Hello all! I am
retired my DH has not yet. We used to own a 19’ trailer and realize we didn’t like to tow. We are looking to our future and thinking camper van conversion is for us. We now live in a condo so there are vehicle height restrictions that must be considered. We have missed camping and long to get out there again!
Look forward to reading others experiences on this forum.
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Greetings & Welcome!
Many people find storage lots when they can’t park their RV’s at home…
Even though I am a full timer myself, I actively discourage people from selling everything and jumping in with both feet.
Cheers!
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Sound’s pretty interesting. What are some of your reasons for saying that?
Thank you Van_Dweller.
We would still need to use a camper van as my vehicle so storage would not be an option.
Cheers
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Greetings!
HOA’s can be a royal pain where a pill won’t reach. Odds are a high top van won’t fit their rules, will a full size low top van even fit?
Cheers!
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Greetings!
Vandwelling is actually for only very few people. The majority of people who try it, give it up pretty quickly, and frequently regret ever having tried it, they regret having quit good jobs, and giving up good living situations. In the end it will have cost them huge amounts of money for a short and failed experiment.
By going slow and sampling it, without giving up your job or housing, you are risking much less during the decision making process. For many people, being a weekend warrior fits in with their life much better. If you don’t quit your job, you’re buying time to figure out a mobile friendly income.
Too many people are willing to gamble more they can afford to lose, at the encouragement of complete strangers, whose motives are usually money in their pockets. I don’t like risky gambles. When I started, I was working steady for a company that had contracts all over the country, so there was very little risk involved, the biggest risk was if I’d be comfortable enough in an RV. I had already received an eviction notice because the property had been sold, so I had to move anyway. I could park my rig on whatever construction site I was working on, so I wouldn’t even need to commute to work. As it turned out, I even sometimes had the equivalent of full hookups.
I had a good job, and I enjoyed living in my tiny movable house, with practically no risk involved. If it didn’t work out, I still had my job, and would have had to find new living accomodations anyway. If I hadn’t been evicted, I would have kept my house until I was absolutely sure my new plan was what I wanted. All with zero risk. My $1500 RV wasn’t likely to depreciate any while I had it. In fact, after 2 years, I sold it for $3500, and bought a different rig.
It’s all about taking a few steps back to analyse everything, and taking the time for proper thinking and planning, the exact opposite of the rush rush the promoters try to push people into. They push their “do it now, you’ll never regret it” hype to prevent people from actually taking an objective look at things. If most people learned the truth about all the downsides, they’d never attempt it in the first place, but the promoters conveniently neglect to tell people about those. These promoters are as bad as any other sleazy sales person, and maybe even worse. They ruin people’s lives and don’t care.
People don’t need encouragement to become a full timer, or to travel. If it’s truly right for them, they already know it. Building your own camper van is also a stupid and expensive choice for most people, at least if you follow the promoter’s guidelines. People risk their life savings to build something that’s going to be worth less than half of what they have put into it, and frequently to find out their layout really doesn’t work well for them. I lost big bucks on a cargo van build, that was almost impossible to sell because it didn’t have enough windows for people. (me either) People want a good view in every direction. (me too) Yet what do they recommend? Stupid stinkin cargo vans. Why? Because they cost more to build out, so somebody can make more money. A $1500 camper van or motorhome is a much better buy, and ready to roll.
I’ve had many rigs over the years, and now I know how to build a full featured camper van for several hundred dollars, but that wasn’t always the case. I paid dearly for a lot of mistakes along the way. Bought a ton of recommended worthless rubbish. Yet when you post a complaint about bad advice, your comment never gets published, or gets quickly deleted. The deck is stacked against newbies and wannabies. The truth is lost in the flood of hype…
All that being said, I am a HUGE supporter of offering free, honest, and helpful advice and support to anybody who needs it, with no profit involved.
Cheers!
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You layed it all out in a very good way. Definitely agree with everything you said.
Thanks for sharing!!
Greetings!
Thanks, I hate being negative, and try to be a very positive person, but sometimes a dose of the cold hard truth can be the most helpful.
Too many people get actively encouraged to make stupid choices and do stupid things. Things that could haunt them for the rest of their lives. Mistakes that can and should be avoided. Being a fulltimer can be a very wonderful and beautiful thing if you go into it with your eyes open and with proper planning. Learning the downsides and their solutions before they surround you and overwhelm you.
I was blessed with eternal optimism and the ability to look at a problem and envision solutions. Not everyone is so lucky, and my goal is to help others to overcome the pitfalls. My way of giving a little back for the wonderful life I have been able to enjoy.
Life is what we choose to make it, and it can be a great and wonderous thing if we choose wisely, or a miserable failure if we don’t. With the internet, there is a great wealth of knowledge at our fingertips, unfortunately bad advice and scam artists accompany it. I am hopeful that at some point the good people will be successful at silencing the bad apples, or at least the best information will rise to the top, instead of being buried amongst the hype.
Everyone should be entitled to the best life they can create for themselves, and I totally encourage and believe in that ideal.
Cheers!
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we are not planning full time in a rv, we just enjoy a weekend getaways and a week or 2 in the summer.
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Greetings!
For most people that is a far better choice than fulltiming, I look forward to hearing of your adventures.
Cheers!
Agreed! you’re not even being negative, it’s just the reality of things.
Love your attitude towards this!
Greetings!
Awwww, gee thanks… BLUSH…
Reality can be harsh, but it can also be workable if we go in with our eyes open, and ready to tackle the challenges.
I found many of challenges quite satisfying and rewarding, once I found solutions, but then I have always enjoyed good challenges.
Somebody once wrote: “If it’s hard, we do it immediately, if it’s impossible, it just takes a little longer…” For me, a life without challenges would probably be boring… Now helping others can be challenging, but I love it. Keeps me active and out of trouble. 
Cheers!