Difference between RVing and Camping???

[Reader1]

I was reading responses to another post and one person stated that, "We RV we don't camp?" I didn't want to take the post off topic, so I did a quick search, but did not find it. What is the difference between RVing and Camping. I am not posting this to get an argument going. We have always camped but maybe we are RVing and don't even know it. Before you respond that it does not matter, I know that, but am just really curious.

[mark5w]

(Ooooops ... what do call what a boater is doing whenever they're living on their boat, temporarily here and there, while still keeping a land home?)

Boat camping.

[pnichols]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
When push comes to shove, the simplest explanation is this:

"Camping" is by definition temporarily stopping/staying in some place other than one's home base- doesn't really matter what kind of shelter is involved. From tent to Prevost: if it's a temporary thing it's a camp.

Francesca - in one concise all-inclusive single sentence I think you nicely nailed it. Well stated!!

... It covers what the early pioneers were doing in their wagon trains, it covers mountaineering base camps, it covers backpacking camps, it covers canoeing camps, it covers hunting camps, it covers oil and gas field worker camps, and it covers wherever any kind of RV is parked other than storage.

(Ooooops ... what do call what a boater is doing whenever they're living on their boat, temporarily here and there, while still keeping a land home?)

[Matt_Colie]

To all the Folks out there,

I wrote all of that quite a long time ago. As I read it now, I might like to change some of it, and maybe will as the subject it sure to rise again.

I may break it up into some different categories:
Packing - You have to be able lift what you bring with a few noted exceptions.
Camping - Employing a very temporary structure for a dwelling.
Rving - Transporting a more or less permanent structure for a dwelling.

When I have time, I may rework my definitions for a future publication.

Matt

[Francesca_Knowl]

When push comes to shove, the simplest explanation is this:

"Camping" is by definition temporarily stopping/staying in some place other than one's home base- doesn't really matter what kind of shelter is involved. From tent to Prevost: if it's a temporary thing it's a camp.

[pnichols]

Matt_Colie wrote:


Life outside of a house:

Real Camping - You have to be able to pick up everything you are going to have with you.
Back Packing - you carry everything on your back and walk where you are going.
Bicycle Camping - pack or load everything you just don’t have lift it all at once.
Canoe(or Kayak) Camping - Like bicycle camping, but packs should be waterproof.
Sail Camping - Just like canoe camping except you don’t have to paddle.
(Allows a lift and carry exception for the boat itself.)
Horseback Camping - like above in most all respects.
Real Camping ends here as all the rest require you to drive a vehicle to the “camp ground”.

Well ... the above descriptions certainly make it clear that the discriminating criterion for "is it real camping" is whether or not a "vehicle" is used for transport of the people and their gear.

For instance, personally I see no difference between a horse carrying people/equipment to a campground and an engine-powered contraption carrying people/equipment to a campground. I see backpackers walking down roads in the wilderness and I see camping vehicles going down roads in the wilderness that are almost just a trail.

One should also be careful in forming "real camping" definitions that exclude persons who are not ambulatory. Many elderly and other-wise limited folks deserve to, and wish to, do "real camping" too. For them a powered vehicle coming along to carry them and their gear is often necessary.

I consider the DW and myself as "really camping" when out in the Utah desert somewhere - whether or not our legs or our motorhome got us and our gear there.

This all begs the question - were the early pioneers doing real camping when crossing the West using their wagons to carry themselves and all their "camping gear"?

[crosscheck]

When I was younger and knew everything, I commented to my parents that the magazine on their coffee table that was titled,"Camping Canada" and had pictures of RV's in campgrounds was not really camping.

They just smiled and didn't say much.

Now, I that I am much older now and maybe a little wiser, I'm glad that we live in a society, even with all its warts, that allows us to make choices when it comes to outdoor recreation.







Camping on the Bay, San Diego before heading to the Baja






Michelle Lakes, Canadian Rockies.

