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Sportsmobile https://sportsmobile.com/ offers quite a few models with flexible options as well as custom conversions. We see quite a few of them around here and they generally don’t give off the RV vibe. We have a Sprinter based Roadtrek, 2007 model, and we love it.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,707 posts, read 58,042,598 times
Reputation: 46172
Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueg
I...
For stealth, nothing is more anonymous than a white cargo van with few or no windows.
But I don't think that the OP is looking to be stealthy. Just wants a plain van that can be set up to meet her/his particular needs. ..... Fortunately, there are ways to find secure and non-obtrusive places to park.
don’t read too much into the discussion.
Op will need to decide. Many reasons for vans (often for Stealth) for the other 100,000 readers of the post.
Campgrounds add up FAST, in 30+ yrs of camping... I have used few.
In 12 yrs of van/RV I have used 1 commercial campground.
For the vehicle, I've been considering the Ford Transit, and doing what I want/can for the back space. Any thoughts on that?
To be honest, you have to be a bit more specific. Are you talking small van living or trying to be covert? You can buy yourself a Class B van or mini Class C with bed, kitchen, toilet, shower, refrigerator, generator, air conditioning, etc, etc or you can try for it not to look like a motor home in any way. Going stealth has very different requirement from small van living.
Op will need to decide. Many reasons for vans (often for Stealth) for the other 100,000 readers of the post.
Campgrounds add up FAST, in 30+ yrs of camping... I have used few.
In 12 yrs of van/RV I have used 1 commercial campground.
YMMV
I mentioned stealth because a previous poster said that a Class B doesn't look like an RV.
IMO, the best reason for doing your doing your own build is that it can be done exactly as you wish, and it's possible to get better build quality.
Actually, if I were the OP, I'd look at getting both a van and a cargo trailer if I could afford it - then the living space can be separate from the classroom space.
I don't stay in commercial campgrounds often myself. But depending on what the OP intends to teach, s/he may need a stable location with showers and laundry for a while. And I'd bet that at least part of the campground fee would be deductible as a business expense.
Thank you everyone for the great responses and information. The discussion regarding going stealth is interesting and informative as well.
I've had a lot of experience car camping, mostly in the western parts of the country, camping for long periods on BLM and forest lands-boondocking if you will and ideally this is mostly what I'm thinking, although I know there is less of this in the east. However, I need to work daily-I teach a few hours a day online and need to have constant Internet for that, which is worrisome for me in more rural areas, so that is really my major concern. This may mean I will need to do some sort of stealth at some point.
I will retain my home in Colorado and will be going back and forth and not living full time on the road, but probably doing perhaps up to a month or two on the road at a time. I don't mind roughing it for long stretches and live very frugally and waste-free, which affords me to be able to save. This will allow me to be able to afford luxuries such as a motel and shower and such once in a while.
For those of you, who mentioned a white van, that's exactly what I have in mind, with a bed and a surface to prepare food and work. I will probably want some sort of electricity source, which is what I'm researching at this point, whether generator, solar, etc.. Any hints on this?
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,707 posts, read 58,042,598 times
Reputation: 46172
Quote:
Originally Posted by EastwardBound
...BLM and forest lands-boondocking if you will and ideally this is mostly what I'm thinking, ...
I will retain my home in Colorado and will be going back and forth and not living full time on the road, but probably doing perhaps up to a month or two on the road at a time. I don't mind roughing it for long stretches and live very frugally and waste-free, which affords me to be able to save. This will allow me to be able to afford luxuries such as a motel and shower and such once in a while.
For those of you, who mentioned a white van, that's exactly what I have in mind, with a bed and a surface to prepare food and work. I will probably want some sort of electricity source, which is what I'm researching at this point, whether generator, solar, etc.. Any hints on this?
There are many companies that do conversions and offer components.
