Wreford, i'm in a similar position to yourself, both on age and what I feel I need from a van. After a lot of research, questions and prevaricating, I bought a demountable to go on a Hilux. It was fairly compact, gave a huge comfy bed a dinette and a shower/toilet. The downside was it was a little unwieldy in the weight department, Sandy didn't like the feeling of being enclosed in the bed, due to the lack of space in the overcab and we both couldn't sit up in bed and have a cuppa or watch something on the laptop. The main thing I ended up not getting on with, was the feeling of being detached from camping. Once in your wobbly box, you're sealed off from the world and also the piss poor mpg when in MH mode.
I rethought my priorities and now have a LWB Vivaro which i've had a simple conversion. This has given me a kingsize R&R bed, 100l water capacity, off grid camping power capability of over a week, hot water, heating, shower, portaloo and a decent sized fridge. I will also be fitting a cooker at some point too.
All the workings are fitted under a false floor, under and behind the rear seat, leaving loads of storage space for using the van, as a van, to carry gear. I have an Ostrich awning with side walls, which gives me instant shelter in seconds and a room in minutes. I think this outside space really works for me and is better, for me, than a drive away awning.
As my fridge and cooker are at the rear of the van, the 270 degree awning works as it covers the side and rear of my van. However, if I wanted to utilise a tent, I would want to fit it on the rear of the van, as that's where I need to access my cooking and fridge facilities. So, if I was going to buy one, i'd by a
De Waard. They are some of the best tents on the planet and, if you see the Dutch camping anywhere, you'll most likely see them in a De Waard. I reckon, if you were to buy the right size and opt for the extra porch, you'd be able to reverse the van up to the tent, as well as use it on the side. Being canvas, they should also run a bit darker inside, as I find my canvas awning room is, but spec a dark colour canvas tent to ensure this. If you're interested, you can get good second hand ones on Marktplaats and look out for the dark blue special edition one's..
Without the tent, my van gives me a comfy nights sleep, an easy to set up private shower space, cold beers, a social space, cooking space and the feeling i'm camping still, all in an easy to drive, relatively compact, vehicle that does 42mpg on a run. For me, all those things outweigh the relative benefits of driving a MH.
