Review: 41681 Forest Camper Van and Sailboat

 


Hang on, Ethan. He is trying the new fun and sketchy activity of sailboat skating.

Let's check out the camp site. It's the first thing we build. Out in the "distance" is a micro mountain with snow peaks. The mountain has an opening for small creature or other items. There is a boat dock and a picnic table. New for 2021 in bright green are the 1x1 cones, 2x2x2 cones, 2x2 plant leaves, and skateboard wheels. New in green is the 8x8 round ended plate. The cones and leaves make a good looking cone-ifer tree.



Here is the view from the back and the extra pieces in bag #1. There is a little 1x1 space under the tree for woodland creatures to stash a 1x1 donut tile. I like the picnic table design that can fit the minidoll legs under.





Emma is wearing a dark blue top with splash pattern and light aqua pants. She first wore this outfit in 41385 Emma's Summer Heart Box.

Ethan has a white top with palm trees and dark turquoise pants. His white top is available in one other set (41433 Party Boat) in which he also wore the same pants .

The dark tan raccoon is new for 2021. He is also available in 41679 Forest House. Don't let that cute face fool you, he'll take off with your donut like a masked bandit when you're not watching.



Next we build the camper van. The 4x2 yellow mudguard can be found in one other set (75893 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and 1970 Dodge Charger R/T). The 1x3x1 orange panel is available in one other set too (60251 Monster Truck). The orange panels and 2x3 tile create a storage space for the 2x2 board game stickered tiles.



The camper van has a stick shifter and a very large infotainment screen with GPS map. These are the extra pieces in bag #2.



Rolling along, we now have 3 sleep bags and a kitchenette with stove and sink. I think they'll have eggs for breakfast. The 1x1 black round tiles with bar make nice side mirrors.



The double front windshields give the camper van a classic Volkswagen T1 Kombi look. We have a few extra pieces from bag #3. I love having extra heart tiles.



Next we build the roof. The front roof section lifts off and the middle section swings up and down. The 2x2x1 slope curved corner is new in medium azure for 2021. The 2x4x1 medium azure curved slope can be found in three other sets.



There is storage on the roof for a skateboard, crate, luggage and water bottle. Surprisingly, there is only 1 extra piece with bag #4.



Bag #5 builds the sailboat and trailer. The sail piece is new for 2021. The 4x6 wedge is new in dark pink for 2021 and only available in this set at the time of writing. The 18mm white wheel can be found in three other sets.



The windows are smaller on this side to make room for the hinged roof section. I think I would have prefered trans-red pieces for the tail lights in keeping with the trans-light blue and trans-orange pieces in the front of the camper. Here are the extra pieces from bag #5.



Stephanie is wearing a medium azure hoodie with a white shirt underneath and a dark blue skirt. This is the 6th time this top has appeared in sets since 2018; it's also the one she wears in the BFF heart motif on set boxes.


The box has the standard Friends design with curved sides. It contains 5 bags, 2 instructions booklets, a sticker sheet, and a plastic sail.



The back shows the play features of the set. A list of the parts can be found in the back of the PDF of the instructions booklet #1.



Here is the sticker sheet. There are 12 stickers to apply.


Summary:

Overall, this is good set to build. There's no issues with the instructions. Interestingly, this camper van is 1 piece less than the previous camper van (41339). The tree technique is pretty neat. There is plenty of play opportunities to let your imagination run wild in the wilderness.

If camping doesn't work for you, you could convert the camper van into a food van. There is already a stove and sink and storage space for food supplies. Watch out raccoons in the city don't get your tasty supplies.




There is one donut left. Emma and Ethan are going to thumb wrestle for it. But wait a minute, they don't have thumbs? While they're discussing another way, Raccoon has other ideas.


Thanks for reading.


Disclaimer:
This set was provided by The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.