Wild Camping for motorhomes- essential kit for off-grid camping

wild camping for motorhomes and campervans- essential kit to be prepared

Planning to go wild camping with a motorhome or campervan? Nervous about what kit you need? Here are the essentials we use when off-grid camping with our motorhome (and the stuff we don’t!)

Don’t forget to grab your FREE motorhome wild camping checklist below.

*We work hard to make this the best motorhome travel blog and road trip website possible, full of helpful content for you. The website is supported by our readers, so if you buy through links on this site we may earn a commission- at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain our own.

If you find this post useful, you can also treat us to a coffee – we promise to enjoy it while creating more useful content like this- we might even indulge in a biscuit (or two!)


Wild Camping for Motorhomes, RVs or campervans

One of the things we love most about wild camping with a motorhome or camper is how simple it is.

I know it probably doesn’t feel it if you’re new to the idea, but seriously, we took a brand new motorhome and headed off into the wilds of Wales- with absolutely no preparation (and very little additional kit).

Still, there are a few things you need to check before you take your van off-grid, and there are a couple of motorhome essentials we highly recommend you get.


Motorhome wild camping- our experience

Wild camping is our favourite way to stay overnight in our motorhome- especially when we can be in the middle of nowhere- like when we took our motorhome up into the Alps.

We’ve made many (many!) mistakes when we’ve been wild camping- we forgot gas whilst we were wild camping with our motorhome in France, we lost all our fresh water in Germany and we’ve run out of power. You name it, we’ve probably done it! But it hasn’t put us off- learning is part of the fun!

Still, to make your life easier and pass along our knowledge, we’ve put together a list of the most ESSENTIAL items you need on your camper if you’re thinking of wild camping… and the things which you probably don’t. You’re welcome. 🙂

Of course, one of the main things which worries people is staying safe. You can find out more about motorhome security while travelling here.

Motorhome and RV wild camping tips and checks
Motorhome and RV wild camping tips and checks

Anyone can go off grid campervanning

I’m going to start this post with a caveat; yes, you CAN of course wild camp in your motorhome, campervan, car or RV without ANY of the following items. You can literally get a van, chuck a mattress in the back and spend the night if that’s what you choose and find a free overnight motorhome stopover.  

But for this post, I’m going to assume you have a motorhome or campervan which is designed to be lived in. You’re not really interested in ‘stealth camping’ in the middle of a city, but you want to spend several nights (or more!) experiencing the joy and freedom of off-grid camping, whilst still being able to enjoy life in your motorhome.  

Of course, everyone’s requirements are different. A family with 4 kids are going to need a heck of a lot more power and waste facilities than a couple with a dog. 

It’s a balance, but it’s totally possible.

Motorhome wild camping guides for the UK & Europe

Motorhome wild parking guide

For information on how to find good wild camping places, WHAT to do when you’re there and how to stay safe, check out our step-by-step guide for motorhome wild camping in the UK and Europe, complete with database of 250+ overnight spots we’ve stayed with our motorhome.

Don’t forget to grab your free wild camping checklist here


Off Grid Motorhome camping- the experiment!

A few months ago, we picked up a brand new motorhome and took it wild camping for the weekend. No prep, no prior planning. We hadn’t even seen the motorhome before and had no idea what it had onboard. 

It was an experiment. We knew we wanted to stay off-grid for at least 3 nights. We had no idea if the power/ waste tanks would cope and we had backup plans in case they didn’t (ie- a campsite or two planned out in case we needed them!)

So we thought about what we REALLY needed/ wanted to carry onboard- and then we assessed afterwards what we needed, and what we didn’t.

NOTE: Although the experiment was for only 3 nights, we decided to treat it as if we were on a longer trip. So we didn’t just ‘put up with’ the power dying on phones, or not being able to do something. We wanted to make it as realistic as possible.


Wild camping essentials for motorhomes

From that trip, we realised that was important when staying off-grid with a motorhome. The items we feel are the most essential are:

Let’s look at those in closer details below:

Powerpack/ invertor

This was the only thing we bought with us when we collected the motorhome- we knew how important it would be. Both of us use our laptops on a daily basis and you need proper power to be able to recharge the laptop batteries.

Make sure your powerpack is capable of being recharged by 12v and can charge a laptop if you have one- this one is good.


Decent sized leisure battery & solar panel

On our last motorhome, we had two leisure batteries, as well as an engine battery. Because we spend so much time off-grid (and an electric drop-down bed!) we found the extra battery really useful.

However, the new motorhome only has one leisure battery, with no space to add another. I was a little worried but, actually, the battery system works great. It made us realise that you don’t need a second battery at all if the first one is good. Make sure you get a battery designed for leisure use, and get as big a size as you can- ours is 110a

READ MORE: Complete guide to choosing and maintaining your motorhome leisure battery

Another thing to add along with the leisure battery is a solar panel. If you have a good solar panel, one battery should be fine (just be careful if it’s raining/ very cloudy as things might not charge so quickly. This is especially true if you’re wild camping with a motorhome in Scotland– it rain a lot up there!!

You can buy a solar panel cheaply from Amazon and fit it yourself. Make sure you add in a regulator and don’t just wire it straight to the battery. If you’re unsure, I recommend paying for someone to fit it for you so you know it’s set up correctly.

