Stealth Camping and hassle from idiots?

comac

Hi all.

Do any of you campers who don't use camp sites ever had much hassle from boy racers, idiots banging on the van, etc when parking up? Does it attract too much attention?

I bought a 00 VW LWB transporter Panel van in April and spent quite a few nights in it already(I put a very rudimentary ply interior board in it that I put a blow up matress on). My plan was always to do a conversion of some sort.

However, a nice feature of having it look like a plain old working van is that you can park up in car parks (hotel car parks!) and outside houses without too much hassle.

So, I was wondering before I put any side windows in if any of you camper owners have experienced much trouble of hassle when parking up? I tend not to use camp sites ever (the point of the van being to save of accomm costs and I surf/windsurf so am always in & out of the sea for a wash!) So maybe I would be better off putting some roof lights in it and leaving it look like a panel van from the outside?

It's going to remain classed as commercial anyway because I can't afford a high roof (boy they are expensive) so I've no choice.

Thanks.

peasant

I got hassled only once, in Greencastle Co. Donegal.

Parked on a big parking lot at the beach ...seems this was the hang-out place for the local yobbos ...plus it was a Saturday night and they had nothing else to do.

Was on my own with three dogs foaming at the mouth at the noise outside. In the end I just drove off.

Ever since I choose not to overnight in spots where there are "doughnuts" or broken bottles/empty cans

*Kol*

I haven't done any wild camping yet but the thought has crossed my mind about undesirables being in quiet locations at all hours of the night. It ould put me off camping out in a remote place.

peasant

Kol ..really remote places aren't a problem, "the edge of civilisation" is where it's dodgy.

stapeler

No bad experiences yet, We try to choose spots that are quiet and don't attract too many boy racers. Also off the beaten track for pubs/night clubs.
One advantage of side windows is that if you do decide to visit campsites in the future it will actually look like a camper. Campsites are reluctant to accept commercial vehicles.

wonderworm

had problems in kilmore quay, had stayed there loads of times previously and had no problems prior to this. also had a problem in ballyhack, wexford and the pier in ring, waterford.

comac

thanks guys, mixed experiences as I would expect.

I'm caught in a dilemma here! Most of my camping so far has been at a beach or on side street in a town when I'm out for a few or on the road. I guess this will continue to be the way in the future.

I am a wee bit wary of parking in nice scenic spots in forests, beaches, etc in a camper. If the wrong people come along you could be in trouble, but I suppose that's the same anywhere. Just more cautious especially if my girlfriend's with me. Also, might get more hassle from residents if parking in a street for the night...and then I wonder if there's more liklihood of someone trying to break in to steal stuff.

Was just thinking that a panel van would not attract the same attention as a camper. But maybe if there is no high roof and just two (one on each side) windows, tinted, it might not look so obvious.

Do any of you ever camp your campers in side streets in towns? Do you get hassle from residents at all asking you to move on?

Thanks for all the info.

Cormac.

wonderworm

used to have a red renault master panel van which we had converted. slept in side streets, outside the cop shop in killarney, outside the church in lismore never had a bit of trouble anywhere we went. even with the windows people just ignored us. now we have a "real" camper we stick out like a sore thumb. i would love to go back to a van conversion but my other half will have none of it!

fits

comac wrote: »

Also, might get more hassle from residents if parking in a street for the night...
.

Ha HA... we parked in a side street near a friends house in dublin 4 once, outside a house that was being refurbished and unoccupied so we wouldnt disturb or annoy any residents. About 3 minutes after we parked there, no less than three garda cars turned up and boxed us in . They were very apologetic when they questioned us. Some fecking curtain twitcher had called them and reported that we'd gone into the building site (we hadnt). I suppose it didnt help that we had an old commercial VW transporter as well as the camper parked there.

