The new Wildax Voltpac the van with no gas.

With rip of calor and lpg station's ,fast disappearing deisel heating will be the future . How much .longer before manufacturers ditch the factory fitted underslung tanks .Wallas xc duo Airtop deisel heater hob ,could be an option .
 
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wildebus said:
The Dometic fridge with the twin hinges is very smart - and I think is about the same price as the 3-way fridges. This is one area where I think makers really should be switching to compressor fridges regardless.

I wonder if the change from Gas to Diesel is a little late anyway? with the drive to electric and hybrids - which tend to be petrol/electric, diesel might start to get harder to source as well?
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Then we are not going anywhere David, no diesel no travel :)
 
colinm said:
The problem with this van is it's low payload, which may well be why they've spec'd it as they have, us 'old codgers' with C1 are ok, but trying to keep below 3.5t is a problem especially on a van aimed at young families.
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Colin I have been looking at van conversion payloads for a while now, and you just don’t get as good payloads as you do with Motorhomes. It’s just a case of cutting your cloth, no canopy, no extras, but you do get something safer to drive, and easier to drive. This game all about compromise, I learnt that early on. Also Colin this is not the model I was thinking of. The one I was thinking of is only two berth. I was looking for advice on their Voltpac system, which can be fitted to any of their vans if you prefer. Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.
 
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Martin P said:
Why complicate things. Gas is so simple for cooking.
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Martin as I said my worry is lpg is getting harder to find. I live just outside Glasgow and currently there are only 3 garages within a ten mile radius that do. Who knows what will happen in future.
 
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Fisherman said:
Colin I have been looking at van conversion payloads for a while now, and you just don’t get as good payloads as you do with Motorhomes. It’s just a case of cutting your cloth, no canopy, no extras, but you do get something safer to drive, and easier to drive. This game all about compromise, I learnt that early on.
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This is one area where the smaller vans can win as the fixtures and fittings are inevitably less but the GVW tends to be the same.
And go a bit smaller still and you don't even have to think about payload unless you go to extremes. The VW Transporters are probably half the interior space of a ducato LWB but the GVW rating can still be upto 3.2t
My first conversion was on a 2.5t T4 Transporter and I was still under the weight with two up and fully loaded with gear to take to a festival.
 
Fisherman said:
Then we are not going anywhere David, no diesel no travel :)
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I'm wondering if there will be a shift away from Diesel to Petrol/Electric hybrids for Vans in the future? I can't see all-electric for commercials for a fair time but the Hybrid I think is a good and likely option.
But if that did happen, then could still use other options than diesel for the heaters - kerosense will be available for a very long time as used in millions of premises and red diesel for tractors.
 
Only going to get cheaper in price and fittings as standard. 50% Will be All ELECTRIC campers in five years I think!
. Average
 
wildebus said:
This is one area where the smaller vans can win as the fixtures and fittings are inevitably less but the GVW tends to be the same.
And go a bit smaller still and you don't even have to think about payload unless you go to extremes. The VW Transporters are probably half the interior space of a ducato LWB but the GVW rating can still be upto 3.2t
My first conversion was on a 2.5t T4 Transporter and I was still under the weight with two up and fully loaded with gear to take to a festival.
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The one I fancy David is the Mercedes sprinter at 6.97m. But the model I like comes with only a 330kg payload, half of what we have currently. But we never come anywhere near using the 650kg available. It’s a concern no doubt, but the 6.3m Ducatos only have an additional 50kg payload. But on the bright side our canopy is 33kg, we can do without one, and the only extra would be leather, which adds nothing. Thanks for all your help David, much appreciated.
 
wildebus said:
I'm wondering if there will be a shift away from Diesel to Petrol/Electric hybrids for Vans in the future? I can't see all-electric for commercials for a fair time but the Hybrid I think is a good and likely option.
But if that did happen, then could still use other options than diesel for the heaters - kerosense will be available for a very long time as used in millions of premises and red diesel for tractors.
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I don’t reckon that this will affect us David, sadly I don’t think I will be driving if I am still here :(
 
Induction hob’s? One of my pet subjects.
Totter + Pacemaker + Induction Hob = Trotter RIP🤯
 
Trotter said:
Induction hob’s? One of my pet subjects.
Totter + Pacemaker + Induction Hob = Trotter RIP🤯
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I have heard they can have an effect on pacemakers. Do Microwaves have a similar effect?

I wonder if there should be a "Induction Hob in use" sticker on Motorhomes with them?
 
Don't forget to knock around 40KG off of payload for the V6 option.
You know you want to. :)
 
Fisherman said:
Colin I have been looking at van conversion payloads for a while now, and you just don’t get as good payloads as you do with Motorhomes.
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I have basically the same base van except it's Fiat and 2011, the latest model of my van has a quoted 'mass in use' which gives a 'user payload' of 530kg, which is some 40% more than the WildAx, my van has a bit more according to the specs, interestingly, when it was weighed for MOT with no water but full gas and quite a bit of the kit (junk) we carry, plus a very overweight tester, it had over 660kg of payload left.
 
You can't store as much energy in a battery as you can in an equivalent sized gas cylinder, far from it so you would need a generator to survive off grid in the UK for most of the year. My brother had an America made RV with an in built generator which worked very well but you did not want it firing up at night. 😀
 
Tbear said:
You can't store as much energy in a battery as you can in an equivalent sized gas cylinder, far from it so you would need a generator to survive off grid in the UK for most of the year. My brother had an America made RV with an in built generator which worked very well but you did not want it firing up at night. 😀
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Hi Colin.
I reckon in a few years with improvements in solar, and battery technology combined with more efficient energy use, this will be the way forward. It seems from what’s been posted it would be fine in summer. We never wild camp more than three nights before heading for a campsite. I won’t be buying a new van for a few years, but when I do I reckon it will be a van conversion. But I enjoy looking and I thought that wildax may well be on to something here.
 
The build looks good quality. Dont like the way the front seat runners sagged when he sat on them though. Look like the £50 quid 100kg rated ones so should be ok but still.
I suppose you could spec up another battery and maybe up the solar a bit, Phil seems to think that's a bit low. Worth while doing the maths on all the current for all the fitments then adding a margin as things tend to get less efficient as they get older.
If you like the idea of being at the front of tech then you pays your money (quite a bit I should think)'and takes your choice.
I quite like it actually. Sounds like there is a pretty competent engineer behind the design of it. Everything is built to a price though and its the margins that are all!
 
Martin P said:
The build looks good quality. Dont like the way the front seat runners sagged when he sat on them though. Look like the £50 quid 100kg rated ones so should be ok but still.
I suppose you could spec up another battery and maybe up the solar a bit, Phil seems to think that's a bit low. Worth while doing the maths on all the current for all the fitments then adding a margin as things tend to get less efficient as they get older.
If you like the idea of being at the front of tech then you pays your money (quite a bit I should think)'and takes your choice.
I quite like it actually. Sounds like there is a pretty competent engineer behind the design of it. Everything is built to a price though and its the margins that are all!
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Thank you Martin much food for thought there.
 
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