1000 tips and tricks for anyone wanting to build a motorhome or optimise an existing vehicle.
A book reviewed with sleeves rolled up.
It isn’t every day that you pick up a book and get sucked into its pages—especially if it’s filled with technical bumph which is likely to end up demanding countless hours of hard and exacting physical labour…unless it’s a labour of love.
Turning back the clocks by around four years, I was sitting in a café contemplating a new vehicle design tailored to ambitious overlanding in Scandinavia and everywhere east of the German border. Calling upon personal experience, I already had answers to some of the challenging questions such a complex venture can pose, but there were still plenty which remained elusive. My yearning for enlightenment fuelled me to scour the worldwide web.
I’m not actually sure how I came across Ulrich Dolde’s website. Probably a case of step-stoning from page to page in pursuit of a snippet of information at the end of a thread. Regardless of how I arrived, I bookmarked the site, earmarked the book for purchase and was soon dog-earing the pages.
Motorhome—self-build and optimisation isn’t a book on how to build an elaborate expedition vehicle from a professional viewpoint, it’s the story of how one man fulfilled a dream to own, travel and live in an all-wheel-drive overland truck for extensive periods of time. An authentic story that is brazen enough to recount mistakes made during the build and explain how experience has since led to a stream of post-completion improvements. Ulrich admits that he embarked on the task with absolutely no idea what was expected of him and without any real hands-on experience.
Consequently, his book is a compendium of questions, answers, discussions, and practical tips, all composed in layman’s terms and emphatically captured in thousands of detailed photographs.
Ulrich begins by discussing the types of base vehicles and continues through every topic including cabin layout, electricity, gas, water, heating, furniture building, solar power, and the list goes on. In fact, there are 39 chapters and 489 pages in the latest edition. Pages that do not simply explain what Ulrich did as a fait accompli, but discuss how he came to fell a particular decision based upon his own requirements. At the same time, he often offers alternative solutions better suited to different needs. The same applies to components he bought and installed: He compares competitive products and evaluates the suitability under different circumstances. In other words, he uses practical examples to help his reader evaluate the best solution for a given situation.
I haven’t come across a more complete compilation of information on this subject. If you look for something similar on the most expansive of online shops, there is nothing that really comes close. Now in its 5th edition, Mr. Dolde has invested considerable time to not only provide information on ongoing improvements, but also to produce the first English edition without the slightest compromise in regard to the information provided. Even if some of the components are not available locally in a certain country, the detailed explanation and technical reviews provide adequate guidance for the reader to find a worthy alternative.
A pleasure to read and a valuable asset not only for anyone planning to build a vehicle from scratch, but also for owners wishing to modify an existing vehicle to better suit their requirements.
This article was originally published in the Autumn 2017 issue of Overland Journal Europe.
