Thank you all for the responses so far. I've certainly considered an electrical course at my local college so I will contact one and see how appropriate it is for what I want to achieve.

I should have said, I'm not planning to travel far at a time, nor use regular camping sites so I'm not a fan of ...

So I am brand new to all of this but I really want to have a thorough understanding of whatever system I install on my Bongo.

Is there anyone in the Southampton/ Hampshire area who would be willing to sit down with me and answer all my questions/teach me? My brain struggles with huge chunks of text ...