[HN Gopher] Things I wish I'd known before fulltime RVing (2017)
___________________________________________________________________
Things I wish I'd known before fulltime RVing (2017)
Author : cf100clunk
Score : 141 points
Date : 2023-06-20 17:08 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.wheelingit.us)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.wheelingit.us)
| mikestew wrote:
| One thing that has changed a lot since this article was written
| and everyone bought RVs during COVID: good luck just showing up
| and finding a camp spot. Pre-2020, we'd either just show up to a
| state park on a Friday night, or maybe reserve a spot a couple of
| days before. Not anymore; I booked all of the spots we might
| want, or at least could even _find available_ , in March or so
| and even then we had to schedule around available spots, and not
| the weekends we necessarily wanted.
|
| Now, maybe it's just WA state, but if we hit the road for an
| extended period I'd be reserving spots ahead of time even at
| places far less popular than, say, Yellowstone.
| StrangeATractor wrote:
| I usually just pull off at a truck stop for sleep if I'm
| traveling, but even those have been getting filled up lately.
| Plenty of exits will just have semis lined up on the shoulder
| because there's no room anywhere else and they can only drive
| so many hours by law.
| wesleytodd wrote:
| This is largely a west coast problem. We are doing a trip to
| the west coast this summer (sitting in the shade of my RV in AZ
| right now on our way) and we had to book a lot more in advance
| than other destinations. The past few years in the central and
| east we can usually find a spot day of unless it is right near
| a major attraction.
| poorman wrote:
| There's an awesome app called Campflare that you should check
| out to help with those bookings.
| mikestew wrote:
| thanks for the recommendation, I'll certainly check it out.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Visit Texas in the summer. Plenty of spots available to enjoy
| the 110deg heat
| coding123 wrote:
| as long as you're ok with the risk of severe weather
| mikestew wrote:
| I live in Seattle: 110F _is_ severe weather.
| bee_rider wrote:
| A temperature above human body temperature is one of
| nature's ways of saying "this place isn't for humans."
| dylan604 wrote:
| Better get used to it. Soon, this will be the norm for a
| lot more places than it is now
| redundantly wrote:
| [dead]
| lookdangerous wrote:
| Is it at all realistic to RV in this weather? I am curious
| what it would look like.
| dylan604 wrote:
| For me, it looks like a La Quinta while the sun is up, and
| then just before sunset, I head back out to make sure the
| alignment on my telescope is set. It also looks like a
| couple of cans worth of mosquito repellent. It looks like
| plenty of water. The last time I went when it was that hot
| during the day, it was still above 90deg at 2am.
|
| This is one of those adventures where brave blurs into
| crazy
| karaterobot wrote:
| Yeah, it's super busy out there now. This is one reason for
| boondocking. I pretty much don't even look at campgrounds
| anymore, knowing they'll either be full, or I'll be packed in
| between two noisy groups when I'm trying to relax. I don't have
| an RV, and I imagine it's a lot harder to drive those up a
| forest service road in the Cascades, but there are still plenty
| of places you can go (looks like that's the author of the
| article's preferred method too).
| Minor49er wrote:
| Washington might have more populated parks simply because they
| have a state-wide pass for getting access to a wide variety of
| camping spots for cheap. Other states I've been to still have
| some kind of registration and check-in process where you need
| to pay cash on the spot for each place you go to
| checkyoursudo wrote:
| I am sitting at a campgrounds in Sweden right now. There are a
| few dozen cabins, of which maybe a handful are being rented.
| Six, maybe, at the most. Meanwhile, the camping area is
| absolutely _packed_ with RVs and camper vans. So, maybe not
| just Washington?
| GuB-42 wrote:
| That's why a white van may be a better choice than an obvious
| RV.
|
| A white van can go and park anywhere a delivery truck can go,
| whereas RVs may get unwanted attention.
| zucked wrote:
| I don't think most people care enough to bother you, but
| there's very little "stealth" about a Sprinter/ProMaster van.
| They used to go unnoticed but they don't anymore. It's a dead
| giveaway when there is a MaxxAir roof vent and solar
| panel(s).
| dizhn wrote:
| White vans used to attract a different kind of attention
| after 9/11. I guess it's passed now.
| wing-_-nuts wrote:
| I draw the line at not having a private shower and toilet.
| Yeah, a lot of van dwellers utilize gyms for this, but I
| don't want to tie my basic hygiene to external sources.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| Port-a-potties and portable showers are a thing. They are
| cheap, lightweight and don't take much space. Not as good
| as gym showers but sufficient if you want the option not to
| rely on them.
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| I don't read parent as saying not to have a shower and
| toilet, I think they are just saying make the vehicle
| appear more utilitarian so as to not draw attention.
| mattmaroon wrote:
| It's not just WA. It's everywhere. New campgrounds are popping
| up fast and people are becoming disenchanted with the failure-
| prone covid wagons, so I don't think it'll be this way for
| long.
| mikestew wrote:
| Figured it wasn't just WA, my parents in FL don't camp as
| much as they used to, but they're saying the same thing on
| the occasions that they do go out.
|
| I imagine it'll die off because as you point out, folks will
| find out that RVs always need _something_ , and in a lot of
| ways are kind of a pain-in-the-ass. But, man, thought it
| would have happened by now.
| j2bax wrote:
| I'm knocking on wood real hard with this one, but I'm going
| on about 20k miles in my 2013 Airstream with no incidents
| (bought in 2020). Only major thing I did since getting it
| was change the original tires and get the wheel bearings
| repacked. Cross country road trips was what led us to go
| with an Airstream and so far I haven't regret it a bit.
| luddit3 wrote:
| Combining your house with your car is the pinnacle of need.
| mountaineer wrote:
| Campnab is a must have for the RVers/campsers I know.
| https://campnab.com/
| karjaluoto wrote:
| I love hearing this! (My friend and I built Campnab.)
| timmaah wrote:
| I've created and ran Wandering Labs since 2015,
| https://wanderinglabs.com
|
| Used to be friends with Nina back in the day and recently
| sold our full-timing Airstream.
| https://www.wheelingit.us/2013/04/26/campsite-lottery-red-
| ro...
| GartzenDeHaes wrote:
| It seems as if about the only things WA State Parks has
| invested in for the past 40 years are parking lots and a new
| headquarters building in Tumwater.
| helipad wrote:
| Likewise. Camping used to be spontaneous up until Covid. We
| might book a popular site a few weeks in advance but only for
| popular ones on holiday weekends.
|
| Now they can be booked months in advance when you've no sense
| of how available you'll be or what the weather will be like.
|
| For Michigan's booking system, people also game it by booking
| long stays that finish on the dates want (thus getting around
| the "within 6 months" booking window) and then cancelling down
| to the dates they want for a paltry cancellation fee, given how
| in demand they are.
| justinlloyd wrote:
| Not a full-timer, just a casual enjoy-er about four days a month
| of an RV kitted out how I want it.
|
| An older model 38ft Class A diesel pusher with low mileage that
| has no slides. These were specific choices. If I did it over,
| it'd be a 32ft-er instead. No slides. Slides can fail. And the
| interior design is often made purposefully cramped until you
| deploy the slides. My RV is basically an open plan office &
| kitchen with tile & wood flooring throughout. Though I am in the
| process of ripping out the carpet in the bedroom because - it is
| time. Not sure if I will go with tile, wood or tatami mats.
|
| My RV sits two comfortably and sleeps two comfortably. Me and my
| wife. Everybody else can walk. We simply don't take passengers or
| ride alongs.
|
| We pulled out the dinette, the built-in ice maker, the couch that
| reclines and folds down into another bed, and every other
| accoutrements that would accommodate six to eight people for a
| two week vacation. Now there is so much more space for
| activities. The dinette area turned in to a prep area with a
| custom built cabinet underneath with lots of shallow drawers. I
| can quite categorically state that the kitchen and prep area in
| the RV is larger than the one in our condo and has way more
| storage. The bathroom/dressing room is pretty comfortably sized
| too. I pulled out the shower enclosure and put in a Japanese
| soaking tub and a simple curtain rail for showers.
