An alternative to boondocking and rv parks

[themoreweexplor]

I came across this website the other day. It's a really cool idea. Landowners can rent out part of their land to RVers. It's a lot like airbnb, but for us!

RVwithMe.com

I dig it cuz it gives us so many more place to camp, in places we never had access to before. Instead of land being bought up and privatized, now it's unlocked for us to use.

I hope it catches on and lots of landowners decide to list their land so we can stay there.

[valhalla360]

themoreweexplore wrote:
@valhalla If you did trade work, or let them stay for free, would your regular insurance cover it? In other words, does money have to exchange hands, or is "trade work" still considered commercial?

I'd like to get a piece of property someday and host other RVers.

Ultimately, you need to run it by your insurance agent and check against the insurance contract.

If by "trade work" you imply some sort of barter, probably yes assuming you don't lie about it. The problem is do you want to trust some random guy you only know from the internet who got a free/cheap nights stay to commit insurance fraud by claiming there was no business arrangement?

Totally free, is probably a gray area. Letting a friend stay a couple nights for free is likely covered as insurance assumes reasonable use of the property for personal use and a friend camping on your back 40 could be considered reasonable. The gray part is if a random guy you've never met except for the purpose of lending out a camping spot qualifies as a friend.

[themoreweexplor]

@valhalla If you did trade work, or let them stay for free, would your regular insurance cover it? In other words, does money have to exchange hands, or is "trade work" still considered commercial?

I'd like to get a piece of property someday and host other RVers.

[valhalla360]

Mr. Camper wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

3oaks wrote:
Unfortunately, Mr.Camper those "good old days" are long gone.
Back in those times, hitch hiking was a convenient and for the most part, safe mode of transportation. However, today society as a whole is in a downward spiral. 😞

Reality is it's no more dangerous today. 40yrs ago, you wouldn't hear about an incident 100miles away. Now you hear about every incident 2000miles away.

This is basically the same as uber or airbnb. Very good chance it's illegal and not insured. As a camper, your risk is probably fairly low. If an issue comes up, you will be asked to move along. As an owner, someone trips and falls, expect your insurance company to laugh when they find out you are operating a business.

Unless it is an ideal location with something special, not sure why you would bother. We've used airbnb where a nearby hotel runs $150-250 and we are getting a place for $30-75. Campsites typically run $15-40. There just isn't that much to save.

There was no liability on anyone's part in my '73 trip. I always asked for permission to camp on their land and of all the people I asked I had only four who said no. One each in Ohio, Nebraska, Arizona and the last one in Mississippi. Where I asked about fishing in their pond I made deals to give them half my catch. Since I only caught one for me for dinner and breakfast I usually caught two for the landowner. Only one woman asked me to clean the fish for her. No money changed hands and I was gone by sun-up.

Sure there was liability issues on your 1973 trip. Assuming there was no claim, you just didn't realize it. If you tripped in a gopher hole smashed your head on a rock leaving you brain damaged, there would have been nothing to stop your family from suing the property owner for not maintaining it in a safe condition. We can argue it's silly and shouldn't be an issue but reality says it is.

Assuming you didn't pay anything, there is a better chance it wouldn't be considered a business and the property owners insurance would cover it. Most residential/individual insurance policies specifically do not cover commercial operations. Once you start charging, your insurance no longer covers you.

[themoreweexplor]

@windviewer, have you ever had anyone stay at your place before?

[windviewer]

2gypsies wrote:
Here's another similar site. I don't know if it's used a lot or not. We never did.

https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/

We are a member (as in we offer our place). Haven't made use of it ourselves to stay anywhere but were planning to try this summer.

[themoreweexplor]

^ Awesome. Good to know, thanks Chris.

[chris3403]

Last year we stayed at 6 Harvest Host locations. Twice we stayed 2 nights each.

[themoreweexplor]

I dig Harvest Hosts. I think the max stay is 1 night, is that right?

[jplante4]

Next door neighbor turned me onto this one just last night

Harvest Hosts

$44 a year gets you into "the club". He said he stayed a night at a winery in Amarillo for free. Did a tasting and bought some wine.

[fj12ryder]

themoreweexplore wrote:
I never would have imagined air bnb would take off. On paper it sounds crazy: letting a stranger stay in your house whole you and/or your family is there too. Crazy! But it's working.

I don't understand the issue. That's how a B&B originally worked: you stayed in a bedroom of someone's house/apartment and shared the bath, and were furnished breakfast. Shoot I did that several times when I was in Europe in the 60's-70's. You did it then because it was super cheap.

I was astounded when I discovered that American B&B's were just expensive hotel-type setups.

[Mr__Camper]

valhalla360 wrote:

3oaks wrote:
Unfortunately, Mr.Camper those "good old days" are long gone.
Back in those times, hitch hiking was a convenient and for the most part, safe mode of transportation. However, today society as a whole is in a downward spiral. 😞

Reality is it's no more dangerous today. 40yrs ago, you wouldn't hear about an incident 100miles away. Now you hear about every incident 2000miles away.

This is basically the same as uber or airbnb. Very good chance it's illegal and not insured. As a camper, your risk is probably fairly low. If an issue comes up, you will be asked to move along. As an owner, someone trips and falls, expect your insurance company to laugh when they find out you are operating a business.

Unless it is an ideal location with something special, not sure why you would bother. We've used airbnb where a nearby hotel runs $150-250 and we are getting a place for $30-75. Campsites typically run $15-40. There just isn't that much to save.

There was no liability on anyone's part in my '73 trip. I always asked for permission to camp on their land and of all the people I asked I had only four who said no. One each in Ohio, Nebraska, Arizona and the last one in Mississippi. Where I asked about fishing in their pond I made deals to give them half my catch. Since I only caught one for me for dinner and breakfast I usually caught two for the landowner. Only one woman asked me to clean the fish for her. No money changed hands and I was gone by sun-up.

[valhalla360]

3oaks wrote:
Unfortunately, Mr.Camper those "good old days" are long gone.
Back in those times, hitch hiking was a convenient and for the most part, safe mode of transportation. However, today society as a whole is in a downward spiral. 😞

Reality is it's no more dangerous today. 40yrs ago, you wouldn't hear about an incident 100miles away. Now you hear about every incident 2000miles away.

This is basically the same as uber or airbnb. Very good chance it's illegal and not insured. As a camper, your risk is probably fairly low. If an issue comes up, you will be asked to move along. As an owner, someone trips and falls, expect your insurance company to laugh when they find out you are operating a business.

Unless it is an ideal location with something special, not sure why you would bother. We've used airbnb where a nearby hotel runs $150-250 and we are getting a place for $30-75. Campsites typically run $15-40. There just isn't that much to save.

[themoreweexplor]

I never would have imagined air bnb would take off. On paper it sounds crazy: letting a stranger stay in your house whole you and/or your family is there too. Crazy! But it's working.

[themoreweexplor]

I believe the landowners set their own prices. I wouldn't consider $300+ a night a scam, but definitely a rip off. Although if the pope is coming through, I imagine it'd be tough to find any lodging at all. I imagine landowners will tweak their pricing to find the sweet spot where they still make money but it's still attractive to RVers.

I could see a van dweller needing a place to park in a big city for a night or two. Cities would be tough to find an rv park in. I agree though, I don't see a class A parking at a city lot on stealth mode. 🙂