The only other time we had issues was when we parked at a beach carpark in Kerry and some young lads turned up with crates of beer and one eejit started doing donuts in the stony carpark. It was really dangerous as he could have sent the stones flying and killed someone. We moved to another spot nearby and called the gardai who moved them on very quickly. The other spot was nicer anyway so it worked out for the best in the end.

Really I wouldnt let it put you off. Generally the surfing spots will have a few camper vans around anyway. As long as you employ a bit of common sense you shouldnt have a problem.

Benny-c

Remember the elderly English couple that got the sh1t kicked out of them just inside the border by a couple of members of a certain 'transient community' from just north of the border(AFAIK in 2006). They were severly attacked as they slept and the camper was later found burnt out by the PSNI. This was their first visit to the Republic and ironically had just passed a campsite but decided to stay the night at the side of the Dublin-Belfast road.
Convictions have been secured re. this incident.

Be careful folks....bring a doberman.

Benny

*Kol*

peasant wrote: »

Kol ..really remote places aren't a problem, "the edge of civilisation" is where it's dodgy.

Did you not see the film Deliverance??? I dont want to be taken into the wodds and made to squeal like a pig!!!;):D

bido

Have often thought of wild camping have just bought a generator so might try it soon

bido:)

derry

I am probably going to do the same thing this year and would opt to get commersial van

Problem is with time and with sufient idiots causing problems Gaurda will twig the new issue and then local consils will make bye laws to stop overnight camping or make Van unfrienldy low barriers to sea side or road side parking spots

Generator is not a good idea if your an idiot and it could kill you stone dead with
CO
carbon-monoxide poisioning
and so can running the Vans motor to produce power and older Vans leak fumes more easly

You need to make FOOLPROOF chimney system that realy works to ensure exhast goes outside VAN and most foolproof systems fall down if the wind changes direction from downdraghts or updraghts around large building or steep mountians and kills you DEAD:eek:

Putting generator outside runs the risk to make noise and annoy locals or get nicked and if you put it under Van the fumes might rise up and GET YOU :eek:

To be sure to sure you need to puit generator more than five feet away from Van and then dont forget edumation from the electricity that can fry you rear end and KILL YOU :eek: on wet location and salty water conductes electricity real good

Using most generators to recharge batteries is often a waste of time as they only give 8 amps from 12v charger and car alteranotor would start at 35 amps
You need to buy a humungious large car battery charger with 220 volt plug and with 30 amps charging rates to be any use and those chargers cost mega money so bigger battery solutions are often better and cheaper

Better to buy a humungoius large batterry like sailing boats use such as deep cycle 200 amp better 400 amp battery to replace the micky mouse 40 to 100 amp non deep cycle battery in the Van
Then buy the two way switch that marine boats use to run two batteries and when your driving after a few minutes and small battery is topped up then change switsh to charge both batteries and when you stop use the only the big deep cycle battery for lights and music TV etc and when you start the Van use its own small battery to start the Van and repeat cycle

Even better is to replace alteranator from standard 35 amp up to 65 amp types to 120 amp or better still 200 amp and this means that shorter runs will charge batteries faster

If you want to run 220 volt stuff you can get inverrtors that make 12v into 220 volts but they are mad money to do anything exceeding 300 watts or the equivalant of one small telly
Example cooker ring is 1200watts kettle is 2kw and 60watt bulb is :rolleyes: 60 watts

realy best to run generator 1000 watt better still 2.5kilowatt and use that for big demanding 220 volts and use 12 volts for the rest of the time example cooking and TV hot water and vidio run generator and later melowing out off with generator and go back to 12 volts

Forget crappy thing like solar power and wind power as they produce tiny tiny tiny mpounts of power unless you have several hundred solar panels or several hundred Wind mills and then you need a trailer to haul that lot and a deep pocket to buy them

good experts on these battery and generator solutions exist but are rare as hens teeth one source is green marine or green hobbies in 35 Claireville road harolds cross dublin www.greenhobbymodel.com and most camping shops will fleece you and a lot of the other marine suppliers are expensive and often know sod all