|
| Interior is an eclectic mix between boho and traditional
| Japanese. Full height sliding shoji screens with reinforced lexan
| inserts (just in case someone left something on a countertop and
| I need to slam on the brakes) that separate cockpit from living
| area for privacy. Sliding shoji screen doors on bathroom and
| bedroom. Sliding shoji screen window covers. All the 1980's era
| country kitchen knobs, handles and pulls got replaced with either
| custom made pulls or an eclectic mixture of cabinet pulls we have
| found on our travels. Replaced all the external cabinet door
| hinges interior euro-hinges. All the country kitchen woodwork got
| sanded and repainted to a neutral white. Replaced all the
| terrible "we cut a lot of corners" drawer slides with push to
| open/soft-close slides.
|
| We went with reasonably high-end appliances; GE Profile
| fridge/freezer, cook top, microwave, dishwasher, Gaggenau high
| BTU wok unit converted to propane, and a Bosch washer/dryer combo
| unit in the bathroom. Wolf counter top oven (which also doubles
| as our toaster). And then the usual collection of small
| appliances that every kitchen has; rice maker, food mixer, food
| processor, immersion blender, Wega Polaris 2 group machine,
| teppanyaki grill plate that sits over the regular cook top. Built
| a vented (to the outside) cat litter box into a cabinet in the
| bathroom. Bunch of solar on the roof (that I need to get up there
| and clean) and a lot of lithium in the basement to power all the
| electronics. The one thing we don't have in our RV is a regular
| TV screen, which means we don't have anything to point any of our
| furniture at. Have been contemplating a composting toilet, which
| would reduce our black water tank to pretty much just grey water
| storage.
|
| I put in two sit-to-stand electric desks, with Humanscale monitor
| arms, and a Humanscale laptop arm. Both desks have dual 4K curved
| displays and wireless accessories. Amazon has some nice mesh
| workstation chairs that fold down and slide right under the desks
| when not in use. Custom 19" rack mount cabinet. Ubiquiti Dream
| Machine Pro SE with a couple of WiFi APs and a G3 doorbell
| camera. APC LiIon UPS. ~24TB (30TB physical, 22.something TB
| actual) flash-only Synology media server (music, movies & TV
| shows) that automatically syncs to the Synology in the condo
| whenever the RV connects to specific WiFi networks. We have a
| WiFi booster antenna that will form a bridge for us to distant
| networks - use a LinkSys with OpenWRT and some custom scripts to
| make that happen. And we have a cellular booster for our T-Mobile
| phones & hotspot with about 100GB of data per month.
|
| Couple of e-bikes in the storage bay, my wife's reflector
| telescope, and a tool chest of accessories and tools for RV
| maintenance and those "aw, shit" moments of life, e.g. air
| filters, emergency fluids, power washer, cordless drill, full set
| of wrenches. We travel reasonably light (for an RV); no camping
| gear, no deck chairs, very few clothing items, not a lot of extra
| stuff that many RV'ers haul around with them.
|
| I will agree with the article, you don't need anywhere near the
| amount of stuff you think you need. I only have AAA and Good Sam
| for the recovery/break down options, and some extra insurance in
| case of a complete failure. Obviously remote work has made using
| the RV a lot more possible than it did pre-COVID, though the
| number of RV'ers has skyrocketed since before the pandemic.
| __MatrixMan__ wrote:
| I occasionally camp with van people and they make it look so
| stressful. I can't imagine having a whole RV worth of things to
| worry about.
|
| I'm glad people are happy with 'em, but the more I learn about
| that lifestyle the more I love my small pickup truck and hammock.
| poorman wrote:
| I've been doing van life for over a year while being a Director
| of Engineering. This has involved a large amount of being on Zoom
| calls. I figured it would be helpful for any engineers (or
| managers) for me to break down some of my costs.
|
| Internet
|
| 1. Starlink internet [50GB/mo priority data, unlimited non-
| priority] - $250 monthly / $2000+ for flat mount hardware. I
| had/have the less-expensive RV/home dish (non-mobile) before the
| mobile flat mount high performance dish came out. I can quickly
| attach it to the Harbor Freight flag pole and hoist it above most
| tree canopy if needed.
|
| 2. T-mobile hotspot [50ish GB/mo] - Roughly $55 monthly. Works
| great in cities with 5G.
|
| 3. Verizon mobile router (Peplink) [300GB/mo] - $150 monthly for
| the data plan from: https://mobilemusthave.com/
|
| The reason I have all these is because I need redundant
| connections to do my job. It's not acceptable to not have
| internet one day. Also I use MultipathTCP to bond all my
| connections together so my Zoom calls never drop (which used to
| be a problem with Starlink, but less so now these days).
|
| Fuel Costs
|
| This is my greatest expense. I have a very heavy Sprinter van
| that I built out myself. I get about 14 MPG diesel. It really
| depends what State you are in on what the costs are and how much
| you travel. The general consensus between all the people I've met
| on the road (working full time) is that they put about 35k miles
| on their vehicle per year.
|
| Campgrounds
|
| Really only pay for for these when on the East Coast since there
| isn't as much BLM or USFS land.
|
| Power
|
| I have 600 amp hours of batteries with about 800 watts of solar
| on my roof, 1320 watts of portable panels that I can set up when
| I need to (mostly when I want to run the air conditioner 24 hours
| a day). I also have a 3360 watt auxiliary alternator that will
| charge the batteries real fast. The truth is I run a ton of
| computer equipment and never really worry about power.
|
| This lifestyle has been amazing. I used to feel stuck being an
| engineer behind my desk all day. Now when I get tired of a town I
| can simply move onto the next one. There's also some amazing
| groups out there and I've actually made loads of friends across
| the country doing this same lifestyle so we'll often meet up in
| places. For example, Trent (who arguabily started the "Van Life
| Gamers" movement) has a discord full of people that live this
| lifestyle https://discord.gg/d4xsZEVH.
|
| I would also say having a Sprinter Van has been so much better
| than an RV because it's much easier to go places with the van
| than a huge RV. I can park at a trail head for example in a
| normal parking spot.
| justinlloyd wrote:
| * * *
| paws wrote:
| > MultipathTCP
|
| Can you please share more about this? I've been curious to
| build a router with redundant internet providers ever since I
| noticed certain PCEngines boards supported LTE modem modules.
| [0]]
|
| I assume you're using Linux; do you wire all your modems via
| Ethernet and manage MultipathTCP all in your router? Any
| hardware offloading you're aware of/recommend?
|
| [0] https://www.pcengines.ch/apu3c4.htm
| poorman wrote:
| I use OpenWrt on all my routers and switches.
| https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/mptcp
|
| And I run Proxmox with OpenWrt as my router inside on a
| Odyssey Blue https://www.seeedstudio.com/Odyssey-
| Blue-J4125-128GB-p-4921..... I specially chose all these
| because they run on 12 volt so I don't need my inverter to
| power them.
|
| I have two managed switches --one is for PoE to power all my
| security cameras and wireless APs in the van.
|
| The reason I use OpenWrt and the managed switches is that
| it's super simple to set up VLANs. Devices such as the
| Starlink aren't super nice when it comes to being able to
| configure network settings (maybe that's changed IDK). So the
| ports on the switches do VLAN tagging and I'm able to
| segregate all the network traffic including the multiple WANs
| into one trunk line going into the router device (the one
| running Proxmox with OpenWrt).
| paws wrote:
| Lovely, thank you!
| redundantly wrote:
| How do you handle bathroom needs (toilets, bathing, etc)?
| poorman wrote:
| I put a tile shower in my van (you can certainly do it much
| lighter). I also have a Natures Head composting toilet (no
| smells at all.. there's a tiny fan that circulates air
| through a vent outside). Since I only have 30 gallons (4 of
| those are in the hot-water heater) of fresh water that I can
| cary, I'll use planet fitness showers a lot.
| jetsnoc wrote:
| I don't full-time or even part-time RV. I own a class-a 36'
| diesel pusher. During the summer, I spend one month on the Oregon
| coast, and during the winter, I go to Twenty-Nine Palms or Palm
| Springs for one or two months. This allows me to fully immerse
| myself in an area and explore national parks and new places for
| an extended period.
