Common Van Life Problems and How to Combat Them

June 18, 2024

If there’s one thing you’ve learned from my Lippert blog posts so far, it’s that while van life is one of the most amazing and rewarding ways to live, it requires dedication and hard work to achieve. And, like any way of life, it comes with its problems.

From all the adventures I’ve been on, the articles and books I’ve written, and the people I have spoken to along the way, I’ve put together a list of the five most common problems that I’ve heard about and ones that I’ve experienced myself time and time again. Don’t worry, though; they’re all easy to combat, and they don’t have to mean the end of your adventure.

These are all common, everyday problems that vanlifers might encounter. For more information about preparing for van life and things to consider while on the road, check out my article, 10 Tips For Living In A Van!

Photo credit @sebsantabarbara

1. Damp

For some reason, people never want to talk about the damp inside their campervan. It’s one of those things that makes you feel like you’ve failed, the black spots that you suddenly find underneath your mattress or on your back door heralding some kind of hidden doom associated with pirates of old.

Damp is just another part of life; it happens in houses when there isn’t enough airflow, and it’s certainly going to happen in a tiny van that you’re living in and breathing continuously (breathing is essential for life, after all).

Damp can be combatted very easily, and there are lots of things you can do to both prevent it and deal with it if it arrives.

• Airflow is key, and if you have a solid divide from the front of your van to the garage area without any space for air to flow through, damp will likely build up quickly, especially if one part of your van is warm and the other cold. Create decorative air vents that allow air to circulate from the front to the back of your build, and consider having a heating source that heats the front and the back at the same time.
• I bought some DRY-Mat webbing from Ship Shape Bedding to allow air to flow underneath my mattress after I discovered damp forming between it and the bed’s slats. It’s used on ships and stops water particles from collecting underneath the mattress, a lifesaver if you live in a tiny space.
• Keep windows open whenever you can to allow fresh air in, just as you would in a house (and if you’re reading this and thinking, ‘I don’t do that,’ then start doing it).
• Damp-proof paint is a great preventative for use on wood in your campervan. I painted the back doors and wooden bed supports with this, which really helped. You should also carry some mould and mildew spray to clean up any damp spots that occur.

Photo credit @sebsantabarbara

2. Getting Sick Is Inevitable – Be Prepared

No one wants to think about feeling sick while on the road, but the reality is that you’re going to feel ill at some point, possibly while in a remote place. It happened to me a couple of times, and while I was lucky enough not to need medical care, it definitely sucked for a few days.

It’s easy to find pharmacies and, if necessary, doctors in most countries, and if you have some good travel insurance, you won’t need to worry too much about medical bills if you do need to take a trip to the doctor’s chair. It’s a great idea to stock up on Aspirin, Paracetamol, and Ibuprofen. If you have IBS, need an EpiPen, or get bad allergic reactions to things, then make sure you have enough tablets in your van to cover you, if only for periods where you aren’t going to be near other people for a while. There aren’t many pharmacies in the Dolomites or deep in the deserts of Morocco, for example, so be prepared.

It might feel like you want to get out and explore all the time, but bed rest is key to making yourself feel better, and as you live in one room, it’s not as if you have a long commute to get into bed!

Photo credit Kev Hiscoe Photography

3. Finding A Place to Empty Your Waste & Get Water

I know this can be one of the most daunting parts of van life for many people. I’m living off-grid in a city, but how do I get water or empty my toilet? I used to take my chemical toilet up two flights of stairs in a friend’s garage to empty it in their office toilet, and I’d also get my water from their yard too, or at work once everyone had gone home (sometimes I’d do the toilet there too).

The reality is that most countries other than the UK are prepared for campervans and this very problem. Europe, in particular, has lots of spaces funded by local councils that provide free areas to empty waste and fill up with water. You’ll find them both in the city and the middle of rural areas, allowing you to hang out for the day and sample local delicacies at the same time. Some supermarkets also have waste stations and fill-up facilities; check apps like Park4Night to find them while you’re on the road.

Of course, you can always book a campsite if you really can’t find anywhere for free while on the road – there’s always a solution!

Photo credit @sebsantabarbara

4. Condensation

Condensation is one of the biggest causes of damp in your van. Cooking with the windows closed will leave your camper looking like the inside of that car on Titanic, the one where Jack and Rose were… well, I don’t need to tell you, you get the idea.

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The thing is, we all breathe when we sleep. We have to cook, boil kettles for tea, and breathe. I know you would think that breathing is the most important part here, but as a man of both Italian and English descent, I can’t live without tea or coffee. If it’s cold outside and warm inside, then you’ll definitely need to de-mist the windscreen in your cab, too. These are all little jobs that need doing as part of the ‘van life routine.’

Condensation can also lead to rust if you don’t get rid of it and insulate your van properly. Consider adding a waterproof layer to your insulation setup if you travel between destinations with different temperatures a lot, too. As a side note, people told me that a glass mineral wool roll would be a bad choice because condensation would make it damp, but over a 5-year period of periodically checking my insulation, it never once got wet!

Photo credit @sebsantabarbara

5. Dealing With Drips

Water brings me to my final point, and that’s drips. I built my van in Britain, and if there’s one thing that Britain is known for, it’s being rainy. Before I started adding insulation to my van, I sat inside it while it was raining one day to check to see if it was letting any rain in. It turned out there was a crack in the roof that I needed to fibreglass over, but one of the main problems was that it was letting in rain through the seal of the sliding door.

I managed to stop this by getting some drip stop (it’s that much of a problem that a company actually made a product to prevent it from happening). It just sticks to the side of your van and acts as a gutter to take rain away from your seals, and it did the job perfectly!

So, there you have it; those are the most common problems that I’ve come across from both myself and other full-time vanlifers while on the road. Hopefully, this article will help you avoid or combat them if you’re already noticing some early tell-tale signs. Remember to check out my other blogs for more helpful tips and the gift of hindsight (something I wish I had when I first started on my adventures!).

About the Author

Lippert guest blogger, Sebastian Antonio Santabarbara, is a thirty-two-year-old writer from Yorkshire, UK. His first breakthrough role came as the Head of Written Content for Van Clan, an online media brand documenting the van life movement with a weekly reach of over 5 million readers. This role has led to Sebastian being head-hunted to write several inspirational non-fiction books on alternative living (to be published by Frances Lincoln 2022/23) and Van Life for Dummies (published by John Wiley & Sons Sept 2022). He is also the Editor in Chief for Retro Dodo, a media/news company with a monthly reach of 1 million people. Follow his travels on Instagram!