Living full time in a RV:
April 25, 2023 8:54 AM Subscribe
Hello folks;
We are a couple, and really thinking of living in a RV(Class B or C) full time, boondoking Has anyone here done that-recently, or doing that now?
Would very much like to hear your exp. doing this, the good and bad, & ugly ,don't hold back, lol.
We are in Canada, so we will be in this thing for the cold winters up here.
Looking forward to your replies. Many thanks :-)
Response by poster: LOL, Well, that's comforting to know.
posted by LOOKING at 9:31 AM on April 25, 2023
posted by LOOKING at 9:31 AM on April 25, 2023
On my phone so no links (sorry!), but youtube is full of people doing this. Not only #vanlife but entire families living in their RVs full time, staying in everything from fancy private campgrounds to KOAs to national and state parks to BLM land boondocking. Search for a few and then the youtube algorithm will give you more than you ever wanted!
(If i remember I can come back later and drop some links later when I'm on my laptop)
posted by cgg at 9:39 AM on April 25, 2023
(If i remember I can come back later and drop some links later when I'm on my laptop)
posted by cgg at 9:39 AM on April 25, 2023
We rented one during COVID for a family trip. 6 of us, all basically 4 adult sized children. Went to the Oregon coast not during "summer". Might have had two standard poodles with us, "anecdotally" speaking. Also drove a car with us for the extra people.
It was fine. It was wet. We had to flee the coast due to incoming gale warnings.
But, it requires a lot of mental space. Do you have enough water? Do you have enough propane? Are your tanks full? You got to your spot, but you can't exactly relax as you have to hook up all of your tubes. At night. In the dark. In the rain.
Not to mention the gas cost of driving these giant behemoths around.
We had always thought of doing this in our retirement, hitting National Park after National Park. But now we have probably 12 more years of dogs, and after doing it, it has lost some luster. Become an Instragram Influencer though, monetize your life, and that's not the worst job you could have. (Maybe it is).
So, it could be totally awesome, but just be aware that is likely not to be so awesome at certain times, and there might be challenges that you will have not foreseen. Ugh, just thought about mechanical failure...
Canada is cold.
Still, could be a great lifestyle
posted by Windopaene at 10:46 AM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
It was fine. It was wet. We had to flee the coast due to incoming gale warnings.
But, it requires a lot of mental space. Do you have enough water? Do you have enough propane? Are your tanks full? You got to your spot, but you can't exactly relax as you have to hook up all of your tubes. At night. In the dark. In the rain.
Not to mention the gas cost of driving these giant behemoths around.
We had always thought of doing this in our retirement, hitting National Park after National Park. But now we have probably 12 more years of dogs, and after doing it, it has lost some luster. Become an Instragram Influencer though, monetize your life, and that's not the worst job you could have. (Maybe it is).
So, it could be totally awesome, but just be aware that is likely not to be so awesome at certain times, and there might be challenges that you will have not foreseen. Ugh, just thought about mechanical failure...
Canada is cold.
Still, could be a great lifestyle
posted by Windopaene at 10:46 AM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Consider your driving skills and RV size in conjunction with where you want to travel. Most drivers/RVs do perfectly fine most places but some RVs, some drivers, and some sites/routes/grades do not get along well together, especially in winter weather.
posted by beaning at 11:03 AM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by beaning at 11:03 AM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Class B or C full time living in Canada? That's ..... ill advised. First, most RV parks in Canada are 3-season only; they just close entirely for the cold months (but offer storage). You'd need to find a four season serviced pad if you want to overwinter in your vehicle, and it may actually be impossible to do if your unit's plumbing and hookups cannot be fully insulated. Most people with class B/C units either winterize and store them, or head south with them. Should you try to overwinter, the lack of proper insulation and difficulty of heating a space that size to comfort levels also with electricity or propane against freezing temps for months on end ... ykes. Also, when it's frigging cold and you're mostly stuck in a 150sqft RV, how are you going to stay sane?