One tip i will give you run down a typical 60 to 80 amp car or van battery to empty several times in row and you will kill the battery

making a twin or quad solution using car batteries might work if you know what your doing but if your the typical non electric stupid dick head then it is better to get deep cycle and avoid using more than half the cappassity and you should get 1000 cycles
run the deeep cucle down every time and you only get 100 cycles and then you got to buy new battery again

So to avoid using to much of battery you neeed really big batteries or banks of them an lead is heavy so using less with deep cycle tends to be better solution
and finaly the other cheaper solutions are use gas for cooking and hot water but switch off when you sleep or doze off to stop gassing yourself and use Nicads rechageable batteries for light units
available from www.greenhobbymodel.com


Derry

bido

Derry

You obviously dont own a motorhome.

Some Modern motorhomes have built in generators. most motorhomes have gas cooking and gas heating which you dont have to turn off at night.
A Solar panel will keep your battery trickle charged also usefull to charge mobile phones.:)

Bido

derry

RE:bido
"You obviously dont own a motorhome........"

I am fully aware with lots of money you can buy all these wonderful solutions off the shelf and own a big camper home which when you park it away from expensive rip off official camping sites will be a magnet to get attacked like Scottish couple last year as owners of camper homes motorhomes are precieved to be rich picking with lots of goodies from Idiot tourists with fat wallets of money TV satilite generators yada yada .......

Stealth means not obviously motorhome /camper van which suggests low budjet DIY solutions like cheap second hand commersial van with no windows and no ventilation and you install your own stuff like matteress camper gas cooker bucket for toilet yada yada....
Looking like a commersial van would allow more possibilities for unofficial camping in town and city centres
But all DIY is very risky if you dont take into account gas kills you and carbon_monoxide kills you along with the possibilty to be beaten to death by yobbos while camping out ....

however people get attcked while sleeping in thier own homes so life is a risk

But for low budjet willing to figure out the best solutions it is possible to make a commersial van into a real neat camper home with all mod cons and still look like a commersial van so saving on expensive camping sites but you need to study the problem

Its stupid to make a good solution and then go wreck it with inviting twenty drunken friends back to you van play music all night annoy the locals in some quite location like a side street so they then call the cops and you get moved on so steath means stealth ful time not part time as lots of dick head wanna be steath artists want to try out

most prefer to just deck out the basics chemical tolet simplex ventelation camper gas cooker simple mattress carpet walls etc but some go further with hot water showers satilite TV etc
most opt to use camping sites once every few days to top up things like laundry washing etc and do stealth camping or camping SAVAGE as the french say for the remainder days like 3 or 4 days whatever
Like the war zone jounalists say they have refined the art of gettting 4 days to one underpants with rotating things around

One of the best source of information for how to survive with low amounts of power is sailing yaughts which have often to go for days without using the motor and so must either use solutions like generators ,batteries or wind or solar whatever

Most all the equipment found in camper homes is virtualy the same as what is found in sailing yaughts
The trick is figure which is useful and which is gimmiky
As 1kg of lead acid battery is 1/100 th the power of 1kg of petrol fuel for generator it is clear that generator has distinct advantage
As 1kg of alternitves like wind and solar power is on average 1/200 the power of petrol fuel for generator it would look more better to go for battery but if you want a gimmiky way to recharge your mobile phone in your way over the top priced motorhome / camper home with all mod con go for it but lots of others dont or wont spend that kinda bread to charge up mobile phones