|
| I wish I would have known how stressful it can be. For me, It
| feels like there is always a drag of stress - maybe a 30%
| overhead of stress. If you suddenly don't have hot water, it is
| on you to fix it because when you are "living" in it for that
| period, someone won't be able to come to help you repair it for
| several weeks. You can't even throw money at it, they just are
| too busy and can't come out.
|
| Driving can be stressful too. You get experienced to it after a
| while but driving at night down a two-lane highway with diesel
| trucks behind you, in front of you (another lane), and directly
| to your left where the vortex pulls you in all while you're
| trying to keep it in the lane can be stressful. Pulling into a
| truck stop to fuel can be stressful.
|
| I like to stick to around < 300 miles per day. I prefer to arrive
| before it's dark. This means a 12-hour drive I would make in my
| car can end up taking 2-3 days in the RV. I don't mind taking the
| time now. I relax, unplug and enjoy it. It now relaxes me. I
| would rather it take time than to worry about driving at night or
| pulling into a spot at night.
|
| The last few times we went we had two older dogs. One was having
| seizures. We didn't know it yet but she had kidney failure and
| had quit eating as much. We didn't notice her feeding habits at
| home since the other dog was a jerk, eating her portions without
| us knowing. The trip was fortunate because we got to see
| everything up close and in person. I have a slight deficiency in
| object permanence and for them to be right there in my face, we
| were able to see it. The other dog -- nicknamed Pigbert now --
| was having serious issues with his arthritis. He would randomly
| screech due to pain. A steroid for two weeks solved it quickly.
|
| If you combine those things with the 30% constant drag of stress
| it can be very unpleasant. No hot water, caring for dogs in
| crisis, and stressful drives all lead to something that is quite
| unmanageable.
|
| My advice is to just be aware of managing stressors and ensuring
| you have as few as possible on travel days. My other advice is -
| if it sounds like it is for you - DO IT. I have backpacked Europe
| and traveled to very nice resorts. None of them top the amazing
| experiences I have had on the road. I won't personally live in
| that small of a space full-time or part-time but I admire those
| that do it.
| stopnamingnuts wrote:
| This is a pretty good summary of how I feel and why I dig my
| heels in every time my wife starts talking about a new camper,
| a boat or whatever. I suspect she envisions it like a magazine
| cover: better, carefree versions of ourselves enjoying the
| sunshine with friends (who are ideally green with envy).
|
| I see myself disassembling the toilet.
| stewarts wrote:
| [dead]
| jetsnoc wrote:
| This isn't a stressor, just an observation. Another thing I
| would share is that most of the people on the road are twice my
| age. This can be a pleasure when you meet unique people who
| like you because you remind them of their grandkids which means
| they spoil you with meals and stories. This can also be a
| nightmare where they are retired, have nothing to do but
| complain and there is a major generational difference in how
| they understand and respect your same-sex marriage.
| varelse wrote:
| [dead]
| bombcar wrote:
| There's an entire association around the stressors involved -
| https://www.goodsam.com
|
| And always remember that if it gets too bad for a while there's
| no shame in stopping at a hotel for a night or two.
| varelse wrote:
| [dead]
| dylan604 wrote:
| The best RVing advice I was given was to not buy an RV and buy a
| pull trailer instead which somewhat correlates to the TFA's
| "bigger is not always better". RVs get horrible gas mileage, and
| are not easy to drive around. This is why you see a lot of RVs
| pulling trailers with a smaller car on it. The trailer route
| allows you to drop off the trailer and then use the pulling
| vehicle separately. I'm sure it's confirmation bias, but people I
| know that have RVs use them less than the people I know that have
| trailers.
| vl wrote:
| I upgraded from trailer to the motorhome and everything turned
| out to be more trickier on the motorhome.
|
| But there are benefits as well - it's way more comfortable for
| passengers, and it's easier to setup on arrival.
| mattmaroon wrote:
| I've got a 35' travel trailer I live in usually for 4-6 months
| at a time for this reason. The benefits:
|
| 1. Just one engine to take care of. If you have a motor home,
| you're towing a car too. So that's two sets of drivetrains with
| all of the maintenance and expense that goes with it.
|
| 2. Easy to replace the drive part. If my truck dies I can just
| get another truck. The trailer lives on. Whole lot easier than
| dealing with what happens when an RV dies.
|
| 3. More maneuverable (though also harder to learn to tow if
| you're not already used to it) because it pivots at the point
| where it connects to the vehicle.
|
| 4. Much cheaper in the long run. A diesel 3/4 or full ton truck
| barely depreciates at all in absolute dollars even in normal
| times. RVs can't say that at all. If you buy a camper and a
| pickup you can probably sell them in five years for most of
| what you put into them.
| Johnny555 wrote:
| _Much cheaper in the long run_
|
| That's assuming that you actually want or need a truck (or
| other tow vehicle large enough to pull your trailer). I went
| with a motorhome (but don't pull a car) because my other care
| is a small EV, and I don't really have a use for a truck or
| other large vehicle.
| dylan604 wrote:
| >3. More maneuverable (though also harder to learn to tow if
| you're not already used to it) because it pivots at the point
| where it connects to the vehicle.
|
| 5th wheel trailers help with this (so I've been told by
| family members that have them).
| Beldin wrote:
| Wasn't familiar with this concept. Funny though: in my
| language, "5th wheel (on a car)" refers to someone being as
| useful as... well, the 5th wheel on a car, i.e., not useful
| at all. The "on a car" part is often left out.
|
| (Sidenote for anyone wanting to argue the usefulness of 5th
| wheels: I'm not my language designated responsible for
| sayings and common phrasings. Also: 5th wheels tend to be
| the emergency spare wheels - which obviously do have a
| use.)
| stewarts wrote:
| They don't affect maneuverability all that much when
| compared to a standard travel trailer. However, you get a
| lot more living space in the same effective length due to
| the portion between your pin and rear truck bumper being
| now livable space.
|
| They do however TOW quite a bit better than a travel
| trailer as far as comfort. Going from a 28ft TT to a 40ft
| Toy Hauler yielded a lot better towing/reduction in driver
| fatigue over long trips (also went from a half-ton truck to
| 1-ton, so some differences just there as well).
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| Can confirm. I've been fifth wheeling for >20 years.
| They're much easier to tow and you don't need as much
| length behind the tow vehicle for an equivalent amount of
| space (because the bedroom is usually above the hitch
| point). They're also much easier to hook up in the first
| place because you don't have to repeatedly back up the
| truck "blind" to get the tow vehicle into the perfect spot.
|
| Fifth wheels can seem scary to people who are not familiar
| with them, but the benefits are numerous if you can
| overcome that fear.
| msisk6 wrote:
| I can also confirm. A fifth-wheel trailer with the proper
| size truck is very stable; even in severe cross-winds.
|
| I use a gooseneck adapter on my RV since my farm trailer
| uses that and it's a bit more difficult to hitch up but
| you get used to it quickly.
|
| Before COVID used fifth-wheels were very cheap -- my
| current one is a 2016 model I bought used for $17k in
| 2019. Things are a bit more expensive now but I figure
| the used market will probably go back to normal by next
| year.
| mikestew wrote:
| _RVs get horrible gas mileage, and are not easy to drive
| around._
|
| Guess what else gets horrible mileage when you hook a trailer
| to it? I'll put our 26' Sprinter class C's 15mpg up against
| anything pulling something larger than a pod trailer. And after
| I did some much-needed suspension upgrades, the thing drives
| like a car. Best of all, I don't have to pull a trailer. We use
| ours a fair amount because all we do is toss food in the
| fridge, turn the key and go.
|
| A lot of the reason I see for pulling a car (often referred to
| as a "toad". "towed", get it?), is so one doesn't have to roll
| everything up just to go see the sights.
| dylan604 wrote:
| You forgot the second half of the quote you pulled: "and are
| not easy to drive around".
| mikestew wrote:
| _And after I did some much-needed suspension upgrades, the
| thing drives like a car._ , or am I not understanding your
| point?
| dylan604 wrote:
| Sorry, I should have quoted that last line:
|
| >A lot of the reason I see for pulling a car (often
| referred to as a "toad". "towed", get it?), is so one
| doesn't have to roll everything up just to go see the
| sights.
