You Can't Do That

[beelbill]

My wife and I are completing our first month full timing. I tried to prep for everything. But the thing I wasn't prepped for was how many people would consider it their duty to keep me from full timing. The person that sold me the trailer didn't try to stop me. He just made sure I had the most expensive trailer because none of the other trailers would work for full timing.

But, then, I found that the banks didn't want to lend me the money if I was going to stay in it full time. Next, the insurance companies didn't want to insure the RV if I was going to stay in it full time. I finally realized I wasn't really staying in it full time. Why just this last weekend I stayed in my sister's farm house while I visited.

The campgrounds didn't want me to stay in it full time either. They advertise that they are open year round, but they cut of their utilities for 4 months in the winter. Fine, I said, I will haul water and get by without utilities for 4 months. That is when they said, they will not allow me to stay in the camper, while the utilities are off, on the site that is rented for a year. So, I had to park it in a Mobile Home Court.

The mobile home courts didn't want me to live in my RV either. But I finally found one that would allow it. However, they won't allow me to stay in a travel trailer unless I have hard skirting like a mobile home. That is because of the same reason that the campgrounds don't stay open in the winter no matter what they advertise. Without the skirting, the water pipes freeze. I realize everyone will jump in with methods to keep them from freezing such as a dog house and heated hose. I am sure all of those methods work if done properly, but every campground I talked to that ever tried it found that the people didn't do it right and their pipes froze costing them a lot of money. Therefore, they won't allow you to try it.

So back to the mobile home court. You shouldn't use one of those flexible hoses all winter long because they become brittle in the winter weather and tend to break and leak. I am a fat man so it wasn't pleasant crawling around under the trailer gluing PVC pipe fittings, measuring pitch, and making turns to make sure the pipe was just the right length to slide over the sewer connection. Did, I mention that the reason the skirting prevents the sewer and water pipes from freezing is they are under the trailer instead of beside it? Also, a bit of advice, don't leave your cell phone in your pocket while crawling under the trailer if you are a fat man. It turns out you don't actually have to drop a cell phone to break the screen.

So, how do you heat the trailer during the winter? Easy, you use the propane heater. I prepped for that. I had an extend-a-stay valve put on my propane system so I could use an external tank. I even made sure the mobile home court was ok with propane tanks and that there was a provider that would deliver there. All of my neighbors have propane because it is cheaper than electric to heat. It turns out that none of the propane dealers in this area will deliver to a propane tank that is attached to an RV. It seems some genus somewhere used water lines to connect to propane tanks and blew their RV to pieces. So, the companies will only connect to tanks that are hard piped to fixed structures.

Again, I thought I had prepped. I read every estimate I could find as to how much propane an RV would use over a year for heat and cooking. I came away with a very rough ball park of 300 gallons. If the propane company delivers 300 gallons to a tank attached to your mobile home, that costs over $300. If you take your 30# tanks in to be filled every week, the same amount of propane costs $1200 in this area. No problem, just get a bigger tank and take it in to be filled. Did you know that a full 100# tank of propane actually weighs 170#. That is about as large of a tank as I could handle and that is still only 25 gallons of gas. Three hundred gallons is a monthly trip with that tank. By the way, there are a lot of rules about transporting propane tanks. No one pays any attention to them, but the dealers here do. Again some genus found out the hard way that you shouldn't carry a propane tank laying down in the bed of a pickup.which is why many local propane dealers won't fill a tanks over 30#.

Hauling propane is a lot like trying to get into heaven by works. You have to do it perfectly or you wind up burning. However, it isn't easy to haul propane tanks in an upright position. You need to make sure they are properly secured. It turns out that while 100# tanks are easy enough to buy, they don't come with brackets for attaching them to your truck. The internet is full of places where you can read about and see pictures of brackets people have welded for themselves, but if you don't happen to be a welder, you won't find any brackets that you can just buy and attach to your pickup.

