellite dish or something was fitted to the roof, that’s going to be a warranty claim. And then you’ve got some recourse with the dealer that did it and they will be on side to help you rectify that.
If it’s something lighter that is less invasive to the motorhome that you want to have fitted, so a television to a TV bracket or just a TV bracket inside the motorhome for example, and you’re not brave enough to be drilling the wardrobe to mount the bracket on and you want someone to do that, then there are lots of mobile engineers that will come to your home and do that type of job.
So there isn’t really a wrong answer or a right answer to this. It’s going to be what suits you. My advice would be, as I say, if it’s invasive to the motorhome and there’s a risk of a warranty breach down the line or warranty claim, should we say, then it will definitely be worth getting the dealer to do that for you.
Keith Gooden
Would the dealer give you a better deal than having it fitted maybe some weeks after you got delivery?
Matt Sims
They might do. They might do. I guess they would be less motivated to do that. If at the point you’re buying the motorhome you say, ‘Well, I want to add a Wi-Fi aerial to the roof and a bike rack,’ then there’s an opportunity to have a negotiation where they’re included for free, or you buy them at cost and they fit them for free. So that would be the time to have that discussion, prior to purchase. It doesn’t sound like Rebecca has done that.
So she bought it. And she’s adding extras now after the fact. So you could go back and the dealer may be keen to do a deal on those bits and pieces. Rebecca’s question is more about, ‘Do I get them fitted at the dealer or afterwards at home?’ Really, that’s going to be about convenience for her and also for the dealer, because they might not have the parts you need in stock.
So if it’s going to delay your collection, you might think, ‘Oh, blow it, I’ll manage without a bike rack. I’ll just put the bikes in the garage or walk and not take them. And we’ll get it fitted when we can get one down the line.’
Keith Gooden
There you go, Rebecca. I hope that’s answered your question. There are warranty issues to keep in mind. There’s no reason why you can’t retrofit, but also press the dealer for a good deal as Matt was saying earlier in this podcast. Things are a little bit slow at some dealers at the moment, so you never know what sort of deal you could negotiate for yourself.
Matt Sims
That’s right, yes. Rebecca’s point about driving 200 miles – I know people that have driven way further than that to get the motorhome they want because supply is thin.
Keith Gooden
Yes, but fuel wasn’t £2 per litre.
Matt Sims
Well, yes.
Keith Gooden
So who are we hearing from next, then?
Audience questioner
I was listening to your piece about wild camping. But I don’t agree with your line to empty the cassette into a toilet. If this was allowed, why do motorhome campsites have disposable emptying points? Other people have to use the toilet after you empty your cassette.
Keith Gooden
An anonymous question there, Matt. So when we talked about wild camping, we talked on many occasions about wastewater, emptying your toilet cassette down the toilet. He thinks it’s antisocial.
Matt Sims
Well, I guess if you make a mess, that’s pretty unpleasant, isn’t it? It’s going to be predominantly a bluey-green fluid that’s going down the toilet. It’s a valid point. The reality is the motorhome emptying points for toilet waste are linked directly to the same pipe that the toilet’s linked to. So whatever the reciprocal is, it all ends up in the same place, whether that’s into a septic tank or into the main sewer.
So I guess the piece really is around my suggestion for if you’re travelling off-grid and you’re not able to get to a campsite. Always go into a campsite and always try and empty it down a motorhome-specific waste point. That would be my advice. But if you can’t, and the cassette is getting full, you need to empty it. And my point in the wild camping podcast was don’t go emptying it in a river or under a tree or into a ryme for goodness’ sake. That’s horrendous and totally stupid. In the worst case, empty it into a toilet.
Now, dragging your toilet cassette through motorway services is going to get frowned upon. That may be your only option. I wouldn’t recommend trying to do that. But if there’s a toilet you can get to where you can empty it – when we get home from a trip. If the kids have gone to the loo or we’ve gone to the loo in the campervan, we empty the toilet cassette down the toilet. And my advice is to aim it on an angle so that goes around the bowl and down rather than straight in because it will splash back at you.
But you can do it without making any mess. In our motorhome hire team, people will always come home with cassettes that need emptying because they’ve not followed our advice to empty it at the campsite or they’ve used it on the journey home. We ask them to empty it when they get back down the toilet.
Now, we have a disabled loo where there’s plenty of room and we talk them through doing it safely so there’s not lots of splashing. And afterwards, just flush the toilet. Wipe it round if there is some splashing. There’s no reason why you can’t do it at all. And just clean up after yourself.
Keith Gooden
And be aware that it is a mixture of chemicals and waste, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
It is chemicals and waste, but you’ll leave the toilet with a blue tinge to the water. It’s the same way as you’d put toilet cleaner down the toilet. And the chemical that goes down – this is the important bit – if you’re emptying it down a loo that’s going to go into a septic tank, it is really important that you use the green biochemical, so the green version of the chemical. Because the blue stuff will upset that biological reaction in the septic tank.
So ideally, you know where it’s going. Check with the toilet owner. We stayed at Two Bridges on Dartmoor. Their toilet system is a septic tank. Their fresh water is their own feed as well. They’re so remote. So it’s really important that you’re not putting waste down the toilets in the hotel bedroom at that hotel because that is going to block the system and upset the septic tank. So ask the question and make sure you’re emptying it in accordance with that.
Keith Gooden
So with a septic tank, if you’ve been it’s green. No poo if it’s blue.
Ask Motorhome Matt your questions
Keith Gooden
Now, if you want to get in touch with us, it’s very easy to do that. How do we do it, Matt?
Matt Sims
Head to the website, www.motorhomematt.co.uk/askmatt. And if you are too scared to record a message, you can fill out the form and type your message to us. And do leave us your name and where you’re from.