| mikestew wrote:
| Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. And your point
| stands; I'm probably one of dozens who has gone to the
| trouble of fixing the wobbling mess that is most stock RV
| suspension.
|
| (And if you have a Sprinter-based Class C: Sumo Springs
| front and rear, Fox rear shocks with more rebound
| damping, and if I had to do it over I'd skip the larger
| sway bar.)
| bombcar wrote:
| That's a huge difference - an RV that does _not_ expand or
| really hook up is much easier to just jump into and go
| somewhere than one that folds out until it 's larger than a
| Manhattan apartment.
|
| And both can be supplemented by auxiliary transportation
| (bikes, motorbikes, small car).
| carabiner wrote:
| Just get a Tacoma or Tundra and put a Kimbo on it. Drive
| everywhere, even the cities.
| cmclaughlin wrote:
| Many camp sites don't let you leave Kimbo style campers
| behind. For that reason I prefer a towable.
| zucked wrote:
| Don't get a Tacoma for this - a Kimbo weighs upwards of 1k
| lbs, right at the limit of a Tacoma's payload capacity. Add
| in fuel, people, water, anything else heavy and you're above
| the rated capacity before you know it.
| GartzenDeHaes wrote:
| Also, you are uninsured if you exceed your vehicle's towing
| or gross weight rating. It's in the fine print of your
| insurance binder, something about using the vehicle IAW
| manufacturer's recommendations.
|
| EDIT: And yes, the insurance company will weigh your
| equipment after an accident.
| dylan604 wrote:
| This was my disappointment with my Tacoma. For the size of
| the truck itself, the towing is very limited. I know they
| would rather you buy a Tundra, but a Tacoma's towing isn't
| much better than my '85 Chevy S-10. That's just really sad
| when you compare the sizes of a Tacoma and an S-10
| dieselgate wrote:
| Tacomas have small beds compared to other trucks. It's all
| trade offs though. Slide in campers can b nice but are more
| difficult to decouple from the vehicle than a bumper pull.
| Bumper pulls or even fifth wheel campers have the benefit of
| being much larger when people need more space.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Yeah, Tacomas are weird hybrid trucks. It's a full sized
| truck in every way except the bed. The loss of the smaller
| truck like the S-10 makes me sad. I miss my S-10.
| brightball wrote:
| See, we went with the class A specifically because we didn't
| want to pull a car and Uber made it so easy to get a ride.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Hmm, having difficulties finding you a driver at the Grand
| Canyon.
|
| I've never had success with a ride service outside of a city,
| and outside of cities is where RV sites that people are
| interested in tend to be located.
| phantom784 wrote:
| Do you not go to national parks and other similar places
| where you wouldn't be able to get an Uber?
| soligern wrote:
| The thing that has worked for me is going the trailer route
| with my lightning. You can get 60-70% charge overnight (since I
| power the trailer with the lightning) with one of the KOA RV
| outlets included with the camping spot price. KOAs are a bit
| pricier than a mom and pop but totally worth it for the extra
| $7-10 you might pay per night because they're cleaner, have
| great restroom facilities and I can drive a whole day on the
| charge.
| enjoylife wrote:
| How is the range when pulling your trailer? From what I read
| the reduction is steep?
| soligern wrote:
| You can do around 100 miles a day on 70% and that's more
| than enough for me the way I'm traveling. I have the
| extended capacity model. It also really depends on the
| route, with a lot of downhills you can probably get closer
| to 180 miles on 70%. On a cool night when you can just
| leave a window open on the trailer (so you don't need to
| power it), you can get a full charge and that will get you
| around 200 miles a day while towing on something that has a
| decent amount of downhill.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Are you driving one-way? How do you have a route that is
| a lot of downhills without uphills? Are you starting at
| the continental divide?
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| I don't have a lightning but have been thinking about
| getting one. Thanks for the report.
|
| One thing I thought about is that if I want to go
| someplace farther than 100 miles, I could just drop the
| trailer in a parking lot, recharge the truck at a nearby
| DCFC, then re-hook and be on my way. I've done this on
| occasion to refuel an ICE tow vehicle at a too-small gas
| station, and I don't see why it wouldn't work with a
| lightning.
| sujinge9 wrote:
| So is your itinerary to go from KOA to KOA in 100 mile
| increments? Are there ever times when there isn't a KOA
| ~100 miles in the direction you want to go?
| throitallaway wrote:
| Other campgrounds besides KOAs offer 50 amp service.
| voisin wrote:
| What's the range on your Lightning without the trailer?
| What's the weight of the trailer?
| [deleted]
| seattle_spring wrote:
| Question for all the RVers here on HN: why do so many of you
| refuse to use designated pull outs? The ones specifically created
| for vehicles like yours to move over and let the dozen+ cars
| behind you pass so they can go more than 20 under the speed
| limit. Many RVs I encounter even go out of their way to prevent
| passing. I don't really understand it, and it seems like an RV-
| specific behavior.
| codybontecou wrote:
| I noticed the slow (right) lanes in California are the most
| beat-up. My guess is because the shipping trucks use them. This
| could be a possibility as well.
| jjav wrote:
| At least in California, slower vehicles are required to use
| the nearest pull-out lane if there are 5 cars or more stuck
| behind them.
|
| https://california.public.law/codes/ca_veh_code_section_2165.
| ..
| jwagenet wrote:
| Perhaps this is the law, but unlike some other states,
| there is rarely signage to remind drivers (though I doubt
| even still it would the followed or enforced).
| [deleted]
| uudecoded wrote:
| As a 25 foot Class C RV driver, I've encountered what you
| describe from heavy trucks, Class A's, other Class C's,
| Priuses, and Teslas. It's all over the place. I have to have a
| certain calm about it, especially on summer weekends on
| 101/SR2/SR20/etc in Washington.
|
| The thing people don't realize is that speed limit advisory
| signs (on turns or downhills usually) are essentially mandatory
| for high CG vehicles - to avoid rollover risk.
|
| To help you understand some reasons to refuse a pullout, here
| are the conditions that I think must be true for an RV or heavy
| truck to safely and practically use a pullout: (Maybe I'm
| missing something)
|
| 1) Vehicle is slower than the speed limit or lower than the
| safety speed advisory by more than 10 mph. (Yes, this is
| annoying for people that want to exceed the speed limit, but
| they can use passing lanes.)
|
| 2) Pullout must be visibly paved and clear for entry in advance
| of safe braking distance. (This is often a problem.)
|
| 3) The pullout must have good visibility behind it so the
| vehicle can safely get back up to speed from 0 after stopping.
| (Sometimes a problem.)
|
| 4) Traffic must be light enough such that rejoining the travel
| lane is feasible in less than a couple minutes. (This is often
| a problem.)
|
| 5) The pullout must have a safe path to return to the travel
| lane. (I have had to balk pullout attempts after nearing the
| pullout because this is not always immediately clear at a
| distance.)
|
| 6) Most importantly, the vehicle must not be followed either at
| an unsafe distance or by someone driving erratically. (I am not
| going to risk damage to my vehicle by braking for someone
| following too closely.)
|
| edit:formatting
| gffrd wrote:
| > in Washington
|
| Ah, Washington drivers! Paying no attention at all until
| someone nears their space, then all of a sudden VERY
| attentive and territorial yet unwilling to be actually
| aggressive, so instead just kind of interfering.
|
| Highway driving at its finest.
| jstarfish wrote:
| > Many RVs I encounter even go out of their way to prevent
| passing.
|
| Only you would know, but this _could_ be something other than
| what it seems like.
|
| When I had a motorcycle, I'd tail a slow vehicle for miles in
| anticipation of a passing zone. When we got there, they'd all
| of a sudden accelerate-- which I always assumed was them
| fucking with me, until one day I realized I do the same thing
| myself when in a car.
|
| We speed up when we perceive it is safe to do so (long
| stretches of straight road), similar to unconsciously letting
| off the gas when you notice a cop running a speed trap.
|
| If this is what you encounter, it may be an unconscious thing,
| or the RV driver consciously speeding up for your convenience.
| If they're swerving, consider that they're tall and wind pushes
| them around easily.
|
| But they could also just be dicks, sure.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| passing lanes usually open up on straight stretches of road
| with good visibility. Its like, here we are twisty, turning,
| and the speed limit is like 35 around these curves, and then
| we get to a 2 lane stretch straight up a hill with the 55
| speed limit. What are we supposed to do?
