Keith Gooden
Welcome back to the Motorhome Matt podcast! I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
Nice to see you! You disappeared for ages. We’re at the NEC, at the Motorhome and Caravan Show 2022, and you’ve been off recording and videoing and meeting stars and all the rest of it.
Matt Sims
I did get recognised quite a lot! It was lovely to meet some of our listeners. It’s great, isn’t it? Because we have no idea who’s actually listening to us ramble on. It’s really lovely to meet people. And they’ve been so encouraging. Apparently some of the stuff we’ve said has been helpful. So that’s good!
Keith Gooden
So the stuff that’s come back has been quite amazing. We did mention actually doing a calendar. And people have been asking for copies of the Motorhome Matt calendar!
Matt Sims
Not again… really?! You’re incorrigible. We’re not doing a naked calendar. It’s not happening.
Keith Gooden
It won’t be naked. Don’t worry. So what’s it been like at the show?
Matt Sims
It’s been very busy. I’ve nearly lost my voice. It’s been brilliant – it’s really, really enjoyable. This has been new for us, bringing the podcast to a show. And I think we’ve hit a spot with lots of our listeners. And it’s been, as I say, lovely to meet them. It’s lovely to meet some of our industry friends as well, who’ve also been listening, it seems! And I’ve also been very complimentary. So yes, I’m feeling good. I think we should carry on doing it. What do you think?
Keith Gooden
I think we should too. We’ve had lots of people coming up. It’s nice to get recognised at a show like this. ‘Oh, you’re that bloke, aren’t you? Oh, you’re with Matt, yes, Sims. Yes, him. Yes, that’s the one. He’s the expert. You ask the stupid questions.’ That’s what they say!
Matt Sims
Yes, well, they’re right.
Keith Gooden
But you said you were feeling good. You’re not feeling that good. Because you’ve been drinking toilet fluid!
Matt Sims
Oh, dear. Yeah, I’ve had a mouthful of toilet chemical. Don’t ever drink toilet chemical. Honestly, we’ve just been on to a wholesaler stand and there’s a new product coming out now that is harmless to humans. So I thought, ‘Really?! Can you drink it?’ And the salesman said, ‘Well, I guess so.’ So I took a swig. Yes, it doesn’t taste good at all. It tastes like essential oils. So my mouth tastes like Castrol GTX at the moment.
Keith Gooden
Lovely. Nice. A little mention there that there are other oils available – synthetic, obviously. You’re looking a bit drawn and haggard. Is that just tiredness? Or is that the toilet fluid making itself felt?
Matt Sims
I think that’s just my age. It has been a long paper round this week, I tell you.
Keith Gooden
You’re looking a bit flushed. Where’s your next holiday – the Greek island of Domestos?
Matt Sims
Stop it. Get the bell! Ding ding.
Keith Gooden
Okay, what we’re doing in this podcast is answering your questions. You’ve been writing in with them, emailing them and leaving them and recording them here at the show. And it’s fantastic. And thank you so much. So let’s have question number one, shall we?
Sarah: ‘How can I winterize my solar panels?’
Sarah
Hello, my name is Sarah. Just asking – I’ve got a van conversion with solar panels and I’m thinking about winterization. What’s the best thing to do? Do you just leave it open to the elements? Is it best to cover them? How do you clean them?
Keith Gooden
That’s Sarah – winterizing our solar panels…
Matt Sims
Thanks for your question, Sarah. That’s recorded at the stand. Thanks for visiting. What do I need to do to them to winterize? And well, I guess we don’t really necessarily need to do anything to them. I think if there’s a risk of being damaged from something falling out of the sky, or from above them – parking out under a conker tree is probably not a good idea. And then it’s probably worth covering them up.
But if you’re reliant on them through the winter to keep the batteries charged, then just regularly give them a clean to get off any dust and bird lime or whatever, you know, or where tree sap has got on them. Just clean that off, and then they’ll keep functioning and hopefully keep your batteries topped up. You’ve got solar panels at home. You don’t do anything with yours, do you?
Keith Gooden
I have them at home and people keep on contacting me by telephone, unwanted callers, saying, ‘I will come and clean your solar panels.’ They’ve never been cleaned in 11 years. We just rely on the rain falling on them and they’re fine. They’re great. And when you look at the inverter, we’re still generating 4.2k, which is the maximum a home is allowed to generate. So what do you have to do? Sarah, to be honest with you, a squeegee maybe the first time you take it out after a long winter.