So that's my advice: before you do any kind of dream-building, find a park that actually could service your envisioned need, then talk to the people who run it and live there and see just how bad it is.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:04 AM on April 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
So that's my advice: before you do any kind of dream-building, find a park that actually could service your envisioned need, then talk to the people who run it and live there and see just how bad it is.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:04 AM on April 25, 2023 [8 favorites]
Try it first. Rent something for maybe 5 nights, spending the first couple in a campsite on a hookup to make sure you understand how the stuff works, and then go boondock after easily dumping/refilling at the campsite.
If 5 nights doesn't put you off, do it for 10 next time. None of this is cheap to rent, but also good-condition Bs and Cs are also not cheap to maintain, so you should make sure you have significant cash on hand. I would strongly recommend renting a B to see if you can really truly live in something that small.
As a cheaper experiment, go live in a hotel room for a week or two first, only using electricity a few hours a day and only using a 5-gallon container of water, and see how much closeness and lack of privacy you can take, and it is extra illustrative to get some masking tape and mark off an RVs-worth of space on the floor since a hotel room is going to be significantly larger than a Class B at least.
We did a lot of trials and ran a lot of numbers, but at the end of the day my partner and I both have jobs that require solid and fast internet and there would simply be no way to obtain/maintain that, not to mention the challenge of two people on zoom meetings inside a large van with no real walls. As it is, we're roaming the country and living in short-term rentals, generally a 1- or 2-bedroom/1 bath apartment or small house and it is fine and we are having a good time, but I also now own 3 white noise machines - including one IN the bathroom running full-time - because these are close quarters and most of our places have been kind of crap on interior insulation and sound-dampening. This has been a real eye-opener on just how fucking loud a human being can be just sitting still staring at a computer. I just heard the ice rattle in my husband's coffee in another room. He knows almost as much as I do about my work projects now because he's basically sitting in on all my meetings.
It is a real challenge as a long-term lifestyle, and that's before taking into consideration that this isn't the kind of camping where you can have the outdoors as your living room. You can die if you screw up and do not understand how to survive in an RV in Canadian weather.
And boondocking in Canadian winter is a significant survival and mental health challenge unless you intend to maintain and fuel a generator (and/or an interior propane or electric furnace, and/or a backup diesel heater). I am not up on winter public land dry-camping rules in really cold areas in the States overall, but I know that this past winter in Oregon and Washington the Forest Service did shut down backwoods camping (and use drones with thermal imaging to patrol them) in a lot of places, and it is permit-only where available because they don't want to spend early spring counting up the bodies. You will need not just a four-season rig but what I think is called a "four season plus" manufacture, which will have some layout challenges because you can't install the gray and black and clean water tanks outside, and you will still have to run heating all the time to keep the interior plumbing from freezing.
You are proposing an existence that is functionally no different from homelessness as it manifests in a number of regions, and you will be affected by regulations and policies intended to control that population, who will be your primary neighbors. Places that used to be accommodating to recreational tourists have stopped being so accommodating, and even people in shiny new rigs are getting "the knock" pretty much any time they stop moving, even just going to the grocery store or the gym (with a membership) to take a shower.
If you have not done extensive youtube research already, while most full-timers are snowbirds who go south for the winter there are some who are doing the hard winter stuff either in North America or the Nordic countries. I can think of a handful of Canadian vanlifers who do some winter backcountry camping (Vancity Vanlife, Foresty Forest, plus The Matneys did a winter in Canada a few years ago) though they stick to BC most of the winter since it's milder.
I've gotten the impression that it has gotten harder in Canada to get vehicle insurance if you are full-timing. It's worth researching to see how to prepare for that.
There is a reason that Arizona, Southern California, and Baja California MX have distinct ehccents in the winter. It's not just that it's more pleasant/survivable, but the cost of staying alive in a plastic box in a severe climate is significantly more expensive than the travel, legal, and logistical costs of staying alive in a plastic box in a climate it was built for.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:31 AM on April 25, 2023 [18 favorites]
If 5 nights doesn't put you off, do it for 10 next time. None of this is cheap to rent, but also good-condition Bs and Cs are also not cheap to maintain, so you should make sure you have significant cash on hand. I would strongly recommend renting a B to see if you can really truly live in something that small.
As a cheaper experiment, go live in a hotel room for a week or two first, only using electricity a few hours a day and only using a 5-gallon container of water, and see how much closeness and lack of privacy you can take, and it is extra illustrative to get some masking tape and mark off an RVs-worth of space on the floor since a hotel room is going to be significantly larger than a Class B at least.
We did a lot of trials and ran a lot of numbers, but at the end of the day my partner and I both have jobs that require solid and fast internet and there would simply be no way to obtain/maintain that, not to mention the challenge of two people on zoom meetings inside a large van with no real walls. As it is, we're roaming the country and living in short-term rentals, generally a 1- or 2-bedroom/1 bath apartment or small house and it is fine and we are having a good time, but I also now own 3 white noise machines - including one IN the bathroom running full-time - because these are close quarters and most of our places have been kind of crap on interior insulation and sound-dampening. This has been a real eye-opener on just how fucking loud a human being can be just sitting still staring at a computer. I just heard the ice rattle in my husband's coffee in another room. He knows almost as much as I do about my work projects now because he's basically sitting in on all my meetings.
It is a real challenge as a long-term lifestyle, and that's before taking into consideration that this isn't the kind of camping where you can have the outdoors as your living room. You can die if you screw up and do not understand how to survive in an RV in Canadian weather.
And boondocking in Canadian winter is a significant survival and mental health challenge unless you intend to maintain and fuel a generator (and/or an interior propane or electric furnace, and/or a backup diesel heater). I am not up on winter public land dry-camping rules in really cold areas in the States overall, but I know that this past winter in Oregon and Washington the Forest Service did shut down backwoods camping (and use drones with thermal imaging to patrol them) in a lot of places, and it is permit-only where available because they don't want to spend early spring counting up the bodies. You will need not just a four-season rig but what I think is called a "four season plus" manufacture, which will have some layout challenges because you can't install the gray and black and clean water tanks outside, and you will still have to run heating all the time to keep the interior plumbing from freezing.
You are proposing an existence that is functionally no different from homelessness as it manifests in a number of regions, and you will be affected by regulations and policies intended to control that population, who will be your primary neighbors. Places that used to be accommodating to recreational tourists have stopped being so accommodating, and even people in shiny new rigs are getting "the knock" pretty much any time they stop moving, even just going to the grocery store or the gym (with a membership) to take a shower.
If you have not done extensive youtube research already, while most full-timers are snowbirds who go south for the winter there are some who are doing the hard winter stuff either in North America or the Nordic countries. I can think of a handful of Canadian vanlifers who do some winter backcountry camping (Vancity Vanlife, Foresty Forest, plus The Matneys did a winter in Canada a few years ago) though they stick to BC most of the winter since it's milder.
I've gotten the impression that it has gotten harder in Canada to get vehicle insurance if you are full-timing. It's worth researching to see how to prepare for that.
There is a reason that Arizona, Southern California, and Baja California MX have distinct ehccents in the winter. It's not just that it's more pleasant/survivable, but the cost of staying alive in a plastic box in a severe climate is significantly more expensive than the travel, legal, and logistical costs of staying alive in a plastic box in a climate it was built for.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:31 AM on April 25, 2023 [18 favorites]
I own an RV (a tiny travel trailer) that we have spent 100 nights in over the last 3 years. I think about this a lot, and we will likely do it (in a larger RV!) for a while once we retire. Your question sounds very early stage and exploratory, so I can't emphasize enough that you are looking extensive research and planning to do this. The suggestions above are all on point, and I will add there are a plethora of blog posts from full-timers talking about the journey from idea to hitting the road. You should read many of them.
posted by COD at 11:52 AM on April 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by COD at 11:52 AM on April 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: One of my siblings + their spouse do this, full-time for about 10-15+ years now. They're not #influencers or typical #vanlife social media people, but they are very committed to it and love what they do and how their lives go. They have a truck with a camper on the bank, not a van.
They live extremely frugally, do not work, and have the benefit of having a rented-out piece of property that funds this for them...but again, at a very frugal level. They very rarely pay for a place to park/camp, and I do know the rise in gas prices has been painful for them. They enjoyed paring their lives down the essentials and getting rid of the rest, and have been together for more than two decades and apparently really love each other's company. When they camp, they frequently are alone, though they have met people along the way, some of whom became long-term friends.
I function as their mailbox -- they use my address, and when mail comes for them I photograph it and email it to them. Depending on where they're traveling, they are sometimes out of email/internet/phone contact for certain stretches. Our parents function as their storage -- they were able to put a small shed on the edge of the family's yard to hold their must-keep items. But again, this is a small shed and that's basically all they own + what's in the truck.
Honestly, I don't know how much more to say except they totally love it, and I would totally hate it. They do eventually plan to settle down somewhere, but I wouldn't say they're anywhere close to that yet. I suspect it might happen if/when one of them requires any kind of full-time health care treatment. (I'd assume that's a stopping point for a lot of people.)
Lastly, I'll say they benefit from doing this while being white. They've done many slightly illegal things -- like sneaking into a paid campground to use the shower, for example -- where they've succeeded because they can say something like, "Hey, I forgot the code for the lock on the door" and someone will just give it to them because they look like they belong. Other times they benefit from the "you don't look homeless" thing -- for example, when they come to visit and park in front of my house for a week or two, my neighbors don't mind...because they don't seem like Those People.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:59 AM on April 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
They live extremely frugally, do not work, and have the benefit of having a rented-out piece of property that funds this for them...but again, at a very frugal level. They very rarely pay for a place to park/camp, and I do know the rise in gas prices has been painful for them. They enjoyed paring their lives down the essentials and getting rid of the rest, and have been together for more than two decades and apparently really love each other's company. When they camp, they frequently are alone, though they have met people along the way, some of whom became long-term friends.
I function as their mailbox -- they use my address, and when mail comes for them I photograph it and email it to them. Depending on where they're traveling, they are sometimes out of email/internet/phone contact for certain stretches. Our parents function as their storage -- they were able to put a small shed on the edge of the family's yard to hold their must-keep items. But again, this is a small shed and that's basically all they own + what's in the truck.
Honestly, I don't know how much more to say except they totally love it, and I would totally hate it. They do eventually plan to settle down somewhere, but I wouldn't say they're anywhere close to that yet. I suspect it might happen if/when one of them requires any kind of full-time health care treatment. (I'd assume that's a stopping point for a lot of people.)
Lastly, I'll say they benefit from doing this while being white. They've done many slightly illegal things -- like sneaking into a paid campground to use the shower, for example -- where they've succeeded because they can say something like, "Hey, I forgot the code for the lock on the door" and someone will just give it to them because they look like they belong. Other times they benefit from the "you don't look homeless" thing -- for example, when they come to visit and park in front of my house for a week or two, my neighbors don't mind...because they don't seem like Those People.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:59 AM on April 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Just throwing another idea out there, have you thought about living aboard a boat instead?
Depending on the size of the vessel, your sq ft could be similar to an RV. Around the 40ft (13m) tends to be where boats become more comfortable with cabin areas rather than all open plan.
Obviously your travel & living locations will be coastal rather than land. Although if it's blue-ocean ready your home could be moved internationally, and if it's a sail boat then fuel for travel is mostly free.
Costs for repairs aboard tend to be high (something that can withstand being that close to the ocean tends to be made better, but then 'boat premiums' are also added on top for no other reason). Plus you'd need to learn to sail.