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| > When I had a motorcycle, I'd tail a slow vehicle for miles
| in anticipation of a passing zone. When we got there, they'd
| all of a sudden accelerate-- which I always assumed was them
| fucking with me, until one day I realized I do the same thing
| myself when in a car.
|
| There's a mountain pass I travel a few times a year where
| this happens.
|
| The limit is 45 mph throughout the curves, and that's a
| reasonable speed, though I prefer to go a bit faster, but
| will inevitably get stuck behind someone going 35.
|
| We reach a point where there's a passing lane, and the limit
| is 55 mph. I try to pass the person that was going 35 mph
| before, and suddenly they seem to think that 70 mph is a
| reasonable speed. I _have_ to pass these people regardless of
| how fast they want to go when there 's a passing lane,
| because otherwise, I'll get stuck behind them once the
| passing lane ends and they decide to drop back down to 10
| under the limit.
|
| Luckily, these days, I have a car that can easily pass 98% of
| the other cars on the road, and the remaining 2% are already
| going at speed.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| What is a "pull out"? I've never heard of this. I googled and
| it comes up with pull out beds for RVs.
| Johnny555 wrote:
| They are also called "turnout lanes".
|
| Often they are a short paved lane meant for slow vehicles to
| pull off onto to allow slower traffic to pass, but often on
| mountain roads, it's a gravel off-road area that serves the
| same purpose. But pulling into one can be a bumpy ride, and
| the gravel service means it's hard to accelerate quickly
| until you get fully back on the road so you need to be sure
| you have a lot of clear space behind you (which can be hard
| to ensure on twisty mountain roads).
|
| https://youtu.be/sKLhtlO_aZs
| njarboe wrote:
| Often not gravel, especially in California.
| mindslight wrote:
| I'd imagine it's because it takes so much effort and gas to
| asymptote up to 40mph or whatever, that they can't fathom
| electing to stop and do it all again. Most tractor trailers
| have a large enough engine to handle going up hills with common
| cargo at highway speeds (exceptions exist, of course). From
| what I've observed, most RV's just don't.
|
| I spent several months living out of my car+tent in national
| parks/forests and often referred to them as Ruins Views.
| Breathtaking scenery in those national parks, that you can't
| focus on when you're stuck in a line of twenty cars riding your
| brakes and smelling theirs, because Big Bob doesn't want to get
| his tippy palace going too fast.
|
| I do get the appeal, but lugging around so much tonnage seems
| like a recipe for a bad time. Now I'm at a different life stage
| where I've been doing a bunch of towing with an underpowered
| SUV, and I make it a point to get out of peoples' ways. Luckily
| most of that has been on multilane highways where it's easy to
| do so.
| massysett wrote:
| If you're driving you just can't focus on scenery period, no
| matter how many cars you're stuck behind. Whenever I ride as
| a passenger on roads I drive every day, I'm amazed at the
| details outside that I don't see when I'm driving.
|
| Just keeping a car on a road with no traffic takes a fair
| amount of focus: for evidence, just see how many people don't
| do it and plow into objects that are alongside the road.
| mindslight wrote:
| These kind of comments trying to invoke some hobby horse
| ("safe driving") by taking a word out of context are _soooo
| web forum_.
|
| Obviously, driving requires attention and is always one's
| main focus. Having driven various sizes of vehicles, it's
| quite clear that this amount of attention varies. For
| example, the sheer amount of work required to drive a 26
| foot box truck gave me a healthy respect for truck drivers.
| On the original topic, I'd imagine a lot of RV drivers
| don't pull over or are actively hostile to being passed
| because they're so overwhelmed they don't want to pile on
| any more requirements. And while this means that they
| _should_ be taking the opportunity to stop and recover, try
| telling someone who is drowning to stop thrashing.
|
| Piloting a 2500 lb manual coupe barefoot in a non-wooded
| area on an empty road requires the lowest amount of work
| I've experienced. Driving that same car while having to
| continually gauge how hard the person in front of you is
| applying the brakes takes much more. Braking extra and
| creating more buffer room gives a slight reprieve, but at
| the ailing speeds ruins views tend to go on non-straight
| roads you'll inevitably catch right back up.
| massysett wrote:
| The person driving the RV that you're complaining about
| has just as much right to enjoy the national park as you
| do. My point is that if you want to enjoy the scenery,
| you need to get out of the driver's seat.
| JohnDotAwesome wrote:
| As an RV-driver, I try my best to use the pull outs when I can.
| There are a few complications, though.
|
| First is the visibility of these pull-outs is often very poor.
| You'll be driving through long winding roads and then all of
| the sudden the pull-out appears. In an RV, you can't just slam
| on the breaks and swerve into the pullout, ESPECIALLY if you're
| going downhill.
|
| Second, often times (in the USA at least), these pull-outs have
| rough terrain going in an and out of them. There will be a
| little bump or uneven ground that most vehicles wouldn't mind
| hitting every now and then, but in my rig, that causes the
| whole thing to sway back and forth (Class-C built on a Mercedes
| Sprinter). I REALLY need to upgrade the suspension.
|
| Third is time. Since I'm slower than everyone else, people tend
| to pile up behind me pretty quickly. Pulling into the pull-out,
| coming to a complete stop, waiting for everyone to pass, then
| getting back up to speed takes a long time. If I did this every
| time there was a car behind me, it would take forever. So, I
| tend to wait until there's more than a few cars behind me
| before pulling off.
|
| Fourth is my wife. She says I have "overly-considerate
| disorder" and I need to make our safety #1 and stop caring
| about other people so damn much.
| wesleytodd wrote:
| Hey John!! Wes here, sitting in the shade of my RV right now.
| Funny to hear the last line, because mine says the same thing
| about when I am driving. And when she is driving she
| literally tell me "fuck em, I will drive how I want" lol.
| darig wrote:
| [dead]
| JohnDotAwesome wrote:
| New number, whodis
| e40 wrote:
| _> "fuck em, I will drive how I want"_
|
| Says the same thing to people in the US (and elsewhere??)
| that drive in the freeway's fast lane holding everyone up
| for MILES. That is one of the most annoying things I face
| regularly on the road.
| wesleytodd wrote:
| I hate people who do this, nd it is probably why my wife
| has such a reaction, it is more about me pestering her
| too much than her actually wanting to ride in the fast
| lane. Backseat driving is a bad habit of mine.
|
| But one thing I have learned by driving 50k miles these
| past few years is that you _never_ actually get there
| meaningfully faster. So really, everyone is better off if
| they just slow down and hit that cruise control.
| idopmstuff wrote:
| > But one thing I have learned by driving 50k miles these
| past few years is that you never actually get there
| meaningfully faster. So really, everyone is better off if
| they just slow down and hit that cruise control.
|
| Depends what you're driving on. If it's a freeway where
| you're going to hit stretches of traffic anyway or roads
| where there's stop signs and lights, sure. When I'm on
| the 5 going from SF to SD, though, yeah, the clown who's
| doing 60 in the left lane for miles while holding me up
| is very much increasing the amount of time I have to
| spend on the road.
| cassac wrote:
| The US version (varies by state) of the fast lane is
| garbage which is why nobody follows it. If you want a
| passing lane then you need a non passing lane and I don't
| think US drivers are willing to make that concession.
| porkbeer wrote:
| Typically, you stay out of the left lane unless passing
| in the US. It's that easy. In many states, the person
| failing to yeild to faster traffic is ticketed, but not
| all.
| paulirwin wrote:
| Definitely agree with the first and second points above. I
| absolutely will if I can see it with enough time to safely
| slow the RV, and the terrain doesn't look like I might blow a
| tire or damage the RV doing it. I'm usually less concerned
| about time when traveling in the RV. I try to do what I can
| to build up good karma with other drivers, but it's not
| always a good idea to pull off.
| teddyh wrote:
| [flagged]
| Beldin wrote:
| No, not really.