Matt Sims
Certainly if you’re reliant on them keeping batteries topped up and charged, then clean them through the winter. But definitely before you use the van again in the spring, assuming that’s the first time then yeah, giving them a wipe down is a good idea. You’re one of those people who’s got solar and just loves all the tech about it. Honestly, everyone I know who has got solar panels on the roof goes on and on and on about maximum power consumption. You love it.
Keith Gooden
I do love it. Do you want to see the app? I’ve got it on my phone. Even though we’re in Birmingham, I know exactly what’s happening in my house about 200 miles away. Okay, thank you Sarah. And she left that question at the ‘Got a question? Ask Matt!’ stand on the Motorhome Matt stand – 9.32, you come in at entrance number nine at the show and we’re right in front of you.
Matt Sims
You can’t miss us. We’re bright orange. Come and grab a free bag.
Keith Gooden
Grab a free bag! And also leave a question. So thanks, Sarah.
Lynn: ‘Where is the best place to put a smoke alarm?’
Keith Gooden
Okay, question number two comes from Lynn Welsby.
Lynn Welsby
Hi, Matt. My question is, where’s the best place to put a smoke alarm?
Matt Sims
So where’s the best place to put a smoke alarm? Definitely in the ceiling of the motorhome would be a good start. I would say close to the sleeping area is a good idea because you want it to wake you up and make sure it wakes you up. So I would say anywhere between the escape route and the sleeping area would be a sensible place.
Keith Gooden
Okay, here’s one from Mike. His surname is Plows. He’s left his surname – Mike Plows. Thanks, Mike. He’s written this one – what’s the best Wi-Fi for a motorhome? Now, you’ve been doing a bit of that over the last couple of days.
Matt Sims
This has been a hot topic this week, definitely. And I’ve been doing some research. So I’d say, Mike, it really depends. Your question needs a bit more fleshing out really on how you’re going to use it and where.
So if you just want to watch a bit of television in the Highlands of Scotland, you’re only going to be able to gain access to one cellular cell. And a cat four Wi-Fi device can only grab hold of one cell at a time. However, if you’re going to be in London, or Birmingham, Bristol, or Manchester, a big city, and you want to stream or you want to work, and you’ve got a cat four Wi-Fi device, it still is only going to grab hold of that one cell. And you might want to be grabbing hold of more. So a cat 22 wireless device will grab hold of seven.
So let me put this in layman’s terms. If you imagine you’ve got a bucket of water and that’s your internet, and you’ve got one straw, that’s a cat four device. You can suck that water out of the bucket. It’s going to take you ages to get the water out. And also, if the straw breaks, i.e. you lose the cell, you lose your Internet. If you’ve got a cat 22 device, you’ve got seven straws, you suck the same amount, you get a lot more water in your mouth. So you can get much bigger bandwidth.
And also if one of the cells drops out, you’re still going to get internet. And that’s why sometimes your mobile phone, if it’s a modern iPhone, they’re cat 22. They’re often quicker and get better internet than your Wi-Fi at home. Where I live, our broadband at home is rubbish, because we live very remotely. And often our mobiles on 4G are much faster. So I would say it depends where you’re going to use it.
In the middle of a Cairngorms, assuming you get any network, there probably only is one cell available. So a cat four device is fine. But if you really want to rely on getting signal and there is more than one cell available, then a cat 22 device is currently the highest cell grabbing device you can get that’s going to grab up to seven. So that’s going to be faster and more reliable. Does that help?
Keith Gooden
It sort of helps, yes. So for the Wi-Fi you get a bucket you suck the water out with seven straws, and then you’ll be fine.
Matt Sims
It’s the toilet chemical! It’s having an effect.
Keith Gooden
It is. It’s smashing the cistern. Okay, then. Oh, by the way, talking of all those cities, you were listing the cities – one you didn’t mention was Belfast, and talking to people today, there were two flights into Birmingham this morning carrying people just for the show. And they came in this morning. They’re going home tonight.
Matt Sims
We met some of them as well, didn’t we? Yes, it’s great. People come to this show from all over Europe and of course lots of exhibitors are here from Europe as well. We met Andrea from Germany, working for Hymer. We met people from Thule coming here from Sweden. Graham and his team are here just for the week. So it’s an international show.
