I purchased this camper in late May of 2020 as part of my Bug Out Plan and an essential step towards fulfilling my American Exit Strategy Project. In an effort to reduce my monthly bills so that I can work towards paying off all debt and saving money – the camper is key to much cheaper living. I now live in the camper full time.
The camper can also be relocated as needed and provides essential shelter. I’ll be sharing the steps I take to modify the camper with solar power, communication gear, deal with limited storage, and much more.
Adjusting to camper life has its challenges, however, the focus is on the end game. As things continue to develop in this country I am, feeling a greater and greater sense of urgency to move forward and accomplish my goals. Goals? Relocation to a low population density area. Self Sufficiency. Debt-free. Prepared.
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Take care.
Rourke
I think it’s a really cool idea but I don’t think I could make it work for me. I just have too much stuff. I doubt I could even fit my … er … ah … “sporting goods” in that thing. 😉 But I will enjoy following your adventure in this direction.
Storage is definitely an issue. Working on solutions is all part of the project. The camper living is temporary but is providing advantages until final retreat is established. Thx for the comment as allows.
Make sure you check out everything on a new (or new to you) camper. We spent a week, in town, at the KOA, checking things out because we never had one before. 20 years later, there is a lot of stuff in our camper that was not original equipment.
Good point. When I bought mine it was like new – made in 2015 and used very little. I’m still learning and upkeep and good practices are important.
I’ve seen some older campers bought very cheap and then refurbished and turn out beautiful.
JR: For us there was a lot of little things, so we were running back and forth to Wal-Mart. Like there was no sewer hose.
A note to others, most of our appliances, utensils, and pans can from the dollar or Thrift stores and are now permanently in the trailer, rather than back and forth to the house.
PS: Honda generators are worth the extra money. Champion and Harbor Freight ones are considerably less money, and proportionately less reliable. We have a 3000esi and a 1000 (back-up). I have only had to change the oil in both and replaced the battery in the 3000 this year (4 years). Start by the 3rd pull. Use only non-ethanol fuel and empty the system (we run it dry) at the end of the camping season.
I love it, good luck, I’m sure I’ll you’ll make it work, especially when the end game is so important. Here the land prices initial dropped but now have increased from the mass exodus from the cities.
I purchased a camper about 2 years ago for the potential need to BO. I have not used it for camping yet. Although this is shelter and yes it will be better than living in a car, but propane and electrical hook ups will only last so long. I know there is little to help on this other than installing a solar power system on the roof.
Any ideas on your utility needs in a SHTF condition?
We camp outside of campgrounds, so we are lucky if there is an outhouse. If you use you trailers indoor sewage capacity you will only have about 4-7 days of capacity. We have a pop-up shower/toilet tent for longer term camping.
I stock a fairly good quantity of propane bottles and fuel for my generators. I replaced all the light bulbs with LED bulbs and can now run all the lights for the power usage of 1 regular bulb.
You can get, 100 watt solar set up from Harbor Freight, for around $100. A 1000W Honda generator will run you about $800 new, but 5 gallons of fuel will keep your batteries charged for a week.
You won’t have electricity for the AC, microwave, TV, or fridge, but propane will keep the refrigerator going for 2 weeks on one bottle. Keep the heat down and you will find you can do well for a couple of weeks without extra fuel.
If it is going to be longer than that, you will need to build a “porch” onto the trailer. with wood heat/cooking. Just be ready to do that. And/or preposition replenishment supplies at your BOL.
If you have plans to use your camper for emergencies, use it now when supplies are plentiful. You will learn what you can and can’t do. Remember that bugging out is not a complete home-away-from-home, but it is much better than a tent or sleeping in your vehicle.