How much CAN / do you want to do yourself?...
a cargo van conversion:
1) more difficult to find 'used' in GOOD shape than a campervan (but sometime more Heavy Duty, if you are towing 5,000#+)
2) Noisy and cold (good sound insulation is NOT cheap) (nor ez to do)
3) Expensive to convert (parts will cost more than a good use campervan)
4) Time consuming to convert (6 mo - 1 yr to do the whole job in your free time)
5) Poor resale (can find partially completed ones quite cheap)
6) May create more suspicion by security / police.
for the 'camping spot...' Is your Colorado home rural? Can you add RV hookups?
I keep rural places in CO, WA and TX Main house rented out for nice cash flow & shops with apartments or cabins (and RV hookups) for me. (FREE ) Tax deductible travel between 'rental homes' (as allowable).
Are your primary goals:
1) Cheap and utility? n n (Are You buying NEW $50,000 or used? $3000)
2) remote
3) flexibility
4) Ease of service and repair
5) capable of FT living (does not sound like a current objective)
Make it EZ on yourself, only investing minimal time, money (resell-able) and little effort until you know for SURE your next chapter.
Class B RV's carry a premium price for the convenience/stealth configuration. While fully capable vehicles for your purposes for short term trips, they become somewhat limiting in storage and living space when you're looking at a mobile communications/teaching facility & "home on the road" for 1-2 months travel.
Personally, I find my Roadtrek 190 Versatile to be a very good compromise for 3-14 day sales trips through the Rocky Mountain region, even during Winter months. But that includes the ability to do shopping/laundry as required as I travel through my sales call towns when on the road for more than a week at a time. There's only so much clothing storage space, so much propane storage, so much water tankage, so much refrigerator/freezer space, and so forth. In person sales calls require good hygiene/clean clothes ... so daily showers and an appropriate wardrobe are part of my planning. For some calls, levi's and carhartt shirts and work boots are good to go, while other calls require a professional "coat 'n tie" and dress shoes appearance.
I, too, must have communications and rely upon a Verizon "hot spot" in addition to finding Wi-Fi everywhere from McD's to many other businesses and libraries (which leave their gear on 24/7 in a lot of small towns where I can park outside the building and still get connected).
When I read of your requirements, it doesn't appear that the stealth aspects of a Class B are needed. It is very misleading to think that the smaller Class B RV will be less expensive than a larger RV to acquire and operate (including insurance/license/tires/maintenance/RV equipment, etc).
From my van road experience, a Class C appear to be a viable option for your requirements. Class C's have more storage and living space, larger refrigerators, bigger tankage capacity, more propane storage; ie, the ability to stay out on the road more readily for a longer time frame. You won't be needing to convert your teaching space to your sleeping space as you would each workday as you'd need to do in a typical Class B dinette area. Plus mealtimes are a lot more convenient with a dedicated table top compared to the convertible dinette. Likely you'd be able to set up your teaching gear on a more convenient permanent basis in a Class C rather than having to set up/stow away each day, too. Nicer, too, having the bathroom/shower in most Class C's compared to the small closet toilet in a Class B and the shower curtain in the center aisle with the floor drain (to the point that I use a hand shower outside my Roadtrek in those months when it's warm enough to do so ... nighttime and the open doors on the side of the RV give me a 3-sided shelter and reasonable privacy).
Class C's are far more readily available and for less money than Class B's. The trade-off is that a Class C is slightly heavier/larger, and will get lesser fuel economy than the Class B. Depending upon your intended travel miles, that difference may be trivial given the functionality/utility of the Class C for your purposes.
Electricity on board when you're boondocking comes down to 3 sources: 1) on board generator, and possibly some from 2) solar panels, 3) vehicle charging system when you're traveling to keep the house bank battery(ies) charged up. Much depends upon your daily KWH consumption for your communications and RV house uses. In cold weather, you're running a furnace which uses electricity. In hot weather, you may want to run an A/C unit which uses electricity (my little A/C on the Roadtrek uses 900 watts ... and runs pretty much continuously for those late afternoons/early evenings when I run it. You'll need a generator to supply that much power for any amount of time ... a battery bank and converter won't last long supplying almost one KWH per hour). Your refrigerator/freezer uses electricity, although minimally so when you're running it on propane. Lighting/pumps/entertainment systems use electricity. Bottom line is you've got to do a realistic energy evaluation to determine how much electricity you need to generate each day to keep up with demand.
