Symbol - Paddleboard and wet walking gear!

Hi all - first time poster here!

I am collecting my first Symbol in a few weeks and starting to think about some practicalities (things I probably should have considered earlier!) but am hoping you will have some great hints and tips.

I am a keen hiker and paddle boarder and so the Symbol will be great for me in Snowdonia and the Lakes - I don't want anything longer and so I know there needs to be some compromises.

Does anyone have any suggestions about the best place to store a paddle board (when packed is about 120 cm x 60cm x 60cm).

Also, how do you manage muddy walking boots and wet walking coat and trousers etc? 

Apologies for the naive questions :)

Thanks.

Hello

difficult to see how you could store the paddleboard inside - a bile rack with a box fitted may offer enough storage? Muddy boots - store under the van! Or in the loo when you hang your wet gear in there? Not sure about roof storage options?

Someone will prob comment and ask you to introduce yourself in the new members section.

The first thing we do when we bring a new van home is move the habitation carpets to the loft where they away until we sell the van. Some use washable mats but we prefer the bare floor and flip flops.

You are safe to open the awning about 9 inches and leave it there to minimise rain entering through the side door on arriving back with dirty boots and wet clothes, we would step into the van one at a time, first in removes coat and into the shower to drip and boots on an old towel front of drivers seat then second follows same procedure.

We did use a drive away awning for a while but packing that away wet and drying when we got home was too much of a bother.

Cant help with paddle board.

By dimensions your paddle board is inflatable. Other than rack on rear the only option I see you have is to travel with it on floor inside sliding door then transfers it to one of front seats on site or keep it outside which would require some means of making it secure if you left it out.

My Paddleboard sits on the van floor when travelling. At night or during daytime when it’s not being used it just about squeezes between the front seats (obviously deflated and in its bag). It will also happily fit on the drivers seat.

When we got our bike rack, I found a place that would make bags to custom sizes and did one to fit. (Boxes were expensive and I didn't want to crush the bike-wheel fixings on the base.)

It's worked pretty well for things like our inflatable kayak.

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It does look rather better when fully-packed, though, e.g. with tent and sleeping mattresses!

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Peter Brown wrote:The first thing we do when we bring a new van home is move the habitation carpets to the loft where they away until we sell the van.  Some use washable mats but we prefer the bare floor and flip flops.

You are safe to open the awning about 9 inches and leave it there to minimise rain entering through the side door on arriving back with dirty boots and wet clothes, we would step into the van one at a time, first in removes coat and into the shower to drip and boots on an old towel front of drivers seat then second follows same procedure.

We did use a drive away awning for a while but packing that away wet and drying when we got home was too much of a bother.

Cant help with paddle board.

Thanks - my plan was to use the awning to get wet stuff into a box before getting into the van but then I read that it shouldn't be used in wet/wind so its helpful to know that I can open it a little.

quentinsf wrote:When we got our bike rack, I found a place that would make bags to custom sizes and did one to fit. (Boxes were expensive and I didn't want to crush the bike-wheel fixings on the base.)

It's worked pretty well for things like our inflatable kayak.

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It does look rather better when fully-packed, though, e.g. with tent and sleeping mattresses!

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Ah yes I think a bike rack might be the way to go thanks - to scared to have a trailer of any description! Will be a big enough change driving the van!

If we have bigger wet stuff, we do tow it behind.   Can't do both at present, though, because our bike rack mounts on our tow bar.

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Pyranha Burn will fit down the seating area of our Warwick and all the wet kit goes in the toilet compartment if moving off site