Dave

[Jim_Shoe]

Hmmm. Seven pages of answers and few, if any, are the same. Those of us that follow this particular lifestyle each have a personal definition and understand other peoples' definitions. Those that don't choose our lifestyle will never understand, anyway.

[Matt_Colie]

Sometime ago someone referred to our coach as a "camper". I have been a traveler all my life (comes with living on the water and I have done what I camping in several varieties. Living in a RV is not "Camping" in my personal opinion. Glamping - Maybe, but I think the language needs some new words here.

This was written for a publication to try to get more clarification on the issue. It didn't solve anything, but you can read it and decide where you fit.

Life outside of a house:

Real Camping - You have to be able to pick up everything you are going to have with you.
Back Packing - you carry everything on your back and walk where you are going.
Bicycle Camping - pack or load everything you just don’t have lift it all at once.
Canoe(or Kayak) Camping - Like bicycle camping, but packs should be waterproof.
Sail Camping - Just like canoe camping except you don’t have to paddle.
(Allows a lift and carry exception for the boat itself.)
Horseback Camping - like above in most all respects.
Real Camping ends here as all the rest require you to drive a vehicle to the “camp ground”.

Motor Vehicle Camping (not real camping)
Ground Tent Camping - You still had to drive there, but you have to set up camp completely from scratch when you stop.(I’ll admit a gray area here that is equipment dependent.)
Car or Truck Camping - You sleep inside the vehicle you drove there. Ok, it may be pretty well closed in or more like a tent, but you are still in the vehicle at night.

RV Camping
Tent Trailer Camping - Still RV and not really camping. Things may not be ready when the parking brake is set, but you sure didn’t go anyplace you can’t drive.
Pickup Camper Camping - Could be something like a tent trailer or a mini -travel trailer that you carry in the pick up and still sleep in the truck.
Travel Trailer Camping - You drive where you are going and when you stop, there is a cabin right behind the tow vehicle and you spend the night in there.
(5th wheel trailers are just like travel trailers that you don’t have to balance as carefully.)
Motorhome Camping - There is a steering wheel by the picture window in the main room. You never leave the cabin unless you want to do so.

Types of Vehicle Camping (not real camping)
Dry Camping can be applied to any of the following but term only describes the lack of hook ups.
Boondocking, (Flatspoting, Sandtopping and Beachcamping) - only service available is fresh air - Fresh water is available only if it rains. Hard ground, let alone pavement is not is easy reach. When you shut the power down, the only light is stars and the only noise is animal sounds (and maybe the refrigerator).
Turnout Camping - you find a wide place on an untraveled road where you can park for the night.
Blacktopping (also call Independent parking) - Stopping for the night in a paved lot without any services.
Stealth Camping - Blacktopping somewhere and making it look like you have just stopped there and are not planning to stay any longer than is necessary. (An art required in some locations.)

Park Camping - Finding an RV campground with some service and maybe a shower that you won’t have to dump.
RV Park Camping - A place to park with full hookups (might include TV and internet) and no mud, but maybe a tree or two in sight.
RV Resort (Nothing like Real Camping) - You drive the RV to a full and complete hook up site with everything and probably has shuttles to shopping and entertainment centers so you have no reason to un-hook the TV, clear the toad to run, or even fire the tow vehicle (if applicable).

What is Not Camping at all:
Staying somewhere that the dwelling can not be moved that same day.
This is to exclude from camping:
Park model trailers - sort of like travel trailers, but no self-contained services, maybe no wheels.
Small cabins with or without running water and electric service. (I have lived in such houses, and did not think of it as camping then and still do not.) I was at a "Deer Camp" in the north of the state one time, it was larger and nice than the house that I owned at the time.

This is my view of the whole affair, you are invited to disagree with any point and/or make up some new words that we can all use to differentiate what we do from the folks that sleep on the ground.

Matt

[gotsmart]

pnichols wrote:
Smart move on the dehumidifier! Also pretty cool was clicking on the photo for more photos.