Keith Gooden
Definitely. And Pontypool as well. We had a big fan from Pontypool. It’s Wales – got to mention it!
Matt Sims
It’s another country! It counts.
Keith Gooden
It does.
Marcelle: ‘What can I expect from electric motorhomes?’
Keith Gooden
Okay, Marcelle Batson Warner has asked the question.
Marcelle
Hello, Matt. This is Marcelle. And I’ve got a question for you relating to motorhomes, but specifically electric powered motorhomes. I know this is new in this space, but I’m interested to hear more about what I can expect from electric motorhomes.
Keith Gooden
There’s that can of worms open again – electric motorhomes! Now, you are getting together with a big pal of yours to put together a van conversion, aren’t you – electric – to see whether it can be done. But that’s the big question everybody’s asking at the show. Electric motorhomes: fact or fiction?
Matt Sims
Well, Marcelle, I’m with you. What can we expect to see? That’s a really good question. So Burstner built an electric motorhome. When they did it, they took all the batteries off, fitted it out, and then put the batteries back on, because you just can’t risk drilling through the floor and causing damage. The campervans are starting to appear – smaller vehicles. It’s a hot topic and there are so many questions.
And yes, we have bought an electric van, which we’re going to convert into a campervan. It may not be all electric. It might have a gas hob. I think the issue at the moment is this rule is coming in that by 2030 all new vehicles have to be hybrid, not pure electric, but hybrid. And we just don’t know what impact that’s going to have on the motorhome industry. Potentially, if that happens – it’s a government ruling so anything could change…
Keith Gooden
In seven days.
Matt Sims
Or sooner! Potentially, if the rule sticks, then we could see a shortfall in the supply of chassis to the motorhome industry and there won’t be new chassis to buy and new motorhomes to buy, potentially, which will mean that used vehicles continue to stay strong in value.
I mean, obviously, hybrid is a different kettle of fish altogether. I had a really good conversation with the AA recently, someone very senior at the AA, and I was at the tow show, which is a show that exhibits recovery trucks. Now these are huge, great things. They have cranes on and they lift – there’s a friend of mine walking by – they lift trucks out of ditches at the side of the motorway,
Keith Gooden
Not much of a friend if they walked by!
Matt Sims
He kept going. Don’t blame him. He might end up on the end of this mic. Yes, they lift trucks that come off the motorway and crash out of ditches, and they’re massive. They will be hydrogen powered. Batteries aren’t going to cut it for them. So that recovery industry is also in a state of flux. There are lots of things happening there.
It’s interesting that synthetic fuel is a huge investment into Formula One at the moment. That’s interesting. And I think that’s one to watch. If all that investment is going into Formula One, how is that going to dribble down into the mass market?
Keith Gooden
Dribble?! Not trickle? It’s that stuff you drank…
Matt Sims
Honestly, I need to go and rinse my mouth out. Can we have another question?
Keith Gooden
Marcelle, thanks. Keep listening. It’s fast moving.
Avril: ‘Should I use a cover over winter?’
Keith Gooden
Avril Carson has written a question – ‘Cover or no cover over winter?’ I’m presuming she’s talking about her motorhome and not her bed.
Matt Sims
Yes, definitely, or a caravan! So this has been a topic today. I was actually approached by one of the cover manufacturers today who said, ‘Matt, what’s your view on motorhome covers?’ I thought, ‘Gosh, here we go.’ I will confess, I used to be against them. I was not a fan.
I subscribed to the view that they scratch them, cause damp and cause moisture inside. I have to say, I have changed my view. And we do fit a cover onto ours. There are lots of brands out there that make them. We sell them in our shop and they are very breathable. The inside of them is very soft, as is a metal van conversion. It’s never been scratched. So we do fit one. But I think it’s a bit like toilet chemical. It’s personal preference – personal tastes!
Keith Gooden
Yes, exactly. I’ve seen the covers. We’ve interviewed a couple of people about the covers. They’re really well designed. It’s a good investment and why not? Am I thinking the wrong thing?
Matt Sims
Well, I think it is the view that they cause damp in a motorhome. I think the technology has moved on and they are very breathable. I think getting a good cover is important and getting one that’s soft on the inside, like you, Keith, as we said before!