|
| Your own safety is concern #1 when driving. For a very
| simple reason: if you're not safe yourself, you cannot make
| it safer for others.
|
| Others will have different ideas on what is safe. They may
| feel comfortable breaking traffic rules or pushing you(r
| vehicle) past your/its safety limits. Some have new cars
| and new tires and can go much faster than others in
| slippery conditions.
|
| Spoiler: none of that is ever an excuse. Not with traffic
| police, not with accident investigators, not with emergency
| services. I don't know what condition your vehicle is in. I
| don't know how worn out your brakes are, how much grip your
| tires have. I don't know what happens in your car above
| that certain speed. I don't need to know; I need to be able
| to rely on you to operate your vehicle sufficiently safely.
| That is: such that it doesn't make the roads less safe for
| me.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Is it really RV specific behavior?
|
| In my experience most drivers are not very aware of their
| surroundings and just seem to do stupid things like form
| rolling roadblocks by accident. I wonder if RVs are just more
| noticeable because they are longer, and so their accidental
| traps tend to be bigger. The other vehicles that size are
| typically driven by professionals, who are at least a little
| more with-it. Usually.
| bombcar wrote:
| I refer to it as hippof*cking when two or more large vehicles
| are blocking both lanes of traffic.
|
| Usually doesn't bother me as much, and if I had adaptive
| cruise I'd be even less unbothered, but it can be annoying.
|
| RVs are like moving rental trucks, the drivers of them don't
| really know what they're doing.
| chrisdhoover wrote:
| Elephant racing
| JohnFen wrote:
| My big pet peeve about RVs is when they're in the mountains on
| 2 lane roads and insist on driving with a foot of their RV over
| the centerline when going around blind curves.
|
| I used to live in a small tourist town, and people died on a
| regular basis because of RVs doing that. You could spot the
| local drivers because they're the ones hugging the fog line
| when going around a bend.
| MarkMarine wrote:
| I don't think people insist on it, it's just very technically
| challenging to drive any larger vehicle precisely. A Semi, a
| dump-truck, probably anything with air brakes, these have
| more stringent licenses and testing. You have to learn to
| drive them. You can go out today and buy a 3500 diesel truck
| that can tow 30,000 lbs, weighs close to 10,000 lbs on its
| own, a crew cab with a long bed coupled to a massive RV that
| is 45 feet long with triple axles, and the only thing you
| need to drive that is to have passed a driving test when you
| were 16 in your mom's Honda Civic.
|
| Many RVs are 8.5 feet wide. Common highway lanes are 10 feet
| wide. There are curvy highways like route 1 that I swear are
| only 9' wide. I worry more about line selection and holding
| my rig inside the yellows than I worry about line selection
| when I'm racing my motorcycle. It's challenging for me and I
| drive things as a sport. I'm not covering for someone who
| went over the yellows, that's unforgivable, but I wanted to
| add some context for you.
| JohnFen wrote:
| Oh, I really do understand. When I lived in that town, I
| also had an RV and drove it on those same roads. It is
| challenging. What I (and most of the locals) would do,
| though, was to go very slowly around those bends. That
| takes a lot of the danger out of it.
|
| In fact, there are advisory speed signs for those curves
| that are accurate -- if people followed them, there would
| rarely be an issue. Part of the problem, I think, is that
| if you're driving a car, those advisory speeds are far too
| slow (15-20 MPH on a 50 MPH road), but if you're driving an
| RV or big rig, those advisory speeds are critical. I think
| most non-pro drivers are used to driving cars and have
| trained themselves to ignore those signs.
|
| I honestly think that people should have special training
| to be allowed to drive RVs, or at least the larger RVs.
| Something like a motorcycle tag.
|
| > Common highway lanes are 10 feet wide.
|
| These roads are also narrower than modern ones (they are
| some of the earliest "highways" built in the state). When I
| drove an RV on them, I tended to white-knuckle it. They're
| rather nervous-making.
| wesleytodd wrote:
| It depends. If it is a passing lane and the RV is not passing,
| shame on them. If it is a small pullout you often cannot slow
| down fast enough to catch it unless you are really paying
| attention for it. Remember, slowing down a big rig (especially
| one with all your belongings in it) can be near impossible to
| do. But mainly the reason is probably that there is no training
| or licensing required to teach folks how to drive these things.
| psytrx wrote:
| These lanes and pull outs aren't common everywhere. When I
| visited NZ, it took me a day or two to realize they had a
| purpose. RVers usually are not driving in their home country.
|
| I just recently tried to use the side lane in DK to let others
| pass (set signal, decelerate, pull over as far as possible). It
| actually confused the other drivers so much that they didn't
| dare to take over, even when there was lots of space to do so.
| seattle_spring wrote:
| They're all over the western US, very frequently with several
| signs notifying drivers that one is coming up.
| activiation wrote:
| I never seen those in the US or Canada... I've been mostly
| on the east coast though
| MSFT_Edging wrote:
| Seconded, I was really confused until I watched a video
| shared. Never seen one of those in my life and I've done
| a lot of back road driving on the east coast. Typically
| we'll just have labeled passing zones.
| xwdv wrote:
| What I wish I knew, don't bother with the RV. Get something like
| a nice airstream trailer and a capable vehicle to pull it.
| [deleted]
| j2bax wrote:
| Second this! We also found an added benefit of not going longer
| than the 22 footer (assuming a F150 with short bed towing) is
| that you can typically fit across two parking spots which opens
| up your options when you stop quite a lot.
| coding123 wrote:
| Wow, this really should be updated to 2023.
|
| Here's what my list would be: (full time for 7 years, now
| building a house so I don't need full time RVing ever again).
|
| 1. RV parks are full, they converted almost all the nightly sites
| to monthlys to guarantee revenue. RV Parks are the new mobile
| home park but with monthly RVers who got wind of the "Gone with
| the Wynns" blog and cheaper cost of living.
|
| 2. RV Park nightly rates have literally gone from $35 a night to
| $70 a night during the 2020s -> 2023s. A lot of the time you're
| the one that showed up paying $70 per day and all the loud blubs
| next door are paying $10 per night at the monthly rate.
|
| 3. Free camping areas are getting shut down after sites like
| "campendium" have advertised them to everyone. Most of the
| problems are related to illegal gray and black tank dumping on
| public lands.
|
| 4. Quartzsite is an absolute shit-show now, it's still probably
| worth going, but it's crowded. I wouldn't be surprised if they
| shut down the free areas in the next few years over the same
| gray/black tank issues.
|
| 5. Internet problems are 1000% solved with Starlink now.
|
| 6. Solar does not power the A/C. To power the A/C you need 10+
| residential solar panels and a $2000 inverter on a 48 volt
| system. There are ways to have a 48 volt battery and down-
| regulate to 12v for the rest of your RV. People that run A/C off
| solar have "special ways" to have that many residential panels,
| typically involving fold outs and trailers.
|
| 7. Gas prices have skyrocketed in CA so it's not worth going
| anywhere near the state - let alone find a park that's cheap.
|
| RV Progression
|
| Cedar Creek 5th Wheel (2 years) -> Arctic Fox TC 1150 (5 years)
| -> Alliance Paradigm (1 year) -> building house
| poorman wrote:
| > 6. Solar does not power the A/C. To power the A/C you need
| 10+ residential solar panels and a $2000 inverter on a 48 volt
| system. There are ways to have a 48 volt battery and down-
| regulate to 12v for the rest of your RV. People that run A/C
| off solar have "special ways" to have that many residential
| panels, typically involving fold outs and trailers.
|
| I have not found this to be true. I run a Cruise N Comfort 12v
| AC and it works great (most it uses is about 60amps at 12v
| which I run off my solar panels). See my post here
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36408382
| jokoon wrote:
| Living in a van is either a necessity if you're very poor, or
| it's a luxury if you're rich.
|
| If you really understand what living in a RV or a van really
| involves, you quickly realize several things:
|
| * If you plan a long journey, it's still a lot of time spent on
| the road, and gas money. So it's not about just living in the
| wild, it's just driving and sleeping, which is not that great,
| and it's not what people mean when they mean to live in a van.