About this time, I abandoned the 100# tank idea and avoided the future hernia operation by deciding to have my stock propane furnace converted to a gas/electric furnace. That way, with the assist of a battery for the ignition, I can use propane in case of a power outage, but otherwise use the more expensive electric heat. I am sure you know that while my neighbors call a heating person to come out and work on their mobile home heaters when they go out, that same person won't work on my RV heater. I have to take the RV to the shop to have the gas/electric furnace put in (I am sure many of you do it yourselfers don't have that problem, but "some assembly required" is not in my vocabulary).

Did I mention that in order to live in a mobile home court, I have to hard pipe my sewer under my trailer and then put up skirting? It isn't the temporary skirting that I have seen pictures of and read about on the web. It has to be nice permanent skirting. Fortunately, I haven't gotten that far on setting my RV yet, because I would have to take it apart now before I crawl back under the RV to disconnect the sewer so I can haul the RV back to the dealer to have a gas/electric furnace put in. However, it does make me think about what I am going to have to do if the furnace gives out some cold winter.

[GoPackGo]

I also use National Interstate. I go thru Miller Insurance in Oregon. They cater to full timers and can probably give you several choices.

Tim

[Executive45]

National Interstate gave us the best price....thanks for the entertaining post...Dennis

[soos]

Tvov wrote:
beelbill, that was one well written rant!

x 2
very entertaining 🙂

I will say, beelbill, that there are definitely insurance companies that cover fulltimers and I highly recommend u look into it further, if you haven't already.
Fulltiming coverage offers liability coverage, similar to a homeowners policy.

Sue

[2gypsies1]

I don't think anyone is mad. We didn't realize you were trying to be entertaining. 🙂 and your Great Dane in a butter dish was!!! Now that we know what kind of sense of humor you have we'll be more aware when you do your next post.

I was just trying to inform you that your problems could have been handled.

Carry on and have a warm winter!

[beelbill]

I am sorry if I said something to make someone mad. It was not my intention.

[Mr__Camper]

beelbill wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
All of your problems are because you're trying to RV in a cold climate...and they don't do that in Alaska. RVs are not meant for cold winters.

Yes, winter camping presents it's own unique set of problems. But, there are other problems that took some getting used to. For example, I just got out of the shower. Did I mention I am a fat man? My taking a shower in the camper is comparable to bathing a Great Dane in a butter dish. But, I have learned to twist and turn to minimize the mopping up. I have camped in a tent in the bush in Zimbabwe. Even worse than that, I camped with my son and his Royal Rangers troop. Compared to that, this is pure luxury.

I mainly wrote my "rant" for entertainment purposes and so that other people reading this forum and thinking about full timing will realize that no matter how much you think you have prepped and no matter how many people on the internet tell you how easy it is to just hook up an external propane tank or make you rig weather resistant for winter weather, for some of us, it never turns out to be quite that simple. I would certainly recommend taking some break-in time like I am before hitting the road full timing.

Thank you for the lesson. However, I take issue with your premise. I've been camping and RVing for 40 years and that kind of experience has provided me with the knowledge I need to be successful. In fact I'm so well prepared that if something comes up that I've never seen before I know enough to check here because someone has probably seen/experienced something I haven't.

[beelbill]

2gypsies wrote:
All of your problems are because you're trying to RV in a cold climate...and they don't do that in Alaska. RVs are not meant for cold winters.

Yes, winter camping presents it's own unique set of problems. But, there are other problems that took some getting used to. For example, I just got out of the shower. Did I mention I am a fat man? My taking a shower in the camper is comparable to bathing a Great Dane in a butter dish. But, I have learned to twist and turn to minimize the mopping up. I have camped in a tent in the bush in Zimbabwe. Even worse than that, I camped with my son and his Royal Rangers troop. Compared to that, this is pure luxury.

I mainly wrote my "rant" for entertainment purposes and so that other people reading this forum and thinking about full timing will realize that no matter how much you think you have prepped and no matter how many people on the internet tell you how easy it is to just hook up an external propane tank or make you rig weather resistant for winter weather, for some of us, it never turns out to be quite that simple. I would certainly recommend taking some break-in time like I am before hitting the road full timing.

