The €20.99 Fill-Funnel Fix
Half the water ends up on your shoes.
camperista
Why filling a motorhome’s fresh tank turns into a wrestling match you lose in front of strangers — and the one small part that quietly ends it.
If you’ve ever filled the fresh tank on a motorhome, you know the exact moment I mean. You’ve just pulled onto the aire after a long drive. Everyone else is getting the kettle on, unfolding chairs, settling in. You grab the jerrycan, line it up with the filler, and start to pour — and the water hits that little lip inside the inlet and comes straight back at you. Down the side of the van. Over your hand. Into your shoe.
“Every time I fill the fresh tank with a jerrycan, half the water backs up and spills on the ground.”
And there’s nothing you can do but stand there, holding ten litres at an awkward angle, watching half of it run down the bodywork onto the gravel — while the couple two vans down pretend they’re not watching. You tell yourself you’ll get it right next time. Slower. Steadier. Different angle. And next time, it happens again. Wet sock. Wet sleeve. The same little puddle under the filler.
Here’s the part nobody tells you: it’s not your technique.
It’s the design. On most coachbuilts and panel vans, the fresh-water inlet sits at an angle with a baffle just inside the neck — a Ducato U-bend, basically. Pour any faster than a trickle and the water has nowhere to go but back out the way it came. You could have the steadiest hands in the world. Physics still wins. That’s why every motorhomer eventually does the same slow, careful, slightly annoyed dance at the tap, every single fill.
And it’s such a small thing. That’s what gets you. You saved for years for this — a proper home on wheels, the freedom, the trips. Thirty, fifty, eighty thousand euros of van. And the thing that makes you mutter under your breath on a beautiful morning is a two-cent plastic lip you can’t pour past.
So you try to fix it. Everyone does.
First the garden hose — but half the aires don’t have a tap close enough, and the hose just sprays it back differently. Then a cheap kitchen funnel, the clear plastic kind. Works for about three fills, then it sags, the spout splits, and the water runs down the outside again. Then maybe a €5 one off Amazon that’s somehow worse. You think about asking the dealer, and you already know how that conversation goes: a long wait and a silly price for a bit of moulded plastic. Eventually most people just accept it — wet shoes are part of van life now. You stop even noticing the wet sock, and that’s the part that should bother you.
A rigid funnel that clips on and stays put.
I own a van too. I built the thing I actually wanted: a funnel that clips onto the fill port, sits solid with both hands free, and channels every drop into the tank instead of over your feet. We put a clock on it once —
It’s precision-printed in PETG — the same material used for outdoor gear that lives in sun, rain and frost year-round. It doesn’t go brittle, it doesn’t soften on a hot day, and it shrugs off UV. Not a flimsy throwaway — a part built to outlast a dozen seasons.
The material question, answered
Precision-printed in PETG — the plastic that actually lives outside.
“I used PETG so it wouldn’t melt in the sun — still siliconed on, 2 years and 20,000 miles later, through 38°C heat in Germany.”
— motorhome owner, on a PETG part
Dry shoes on the next fill
“But will it fit my van?”
Fair question — it’s the first one everyone asks. It fits the standard water inlet on most motorhomes and campervans. Not sure yours is standard? Send us a photo of your fill point before you order and we’ll tell you straight. No guessing.
Made by a camper, not a faceless brand
That’s me at the top of the page — Mihai, with my own Ducato. The dealer wanted a fortune for a fix that didn’t exist, so I made one: precision-printed in PETG in my own workshop in Romania, tested on my own van through real seasons before it ever went on yours. Now it’s on hundreds of vans across the EU and UK.
What campers say
★★★★★ 4.4 · 25 reviews“Small thing but makes a real difference. Filling the water tank used to mean wet hands and water running down the side of the van. This funnel fits perfectly on the inlet, guides everything straight in. Took 5 seconds to attach. Ordered a second one for a friend’s motorhome.”
Marco R. · customer review
“Brilliant product. Fits in my campervan water inlet. Solves that problem of filling the water tank when filling from a canister. Thanks!”
George Clulow · verified buyer
“Great addition to the van, quality product, works as advertised.”
Patrick Parsons · verified buyer
RV Fresh Water Fill Funnel
€20.99 one funnel, dry shoes for good
The price you see is the price you pay.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve had wet shoes at the filler more than once. You already know the dance — and the next fill can be the last time you do it.
