HELP! I'm building a custom travel trailer.
Hi everyone, My name is Darla and I’m going to be building a small custom RV later this year to travel solo full time throughout the United States. Yup, I’m doin it! I would love to share my RV ...
Forum Discussion
I just went through your blog, Darla. You’ve obviously put a whole lot of work and thought into this. I wouldn’t presume to criticize your plan; I don’t really know all of the thought behind your decisions. So I’ll give you my thoughts about your plan as applied to myself and my style of camping.
For context, I have a 1989 16’ TT that I almost exclusively dry camp in. Often boondocking and often in campgrounds without hookups, though I do use HU’s if I need to recharge the battery or take showers. I don’t like cities and only “camp” in or near them if there’s a must see there. My TT has eight windows including the door, which normally is always open. It has a dinette in front that converts to a bed and a gaucho in the rear that also converts. So it is open front to back with a lot of light and ventilation. The bath is wet and is on the side. It’s small, but we’re not big people, either, and we spend very little time in a bathroom. We don’t have solar; we almost always camp in forests and its useless there. I don’t see a problem with the size; we camped for many years with two kids in the TT.
It’s old and for a couple of years I looked for a replacement about 18’ long because I camp well back away from the easy access campgrounds. What I found was that everything I looked at lacked windows, had a full bath in the back and a full bed in the front. So they lacked light and ventilation and openness and we felt like we were in a walk in closet. So we still have the old one. I often cook on a campfire, but if it’s cold, raining, windy, etc., we wouldn’t relish having the stove outside. Also with the stove inside it’s convenient to pull off somewhere and cook something up quick without attracting attention. We have an oven which the DW uses a lot, but no microwave or other high energy use appliances since we don’t use a generator or HU’s.
A residential frig wouldn’t work for me because I rarely ever have HU’s and don't want to deal with the issues of a workaround. I won’t comment on the lack of a black tank because I’m not familiar with the option you mentioned. But that lack won’t keep you away from the dump stations. I doubt there’s anywhere you can legally dump your gray tank on the ground, at least not without the threat of a very expensive penalty if seen.
As a female traveling alone I’m sure you’re more security conscious than me. But the security issue is most important if you’re in a city or near enough for easy access. In campgrounds away from the cities I think there’s little to worry about. And even near the cities there are some truck stops, rest areas, casino’s, etc. that have security patrols. Though you really can’t “camp” in them, you could overnight. There are some forums for women Rving alone that you might check out. Sorry I can’t give you a link but I’m sure someone on the forum can. One thought, I wonder if one could paint SWAT in big black letters on the side.:)
So, in short, your plan would not work for me for the reasons stated. But it might work just fine for you. I just wanted to give you some food for thought based on my own experiences. Good luck with the plan.
For context, I have a 1989 16’ TT that I almost exclusively dry camp in. Often boondocking and often in campgrounds without hookups, though I do use HU’s if I need to recharge the battery or take showers. I don’t like cities and only “camp” in or near them if there’s a must see there. My TT has eight windows including the door, which normally is always open. It has a dinette in front that converts to a bed and a gaucho in the rear that also converts. So it is open front to back with a lot of light and ventilation. The bath is wet and is on the side. It’s small, but we’re not big people, either, and we spend very little time in a bathroom. We don’t have solar; we almost always camp in forests and its useless there. I don’t see a problem with the size; we camped for many years with two kids in the TT.
It’s old and for a couple of years I looked for a replacement about 18’ long because I camp well back away from the easy access campgrounds. What I found was that everything I looked at lacked windows, had a full bath in the back and a full bed in the front. So they lacked light and ventilation and openness and we felt like we were in a walk in closet. So we still have the old one. I often cook on a campfire, but if it’s cold, raining, windy, etc., we wouldn’t relish having the stove outside. Also with the stove inside it’s convenient to pull off somewhere and cook something up quick without attracting attention. We have an oven which the DW uses a lot, but no microwave or other high energy use appliances since we don’t use a generator or HU’s.
A residential frig wouldn’t work for me because I rarely ever have HU’s and don't want to deal with the issues of a workaround. I won’t comment on the lack of a black tank because I’m not familiar with the option you mentioned. But that lack won’t keep you away from the dump stations. I doubt there’s anywhere you can legally dump your gray tank on the ground, at least not without the threat of a very expensive penalty if seen.
As a female traveling alone I’m sure you’re more security conscious than me. But the security issue is most important if you’re in a city or near enough for easy access. In campgrounds away from the cities I think there’s little to worry about. And even near the cities there are some truck stops, rest areas, casino’s, etc. that have security patrols. Though you really can’t “camp” in them, you could overnight. There are some forums for women Rving alone that you might check out. Sorry I can’t give you a link but I’m sure someone on the forum can. One thought, I wonder if one could paint SWAT in big black letters on the side.:)
So, in short, your plan would not work for me for the reasons stated. But it might work just fine for you. I just wanted to give you some food for thought based on my own experiences. Good luck with the plan.