Motorhome and Camper Wild Camping- things to look for
Motorhome and Camper Wild Camping- things to check

Fresh water and empty waste tanks

We used to buy bottled water for drinking (after almost poisoning ourselves one year!) but now we use one of these incredible LifeSaver Jerrycans instead. Worth every penny.

Without fresh water in your tanks you’re not going to be able to do much showering/ motorhome cleaning or even the washing up! Before you head off into the wilds, make sure you top up the water tanks (and toilet flush, if it’s separate.)

Likewise, empty your toilet waste and grey waste tanks into APPROVED places before starting your wild camping adventures. This might mean having to stay at a campsite (in UK) or aire in France in order to use the facilities. Some places will allow you to use them if you pay a small fee.

We use a product called Solbio organic toilet fluid, which is natural and doesn’t contain harmful chemicals. It’s also safe to be disposed of in septic tanks or fosse, meaning we have more options to dispose of our toilet responsibly.

Being frugal with your water/ waste will also help you be able to stay off-grid for longer. Also, if you’re buying a motorhome with a view to staying in free motorhome stopovers, get one with large fresh water and waste tank capacity.


Gas for fridge/ heating

If you’re wild camping in the winter, whether in the UK or overseas, you’ll probably need heating. If your camper heating uses electric, you are really going to struggle getting enough power to keep it running- which, frankly, doesn’t sound like fun to me. An essential thing we look for when buying a new motorhome is heating which runs on gas. And a fridge which runs on gas/ electric or battery!

One of the best things we ever installed was a refillable motorhome gas system. It’s been so easy to find and get gas throughout Europe. 


Efficient lighting

This is another thing which can really muck up your power plans. We try and make as much of the lighting in the motorhome LED- and those which we can’t we try not to use when off-grid camping. Be deliberate about your lighting and remember to turn them off when not in use (especially the outside one!!) 

We also use extra lights, like these, which are battery-powered and can light up the seating area quite nicely without any power drain at all.


Want to learn everything about motorhome wild camping?

Motorhome wild camping guide

It’s ok to be nervous. Maybe even slightly terrified. I remember exactly what that felt like. Thinking everyone else had some secret that I just couldn’t figure out.

If you want to know what they know, grab our step-by-step guide to motorhome wild camping/ off-grid parking. 80+ pages of tips, step-by-step walkthroughs, videos, checklists and more- everything you need to get started, find places, stay safe, manage power, water, waste and more.


Bonus tip- Security

One thing we use ALL THE TIME while free camping is our wireless security camera. Although this is by no means an essential for motorhome wild camping, it provides great peace of mind to know that the motorhome is safe while we’re going for a walk or exploring somewhere.

It also comes in handy at campsites if we choose to leave our dog behind for a couple of hours- we can check up to see he’s ok.
This is the system we use and highly recommend. We’ve used it all over Europe and it works great wherever there is a 3G signal.


Things you DON’T necessarily need for off-grid motorhoming

So, those are main things to look at to improve your motorhome wild camping experience. Now here are two which we THOUGHT we’d use a lot… but honestly haven’t:

Generator

We got a generator despite my protests. I didn’t want to be THAT motorhome, with the genset going into the night and ruining both ours and everyone else’s quiet evening. It seemed to defeat the point. But Mr WB was correct in saying it’s a valuable safety feature- and it is. 

Over 18 months, we’ve probably used our motorhome generator three times. Each has been when we’ve spent three or four days miles from anywhere (and anyone!) and we loved the solitude so much we decided to stay out for an extra day or two. Without the generator, we couldn’t have done that- but normally we don’t use one at all. This is the generator we have and it’s great, but it’s definitely not an essential for wild camping unless you plan to stay off-grid a lot. 


Spare Battery

We discussed this briefly above, but if your leisure battery is a decent size and you plan on driving at least a couple of hours every day, you probably won’t need a second leisure battery. However, if you have the space and the weight allowance, a second battery certainly won’t hurt, but again, you don’t need to spend the money before you head off on your wild camping adventures!!


Last update on 2024-03-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Sharing is caring!

Similar Posts

5 Comments

  1. Wild camping great out door experience and plenty of places to find and stay, try to stay out of non overnight carparks or you will upset the local council and take away all rubbish this goes with out saying , we have an overnight stop on a camp site every three days to replenish ourselves and the motorhome would not like to go much longer as we are very conscious as to where we empty our loo and the need to recharge the batteries , some pubs do let you use their carpark provided you have a meal with them can be noisy at closing time but you get used to it, we run twin batteries and a solar panel onboard diesel heater for hot water and heating twin gas cylinders and of course large inboard water tank and underslung waste water tank .

  2. I see no reason for an inverter for laptops. Why convert 12v up to 240 v to then plug in a 240v laptop power supply that then drops it back down to 14-18volts. Just get a good quality converter that does 12v to 14-20volts instead. Far more efficient.
    Likewise for phone chargers, just get a 12v to 5v USB converter.

  3. stephen wright says:

    Hi With the Power Bank/ Inverter that you recommend how do you charge the power bank whilst your camping.

    thanks Steve

  4. steve Harding says:

    Good article. Thanks ??

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *