RV After Cruising???

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

The old Westie was a weekend kind of camper for kids. You could in theory have two kids with you, there was a bed that went over the front seats, and one in the pop up.
It was surprisingly comfortable short term

Agreed.
but keyword here being "short term".

Short term camping still implies (or likely dictates) you're paying a mortgage/rent for the 4-5 n nights a week you aren't in the camper. If the goal of this thread is to replace the full time cruising boat with an RV, that only meets a fraction of the needs.

[a64pilot]

I never said a Westie was suitable to live in, our last camper was a 36’ 5th wheel with triple slides, but we had two kids too.
I do however wish I still had it, I loved driving it, liked the screens over the crank out windows and the way it drove.

[Painted Skies]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

In any case, I don’t need a lot to be comfortable. Freedom is more important to me than fancy doodads, so going small and stealthy sounds perfect.

This thought of Mike's really stuck a chord.

We cruise on 'Painted Skies' in Australia for about half of each year (depends on the year) and land cruise in our campervan in the US/Canada for the remainder. This is a perfect solution for not particularly liking winter and cold weather - i.e., we follow summer. Not all people cruise their boats in the same manner - the same is true for camping. If you want to make it expensive, then you can live in marinas, eat-out in restaurants, and have all the latest gizmos on your boat that require upgrading and repairing. Same with camping - get a 40ft motorhome and stay in resort parks where you rarely will see the outside of your RV or do it with a simply-equipped campervan that gets high mpg and can take you to amazing places. Thankfully, not everyone with an RV ascribes to our version of camping, otherwise, there would be no room for us!

Personally, we camp in the same way that we cruise - frugally, but with an emphasis on seeking the solitude and majesty of nature. In pursuit of that goal, we have been camping (mostly at free sites) across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (and last month in South Africa and Botswana) over the past 18 years. Our current van - 'Painted Skies Prairie Schooner' - is a 13yo Sprinter that was formerly a mobile office (actually, we think it was a federal - FBI, CIA? - surveillance vehicle) so came equipped with a heavy-duty electrical system already installed plus super-dark tinted glass. It was super-inexpensive to purchase. We added a bed platform/mattress, a camp stove and an Engel 12V refrigerator - then threw our bikes on the back and drove to Alaska (14,000 miles RT) and back in 4 months. Truthfully, we don't spend much time inside the van other than to sleep; it is simply our magic carpet that makes possible the rest of our adventures - biking, hiking, hot springs, birdwatching, critter-watching, hunting for native orchids...

Life on the road is dirt-cheap compared to life aboard the boat. We camper-van'd for 5-1/2 weeks on the South Island of New Zealand and spent a total of $45 for camping fees. During a 13,000 km trip around the western half of Australia which took 4-1/2 months, we only paid for camping at Uluru and Ningaloo - the rest of the time we camped for free. Even a one-month adventure through NY, NH and Vermont we had free camp sites 90% of the time. Yes, it is easier to boondock (called 'dispersal camping' in the US national forests) in the western US, but it is still possible to find free sites elsewhere using resources such as: https://freecampsites.net/ and, for great off-line viewing: Wikicamps (https//www.wikicamps.co).

Truthfully, you don't need anything more than a vehicle and basic camping equipment to get started living a rich life - of freedom.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Painted Skies

This thought of Mike's really stuck a chord.

We cruise on 'Painted Skies' in Australia for about half of each year (depends on the year) and land cruise in our campervan in the US/Canada for the remainder. This is a perfect solution for not particularly liking winter and cold weather - i.e., we follow summer. …

Truthfully, you don't need anything more than a vehicle and basic camping equipment to get started living a rich life - of freedom.

Sounds perfect to me. This is exactly the approach I’m thinking of.