do you need a special mobile fridge?

steveh2112 wrote:
Thanks Larry but i'm just figuring things out at the moment. i think living in the USA people expect a higher level of comfort and luxury than is really necessary.

i'm from England and although i've lived in the states for 20 years, i now live in Thailand where there are many frustrating little challenges in life, but somehow we seem to get through them.

maybe you are right, and living in a van will get old, quick, but i don't have the inclination or budget for a nice RV and its been made very clear a cheap RV is a bad idea, so its van or don't bother for me, and i prefer to try. actually, i think a more likely scenario is we'll get bored looking at mountains and trees after a few months, then make a sprint for new york, sell the van and fly home. but that's not necessarily a bad thing, we're flexible. last time we went on holiday in the US we stayed in hotels and we got bored and went home after 3 weeks so it doesn't take much to beat that record.

about the total weight, its a good point, i figure
mattress 60lbs
tent 42lbs
toilet 12lbs
generator 29lbs
extra battery 39 lbs
misc cooking and camping stuff 100lbs
food and water 100lbs
electronics 20lbs
2 mountain bikes 52lbs
stuff i've forgot about 100lbs
TOTAL 554 lbs

a cargo van should be comfortably able to carry 1800lbs with ease so that leaves 1200lbs for beer, its probably less than a passenger van with 4 people since seats weigh a lot.

by the way, i was asking about car rents when i was thinking big RV. now i've decided on a van, that's all the transport i need. also, we have many friends along the way so will be crashing with them for some of the trip.

Well you can see what I have in my signature and I have had a full sized Van since 1978 and both have had the same sofa/bed and I see NO WAY to covert that into anything useable for camping more than an overnight or maybe two for no more than two people let alone a family of three for SIX MONTHS ... it's not the weight, but space that is the issue. While I have never RVed in a Class "B" those are generally the long versions with high roofs and often drop floors and are custom modified to cramp necessities in places that add ons are impossible to match and I still couldn't see those being a good solution for what you are looking to do.

About the only viable option outside of a specifically designed RV would be a reasonable TV and a good sized cargo trailer where you could stow things like tents, and all the other gear and use the tent for longer stays and use the trailer for inclement weather sleeping or the quick no frills overnight. You also need to assess the impact that a trip of 6mo is going to have as it related to the weather with that being you are going to hit at least one "BAD" season like summer or winter which depending on your location at the time can make even well prepared camping either just barely possible or down right miserable.

Over the years we traveling everywhere in the U.S. with our two sons and a least one small dog while I was in the NAVY and found even when making shorter trips of a day or two w/o our TT which involved motels our Van was basically full with the two boys, clothes for less than a week, a porta-potty, an ice chest, and like two to no more than three boxes the size of a case of wine comes in that had some food, a coffee pot, and once in a while an electric skillet. When going really cheap we have in the meager days done hot dogs heated up in the water from the coffee pot and then had coffee from the same pot the next morning that would give the OLE NAVY 4to8 leftover MIDRATS COFFEE a run for it's money.

I do wish you best of luck


Larry