Tonight I’ve made my first attempt at creating a campercar. Yes yes, it doesn’t sound right, I know. But think about it. If theres only one or two of you, and you want to occassionally stay overnight for the surf, or for a photo opportunity, having a true multi-purpose car makes a lot of sense. You get all the benefits of running a lighter vehicle, easier parking than a van, easy on the wallet, low profile, cheap mpg, cheap to run, cheap toll crossings, and can wave goodbye to that rusty old camper that you ‘only ever slept in once last year’.

So what do you think? Basically, it’s my Synergie MPV, running with the seats swivelled round, and one middle row seat with the table, a Sunncamp self-inflating mattress in matching grey, Tesco grey fleece sleeping bag, gas stove with kettle, and various food stuffs hidden in the pockets at the rear of the car, like John West tuna meals, cereal bars, long life stuff. There’s two 2 litre water bottles in the sliding door pockets, and a secret wee bottle for those awkward middle of the night moments. I’ve also bought 3 large Tesco reflective sun blinds, both for privacy and for heat retention, which sucker on to the windows. But ideally I’d like to find a UK source for the base shiney material, I think it’s called reflectix, so I can make up some made to measure window blinds. One UK source is Self Build Motor Caravan Club who are advertising camper curtains and window screens for home-made campers.

Now, I just need to pluck up the courage to sleep in my car, and I can feedback whether my plan is a winner. Or not! Campercar. MPV sleeper. Stealth Camper. Gotta be a name for it.