To charge up mobile phones I use a 2 euro connector from 2 euro shop into cigerate lighter adaptor on my car or on my car battery jump jump starter which I bought in Lidl for 40 euros and which ARGOS and MAPLIN wanted to rip your face for 75 euros
What annoys me I got the same thing in 2004 in Dunnes for 30 euros but it got nicked and the only time of the year they sell cheap is just before winter and then dunnes went back to its goold old rip off excessive prices
Even Lidl and Aldi have got in on the act a tin of tuna was 50 cents went to 70 cents and Camambert cheese which costs 1 euro in Spain or France costs and 1.40 here and transport cost are not that high to justify that 40% extra increase and before that it was 1.50 but I bitched at them no end at they eventualy dropped the price by 10c and a simplex 3 amp car battery trikle charger last week cost 25 euros where I can be sure in germany they probably only charged 5 euros for it and they got an earful and withdrew it of the shelfs when they copped most Irish people would buy a car battery for 60 euros to 100 euros instead and in Spain the same car battery in Carrefour supermarket cost 30 to 40 euros half the price of Ireland

All The supermarkets are in a race to the top for rip offs but with so many stupid pay whatever is demanded for the price from the twots in Ireland its for the supermarkets and camping site owners like taking candy from toddlers

Get the message I am a tight wad frequently go aboard for work and can buy things more cheaper and even if I had the bread to buy a camper van home which I dont hell would freeze over when I can make evething myself for a lot less having over many years made Yaught electronics solutions for a living and seeing the idiots spend mega bucks often for junk just cause thier other friends had it like solar panel to recharge mobile phones.
And I certianly dont want to having spent a lot of money on doing up a van have to pay these outragous camping costs just to connect to electricity and have to leave a nice city centre location just to drive to outskirts to some expensive camping site

The only fairly safe place to park a motorhome /camping van is in camping site as if you park it in a town centre go off to entertainment when you return it is sure to be broken into.

However bear in mind that camping sites often pay staff not so much spondulickes and they dont run background checks on thier past history and if you check out camping sites horror stories of which I know a few very gory ones which I heard about in my travels you might figure camping free lance or steath or savage is lot lot more safer

And in Spain the national sport for out of work forgien national like north africans , Brits ,Poles ,Irish, Germans ,and drug dependant spanish needing a next fix or money is on lonely back roads to force camper vans of the road and steal everthing sometimes hijacking the motorhomes /camper vans as well .
Also the local cops sport is to find some local regulation you fell foul of and confiscate your camper home as under the law of Spain similar in most latin based legal systems countries its an offence not to be resident in a fixxed location house or hotel or similar solid wall location and if your living in a horse drawn cart or lorry or camper van whatever you a GITANE gypsy Knacker traveller vagabondo bandito outlaw and have no rights in the latin based legal system and all goods in your possesion are presieved to be obtained by breaking the law stealing etc and so therefore the goods are to be conficated until some time in the very very very very far future a judge will decide the issue and in the mean time storage charges are accumulating yada yada yada .....you lose your motorhome /camper van :eek:

Banditto are less likely to pick on commersial vans as most spanish lorry and van drivers are well armed and fight back and they might not notice a forgien reg if your not stupid like most Brits are with putting big GB and union jacks stickers all over the van and cops might not notice forgien reg again if you keep from plastering van with tourist syle stickers that say rob me I am a rich stupid Irish, German, Dutch or British tourist FAIR BAIT for every bandito in town
And the Irish one time used to more intelegently low profile have become more outward and flashing the cash putting stickers flags everywhere putting up prices for no good reason and generaly becoming a plague to be avoided abroad along with the other dick head Brits Germans and dick head rich camper home types whos havent the nerve to leave camping sites and will pay whatever ridiculos rates demanded becuse they in a stupid motorhome / camperhome trap they built themselfs so much so in lots of europe its cheaper to do hotels than motorhomes /camper homes and counsils under protest from greedy camp site owners blanket ban free lance camping for miles around

Stealth camping homes is possible what would suprise you is how many are out there and how few will admit it openly as having previosly said that they had no problems until they let on and then suddenly got new problems from locals esspecialy greedy camper site owners so they learn quickly to keep thier mouths shut mutter something about staying in some friends place whatever and most of all to avoid like the plauge the dick heads with thiers heads up thier arse in motorhomes /camper homes with satilite dish chimneys bikes surf boards and what not hanging off racks like a christmas tree festooned invitation for robbers come take my stuff