[2gypsies1]

All of your problems are because you're trying to RV in a cold climate...and they don't do that in Alaska. RVs are not meant for cold winters.

There are companies that will finance full-timers. However, if your RV is used and a certain age, they will not.

Getting vehicle insurance is very doable for full-timers. I'm not sure why you ran into a problem.

Not all campgrounds will let you stay year-round, but some do.

Hope things improve for you!

[fla-gypsy]

Florida is open for business all winter

[Mr__Camper]

Maybe he wanted to stay in the United States.

[LynnandCarol]

Should have just came to South Texas! Much easier, cheaper, and less stressful!

[beelbill]

C-Bears wrote:
"First of all, welcome to the full timing lifestyle!"

"Our summer base CG in central Illinois sets up a few spots for winter use. They do not allow skirting. They have frost free water hydrant at each site and they place a barrel over it with a heat lamp inside. You are responsible for hooking a heated water hose from the hydrant at your site to your trailer. Most winter campers there use PVC for their sewer, which they insulate well.

As far as propane. There are numerous companies in that area that will deliver as many 100 pound rental tanks as you want. The only requirement is that you have to allow them to make the hook up. Then they will come by throughout the winter and fill them as needed.

I would suggest you expand your search a little wider to find the correct CG that has experience with winter campers. There are RVers that do it during the winter in Alaska so I am sure you can locate some CG managers smart enough to figure it out in MO."

Thanks for the welcome. Wish I could find a place like that here. Wonder why they don't allow skirting. Maybe because it wouldn't be the kind of permanent skirting they require here but rather would be insulation boards duct taped to the trailers and make their campground look trashy. Expanded my propane company search to the point that I found people that wouldn't deliver this far from their company. No point looking further until I move. I know campers do it in Alaska. They have no choice. I suspect that the problem here in this area of Missouri is that it is resort area with seasonal business. They make all their money in the summer anyway so why risk their pipes for one person to stay in the winter?

[beelbill]

GENECOP wrote:
Maybe he was planning to spend one winter North for some reason, then head south..If he was , buying a park model for one year then selling that and buying a TT would have been a waste of time and money....

Bingo! I realize that if I was planning to stay here, a mobile home would have been easier. The duplex I was renting was even easier than that. However, I am remaining one more year and then hitting the road. I figured that waiting until I hit the road to find out all the problems I would have was not a good idea so I planned a break in year.

mmiille wrote:
Or maybe there is a job that requires a lot of moving. We do that and end up where it is cold too. Finding a place for the winter is a challenge, but we make it work. I like being able to take our stuff wherever we want to go.

Correct again. When I leave here, I will do a travelling job that moves me every 3-12 months and may be north or south. To the extent that I can control it, I will chose south in the winter and north in the summer. But, am preparing for whatever. Don't want to move into furnished apartments and then move out over and over. This way I just hook up my home and take it with me.

Tvov wrote:
beelbill, that was one well written rant!

Thanks, I think.

[C-Bears]

First of all, welcome to the full timing lifestyle! One of the first lessons you learned (banks get nervous) when you tell them you are full time and really don't have a physical address. I guess they figure if you only make that first payment and then no more money comes their way it would be sort of hard to track you down.

As far as insurance goes I think you will find there are a few companies that will insure your RV for full timing. We use Progressive, but there are a few others also. Get ready to spend some additional money.

Our summer base CG in central Illinois sets up a few spots for winter use. They do not allow skirting. They have frost free water hydrant at each site and they place a barrel over it with a heat lamp inside. You are responsible for hooking a heated water hose from the hydrant at your site to your trailer. Most winter campers there use PVC for their sewer, which they insulate well.

As far as propane. There are numerous companies in that area that will deliver as many 100 pound rental tanks as you want. The only requirement is that you have to allow them to make the hook up. Then they will come by throughout the winter and fill them as needed.

I would suggest you expand your search a little wider to find the correct CG that has experience with winter campers. There are RVers that do it during the winter in Alaska so I am sure you can locate some CG managers smart enough to figure it out in MO.