Road trip 2022 - reflections

Eber123 · Jul 4, 2022

Hello,

we got back from our road trip from the continent only a few days ago. I thought I put a few of my thoughts and reflections into a post as long as they are fresh in my mind. They could be from interest for somebody planning a trip with their California. If not just ignore the post, because I believe it will get a bit longer .... To make it a bit clearer I will create some sections, I hope it will make sense.

Ferry crossings
Well, we live on an ireland so we have to use a ferry to get over to the continent. We chose Brittany Ferries because they allow on some of their Ferries to bring the dog into the cabine. So on the way out we used the ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg and on the way back from Roscoff to Cork.
There is nothing special to say about the crossings. It worked, but it was not super luxury. But at least our pooch was with us and that was the important part for us.

Crafter (driving)
During the road trip we drove 5524 km, most of the time country roads (motorways were to expensive in France). Driving was brilliant and worked out very well. Fully loaded and on steep hills the Crafter got along rather well. Seats were comfortable. The Crafter as the base for the Grand California is a real bonus. Thumbs up.

Camping part
With only a few hick-ups everything went very well. Frank Keane in Liffey Valley managed to install the new tap in the kitchen. We had no problems with the tap during the holidays. We added a 7 cm matratze topper from JYSK (130x190 for EUR 100) and now it is super comfortable. The kitchen was adequate and the wetroom (which we used rather often) was ok to freshen up and get clean. Sitting area was big enough for the pair of us and the dog (yes she was sitting with us at the table). Awning worked well and with the hot weather used often. Chairs where ok, but not comfortable for "launching". We replaced them last week. So overall the camping side of the GC 600 was also working well.

Time of traveling
Wel left end of May and came home last week in June. All campsites were quite and not full also the motorhome aires. We never had a problem to find a place to stay overnight. All places were nice and ok. From that point of few traveling before the summer season really kicks in is working well.

Improvement (what we have learned)

Bike holder (mentioned in a different post) - my wife would like to bring the bikes. How we actually will arrange this I am not sure
Spare wheel - in northern Spain we drove through a desert on gravel roads. Our tyres are a wee bit stronger, but for future travels we would get the spare wheel holder installed
LTE Aerial - I got from Netgear the AC810 with Netgear arial (installed inside). There is room for improvements here. The reception was far worse as with the normal mobile phone

To get the above items sorted should be manageable, but here are a few I don't know what to do:

Battery power increase - to be honest we had no problems with power. But the circumstances were almost ideal. The AGM battery must be replaced with a Licium of at least 100 Ah. How to do this I don't know.
This June it was very, very hot so of course we did not use the heating, but I keep the hot water switched on all the times - well that was the idea. The Truma heater switches off every so often. That is no problem in the summer, but can be very bad during the winter. I will discuss this issue with Frank Keane. Either there is a solution from VW or they have to implement the workaround
The shower stops after 40 seconds or so. If it is switched off, waited for 20 seconds and switched on it is ok - for another 40 seconds. It is not the end of the world but a wee bit annoying.

Through 4x weeks and over 5,000 km of traveling I can say that the Grand California is more than adequate to do what we expected her to do. It battled through enormes heat, hails storms (really), storm and even a desert. Up the mountains fully loaded, provided a very comfortable bed, a workable wet room and kitchen including a capable fridge to provide us with ice cream and chilled beer with nice cheese. On the final way home from Cork my wife and I said almost at the same time we easily could spend another 2x weeks holidays in the camper.

If you haven't had your holidays yet I wish you all the best, cheap diesel and save journey and if you are already back from your trip, maybe you let me know how you got on.

Happy traveling Grand California
Eberhard