I know lots of steath camper guys from working in the marine trade and the common thread is they need to do it with thier living like mayby photographers with onbard photo labs or electronic computer tecks pro surfers needing to follow the waves or horse tecknitians going to stables whatever generaly people always on the move and bored getting thier face ripped of with high IRISH hotel or camp sites costs and tried camper homes and found that was expensive NON solution etc but these guys were often only telling me becuase they needed me to fix something on the van or whatever the problem was and we were trading secrets

Lots of them have different rules but one I heard one rule park up late at night in quite mature housing estates not nessary very rich or very upper middle class but not high unemployment run down housing estates for only one night at a time and never the repeat to use the same location more than 4 times in a year as once people know your location or habits bang you get robbed or problems whatever and so the general public dont even know there is probably several hundred plus steath camper homes out there often with house owning professionals inside that inconspicious commersial van as they go around the country doing thier trades and being super stealthy having often survide sevearal incidents they are not letting on to nobody if they can help it

And battery solutions are the stealthest guietest solutions but a bit pricy for part timers to get thier money back in value compared to generators so the part timers tend to go for generators and the old hands full timers as in say 4 to 7 times a week most weeks opt for gas and battery banks soltions and rarely run generators except they need it to drive machery like drills at work locations
Very very very few of then have any unnessary windows on the vans usualy with ventalaion slits on side pannels skylights on top roof and use gas sometimes electric heating or aircons solutions and most of them deliberatly ding the corners of the van to make it look a less tempting morsole and some even have CS gas cannister or better soultions for defence in break ins some solutions which remain secret even from me ready to use and I wouldnt muck with some those guys they generaly tend to be ex army types with booby trap knowlege and often one slice short of a sandwitch who often eat city pigions for dinner

Oh yeah I heard that half the forgien national first job here is driving delivery vans for buttons so they can live in van until they can save up and then get a rented house and then use the van for sleeping solutions for thier mates much as we Irish did in expensive germany in the early 90s when germany was full of work but accomadation was mega bucks so we often lived in cars near the building sites and that requires absolute steath as living vagabondo in germany is a serious offence has been pre Hitler times and still is post Hitler times and we learnt most of the best tricks from the steath campers that were germans as they were years at it

here is a good tip

if you see a vehicle owner with white or red walled tyres he is absolutly useless and also lethal driver but thinks he is the worlds best driver and so far It never failed me for inidentifying the lethal dick head drivers out there be they car van whatever... and for some reason lots of big motor homes have white walled tyres

Be stealthy it so much more cheaper aviod the other party animal van owners with take away drinks whatever making a racket or the dick head motor home types who sometimes but rarely stray from official camping sites who attract thiefs like flys to ....... or the new agers with thier confrantation drug and no law shot gun solutions or the wave his/her flag types as all these idiots can attract idiots like nobodies busness or worse get a good spot banned or get problems from the garda in Ireland who generaly dont care less if they are not getting phone calls and work filling in forms to come to this spot there is a problem

derry

derry

double post skip

peasant

Gee, derry ..who spat in your soup?

Nothing like a good old rant:D ...next time please try and put some commas and fullstops into it ...makes it so much easier to read ...and tone down the language a bit.

Back to electricity needs:
Our yoke has a 100AH starter battery as "leisure batterie" ...we can go for three or four nights without problem. I just runs lights, the water pump, igniters for gas appliances and the radio.

back to topic:

I'd say it's a major difference whether you want to "live" in your van (as cheaply and unnoticed as possible) or if you're just on holidays /a weekend away and fancy spending the night somewhere where there doesn't happen to be a campsite.

There are many spots around the country where you can park an obvious motorhome without any hassle whatsoever.