You need not to get sea-sick of course, although most people get their sea legs in a couple of weeks if not sooner.
Boats are often set up to be off-grid comfortably (with solar panels, a wind turbine, water purifier, etc). so you mainly just need food. Although if you're living in a marina, shore power can make things all the more comfortable as heating the smaller spaces doesn't take long, and the sea itself tends to even out the larger temperature fluctuations compared to far in land.
I lived aboard a boat for 5 years with my partner and a cat. It's a very different lifestyle in many ways, but the boating communities tend to look out for each other, and there are lots of resources online and in books out there too.
posted by many-things at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2023
Depending on the size of the vessel, your sq ft could be similar to an RV. Around the 40ft (13m) tends to be where boats become more comfortable with cabin areas rather than all open plan.
Obviously your travel & living locations will be coastal rather than land. Although if it's blue-ocean ready your home could be moved internationally, and if it's a sail boat then fuel for travel is mostly free.
Costs for repairs aboard tend to be high (something that can withstand being that close to the ocean tends to be made better, but then 'boat premiums' are also added on top for no other reason). Plus you'd need to learn to sail.
You need not to get sea-sick of course, although most people get their sea legs in a couple of weeks if not sooner.
Boats are often set up to be off-grid comfortably (with solar panels, a wind turbine, water purifier, etc). so you mainly just need food. Although if you're living in a marina, shore power can make things all the more comfortable as heating the smaller spaces doesn't take long, and the sea itself tends to even out the larger temperature fluctuations compared to far in land.
I lived aboard a boat for 5 years with my partner and a cat. It's a very different lifestyle in many ways, but the boating communities tend to look out for each other, and there are lots of resources online and in books out there too.
posted by many-things at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2023
I lived alone in a tiny - 8' x 12', 97 square feet - travel trailer for seven months, traveling around the country in 2017/2018. I did it through the winter, but not a Canadian winter, although I did get snowed in a couple times and had quite a few freezing nights. RVs get COLD. I like cold and I was okay sleeping with lots of blankets (and pajamas and a couple times I even wore a hat) and waking up to ice on the inside of the windows, but not everyone is. I didn't want to run the heat overnight - fires are not uncommon in RV parks, I am sad to say - but you do need to keep it heated to hopefully keep the pipes from freezing. I would run the heat right before bed and again as soon as I woke up. Heat is usually propane. Propane heat is damp heat and creates a lot of condensation. My camper always had water running down the windows. Eventually I got a real dehumidifier and that was actually a lifesaving game changer I would highly recommend. They take up a lot of space, though, and you need shore power to run them. I never had my pipes freeze - I wrapped the water tank in blankets; I kept the taps dripping and the pipes open and I got lucky. It happens a lot if you are not and that's a big expensive fix. I also "insulated" the inside of the camper with a layered combination of bubble wrap, that foil stuff people use to block sunlight from car windshields and cheap fleece blankets stapled up on top of that. I don't know if it helped at all; I think it did and anyway the project was kind of fun.
I am an introvert and could not imagine doing this with another person, so I can't address that angle. I will say, however, that unless you and your wife are comfortable with no alone time, as in, none, then this probably isn't the lifestyle for you. I loved it when I was doing it; I would love to do it again, but that's from several years later. At the end of seven months I was done having to unload an entire storage cabinet to get to the colored pencils. Do you live in a house or apartment now? Here's an experiment: put everything you own including all your kitchen stuff in the smallest bedroom. Cool, now you live in an RV and a really big one at that. Can you find anything?
The other thing is that people think it will be cheaper than living in a house or apartment and sadly, no, that is not really the case unless you are super lucky, super good at it and so on. Kind of like everything else, really. It was actually more expensive for me than it would have been to just stay put. I knew that going in and I was okay with it - I would recommend being prepared for that eventuality as well.