Keep in mind that most Class B RV's are not winterized units. You'll not be able to use the water systems in freezing weather. Same for a lot of Class C's. Many Class A's, OTOH, are winterized for year 'round use.
PS: based on your posts, I'd also consider some of the smaller Class A RV's. Again, more readily available than a Class B and many can be had for less money than a comparably capable Class B. While I like the MB based Roadtrek rig ... they're pricey new and appear to hold a mid-5 figure value. In comparison, I've seen a lot of diesel powered small Class A's for half or less than that price range. Operating costs on many of the small Class A diesel RV's are less than the MB's when you factor in maintenance costs and fuel mileage.
There are many companies that do conversions and offer components.
How much CAN / do you want to do yourself?...
a cargo van conversion:
1) more difficult to find 'used' in GOOD shape than a campervan (but sometime more Heavy Duty, if you are towing 5,000#+)
2) Noisy and cold (good sound insulation is NOT cheap) (nor ez to do)
3) Expensive to convert (parts will cost more than a good use campervan)
4) Time consuming to convert (6 mo - 1 yr to do the whole job in your free time)
5) Poor resale (can find partially completed ones quite cheap)
6) May create more suspicion by security / police.
for the 'camping spot...' Is your Colorado home rural? Can you add RV hookups?
I keep rural places in CO, WA and TX Main house rented out for nice cash flow & shops with apartments or cabins (and RV hookups) for me. (FREE ) Tax deductible travel between 'rental homes' (as allowable).
Are your primary goals:
1) Cheap and utility? n n (Are You buying NEW $50,000 or used? $3000)
2) remote
3) flexibility
4) Ease of service and repair
5) capable of FT living (does not sound like a current objective)
Make it EZ on yourself, only investing minimal time, money (resell-able) and little effort until you know for SURE your next chapter.
Your input has been invaluable!
For the van, I'm thinking something, as you suggested, really simple and minimal for now, until I know for sure I'll be doing more traveling in it. I do have a significant other, who may join me at times, and who will stay at home sometimes. I'm thinking something used, but with fairly low mileage at this point-don't want to risk breakdowns in the middle of nowhere! So, probably ease of repair and reliability are my primary concerns, as well as something small-I don't want to be driving a huge vehicle all over the place, especially down rural mountain roads.
Our primary home is in Loveland, but we just bought a second place in Custer County, so yes, quite rural. Plan to try to do some AirBnb out of that one when we aren't there, or if the other half can transition into remote work, rent out the main house and use the rural one for our main base. We feel blessed to have options!
Class B RV's carry a premium price for the convenience/stealth configuration. While fully capable vehicles for your purposes for short term trips, they become somewhat limiting in storage and living space when you're looking at a mobile communications/teaching facility & "home on the road" for 1-2 months travel.
Personally, I find my Roadtrek 190 Versatile to be a very good compromise for 3-14 day sales trips through the Rocky Mountain region, even during Winter months. But that includes the ability to do shopping/laundry as required as I travel through my sales call towns when on the road for more than a week at a time. There's only so much clothing storage space, so much propane storage, so much water tankage, so much refrigerator/freezer space, and so forth. In person sales calls require good hygiene/clean clothes ... so daily showers and an appropriate wardrobe are part of my planning. For some calls, levi's and carhartt shirts and work boots are good to go, while other calls require a professional "coat 'n tie" and dress shoes appearance.
I, too, must have communications and rely upon a Verizon "hot spot" in addition to finding Wi-Fi everywhere from McD's to many other businesses and libraries (which leave their gear on 24/7 in a lot of small towns where I can park outside the building and still get connected).
When I read of your requirements, it doesn't appear that the stealth aspects of a Class B are needed. It is very misleading to think that the smaller Class B RV will be less expensive than a larger RV to acquire and operate (including insurance/license/tires/maintenance/RV equipment, etc).
