Every one of the reasons put forward so far is valid and noteworthy and in our case contributed to our purchase of our Coast. However I think something not often mentioned is how long you intend to stay away from campsites/civilisation/toilets (!) etc.
In our previous vans we used to tour across Europe generally using the Aire type places that the Europeans do so well, these rarely include toilets so our onboard built in bathroom/loo was useful and instant. We have only spent 4 nights away so far in this van where we needed our own independent facilities (loo! haha) and I would say that by comparison it is simply not as convenient as before. Now, having said that, I would say that there is something almost quite ‘regal’ about sitting on the throne in the middle of the van with the blinds down in a ‘semi’ public place
……the down side to this is that it does require a little forward planning, a little rearranging of the furniture and perhaps a very understanding partner who is either prepared to ‘take a short walk’ or tolerate the rather close up and personal toilet experience
I am of course making light of this
but it is a real issue. Although this is not (and wasn’t meant to be) a ‘toilet thread’ I suspect I might just have opened Pandoras Box on this subject. It is blatantly clear that the vast majority of VW Van users either object to having a loo inside the van, or consider that the possession of one is only for extreme emergencies and (shock horror) never really meant to be used for a poo!
Now this brings me back to ‘use and application’ of the van as opposed to ‘reasons to choose’ the van. We love our California at the moment although I do accept that we are probably still in the honeymoon phase as we have only recently acquired it. We intend to use it as much as possible (when we are not sailing in our wee yacht) but I will confess that I am a tad concerned as to how the whole off grid loo situation will pan out. My wife has had to put up with many things over the years, including cleaning me up when I had a severe bout of sea food related poisoning last year on the boat and passed out on the loo with liquids being expelled at high velocity from every orifice
(sorry team, that was way too much information!) so it’s true to say that there is little between us that should cause any concern or embarrassment.
So the bottom line, if you’ll pardon the pun, is that if I can get over my prejudices then really we should be good to go (sorry, that was not meant to be a pun)
All in all? I am really hoping the van will work for us. By the way my wife thinks I’m nuts! she loves it (I mean really loves it) and says I am worrying over trivia.
There we go, that’s today’s therapy session done
