Claude, Beautiful Off-Grid or On-Grid Camper, fully Winterised with all mod cons for remote working and storage for outdoor toys, Gas Free with Huge Battery!

Claude is built to travel anywhere, anytime of the year and our first big test was driving to the Arctic Circle in winter, he passed with flying colours, no freeze-ups, loads of power for cooking and heating and lovely and warm. We also go to the south of France and it’s been comfortable in 40 degrees with the insulation keeping the heat out and the maxx-fan running silently all night.

Claude has a full size fixed double bed with a window for ventilation and a Maxx Fan in the ceiling, these run almost silent on the low setting and barely a whisper at 30% and gives a cool breeze on the hottest nights even with the window secured for an off-grid park-up, the fan is remote controlled so you can turn it up and down from bed and the light switch is just above you when you wake up and there is a spot for your phone, glasses and a cup of tea next to the bed.

The shower is full height so you can stand up in it and forms a full wet-room area so when you’re not using it, wet hiking gear can be hung up or wetsuits or other gear and hidden away behind the curtain, the shower has good pressure but low volume so you won’t use too much water in it. At the end of the wet-room is a full height fixed toilet, it is a Simploo Original separating loo, no nasty cassette or chemicals to deal with. The liquid is plumbed directly into the grey water so you don’t have to empty a bottle daily and the solids go into a lined bin which is vented by a silent fan to the outside and can be emptied after 5-7 days, have a look at simploo.co.uk. The wetroom measures 68cm x 180cm.

In the kitchen there is loads of storage for all your pots, pans and for dry food in the drawers and cupboards, all the drawers lock shut for travel and have a soft close action when you’re parked up, we keep our airfryer in the large drawer under fridge and this could be included as it’s a good fit with the two induction hobs that also live there. Just grab them out and pop them on the worktop or put them away to keep the area clear. The power system is sized to run both and the air fryer at the same time with spare capacity.

The fridge is a Thetford T2160 compressor fridge/freezer with 158 litres of storage. It’s a real game changer for us being able to have lots of fresh food, cold drinks, icecreams or even a late night fish finger sandwich. The fridge has flush handles and a silent mode for night time.

We built in a large deep kitchen sink with a shower head style tap so washing up is as easy as at home even for big pans or your pots can be stashed in the sink if you don’t want to do it now.

Clothes storage is over the cab and this is designed around Ikea Skubb Packing Cubes, 2 extra-large ones, 1 large, 2 medium and 1 small giving a total of 343 litres of packing, about the same as 3 very large suitcases, the lockers over the kitchen can be used for more clothes or toiletries and other accessories and there is storage under the bench for shoes.

Also under the bench is a safe bolted through the floor, big enough for laptops, tablets and drones as well as passports and other documents.

If you lift up the bed on the damper hinges then you can stash dirty washing or beach towels here in separate bags.

In the garage there is lots of versatile space for paddleboards, bikes, BBQ stuff, hiking equipment; whatever your hobby is, it will fit in here. Truma combi heater also ensures nothing freezes or gets damp in winter.

The central area of Claude is occupied by the corner bench seat with fantastic upholstery and a table is mounted in the middle and can be folded out for extra space to eat, work or play games and can be stashed away if not needed, it’s a great spot opposite the door and with windows to see what’s going on or close the blackout blinds and watch a movie.

The door opens out under the awning and has a bug screen that slides across. The Thule 4 meter awning winds out in about 1 minute and another couple of minutes to peg out the extra hold down kit and is a great place to relax sheltered from the sun or rain. You can also just wind it out a little way for a bit of protection in an off-grid park-up or the legs clip to the side of the van if you’re on hard ground.

Outside you can set out your table and chairs to relax, there is an outside hot/cold shower point to rinse yourself off from the sea or clean your muddy gear. If you want to cook outside there is an external powerpoint for the hobs or you can run a SUP pump or anything else you like. In the evening there is an awning light and all round lighting depending on how bright you want to be or to keep an eye on your surroundings.

We upgraded our heating in Claude to the Truma D4e which runs on diesel directly from the main tank or on electric from a hook-up or the main battery, this provides all the hot water and heating and the status can be seen on the screen or app. You can set timers so that the heating comes on in the evening or the hot water comes on in the morning ready for a shower. In the summer you can have hot water only without having to heat the van up. No need to search out LPG fill-ups

Off-grid electric is a massive 15.5kWh Fogstar battery, equal to 1291 Amps on a 12v system. The brains are a Victron Cerbo GX linked to the large 7inch touch screen display and Victron Multiplus 48V / 5kVA power system that means we don’t need LPG and can be off-grid for a week easily in the winter and non-stop in the summer. Power comes from the 640 watts of solar on the roof or from the Victron B2B charger while driving. Everything can be monitored on the screen including water tank levels. This level of power means you can bring any normal household appliances with you like a hairdryer.

Claude carries 100 litres of fresh water which typically lasts 2 of us 4-5 days showering everyday and has room for 100 litres of wastewater off grid. Both the fresh and waste have level sensors so you know when to fill up or empty. The grey tank is fitted with a remote ball valve so you can empty the tank over an appropriate grate at the push of a button without even having to get out of the cab.