5 Essential Buys for New Campervan Owners

So you’ve just bought your first campervan and might be thinking… what next? What else am I going to need to get out on the road? That was us back in 2018 having just bought our first VW Transporter, a self-converted panel van with a poptop, a kitchen run cobbled together from IKEA kitchen units, and a rock-and-roll bed.

We did have a slight advantage in that we had been a camping family for the past three years and we had a lot of kit, but we soon found out that what you need for a campervan is not the same as what you need for camping. Six years on and there is a lot of stuff that we take with us, but there is much less that we would consider essential when you start out. So armed with our experience (and a healthy dose of hindsight) we have compiled our 5 essential buys for new campervan owners.

Fuel Lagoon Screen Wrap

Chances are if you have bought a campervan it will likely come with curtains in the living area. If you are fortunate, you might have a curtain at the front or a set of internal blinds, but very few campervans on the market come with a custom-fitting blackout screen wrap.

When we first bought our van our kids were quite young and needed a good blackout blind to stay asleep. Travelling in the Summer and days getting light at 4 am is not a good recipe for young children or light sleepers, so blocking out light from the cab area is essential for a good night's sleep.

Fuel Lagoon is a UK brand that specialises in custom screen wraps for various makes and models of campervans including VW Transporters, Fiat Ducato, Mercedes Sprinter and many more. We bought our first blackout screen wrap not long after we bought our van and since then have bought another with a “Danny Eyes” cartoon design. In 2023 we got yet another screen wrap, this time a thermally insulated reversible design that can be used to keep the warm in during the Winter and keep the heat out in the Summer.

If there is one item we really couldn’t be without on this list, it would be our Fuel Lagoon screen wrap.

Bonus: Our friends at Fuel Lagoon have given our followers a special discount to use on their website. Use the code T4FAMILY when you get to the checkout.

Fiamma Levelling Ramps

With your blacked-out sleeping environment all sorted, the next thing you need to worry about is… are you on the level? While some people are just fine sleeping on a slope, in our van things get interesting when our pitch is sloping especially because our downstairs bed is in the opposite direction to the bed in the poptop. You will also be surprised how many times you turn up at a campsite to find that your pitch is far from level, whether that be because of sloping terrain or poor maintenance.

While there are a lot of ramps on the market, we found that many of them are designed for narrow tyres or have low maximum weights, so the ramps that we use are the Fiamma Level Up ramps with 3 height steps. These are designed with a 5-ton maximum weight and are suitable for tyres up to 225 wide (check your tyre wall). If you have wider tyres or a heavier van there is a larger Fiamma Level Up Jumbo kit for vans up to 8 tons and with 2 height steps.

By adjusting the position and height of the two ramps, there are not a lot of pitches you can’t get level. For side-sloping pitches use both ramps on one side, for downward pitches put the ramps at the front and for upward pitches put them at the back. You can check the level using an app built-in to most new phones, a glass of water on a flat surface, or a cheap bubble level that you can buy at most camping shops.

NEBO Galileo Air Lantern

Now your new campervan may have overhead lights to help you see your way around after the sun sets, but they might not be on dimmers and even if they are they might still be quite bright. When we first bought our van we had two levels of light, it was either pitch black or brighter than the surface of the sun, so we quickly worked out that we needed a low-level alternative.

After years of experimenting with dimmer switches, fairy lights, and lanterns, the solution we now go with is the NEBO Galileo Air 1000. The Galileo Air is a compact collapsible camping lantern with variable light output and an integrated folding hook in the base. Its triangular shape allows you to angle the light where you need it, and when we are using an awning we find it just the right size to hang from the hook in the middle to light the entire living area.

The Galileo Air 1000 has a battery life of up to 10 hours and a light output of up to 1000 lumens. You can recharge it with the USB-C cable provided and you can also use it as a power bank to recharge your phone.

OLPRO Melamine Set

One of the great parts of owning a campervan is that you can take your kitchen with you and eat on the road, but to do that you are going to need some crockery. We love the melamine range from OLPRO because they come in a range of bright designs, much more interesting than plain coloured plates.

The first set we bought was the Spring Bay design, with bold pattern prints depicting campervans, surfboards, flip flops, beach umbrellas, and the OLPRO tree motif. The melamine sets wear extremely well and we have put ours in the dishwasher with no issues. Melamine crockery is also very strong and lightweight, perfect for camping.

In the years since we got our first melamine set we have bought many other sets, not because we needed to but because we wanted to mix things up. The next set we bought was the Whitley melamine set, and most recently in 2024, we were sent the Whitbourne melamine set. OLPRO occasionally sell individual pieces in their clearance sales, so we also picked up some Berrow Hill side plates that we use at home for summer parties.

Packing Cubes

The final item on our essential list for new campervan owners is a van family staple, the humble packing cube. We use packing cubes to organise our clothes “per person” so that we can quickly find what to wear each morning. Packing cubes allow you to store your clothes in the smallest gaps in your campervan, making the most of every bit of space in your vehicle.

We recommend the Amazon Basics packing cubes, they are made of a strong lightweight fabric, and the mesh front panel allows you to see what you have packed in each one. We can also recommend the Eono packing cubes which don’t have a mesh panel but they do have compression zips so they are great for packing more bulky items like jumpers which can then be compressed.

Did we miss anything?

We’ve tried to keep this list to what we think are the essentials that every new campervan owner will need. If you think we have missed any then please reach out and let us know using the contact form on our website, or by sending us a message on our Instagram channel.

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