My New Residence!!!

[7Wannabe5]

I just bought a super cute Vintage Camper for $850 including towing and parked it on my two adjoining vacant lots which I bought for $400 at auction. Not quite ready for occupancy yet, and likely dispute with zoning commission to come, but sometime in the nearish future my housing costs could be down to approximately $20/month (my property tax bill) plus whatever I have to spend on off-grid utilities. Pictures posted at bottom of my May Journal entry.

[C40]

Woo Hooo!!!

I imagine if one wants to fly in the face of zoning laws, you're in the right place for it

[jennypenny]

That's cool. I love vintage campers.

There are lots of good ideas for fixing it up on Pinterest. Search for 'glamping' as well as camping.

[George the original one]

"Don't bother knocking if this camper's rocking!"

[lilacorchid]

Woo!

[Ego]

Nice!!!

When they razed the home on the lot did they obliterate the sewer connection? If not you may be able to hook up the gray and black water tanks to it.

[JL13]

Nice work!

[7Wannabe5]

Thank for the encouragement!

C40 said: I imagine if one wants to fly in the face of zoning laws, you're in the right place for it

Yes and no. It's more like it could seriously go one way or the other here. Since I know that I am part of the solution rather than part of the problem, I intend to persevere with my own special mix of passive smiling resistance and malicious compliance. So far, it is looking like I might slip in under the recent code fix that allows some of my neighbors to park their ice cream trucks in their backyards. I am just going to be using the camper as a tool/potting shed and porta-potty for the time being since it needs some work, and I told my sister I would chip in for rent through the summer. Of course, I might also take it camping if I have a friend with a truck available.

jennypenny said: There are lots of good ideas for fixing it up on Pinterest. Search for 'glamping' as well as camping.

Ego said: When they razed the home on the lot did they obliterate the sewer connection? If not you may be able to hook up the gray and black water tanks to it.

It definitely needs some work. The propane line was stolen by copper bandits and the wiring to the refrigerator was chewed on by squirrels or mice. I can't even figure out how to get the awning open, and there is nothing resembling an owner's manual to be found online. First thing I have to do is locate a handle to work the jacks so I can prop the back up and get the weight off of the tires and the floor level. There is a step lever on the toilet and it just opens right on to the ground, so I just need to put a bucket under there for urine to be dumped on to my compost. Dealing with more complicated sewage processing is going to be more of a puzzle. I don't want to tie into any lines or utilities because that will make me more suspect/guilty of zoning violation.

[jacob]

Our awning was bent (very slightly) and consequently impossible to unfold. We took it in to get it fixed (after I gave up) and the tech did manage to unroll it but charged us a few hours of work to roll it back it. Could also be that there's a secret latch somewhere but in general they should come out pretty easily and be a one person job w/o the need for ladders or force.

[7Wannabe5]

@jacob: The awning isn't enclosed, but the mechanism is rather mysterious and a bit rusty. Luckily, I recently added a top-dog mechanical/manufacturing/structural engineer to Team 7WB5, so I will have him take a look at it before he escorts me to the symphony this evening. I don't recall his exact response when I said "Won't it be fun for you to help me with my camper?", but it wasn't clearly negative.

[sky]

Those vintage campers can be worth some coin when renovated.

[SimpleLife]

I recently started watching RV videos on youtube. Kind of interesting, I had considered it as a low cost housing option either in FIRE or just to travel. In your case, it may actually be worth it. I hear a lot of people spend $10 a month on propane and $25 a month on cell service, mounting solar panels on their roofs.

For me, I realized after watching a few channels videos for a while, that they need near constant maintenance and fixing, things break down constantly and it seems to cost the owners about 270 a month for repairs on average. Also, while it's cheap to live in, so is a paid off house in a LCOLA. To top it off, moving into my paid off house would cost me about as much to live in as an RV but it's a depreciating asset while my house is appreciating in value. Plus I can rent out the extra rooms for extra income if I want, have a garden, chickens solar, composting toilet, etc.