When I set out I thought i would be boondocking all the way and it would be cheap. It turns out that finding boondocking sites is not as easy as Youtube videos make it look and that was six years ago; see Lyn Never's excellent answer above for why that's gotten even harder. I eventually just gave up and mostly stayed in campgrounds. Even going only to state parks, that adds up quickly. Repairs, and you will need them, are also expensive. Food is expensive when you don't have anywhere to store anything so you can never buy in bulk. Laundromats - and again, no storage, so you need to go at least weekly - cost money, as do showers in many places. You will need to go to a dump site pretty regularly and those are not free unless you're staying at the campground and sometimes not even then. If you have a truck and are towing a camper you will go through more gas than you can believe. My old F-150 got about 11 mpg when towing my very small, very light camper.
If I had it to do over again - and I have a crazy secret dream that I am going to, in a decade or so - I would learn how to fix my own RV first. I would learn about electricity, converters and so on, because that's the thing that kept breaking the most, and then I would learn about water pumps, because that was the second most common breakdown. And, I would figure out how to fix leaks so they stay fixed.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:04 PM on April 25, 2023 [9 favorites]
I am an introvert and could not imagine doing this with another person, so I can't address that angle. I will say, however, that unless you and your wife are comfortable with no alone time, as in, none, then this probably isn't the lifestyle for you. I loved it when I was doing it; I would love to do it again, but that's from several years later. At the end of seven months I was done having to unload an entire storage cabinet to get to the colored pencils. Do you live in a house or apartment now? Here's an experiment: put everything you own including all your kitchen stuff in the smallest bedroom. Cool, now you live in an RV and a really big one at that. Can you find anything?
The other thing is that people think it will be cheaper than living in a house or apartment and sadly, no, that is not really the case unless you are super lucky, super good at it and so on. Kind of like everything else, really. It was actually more expensive for me than it would have been to just stay put. I knew that going in and I was okay with it - I would recommend being prepared for that eventuality as well.
When I set out I thought i would be boondocking all the way and it would be cheap. It turns out that finding boondocking sites is not as easy as Youtube videos make it look and that was six years ago; see Lyn Never's excellent answer above for why that's gotten even harder. I eventually just gave up and mostly stayed in campgrounds. Even going only to state parks, that adds up quickly. Repairs, and you will need them, are also expensive. Food is expensive when you don't have anywhere to store anything so you can never buy in bulk. Laundromats - and again, no storage, so you need to go at least weekly - cost money, as do showers in many places. You will need to go to a dump site pretty regularly and those are not free unless you're staying at the campground and sometimes not even then. If you have a truck and are towing a camper you will go through more gas than you can believe. My old F-150 got about 11 mpg when towing my very small, very light camper.
If I had it to do over again - and I have a crazy secret dream that I am going to, in a decade or so - I would learn how to fix my own RV first. I would learn about electricity, converters and so on, because that's the thing that kept breaking the most, and then I would learn about water pumps, because that was the second most common breakdown. And, I would figure out how to fix leaks so they stay fixed.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:04 PM on April 25, 2023 [9 favorites]
I recently was talking with an acquaintance who lives in his van, and he told me one of his biggest problems is when his van needs work. He needs to drive to the mechanic, leave his entire house there, and... do what while it's in the shop?
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:13 PM on April 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:13 PM on April 25, 2023 [2 favorites]
Let me put on my metric hat, here. The big RVs run close to 24 l/100km on diesel, which down in the states is running 30% pricier than regular unleaded. If you’re planning lots of transcontinental trips, it is not going to be cheap.
posted by hwyengr at 8:31 PM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hwyengr at 8:31 PM on April 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
What's your actual tolerance for driving hours after hours, day after day, kilometers after endless kilometers? And then being faced with doing it all over again and then having to get back into the potentially smelly, dirty, cramped, stained rv and you guessed it, driving yet another eternal agonizing stretch of empty bleakness? Over and over and over?
What's your plan and especially budget for a blown tire? The engine makes an extremely bad noise and starts smoking? Blizzards, floods, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere? Being isolated from people, potentially without cell service, internet and any way to call for help?
