All weather

A friend of mine wants to purchase a new Topaz auto and needs to use the van all year round. He is worried about the insulation or lack of it as he likes to keep warm . Any thoughts from fellow members.

A-S have insulated the living area on their vans for many years, so the biggest heat loss is typically through the glass - external thermal screens help with that. I doubt they will have trouble staying warm enough - especially if they use sites with electrics, as even a 1kW heater can keep a fairly large van warm at subzero temps.

However, as talked about in loads of other threads, stopping the under-van water pipes/tanks from freezing may be a problem, and they may need to swap to propane if it comes with butane cylinders.

Many thanks for the information, I will pass it on to my friend.

I thought he might have problems as my van is the coldest and wettest van I have every owned and my first A-S.

As has been mentioned, the underbody waterpipes and tank will be his main concern. Someone posted a thread with photos of how he had fully insulated his...and an excellent job too. However this involves a lot of crawling around underneath and if like me your days of doing that are over, then it would cost a fair bit of money to get it done. PVC's are not the most ideal for winter touring. They aren't 'winterised' to the extent of double flooring etc.

If he's using it in Spain or somewhere similar then fine....but be prepared for a very cold 800 mile trip through France before he get's to Spain! Tell him to pack plenty of thermal underwear.....he will need it!