Van di Maximo

Welcome to La Palma. Good choice of place to visit, and no doubt the van is going to be a great ally:)

I live in la Punta de Tijarafe, in the west of the island. But we can negotiate a price for me to pick you up at the airport or port, which is about 1 hour from my house.

I welcome you to the white beast. I called it the beast because with its almost 130 horses, there is no mountain pass that can resist it. This is important because La Palma is a big mountain. Anyway, it is important that you have patience when traveling here, because it is all full of curves and the slopes are really very steep and sometimes you have to climb at 30-40km/h.

The van drives great, has air conditioning and heating and USB for charging while driving. It has radio but I usually carry a good bluetooth speaker to listen to music while driving. The air and heating are in the cab (which is separate from the back) but it has a window that separates the cab from the living compartment that can be opened and an air motor that circulates the air to the back if you want to cool or heat the passenger compartment while driving (I don’t really use it)

The cabin has a very comfortable 130cm bed that fits two people well and up to three people tightly together. The bed can be transformed into a table for up to 6 people. If you prefer to eat or sit outside, I also have two chairs and an outdoor table.

The kitchen is with a gas camping case, which is very convenient. You can cook inside or on an outdoor hinged table attached to the furniture that is installed in a second. It has a sink with 25L of clean and 25L of grey water. It is convenient to save water as much as possible because otherwise, by washing dishes and washing hands and teeth, in two or three days at most it is used up. Using hydro-alcoholic gel saves water.

On the island there are two points of recharge and emptying of water that I will explain. I include a hose with adapters for refilling. The Potti (chemical toilet) is very convenient to use and it takes 5 days to empty it (or a little longer). On the outside there are two 18L jerry cans that are very good to always have water to drink and also to take a shower outside.

For an extra I include a battery operated electric shower head that can be charged with a 12V plug. As for electricity, the cabin has both white lights, and another LED strip adjustable in intensity and color with remote control to have a more pleasant color during the night. It also has a refrigerator, which cools quite well but makes quite a lot of noise so it should be turned off at night, also because it consumes a lot.

The 100 amp battery together with the solar panel gives a good performance, especially when moving the van every one or two days as it also charges with the alternator. However, if you keep the fridge on all day, after two or three days at the most it will start to discharge.

To solve this, you can find a charging point (electric cars, campsites, etc), in which to charge the external battery to current (for an extra charge including battery charger and extension cord) or simply be a day without turning on the fridge (you put some ice) to go charging the battery well with the solar panel and alternator. In the living compartment there are USB sockets for charging as well as 12V plug points. For an extra I include a 220V converter in case you need to use a normal plug.

The van is quite tall but you can't stand upright unless you are very short. That's why I also included a small chair inside that takes up nothing and is very comfortable for washing up or sitting inside out of the bed. The trunks have plenty of storage space. For an extra I include shims that are very good to level the van and sleep straight, as well as mosquito nets with magnets that are also very comfortable to be able to be at night with the light on and the door open without getting full of bugs.

If you feel like going out on a bike, I can also add a Thule ball rack that is super comfortable to use.

I use the van a lot and have taken care of it to make it a home so please take care of it a lot ❤️

La Palma is a delicate place for the mechanics because it has very steep slopes, so I ask you to drive calmly going up the ports, without forcing too much the engine revolutions.

See you soon!