| It's a home that can move, but it's not meant to travel.
|
| * It's better to keep a real home, use a station wagon to sleep
| in it or carry stuff, a bicycle, a tent etc, and not go too far
| from your home and still enjoy the wilderness, and do this for
| several months and still enjoy being in the wild without using a
| RV or van. A station wagon is not the full luxury, but it's still
| pretty nice.
|
| The trend is on vans which are smaller RVs, but I really thing
| using a station wagon is largely enough.
| voisin wrote:
| > and gas money
|
| I cannot stress enough how absurdly expensive it is to keep an
| RV moving on the road. They are built in by far the least
| weight efficient manner imaginable and consume gas or diesel as
| if prices hadn't changed since 1986. It is wild how little
| manufacturers have spent on R&D to come up with more weight
| efficient solutions.
| digdugdirk wrote:
| Anyone living the nomadic lifestyle on here who would be willing
| to share their general setup, monthly costs, and any
| tips/tricks/advice?
| oregoncurtis wrote:
| Also curious. I was looking locally for some sort of
| meetup/show where I could see people builds, ask about cost,
| etc. Sadly I just missed an expo the previous weekend.
| shrubble wrote:
| It's going to be more expensive than you think, if you try to
| live in it the way you would in a regular apartment or house.
| The need for lightness in construction means there are
| compromises that you will have to work around.
|
| I found Visible to be fast enough at 5mbps for most things. I
| hooked up a Wifi router to serve as a client for those cases
| where I wasn't tethering.
|
| I think it is tougher when you try to work a remote job, since
| you basically do everything in the same small space. Eat cook
| work sleep read etc all in the same x square feet.
| kylixz wrote:
| I did this for about 2 years across the United States. If
| you're employed, make sure your manager is supportive/already
| remote friendly.
|
| Get good internet. I found Verizon to be the best for cellular
| and this was before Starlink Mobile was available. Get a
| directional cellular antenna and mount (not a
| repeater/amplifier) and learn how to point the antenna at
| towers if you plan to do any "boondocking" out in the west of
| the US. Otherwise, everywhere else these days likely has
| internet.
|
| Compost Toilet is a win in my book. Very little maintenance and
| no nasty tanks to deal with. But, it's not for everyone.
|
| Decide if you need showers in your wheeled home or not. That
| drives the cost of your rig significantly. Most RVs are
| absolute trash for quality south of $50k.
| carabiner wrote:
| > south of $50k
|
| "South" to mean down or below, and likewise for north, drives
| me up a wall. If you are standing at the south pole, north is
| down. There's also no concept of up/down in space, and so
| northern hemisphere normalcy is false. To Australians, North
| America is below!
| post-it wrote:
| Having trouble with figures of speech has been linked to
| schizophrenia. e.g. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10
| .3389/fpsyg.2018.0067...
| EA-3167 wrote:
| Up a wall? Why not down a wall or across it?
| karaterobot wrote:
| And yet you know exactly what they mean when they say it,
| indicating maybe it's a useful convention, even if
| imperfect.
| technothrasher wrote:
| And if you turn around, left and right change places...
| woah.
|
| Snide comment aside, it's obviously in reference to
| standard map orientation. Maps had to be oriented _somehow_
| , unless you're advocating for the chaos of arbitrary
| individual map orientations.
| GlumWoodpecker wrote:
| On a conventionally oriented map, south is always down, and
| north is always up. "Down south" and "up north" are also
| very common phrases when discussing relative geographical
| locations, due to the same reason.
| macintux wrote:
| > Most RVs are absolute trash for quality south of $50k.
|
| It sounds like the pandemic generated such a crush of orders
| that now even more expensive ones are slapped together at the
| factory.
|
| Mercedes Streeter at The Autopian (spiritual heir to
| Jalopnik) has been looking at her parents' new RV.
|
| https://www.theautopian.com/my-familys-62800-camper-is-
| junk-...
| TylerE wrote:
| They always have been. THey're death traps. Super flimsy.
| hinkley wrote:
| There's this notion with many of these solutions that we
| could rent a few hours from Yellowstone, the parents
| could get up at the crack of dawn and drive while the
| kids sleep. Wake up kids, that's Yellowstone up ahead!
| But most of these contraptions specifically warn against
| operating them while occupied. They aren't built for
| accidents.
| TylerE wrote:
| They're basically cut-rate mobile homes on truck chassis.
|
| This vid is a great illustration of both how easy it is
| to get into an accident, and how much damage even a
| glancing blow does:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuRtNajq-Yo
| hinkley wrote:
| Community has an episode at the end where they trash a
| camper. It seemed comedy driven at first but the longer I
| looked at it and campers the more plausible that scene
| seemed. It's foam and plywood.
|
| Edit: I finally clicked through the autopian link from up
| thread and it's reminding me there's a guy I watch
| sometimes who does conversion vans. All of his stuff is
| built around those extruded aluminum rails. He hasn't
| figured out how to make use of those last few cubic feet
| yet but he seems to do a good job and they're fairly
| sturdy. Last I watched he was perfecting his showers.
|
| I now wonder what it would look like if he converted
| buses instead of shop vans. You have a superstructure
| that might actually survive a hit, they're already set up
| for AC units, you "just" need to build repeatable
| interiors. But you need much more shop space, time, and
| capital to do something of that sort.
| macintux wrote:
| Mercedes writes about all sorts of interesting
| conversions, like these transit buses.
|
| https://www.theautopian.com/this-1948-gm-old-look-
| transit-bu...
|
| https://www.theautopian.com/how-a-couple-turned-a-gillig-
| tra...
| gammajmp wrote:
| [dead]
| hinkley wrote:
| There was a guy on Reddit recently complaining about how
| hard it was to keep up with orders for his teardrop
| trailers. A bunch of people told him he wasn't charging
| enough and should raise his prices and use the money to
| hire someone and also to look for better deals from
| suppliers (eg, larger orders less frequently).
| carabiner wrote:
| Link to this guy?
| throitallaway wrote:
| He's posted to r/DIY a few times I think.
| hinkley wrote:
| He was unshockingly backlogged six ways to Sunday so if
| you're looking for a deal that won't be it. I can look if
| you still care.
| mikestew wrote:
| _Most RVs are absolute trash for quality_
|
| There, edited it for you for accuracy. :-) Seriously, our
| Thor retailed for $100K in 2018, and I've been through that
| entire vehicle while installing solar/inverter/battery. As
| I've told my spouse, "there isn't a straight screw in that
| whole interior". I've probably pulled a bathroom garbage
| container worth of crap out of the walls (leftover trimmings
| and the like). Yeah, didn't think anyone would look in there,
| eh? :-)
| mattmaroon wrote:
| It really depends! I mean you can get by for not much money, or
| you can live in a million dollar RV at a $200/night park in the
| keys with a private dock and cabana.
|
| You can get a pretty decent truck/camper combo for under $100k.
| dmattia wrote:
| I'm in a Leisure Travel Vans Wonder Rear Twin bed, which is a
| 25 foot "Class B+" RV built on a Ford Transit Chassis.
|
| For internet, we use a combo of Verizon (via a Wineguard
| antennae on our roof) and Starlink (the not-mounted, mobile
| version) and it's worked wonderfully. Verizon works great near
| cities. Starlink works great in more remote settings as long as
| there aren't trees, but the extra long starlink cable makes it
| pretty easy to find spots where I can connect.
|
| We largely moochdock (staying in family/friends driveways), but
| when we travel we will alternate spending a week or two in
| remote parks, then parks nearer a city, etc. so that we get a
| good combo of civilization and nature. Parks near cities
| normally run us around $40 per night, and more remote places
| are largely either free or around $20 per night. There are a
| surprising number of random costs that have popped up over
| time, and our budget typically is cheaper than when we
| owned/rented different houses, but not by that much.
|
| My wife and I can comfortably make it about 7 days without any
| hookups before we need to go to a park. We have solar + a gas
| generator, so we never have issues with electricity. It's
| usually either running out of fresh water or filling our black
| tank that will limit our remote stays.