How do you plan on cooking food? Are you comfortable, truly comfortable, sleeping in a Walmart parking lot? A highway rest area? The deep woods with wild animals and meth labs? Sketchy rv parks with bullet holes in the office? Travel is usually pretty safe, but when it goes wrong it can go really wrong.
There are perks, but it's not cheap or easy. It can be a very hard lifestyle. Draining, gruelling, requiring constant vigilance and preparing. There are plenty of reasons most people don't do it, or that try and quit. Personally I don't think I'd try it again without a fairly significant financial cushion.
posted by Jacen at 9:34 PM on April 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
What's your plan and especially budget for a blown tire? The engine makes an extremely bad noise and starts smoking? Blizzards, floods, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere? Being isolated from people, potentially without cell service, internet and any way to call for help?
How do you plan on cooking food? Are you comfortable, truly comfortable, sleeping in a Walmart parking lot? A highway rest area? The deep woods with wild animals and meth labs? Sketchy rv parks with bullet holes in the office? Travel is usually pretty safe, but when it goes wrong it can go really wrong.
There are perks, but it's not cheap or easy. It can be a very hard lifestyle. Draining, gruelling, requiring constant vigilance and preparing. There are plenty of reasons most people don't do it, or that try and quit. Personally I don't think I'd try it again without a fairly significant financial cushion.
posted by Jacen at 9:34 PM on April 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
I can't speak for doing this in Canada (and part of the attraction in being mobile is that you can avoid extreme weather fairly easily), but living like this medium-term (1-2 years) is very popular here, particularly for retired people who have the time and don't need to work. RVs are not very popular here, though and most people tow caravans (camper to you, I think). If you want to look into how they do it and tips for making it work, search for 'grey nomads australia' and you'll get a metric shitload of forums and the like to dig through.
If you're doing this for long periods, think about a caravan rather than an RV, because you're much more mobile locally than if you have to pack up your entire home to go grocery shopping. You'll generally get more room for your buck that way as well (that's the case here, anyway).
posted by dg at 9:53 PM on April 25, 2023
If you're doing this for long periods, think about a caravan rather than an RV, because you're much more mobile locally than if you have to pack up your entire home to go grocery shopping. You'll generally get more room for your buck that way as well (that's the case here, anyway).
posted by dg at 9:53 PM on April 25, 2023
I am just recalling a cautionary tale; my ex-inlaws lived full time the US in a fifth-wheel (large caravan, with extendable rooms etc) towed behind a generously specified pickup truck. It was hella expensive to move, but had plenty of space for two sedentary retired people. They did okay moving campground to campground, sometimes taking on caretaker roles (free stay in return for picking up trash, etc), until one mountain descent resulted in the brakes on the trailer overheating and the whole thing caught fire on the side of the road. All they had left at the end was what was in their truck. Which is to say, it's a lot more likely for your house to be destroyed by fire or in an accident when it's on wheels, and especially when it's moving. They didn't have anywhere of their own to stay to recuperate, and not enough money to refit, but did have welcoming relatives, which is more than a lot of folks do. They could have wound up homeless (except for a large pickup truck).
Moral of the tale: have fail-safe contingencies worked out for even what seem like very unlikely eventualities. That shit happens to someone.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:28 AM on April 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Moral of the tale: have fail-safe contingencies worked out for even what seem like very unlikely eventualities. That shit happens to someone.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:28 AM on April 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I own a 34 foot Class A.
I would not want to winter in Canada in it. I wouldn't want to winter anywhere cold in it. Maybe nice ones (the ones that are $100K+) are better, but the cheap ones are almost completely exposed to the elements as far as insulation and there's only one heat source (usually in the sleeping area).
How much stuff do you like to have in your life? 34 feet sounds big but for personal stuff storage, my 10x12 bedroom at home with a non-walk-in closet has more space to put stuff than the RV.
