Newbie/ temporary living need advise

You may want to consider buying a macerator pump that connects to the drain valve, and a long garden hose to drain with. The money up front is a bit high, but 5-6 pump-outs will pay for it. It basically grinds up all the solids and pumps it out. The hose could be run to the property's sewer or septic clean out if there is one. You can also pump it to a toilet. I used to have a built in macerator and dumped my motorhome at home. It worked great.

Otherwise, you get a blue buddy waste tank on wheels and you fill it, then take it to a dump station, or the trailer park next door and dump it.

ASPHALTVICTORY wrote:
i dont plan on being in it past december.
I plan on running grey water right out no holding tank (just showers and dish washing)

As for the holding tank for the toilet if i can get a septic company to come whenever it is full. If its to expensive i will have a portajohn dropped off.

Im not afraid of roof leaks or bad plumbing i have destroyed a couple of starcraft campers its all pretty simple construction.

The zoneing is my concern campers and boats are the perfect object for a gripeing neighbor....lucky for me there is a trailor park next to my friends property??

Its my best option and what i can afford. Its an 86 30 foot "real light" the guy was living in it for 2 years and bought a house! Says it has a new roof and is comfortable.

Check cost to rent site in that trailer park, you will have all utilities available. Usually much cheaper than camp grounds. Grey water on ground will be a problem.

Maybe you could find a small apartment or house to rent on a 6 month lease. Or there could be a trailer park near you where you could rent one also for a short time. Then hopefully you can move back to your apartment. Good luck.

ASPHALTVICTORY wrote:
Looked at the camper today she winterized it wrong. None of the plumbing is easly acessable the floor has 4 soft spots the roof is ok it has t moved sence 2009. She told me stuff worked but didnt show me as soon as she told me about the toilet bags she was using i was ready to leave

$400 would be a better price for having to 1) get it to move 2) cutting into the floor 3) re plumbing

Sounds like you know what you are looking for. Keeping looking and asking around.

A K5 blazer will be popping wheelies with a 30 ft trailer .

Looked at the camper today she winterized it wrong. None of the plumbing is easly acessable the floor has 4 soft spots the roof is ok it has t moved sence 2009. She told me stuff worked but didnt show me as soon as she told me about the toilet bags she was using i was ready to leave

$400 would be a better price for having to 1) get it to move 2) cutting into the floor 3) re plumbing

Well best of luck to you. It can be done. I have friends that lived in a tipi for over a year.

Your black water tank will hold about 40 gallons more or less. Dumping your gray water can get messy after a few weeks.


While anyone can eek by for a few months,, setting up an RV can become a real money pit.

Also you might look into a long term lease at an RV campground, you would have all the proper hookups an no hassle. Many full-timers often rent 4 to 6 months at a reduced rate.

Again, good luck and proceed with caution.

i dont plan on being in it past december.
I plan on running grey water right out no holding tank (just showers and dish washing)

As for the holding tank for the toilet if i can get a septic company to come whenever it is full. If its to expensive i will have a portajohn dropped off.

Im not afraid of roof leaks or bad plumbing i have destroyed a couple of starcraft campers its all pretty simple construction.

The zoneing is my concern campers and boats are the perfect object for a gripeing neighbor....lucky for me there is a trailor park next to my friends property??

Its my best option and what i can afford. Its an 86 30 foot "real light" the guy was living in it for 2 years and bought a house! Says it has a new roof and is comfortable.

The "Big Deal" with used Travel Trailers (or hitch style campers) is a leaky roof. If there are signs of water leaking into the camper, it can be a nightmare. BUT... if you are going to be setting up a semi-permanent campsite / living area, you can simply park the camper under a storage shed or even just cover it with a tarp until you can fix it correctly. $1,000 isn't much for a camper... but you never know, ask around and keep your eyes open!

Depending on what your possible camper comes with when you buy it, it will probably have its own "extension cord" - big, heavy 30amp (most likely) cord with boat-like plugs. Actually, pretty much identical to "shore power" cords that boats have. If your camper doesn't come with one, you can buy them at most Walmart stores. If you end up using air conditioning and a microwave, you need the proper amp electric hookup with good, large cords.

Water supply - At minimum, buy the white / blue strip freshwater hoses as they help to reduce the rubber hose flavor. Hopefully your camper will have a non-leaking water system, if not, they are just plastic pipes, easy to fix.

Black and grey water... black tank (poop tank), you need to figure out how you will empty it. Ideally you position the camper within range of an in ground septic tank, and just have a flexible pipe connecting the camper to the septic. You won't just leave the black tank drain valve open, you will empty every week or so - plenty of reading on these forums about how and when to empty tanks with long term camping.

If you can't use a septic tank, you may have to arrange for a "pump out" truck to visit your camper. If you have a friend in the poop truck business this might be easy and cheap, otherwise I am not sure how it works. You can also pack up your camper every so often and visit a campground to dump and rinse out the tanks - this will probably have some fee (usually not expensive, $20 maybe depending).

As mentioned previously, zoning laws in your area may be an issue. Many places do not allow extending living in a camper when it is not in an "official" campground. That is up to you how to handle that. Speaking of which - check with any local campgrounds. They may have "seasonal" campers available on campsites for rental or to buy, all set up and ready to move in --- and/or ready to buy and haul to your own (or a friend's property).

Good luck!

Sorry that everyone is raining on your parade. There are places where it is allowed but check and do not just hear about it from a friend.