RentSlave wrote:
Hello,
Please excuse the screen name but my Landlord just raised my rent to $3,500.00 month.
I would like to stop renting and do this to save up money to buy a house outright. I have an SUV with a V8 Engine and want to by a Travel Trailer. Is there a website that lets me search by options? I need:
1) Satellite Internet
2) AC
3) Separate Shower
4) Kitchen
etc. etc. etc.
I don't know what I'm doing.
The plan is to live in this thing and drive around the country for a year. But I need a map of places I can park it, empty it, fill it etc. I will be office working on the road I need electricity and internet. Most important is a place to park it around the country.
I don't know anything about any of this. Does anyone have any resource links they could share for maps etc?
Here are resources for locating campsites:
campground directory with private RV parkstons of public CGsFree and low-cost places, mostly dispersed boondockingYou really should rent a trailer and spend at least 3-4 days using it to see what it's like. The furnace roars like a jet engine, and so does the air conditioner. Insulation is skimpy so those climate control tools will come on constantly.
Look in your SUV owner's manual and determine the tow rating and hitch receiver weight rating (if you can't find this info, your dealer should be able to run the vin number and tell you exactly how yours is optioned). You'd need to find a trailer within those weight constraints
when loaded for travel (not just dry weights). How you load it will affect the hitch weight greatly; for safe handling the weight on the hitch needs to be between 10% and 15% of total trailer weight. A weight-distribution hitch with built-in sway control (for example, Equal-i-zer from Progress Mfg) may be a valuable tool to add, and be sure to allow for this 80-100 lb item stuck on your hitch receiver (the thing that's bolted to the SUV's underside).
If you try towing and staying in a trailer and decide it is for you, shop Craigslist, for sale ads, and dealer lots for a used unit... maybe 2 to 5 years old. If you see any sign of water stains on the ceiling or walls, pass on it. Roofs should be inspected annually and typically need extra sealant every 3-5 years (on perimeter seams and around all perforations including a/c unit), but tons of owners neglect this and let their units get water damaged... a very expensive repair to fix right. (If someone has a link to the video showing a Jayco trailer being assembled, I bet the OP would benefit from watching it.)
There are some RV parks with monthly rates that are much lower than paying by the night. For example, this is a nice place in Michigan:
https://alconapark.org/campgrounds/ Like others have said, if you need really fast internet all the time, this will limit your choices and may even limit you out of this idea, depending on just how fast you need it to be.
