What is RV life like anyway? How different can it be from an apartment or house? Its just the same thing on wheels, right? Yes and no, but mostly yes….and no.
I’m old so the only thing I knew about camping in the beginning was a tent or a pop up that you towed behind the family station wagon if you were rich. We went to KOAs in the 80s and had to hoof it to the bath house in the middle of the night and worry about bugs and creatures getting into our tent. Now, there are multiple types from small travel trailers to motorhomes that would make rock stars proud. We have the former and envy the latter. It’s basically a studio apartment on wheels, but smaller.
What is the difference? Here is my very simplified answer for those that have never camped or lived in an RV. I’ll cover dry camping or boondocking (unplugged) later.
Our home requires fuel, electric, and water, much like yours. The main difference is that it needs to be plugged in and connected to a water source. Literally plugged in with a hose connected to the side.
The trailer has 3 tanks to hold water and waste. The fresh water tank is the one you drink out of. The grey water tank is the one that holds used shower and sink water. The third is the black tank. If you’ve ever seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, this is the one that Uncle Eddie is emptying when he says, “the shitter’s full”. This one holds the gross stuff. The grey and black tanks need to be emptied regularly. There are some nuances associated with this which are more advanced and many, many products sold to keep these tank fumes from running you out of your RV. If you want an accurate, yet funny representation of what RV life is like, rent RV with Robin Williams. It’s actually pretty dead on plus hilarious.
Most RVs are powered by electric and propane, both. They have batteries or solar that take over when you’re on the move. Those need to be recharged when you get where you’re going, kinda like a Tesla.
Those are the basics. Everything inside works the same as your normal house. It’s not all that different with the exception of making sure your tanks are taken care of and your batteries are charged. That is, of course, an oversimplification, but it’s true nonetheless.
What if you aren’t in a place where you can plug in and get water? This is called boondocking in the RV world. Basically, I’m assuming because you’re in the boondocks away from civilization? Who knows. You can absolutely park where you have no access to anything. That’s one of the best parts of living in an RV. You can hang out in the middle of a national park and sleep under the stars if you want. Again, you want empty grey and black tanks and a full fresh water tank. You can plug into a portable generator if you have one or not. Or you can use your battery and still live pretty normally. How long you can stay depends on how large your tanks are and how long you choose to if you use power sparingly.
Again, a giant oversimplification as there are many other issues like leveling your trailer after you park so you don’t break something or land in Oz on a strong wind gust.
This breakdown is for RVs that you tow and don’t drive. The driveable ones are fancier and have larger tanks and their own generators. You can also leave it running and have your power from the engine. Otherwise, they work the same way.
I’ll get into some things to watch out for that we’ve experienced the hard way in a later post. Those are the horror stories that most non-RVers think about and point to as their proof that we are insane. We laugh them off which may just make us as insane as they say.
Comments