Keith Gooden
I might be soft on the inside, but I’m not full of old toilet water.
Kathleen: ‘Why aren’t there motorhomes without showers?’
Keith Gooden
Here’s another one I’ve got for you. There’s two. They’re linked – ‘Why don’t they have motorhomes with no showers?’ says Kathleen. Dirty Kathleen.
Matt Sims
Alright, steady! Well, I’ve been asked that before. Lots of people consider a shower a waste of space. I think the reality is that for a motorhome manufacturer, they’re building a home and our homes have bathrooms. The vast majority of people want a bathroom and actually it’s fairly straightforward to fit a shower.
It’s a really handy storage space if you’re not going to use it as a shower. So why? Because I think the vast majority of people that want a motorhome or caravan and buy them will use a shower. Most people use the campsites, but increasingly there is a trend for camping off grid and not going on to a campsite and a shower then becomes very useful.
Keith Gooden
The thing is, Kathleen, the showers can be quite snug aren’t they? And if I was in a motorhome shower, it would be like a pig in a jam jar.
Matt Sims
Well, then you would have bought the wrong motorhome or caravan, I’d say.
Ceri: ‘How many people use their motorhome showers?’
Keith Gooden
Ceri Casey has taken this one on as well. ‘How many people actually use their motorhome showers?’
Matt Sims
That’s a great question, Ceri. I don’t know. Do you want to start asking everyone? I have no idea. I don’t know.
Keith Gooden
I’ve Googled that one. There’s no answer.
Matt Sims
That is a really good question. I don’t know, maybe half of us. I think it depends. I think in this country, lots of us are on campsites. We don’t have aires. That has been another big topic, so these campsites that aren’t campsites, you know, they’re stopover places overnight. And then a shower is really useful. But in the UK, they’re not prolific. On the continent, they are, and so I think for people who are using their motorhome on the continent, or outside the UK, then a shower is probably used more often than here.
Keith Gooden
Okay, well, that’s all the questions so far that we’ve got through. We’ve got some more to answer in a forthcoming podcast. As we record this, it’s Friday night, about 20 minutes before the show closes. You’ve got a busy weekend ahead of you, Motorhome Matt.
Matt Sims
Yes, we have. The show is sold out for Saturday and Sunday. So if you’re coming along, make sure you’ve bought a ticket. It’s going to be really good with what’s known as budgie wars through the corridors. There are going to be lots of families, being the weekend. And I’m sure lots of people have never been to the show before, which is going to be exciting.
Our weekend competition ticket winner
Keith Gooden
Stop press – some hot news about some of the tickets that we’ve been giving away for the Motorhome and Caravan Show 2022. What’s happened, Matt?
Matt Sims
Well, if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll know that one of our winners is unwell and was unable to come to the show and they kindly allowed us to give away their tickets again. And we are delighted to announce that we had a winner. The deadline was last night and Jo is the proud winner of some tickets. She wasn’t able to come this weekend because it had sold out. But we’re enabling her to come and she’s coming tomorrow. So we look forward to saying hello.
Keith Gooden
Jo will be here on Saturday courtesy of Motorhome Matt and www.thatleisureshop.com! Enjoy yourself Jo. Everybody else has been having a whale of a time and even Matt here has been sprinkling himself with some toilet water. The trouble is, the seat hit him on the head. And we have put by some of our orang-ey bags for you.
Matt Sims
What?
Keith Gooden
Orang-ey bags.
Matt Sims
Orang-ey bag?!
Keith Gooden
Yes, our little orange bags full of goodies.
Matt Sims
They’re tote bags. They’re orange. You’re right. And they have got goodies in! There are sweets in some of them and pop up cups. The cups are great.
Keith Gooden
Yes, I was going to try and nick a couple of cups. And a pen. I like the pens. I can see the pens down here. Okay, then – you’re ready for the weekend. That’s all the questions we’re going to answer for tonight. I think we’re done and dusted. How are you feeling, by the way, after your chemicals?
Matt Sims
After my chemicals? Yes, they’re wearing off now, I think. I’m risking blowing bubbles for the next couple of hours out of every hole…
Keith Gooden
What more can I say? That’s the Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt. You can find us on YouTube – just search for Motorhome Matt.
