Camping in a Wheelchair Accessible Motorhome

Last Updated on 17/11/2019 by Alex Squire

Camping in a tent can be a bit tricky for disabled people. I’m a wheelchair user so I need a hoist to get out of my chair and into bed. Plus my carers need space to sleep as well and there is limited room in a tent.

So what’s the next best thing? Using a motorhome of course!

I wanted to try out a Wheelchair accessible motorhome for a long time now. I had a look online for Wheelchair accessible motorhomes and I found a company that make them – Coachbuilt GB.

They can be quite expensive to buy, but luckily you can hire them for a week or so.

I like going to music festivals but I had never camped at one before. So going to blue dot festival seemed to be the perfect excuse for hiring a motorhome.

I hired the motorhome for the duration of the festival which ran from Friday to the following Monday morning.

So what is it like inside?

Have a look at the below video which gives you a quick tour of the vehicle.

The motorhome has a cassette lift to lift wheelchairs up to the door. Inside it’s quite cramped but it was just wide enough to drive my Powerchair down the aisle.

It had an electric profiling bed and a ceiling hoist that went over the toilet and the bed. There was a cooker, microwave, sink, cupboards complete with cutlery, plates and glasses.

The mattress on my bed seemed to be quite thin and harder than I am used to. But I managed to sleep okay. I think I got about 5 hours sleep each night which wasn’t too bad. I was tired by the time I went home!

The motorhome only slept 2 people so my other carer had to sleep in a tent next door. There was a bed that came down from the ceiling nearer to the front of the vehicle.

We had hot water… some of the time. We discovered soon after we arrived that the water tank hadn’t been filled up so we had to fill it up ourselves using a water point in the campsite. It took about an hour and a half which I’m sure my carer enjoyed immensely.

We had electricity… some of the time. The battery went flat on the Sunday and this meant the lift stopped working. Luckily I had just got out of the vehicle before this happened. It would have been immensely boring being stuck inside waiting for it to charge up.

There weren’t many power points for motorhomes in the campsite so we had to move the vehicle to get to one. But once we found one we were able to charge the battery up during the day so everything worked fine after that.

This motorhome was fine for a weekend when I only used it for a place to sleep. But if I was to live in one for longer periods of time something bigger would be more useful. Coachbuilt GB do make bigger motorhomes which should have more space inside, but unfortunately they don’t make these available to hire. Only the smaller type that I had was available to hire unfortunately. But it was still a fun experience.

Would I stay in a motorhome again?

Yes, absolutely. Although, I wouldn’t mind staying in a tent next time. As long as we can use a mobile hoist and find a big enough tent it should be okay.