|
| There are high highs and low lows with RVing. Highs include
| being able to work comfortably from literal caves and beaches
| with nobody in sight (Red Rock Park in CA is gorgeous and
| nobody goes there, as an example). Lows include being stuck in
| a place we didn't like for two months after we needed
| unexpected window/body repairs and couldn't drive. Having your
| house be your mode of transportation can be extremely limiting.
| We don't tow a car or have the tow capacity to in our current
| RV, but I wish we did.
|
| My biggest piece of advice is to meet new people and to see old
| friends/family as much as possible. Hot tubs and hiking are my
| go tos for meeting new people, and I've made some incredible
| friends doing each. But it's different than before I was
| nomadic. I meet people, and two days later we're hiking
| together, and three weeks later we're hiking in Hawaii together
| staying in the same AirBnb, and then one of us goes to the
| midwest and the other to California and we don't see each other
| for months/years. It's fast paced and fun, but it can also do a
| number on your mental health if you need consistency in your
| life. A therapist helps me, as do frequent trips to see
| family/friends, as does having friends at my place of work that
| I chat with remotely, but coordinating in-person meeting can be
| hard when many of my nomad friends could be in any of 48 states
| most of the time.
|
| I love my RV, and choose to live in it even when I have other
| options available (like if we're at a cabin, hotel, etc.). If
| you can make an RV your happy place, it can be a lot of fun
| touring the world.
| poorman wrote:
| See my post here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36408382
| neftaly wrote:
| We've been in a 20-year old class-C for a year, it requires
| regular handyman maintenance (we bounce down a lot of dirt
| roads) but it has been very mechanically reliable. Upgrading to
| 200ah of LiFePO4, adding a 140L water tank on the hitch, and
| plumbing in an external hose for beach showers really improved
| our quality-of-life. The only thing that will kill them is roof
| leaks, make sure you replace the rubber roof every 5 years or
| so.
|
| Give it a few months before you start accessorising, we've kept
| it to a couple of ebikes, camp chairs+table, and a paddleboard.
| Don't bother with Starlink unless you need to be online 24/7,
| and if you do get it, consider it only as a supplimentary to a
| good rugged dual-sim 4G modem.
|
| Back home (NZ) we were in a almost-new Sprinter, which was
| great on fuel, but less fun once you wanted to go off-road or
| abuse it in any way. Our 2WD Ford goes places people don't dare
| bring their shiny new 4x4s.
|
| I wouldn't go over 22' long, especially in Mexico and the fun
| parts of Canada, otherwise you'll just be touring RV parks with
| all the other people towing F150s and jetskis and bouncy
| castles.
| ke88y wrote:
| _> nomad_
|
| I travel for months at a time but have a "real" property to
| land at, so not completely nomadic. YMMV especially if full-
| time.
|
| _> share their general setup_
|
| I own a mid-sized SUV that gets 25-30 MPH. Think
| RAV4/CRV/Forester/Rogue/etc -- it's all the same just buy
| whatever you can get a good deal on (definitely RAV4 hybrid if
| you plan on lots of city driving; otherwise financially it's a
| wash until you get to $5/gal or so).
|
| - bed platform in the back.
|
| - Passenger seat is converted into a desk.
|
| - onboard storage under the bed, in the back foot wells, and a
| battery in the spare tire well.
|
| - outboard storage (including spare tire and water) on the roof
| rack. Solar panels over that stuff. Ran a cable from the panels
| to the battery.
|
| - I have a little tent setup on the side which is nice when you
| have a place to land and want to... stand up.
|
| _> monthly costs_
|
| When on the road, I make due on about $500/mo and live quite
| luxuriously. I eat out and drink, even. Not counting the cost
| of the car or health insurance.
|
| That number is going up over time due more to lifestyle creep
| than inflation. I try to keep my monthly expenses below one
| twelfth of 4% of 30% of my liquid post-tax assets.
|
| _> any tips /tricks/advice?_
|
| People spend stupid amounts of money to avoid renting and
| dependency on others.
|
| Don't buy a bunch of shit. Instead, invest and rent!
|
| Case-in-point: showers. You can blow $50K extra to have a setup
| that gives you indoor showers. Or, you can buy notes and have
| 50000*.05/12 = $200/mo = at least a few showers per week AND
| you get to keep the principal!!! (and that's just the winter
| months -- for the cost of one hour/month of cold water
| showering for 9 months you get an extra $1800/yr to reinvest!)
|
| If you are young and single, anything bigger than Transit
| Connect is unnecessary. Honestly, I've seen people live in
| priuses for years at time quite comfortably. As that number as
| gone up, so too have the number of
| lobsters/cocktails/burgers/dates.
|
| Try not to work from the car. A transit connect or RV beats an
| SUV you want to work from the car, but I promise you would
| prefer to work from a coffee shop or by following the weather
| and working outside as much as possible. You'll end up avoiding
| work days in the rig even if you have the space, so why blow
| stupid amounts of money? You live out of a car; I promise you
| won't want to also work out of a car.
| virtualwhys wrote:
| > Passenger seat is converted into a desk.
|
| Got any pics of your rig?
| [deleted]
| timmaah wrote:
| My wife documented all our adventures for the last decade.
| Sadly we sold the Airstream last week.
|
| https://www.watsonswander.com/
| chayesfss wrote:
| [dead]
| nickls wrote:
| What are some good options for a standing desk while traveling in
| an RV, travel trailer or van?
| brightball wrote:
| We did the RV thing for about 4 years and it was fun. Then covid
| hit and it got so popular that everything was crowded and it
| wasn't fun anymore.
|
| Mostly agree with this list though:
|
| 1. Size: 35ft should be your absolute limit. There are a lot of
| reasons for this that you'll discover as you get into it.
|
| 2. Hard mounted satellite: This was my favorite feature, but we
| got a dish that would keep the signal when you were driving. I
| took a trip from Florida to South Carolina on a Saturday in the
| fall. We had College Gameday on when we left and didn't miss a
| beat for most of the day. For me, this makes the drive a lot more
| enjoyable. Nothing better than getting up to make a sandwich
| while the game is on while stuck in a traffic jam.
|
| 3. Never tried the camping clubs, but they didn't seem worth it.
|
| 4. This makes sense, but wasn't anything we ever had an issue
| with.
|
| 5. Completely agree.
|
| 6. Also true. We used Dish Network on a month-to-month
|
| 7. Taking your time is pretty much the point. Enjoy the drive.
| Stop and see interesting things. We started actively looking for
| random billboard activities to chase down. Visited the Luray
| Caverns, Hershey Park and almost chased down the bigfoot museum
| but it was a little too far off the route.
|
| 8. Totally correct. You don't need a lot, but it will still feel
| good to be prepared. Like anything, it's a learning experience.
|
| 9. I can see this, but YMMV.
|
| 10. Costs are certainly interesting. We had 2 different RVs over
| 4 years. We started out with a 20 year old rig that we got
| cheaper than a used car and fixed it up. It wasn't perfect but we
| loved it. Didn't have much fancy stuff on it.
|
| Then we upgraded to something that was about 7 years old with a
| lot more bells, whistles and computers. It was much nicer but was
| in the shop constantly because something was always broken. In
| retrospect, you don't need half the fancy systems on these
| things. Push button shades, automatic leveling systems (it's not
| that hard to level).
|
| Demand went up so much that we sold both for more than we paid
| for them initially, except for our maintenance costs. The biggest
| thing is winterizing. If a sudden cold snap happens before you've
| winterized, you're going to be in for some bills.
|
| We still miss the RV life, but half the fun for us we just
| deciding at the last minute that we'd go somewhere that weekend.
| As it got more popular, all of the places we'd try to go were
| booked up 6 months in advance. We had some great family vacations
| and it was a lot of fun for sporting events. Clemson never lost a
| game that we came to in the RV (including the 2016 championship),
| so I like to think we were good luck. Disney's Fort Wilderness is
| by far the best RV stop that we found on the east coast.
| theandrewbailey wrote:
| (2011)
| pengaru wrote:
| > Pre-Post Note/ Nov 2017. Although this post was written in
| 2011 > it's still my most popular post ever (!!), so I'm
| refreshing it > as part of our 8th year on the road. See
| my updates in italics > below the original text on each
| topic.
| [deleted]
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