Greener than Green

[Simply Si]

Hi all,

You're probably going to wee yourself at this post, but I'm going ahead anyway.

Please re direct if this topic is somewhere else.

Basically, I want to get a mobile home but I have no idea where to start or what I'm doing.

Can you live in a motorhome/caravan? Does the heating work with some sort of fuel set up?

I'm in my late 40s and I'm with someone and we're trying to work future things out. I don't really want to spend another 2 decades in the rat race.

Any help to get started would really be appreciated

 

[Jo001]

Yes, you can live in a motorhome or caravan, and yes, there can be heating.

If a caravan, you'd likely need somewhere to rent a pitch to have it on. If a motorhome, there is more flexibility as in some places you can be parking, rather than camping.

Some pitches will provide you with electricity, which you can use for heating. Also, you will need water, a place to get rid of grey water (from washing, showering) and a place to get rid of toilet waste - NOT down a drain, into streams etc, that's what gives motorhomers a bad reputation.

If you choose a motorhome, there are a number of places where you can stop (park) overnight for free. If you join here as a full member, you will get access to a database that shows where these are, and what they are like.

As these are unlikely to have any facilities, you'd need an alternative for heating. That's likely to be gas - you can buy cylinders, or there are systems where the cylinder is permanently installed and you refill it with LPG. The advantage of these is that you only replace what you have used, as opposed to exchangeable cylinders which often get swapped over with a bit left in them.

Electric off-site will be from a battery in the vehicle, which will charge from either the engine when you drive, or from solar panels: or a generator that you carry with you. Electricity from your battery will power things like lights and a 12 volt television, but won't be enough to do things like boil an electric kettle or run a hairdryer.

Your fridge will power from the engine while moving, gas or electricity.

A big tip from me is to go to a big dealer (not necessarily to buy) and have a really good look at different layouts. Think long and hard about what is important to you. For example, we have friends who have a fixed bed and loads of storage. Their lounge area is small. That would make me feel cramped, I like a decent lounge area because I might be spending a lot of hours in it, when it has been tipping down rain all day and gets dark at 4.30 pm in the afternoons. So think carefully about what you need.

I'm sure others will add more, feel free to ask anything - we were all new to it at some point.

 

[izwozral]

Well thought out response Jo.

 

[colinm]

For example, we have friends who have a fixed bed and loads of storage. Their lounge area is small. That would make me feel cramped, I like a decent lounge area because I might be spending a lot of hours in it, when it has been tipping down rain all day and gets dark at 4.30 pm in the afternoons.

The simple answer to this is to use the bed as a lounging area as well as the dinette, this means on our van gf and myself can lounge fairly far apart if we want, she would hate it if we only had the one 'lounge' in the van and she had to spend all evening looking at my ugly mug.

 

[Jo001]

The simple answer to this is to use the bed as a lounging area as well as the dinette, this means on our van gf and myself can lounge fairly far apart if we want, she would hate it if we only had the one 'lounge' in the van and she had to spend all evening looking at my ugly mug.

Of course, but I was just trying to make the point that different people have different priorities, so it's really important for the OP to think carefully about what will suit his needs.

 

[colinm]

Can you live in a motorhome/caravan?

I'm in my late 40s and I'm with someone and we're trying to work future things out. I don't really want to spend another 2 decades in the rat race.

Yes it's perfectly feasible to live in a motorhome or touring caravan, both myself and gf spent time living in touring caravans, but it brings a different set of challenges, I view it more as being in a different rat race, not leaving the rat race. In my 30s I had a big upheaval in my 'career path', got out of doing jobs that where getting me down, and eventually found work which I was happy to do, and it was nothing to do with living in vans that sorted me out.

 

[Boris7]

different people have different priorities, so it's really important for the OP to think carefully about what will suit his needs.

Hi Simply Si, the above quote from Jo's post is the very best advise your going to get.

What I would add is this, If possible hire a van for a week or so. travel in it and use it like a home. First night or 2 go on sites and get EHU (electrical hook up) BUT don't use it. The site will have water, EHU, toilets and chemical (toilet waste point). maybe go for a drive each day to replicate charging the batteries from the engine.

You'll then have a much better idea of what suits YOU.

We hired first and it was a Real eyeopener, advice from forums is good and well intentioned but what's the point in me or others telling you what you want/need?

My first ideas were based on what I thought I knew, wrong.

At the end of the week we panned a visit to the NEC show and looked at lots of vans, we came away knowing exactly what worked for us. Bought that van and never looked back, but if we had bought first we would have ended up selling and most likely loosing money.

 

[trevskoda]

For heating there is diesel night heaters which can run of your main tank or a seo one using heating oil.
The other thing which i think is a must is solar panels & mppt regulator, and prob litium batteries along with a b2b charge unit from van altanator when driving, solar will charge 9/10 mths of the year but less so in darkish days.

 

[barryd]

The six million dollar question or questions really is budget and income if you want to quit the rat race and live in a motorhome or caravan.

It can be fantastic as long as you can fund it, otherwise if you can't it could end up being quite grim.

I think most full timers as a rule of thumb budget around £1000-£2000 a month and most, not all probably have a bricks and mortar property they have to fall back on which if rented out can provide some income.

If it doesn't work out you need to think about the fall back plan.

 

[trevskoda]

The six million dollar question or questions really is budget and income if you want to quit the rat race and live in a motorhome or caravan.

It can be fantastic as long as you can fund it, otherwise if you can't it could end up being quite grim.

I think most full timers as a rule of thumb budget around £1000-£2000 a month and most, not all probably have a bricks and mortar property they have to fall back on which if rented out can provide some income.

If it doesn't work out you need to think about the fall back plan.

You must have to much money, any chance of a loan.