I'm under the impression that dehumidifiers have a small compressor in them just like an air conditioner or heat pump ... is this the case? If so, about how much power does it take to run one like you have in your Class C?

This is my dehumidifier. I'm at Diamond Point Resort in Sequim, WA. The (nearly continuous) winter rains haven't started yet. The rains should have started by the 2nd week of October. As of this post, the humidity in the MH is 28%, so the dehumidifier is turned off. It does have a compressor. I don't worry about the power usage because when I'm running it I set the humidity control to continuous - meaning the compressor isn't cycling on and off (no compressor surge). The sticker on the side of it says: 115V , 4.0 Amps

[gotsmart]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
Where the heck are you, Gotsmart???

Surely that snow can't be in Aberdeen, Washington!
It was in Elma, WA at Travel Inn Resort We received about 18 inches (45.7cm) of snow on January 17, 2012.

....

pnichols wrote:
gotsmart,

I just noticed that lower left reading in your temperature gauge photo.

Were you living in your Class C at 63.3 deg F ... or had you just parked when you took that photo?
yes. My bedspread is a -40F rated sleeping bag (rectangle style, fully unzipped). After 20 minutes under the covers it is toasty warm. Tonight I decided to burn a little propane and set the furnace's T-stat to 65F. The furnace has a 2 inch duct which dumps warm air over the water pump. I have 2 of these Oregon Scientific RMR202A Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer with Wireless Remote Sensor and Atomic Clock. 1 is on the dinette and 1 in the rear BR (multiple units can sample the same remote sensor). I put the sensor in a ziplock sandwich bag and duct tape it to the arm of the sideview mirror on the north/east side of the MH. It has an ICE ALERT that starts flashing a really annoying green LED at 37.5 F. That gives me time to run the kitchen faucet at a slow trickle overnight. Doing this requires the valve of the grey/galley tank to be open.

[pnichols]

Smart move on the dehumidifier! Also pretty cool was clicking on the photo for more photos.

I'm under the impression that dehumidifiers have a small compressor in them just like an air conditioner or heat pump ... is this the case? If so, about how much power does it take to run one like you have in your Class C?

[gotsmart]

pnichols wrote:
gotsmart,

It looks like the vents aren't open on your Majestic(?)

How did you keep moisture from building up inside?

I assume you kept the propane furnace on all night ... we keep ours set at around 65 degrees when sleeping if it's anything below that outside. (I had enough of sleeping all wrapped up as a kid during Michigan winters in an unheated bedroom.)

P.S. We have the vents open a crack whenever we're inside our Class C, but we do have vent covers over them on the roof.

30 pint dehumidifier - continuously draining. Click on the image for more photos.

[Us_out_West]

Jim Shoe wrote:
It appears from the answers that there's a difference without a distinction. Assuming its all about traveling, whether you're "camping" or "Rving", you're NOT in a hotel or motel, and I think we're all happy about that.

Indeed we are.

[Jim_Shoe]

It appears from the answers that there's a difference without a distinction. Assuming its all about traveling, whether you're "camping" or "Rving", you're NOT in a hotel or motel, and I think we're all happy about that.

[Howie3]

For the past 25 years, I have been going on a 'camping' trip with my Dad one weekend a year sometime in June. We mostly fish (but sometimes golf if the lake is rough) and from the beginning we slept in tents and cooked over the campfire. We had the whole 'camping experience' but our main objective was the fishing. Dad is in his 80's now so a couple of years ago I decided it would be easier if we used my trailer. Now the 'camping' activities are much easier and we have more time for fishing instead of putting up tarps, boiling water for dishes, etc, etc. We still tell stories around the campfire and take in the wonderful setting, getting away from the city, etc.

I don't think we went from camping to Rving, it's just that we have changed our accommodations to allow Dad to still enjoy his favorite pastimes of fishing and bird watching. Same location, same time, just a trailer instead of camping gear. Call it RVing if you want; I'm just thankful I have a way to still enjoy this annual outing as long as Dad is able to go.

Howie