Most people I know that do the RV life rely on setting up spaces outside. Everything from a grill (even with a popout, RV kitchens are pretty claustrophobic, and not great to work with) to hammocks to reading nooks. That doesn't work well in the winter.
With a Class B/C, every fart is going to linger in breathing distance for everyone unless you go sprinting outside.
What would be your power plan while boondocking in bad weather? I have 400 watts of solar panels on mine, which is fine because I can assume clear skies 98% of the time, but if you're dealing with snow, panels can get covered and just heavy rain can drop your efficiency dramatically.
Are you honestly prepared to deal with pumping blackwater? I deal with a lot of animal bodily fluids so it's not a big deal for me, but if you're squeamish, it can be a bit much.
If you're thinking of retrofitting a van for this, think carefully about CO2 if you're running the engine for heat. One of my former boss's relatives suffered brain damage from letting a van run overnight with the engine going because of this. Standard vehicles expect you to be moving while the engine is running.
posted by Candleman at 8:07 AM on April 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I would not want to winter in Canada in it. I wouldn't want to winter anywhere cold in it. Maybe nice ones (the ones that are $100K+) are better, but the cheap ones are almost completely exposed to the elements as far as insulation and there's only one heat source (usually in the sleeping area).
How much stuff do you like to have in your life? 34 feet sounds big but for personal stuff storage, my 10x12 bedroom at home with a non-walk-in closet has more space to put stuff than the RV.
Most people I know that do the RV life rely on setting up spaces outside. Everything from a grill (even with a popout, RV kitchens are pretty claustrophobic, and not great to work with) to hammocks to reading nooks. That doesn't work well in the winter.
With a Class B/C, every fart is going to linger in breathing distance for everyone unless you go sprinting outside.
What would be your power plan while boondocking in bad weather? I have 400 watts of solar panels on mine, which is fine because I can assume clear skies 98% of the time, but if you're dealing with snow, panels can get covered and just heavy rain can drop your efficiency dramatically.
Are you honestly prepared to deal with pumping blackwater? I deal with a lot of animal bodily fluids so it's not a big deal for me, but if you're squeamish, it can be a bit much.
If you're thinking of retrofitting a van for this, think carefully about CO2 if you're running the engine for heat. One of my former boss's relatives suffered brain damage from letting a van run overnight with the engine going because of this. Standard vehicles expect you to be moving while the engine is running.
posted by Candleman at 8:07 AM on April 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Spend some time on facebook groups, and on cheaprvliving. Look for bloggers who do this. I know a number of people who do/ have done this. Isolation can get difficult. RVs are not well-built and need care. Dealing with black water, propane, trash, wildlife, takes some effort. Managing power for light, heat, laptop, etc., and keeping connected to a phone service and Internet takes effort. In the US, some boondockers don't manage their garbage, use/ sell/ make drugs, are not cautious about fire, and the Forest Svc. and Bur. Land Mgmt (BLM) are restricting more areas.
I spent time living in a minivan, stealth camping, boondocking and traveling. It was pretty great, I saw a lot of the US Southwest, Nat. Parks, hiked, read a lot. My dog was a good companion, helped me feel safer.
Very cold weather in an RV is rugged. I road-tripped in a minivan, parked basically anywhere, had great adventures.
posted by theora55 at 11:41 AM on May 1, 2023
I spent time living in a minivan, stealth camping, boondocking and traveling. It was pretty great, I saw a lot of the US Southwest, Nat. Parks, hiked, read a lot. My dog was a good companion, helped me feel safer.
Very cold weather in an RV is rugged. I road-tripped in a minivan, parked basically anywhere, had great adventures.
posted by theora55 at 11:41 AM on May 1, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the info,tips and advice.I need to research this alot before we proceed with this adventure.
Thanks anyhow :-)
posted by LOOKING at 5:00 PM on May 2, 2023
Thanks anyhow :-)
posted by LOOKING at 5:00 PM on May 2, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:07 AM on April 25, 2023 [13 favorites]