Have you ever considered living on a sailboat? Unfortunately they are expensive as a dilapidated crack house in Seattle, $350K or so, but I've watched a channel on youtube called SV Delos where the guy bought one and it looks like one heck of an adventure boat. It's super interesting. Guy realizes life is short, sells his house, quits his job, buys a sailboat and plans to travel the world for 2 years. That was about 7 years ago and he's still doing it, having had all kinds of awesome adventures along the way, met the woman of his dreams, becoming best friends with his brother, who joined him early on in the journey and traveling the world for cheap. Apparently the boat turns salt water into fresh water, they catch most of the food they eat, and the boat has an awesome solar setup. My only concern with such a plan would be the boat breaking down or sinking to the bottom of the ocean with all your stuff on it...That's the nice thing about an RV. Even if it breaks down, you're still on dry land....

[7Wannabe5]

sky said: Those vintage campers can be worth some coin when renovated.

Yup. I figure I can easily resell it for at least what I paid if need/want be.

SimpleLife said: For me, I realized after watching a few channels videos for a while, that they need near constant maintenance and fixing, things break down constantly and it seems to cost the owners about 270 a month for repairs on average.

The older I get, the more I consider maintenance and storage costs, in terms of both money and energy/time, before I do anything. At my recent minimalist low, I was only responsible for maintaining/storing/sheltering my body (Zone 0) and maybe a car full of personal belongings. That level was too "light" for me. I felt bored. So, I have tethered myself to a 7 year project on .3 acres. The camper is intended to be a help rather than a hindrance in my perma-culture project. I am not primarily interested in vintage camper restoration or travel. Also, I am good at not having to fix things right away.

Have you ever considered living on a sailboat?

The Yacht Guy I dated last year is still trying to get me to join his lifestyle. He has a large sailboat and is an experienced racer, custom house that backs up to woods with inlaid parquet he did himself (plus in my book), and a lovely, functional, empty glass greenhouse. I know it is short-term wasteful of resources that I don't choose to occupy one of the many too-big lifestyles around me, but I have tried and it is too boring for me, kind of like being a receptionist. However, I very much enjoy sampling the rose-scented broth at the new Vietnamese place downtown before attending an almost-as-good-as-sex performance of "Salome", as part of my current part-time position as travel-concubine..., and I do love the water, so maybe, if I still look okay in a bathing suit in 2022 (I will be 57), I will go down to the life-juncture meeting-place and hitch a ride or sign up as crew with an old boat guy. Is it possible to sail to Brazil from Michigan? I've kind of got it in my head that I am going to go to Brazil in 2022.

[7Wannabe5]

First full day devoted to gardening with my new camper on site. I love, love, love it!!! I brought a coffee and a couple donuts with me, and every time it intermittently thunder-stormed, I was able to go inside and take a relaxing break at my mini-dinette. Due to the availability of potty room, I was able to hang out for hours, and I got 8 more trees and shrubs planted and mulched.

[OTCW]

Friday was national donut day, so I guess you could consider today as part of the overall national donut day weekend, so good timing.

[7Wannabe5]

@OTCW: Unfortunately, I do not need a holiday designated in order to indulge. At some point in the near-ish future I am going to experimentally adopt a mostly-locavore-known-source-only diet, and then donuts may no longer exist for me until I figure out a way to combine ground corn meal, honey, egg, hazelnuts and rendered rabbit fat into a tasty torus shaped morsel.

[Laura Ingalls]

Very cool
I know of a couple that lived all winter in their Airstream that the parked inside a large poly hoophouse. They lived in WI and the temps inside hoophouse stayed above freezing all winter despite subzero actual outside temps.

This was their housing while building a house. They now use the hoophouse for more traditional uses.

It gets hard to keep waterlines unfrozen in campers once you get to 29-30°F. It gets to be a drag real quick

[7Wannabe5]

@Laura Ingalls: I actually have considered doing exactly what that couple did. Makes perfect sense. Just like constructing a little bio-dome. Works even better if you include heat-producing animals and compost in the mix. I have camper-ed in the winter, so kind of know the drill. Luckily, my new vintage camper actually has a hot water heater which might actually work if I manage to fix the propane line. If there is any realm in which I am and likely will remain a resource-slut, it would have to be hot water use. The design for my property now has the camper parked in the back corner with a patio/fire-pit realm in between it and my dome green house. I think I will be able to hostess social gatherings even as late into the year as Thanksgiving (or 20 years hence globally warmed Xmas) if I add some sort of mass-water-heat-storage unit or some sort of higher-tech variation on an Aga to the dome structure.