From my van road experience, a Class C appear to be a viable option for your requirements. Class C's have more storage and living space, larger refrigerators, bigger tankage capacity, more propane storage; ie, the ability to stay out on the road more readily for a longer time frame. You won't be needing to convert your teaching space to your sleeping space as you would each workday as you'd need to do in a typical Class B dinette area. Plus mealtimes are a lot more convenient with a dedicated table top compared to the convertible dinette. Likely you'd be able to set up your teaching gear on a more convenient permanent basis in a Class C rather than having to set up/stow away each day, too. Nicer, too, having the bathroom/shower in most Class C's compared to the small closet toilet in a Class B and the shower curtain in the center aisle with the floor drain (to the point that I use a hand shower outside my Roadtrek in those months when it's warm enough to do so ... nighttime and the open doors on the side of the RV give me a 3-sided shelter and reasonable privacy).
Class C's are far more readily available and for less money than Class B's. The trade-off is that a Class C is slightly heavier/larger, and will get lesser fuel economy than the Class B. Depending upon your intended travel miles, that difference may be trivial given the functionality/utility of the Class C for your purposes.
Electricity on board when you're boondocking comes down to 3 sources: 1) on board generator, and possibly some from 2) solar panels, 3) vehicle charging system when you're traveling to keep the house bank battery(ies) charged up. Much depends upon your daily KWH consumption for your communications and RV house uses. In cold weather, you're running a furnace which uses electricity. In hot weather, you may want to run an A/C unit which uses electricity (my little A/C on the Roadtrek uses 900 watts ... and runs pretty much continuously for those late afternoons/early evenings when I run it. You'll need a generator to supply that much power for any amount of time ... a battery bank and converter won't last long supplying almost one KWH per hour). Your refrigerator/freezer uses electricity, although minimally so when you're running it on propane. Lighting/pumps/entertainment systems use electricity. Bottom line is you've got to do a realistic energy evaluation to determine how much electricity you need to generate each day to keep up with demand.
Keep in mind that most Class B RV's are not winterized units. You'll not be able to use the water systems in freezing weather. Same for a lot of Class C's. Many Class A's, OTOH, are winterized for year 'round use.
PS: based on your posts, I'd also consider some of the smaller Class A RV's. Again, more readily available than a Class B and many can be had for less money than a comparably capable Class B. While I like the MB based Roadtrek rig ... they're pricey new and appear to hold a mid-5 figure value. In comparison, I've seen a lot of diesel powered small Class A's for half or less than that price range. Operating costs on many of the small Class A diesel RV's are less than the MB's when you factor in maintenance costs and fuel mileage.
Thank you for this informative and detailed post! The electricity and the Internet are really my two primary concerns and high on my learning curve at this point. You have addressed them well.
I too use a Verizon Hotspot now, when I travel somewhere without great Internet. I've thus far just taken off work when I camp, as that is a huge unknown and we are usually way out anyway. If I happen to be in a motel I call ahead to make sure I can get a room where the Wifi works. I would really like to have something that would work anywhere, no matter where I am, such as some sort of a satellite. I have researched that and haven't really come up with a conclusive answer.
For size, I think a regular cargo van is really what I'm looking at at this point, with the possibility of moving up to a class B or C RV later. Simple, with a bed and work/food prep space, really. But, I guess realistically I should think more about the electricity issue, with food storage and probably heat!
Have you considered a 4 wheel drive pickup truck with a slide in truck camper? The high clearance and 4x4 comes in handy while exploring back roads and out of the way places to park. You can also take the truck camper off and drop it somewhere if the vehicle ever needs servicing, vs having a van that needs service would require you to find other living arrangements while it's in the shop. For going used you could possibly get a lower mileage, more reliable, easier to work on truck than a class B.
Class B's and vans are nice but nothing beats a 4x4 truck camper for exploring national forest service roads out west. Except if you can find a 4x4 van and convert it yourself .....
Just a thought.
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don’t read too much into the discussion.
.....