*Kol*

I actually completely missed the fact that this thread was about "stealth camping" rather than "wild camping". I'll opt for comfort and a few amenities any day so I'll never be stealthy!!

derry

RE : peasant
There are many spots around the country where you can park an obvious motorhome without any hassle whatsoever.

I agree lots of spots but less each year as problems grow
The typical problems are caused by the motorhome / camper van and modified commercial van owners long before we get into the general population issues of YOBs

I have seen site after site cool spots in towns from friendly hotel car parks to scenic car parks all banned from overnight large camping because stupids dip stick types hold a major party or rave or similar there and mayby even start to sell things and litter accumulates and the spot gets a bad reputation and BAM its lost to everybody so i never publish or tell where is a cool spot
But the offending parties who arrive and gradually make problems then shout out SOB s wont let us be loud party animals and go of to wreck another spot for everybody

In Spain Italy or France when a few new agers move into some obscure village and within days cause problems the army police like the forigien legions or Gaurda civil or Gendarme types arrive in 50 to 200 troops with helicopters and army troop carriers and jeeps or 4*4 armed to the teeth with serious riot gear itching to bop the usually English yobos sometimes German Dutch or Irish yobos and deport the lot of them often burning out their camper vans or trucks so that they cant come back .

All this is because one time they used to be more tolerant live and let live and then serious mahem broke out so now they often use brute force to stop groups meeting in obscure places

So even obscure parts of Europe can attract problems from local cops and the usually non thinking short termer's wanting to try it out types will cause the most problems and they often come in everything from motor homes to camper vans to lorries whatever and if they park next to you pack up and go as trouble seems to arrive with them

The original self home camper types which kept generally low profiles are now being replaced with a new breed of head bangers making loud music with high power ghetto blasters or similar who want to do this activity in village or town or city center outside pub they been drinking in if they can get away with it and they don't want to go into the more suitable places as often they got to have people near buy to sell stuff too but as they get pushed out they often find the obscure spots also

When that eventualy dos'nt work they give up usually when they run out of cash and go rent apartments or houses whatever to do the same but there is always another bunch to replace them

I seen things lots of things so know what waits you in the future when you see mobile solutions there exists Myriads of social cultures and issues in the making or unmaking and the track record means less free spots each year in Ireland

derry



__________________

peasant

derry

What on earth are you talking about?

Campers with ghetto blasters?

Selling "stuff" ?

And what's the foreign legion and army troop carriers got to do with anything?

You're not making much sense here ....

Let's keep this thread in Ireland and the soldiers out of it, ok?

*Kol*

Derry,

Could you at least have a read of what you are about to post before you submit please? There may be a point in what you are writing, but it is very hard to read it with out punctuation. There is a spell checker there too if you fancy using it.;)

stapeler

This board is Motorhomes & Campervans, not yachts, selling stuff, ghetto blasters etc.
Stealth "Campers" aren't campervans or motorhomes so don't really have a place here.
Here you'll get lots of information about converting, improving vans or even wild camping but I feel that the subject of "stealth" camping is more politics so I'd suggest ending this thread.

peasant

stapeler wrote: »

so I'd suggest ending this thread.

...the thought has occurred to me too

stapeler

Anyone to second that motion?:D

the_syco

*Kol* wrote: »

There is a spell checker there too if you fancy using it.;)

I get the feeling that Derrys' primary language isn't English. Having read all of his posts, they make sense.

I get the feeling that the OP means stealth holidays, as opposed to stealth living, and Derry is talking about stealth living. His advice may go over the heads of a lot of people, but it's good advice for those thinking of going abroad (esp the thing about stealth camping in the Latin part of the world).

Derry, you have to remember one thing: you're talking survival tactics to civilians (heck, I'm a civilian myself). As you've said yourself: most of the lads you've talked to are ex-military, so the hiding and the stealth is all a way-of-life, as opposed to "the odd holiday with a mate for fishing".

peasant

ohhkaaayy ...

this really is getting into an area that has very little to do with motorhomes / campervans and/or the original question.

I'm locking this thread now