Stealth van camping

All the different ways of solving the shelter problem. To be static or mobile? Roots, legs, or wheels?
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bridgebetween
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Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 7:44 am

Stealth van camping

Post by bridgebetween »

Hi,

Anyone know of websites that give people advice on places to park a camper van, without being moved on or hassled by people?
I have noticed foreign reg. vans parked up, stealth camper vans. I notice these vehicles, but they are not obvious.
Usually have a silver foil barrier pushed upside front window, dark glass panels or roof lights.
People seem to be in the know, of where to stay overnight.
A white van parked overnight would not be noticed in most places, but after a few nights it would stand out.

chenda
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by chenda »

Yes but UK based whereabouts are you in the world ?

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Jean
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by Jean »

Thé problem with those websites, is that thén people behave like they have full right to use thé place like a camping site, which thén déprives thé locals from enjoying the place, and a camping interdiction quickly follows. For this reason, thé best advice i Can give you is to develop a sensé for where you can Park for thé night, and use thé Space in a way that doesnt make people Feel like they are entering your home when they want to enjoy thé spot.

bridgebetween
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by bridgebetween »

UK

chenda
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by chenda »

The forestry commission website is a good resource for rural car parks. You are not supposed to stay overnight (expect maybe Scotland ?) but if you're discreet and don't cause problems you'll likely be left untouched.

@jean - agreed.

Fiddle
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by Fiddle »

There are examples of people who have this organized on a Facebook group called fulltime van life UK.

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unemployable
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by unemployable »

There are apps where people post van parking. I know ioverlander is one for the US at least. That's "i" followed by "over", not "lover".

Maybe search or ask r/vandwellers for info specific to the UK/europe. Search first though; they get annoyed at people posting the same question every week.

I don't use these as it's still usually not much of an issue in the western US. However my experience is many of my favorite overnighting spots have been blown up in the last couple of years. Then I go a mile or so away and can still find a place to myself. This strongly indicates that the blown-up spot has been posted to some app and the quiet one hasn't.

chenda
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by chenda »

There are lots of you tube channels of people doing this which might help you as well. From what I understand it's generally easier in northern Europe than southern Europe, the laws are more permissive for one thing.

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C40
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by C40 »

I wrote a great blog post about this, but I deleted the blog.

Here are some general pointers. These basically relate to blending in, to not scaring people, to not having the police called on you, etc. This advice is based on experience in the U.S.
- Stick to the more middle or lower class neighborhoods
- Don't park right in front of people's house, or in some spot that they would consider to be 'theirs'. It can be good to park on a street along a house, but that would be out of view of the people inside the house (if they don't have windows on that side, or if a fence or plants obstruct the view from house to street)
- Sometimes industrial and commercial areas can be good
- When parking in residential areas, it is easy if parking in a spot where people wouldn't always part in the same spots (like near apartments, or in an area where lots of residents park on the street and the street parking is full enough that people just park wherever there is a spot, not always right in front of their home
- After sleeping, move your van basically right after you wake up
- Can be good to hang out in/near parks during the day

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Jean
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by Jean »

C40 advices are very good. Except that I never had trouble camping in upper class areas.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Stealth van camping

Post by Sclass »

We have a couple of spots in our housing development where people park permanently and sleep in their cars. They don’t park in front of homes. They choose spots a long side the common landscaping. On the other side of the street is a wall with a drop off and the homeowners cannot see the road from their back yards. So you only see their parked cars when you drive into the neighborhood. Hard to describe…the street is on kind of a switchback with a planted hillside on both sides of the street. They lay pretty low but some of them sit in their cars all day reading and possibly using narcotics.

It’s kind of controversial among my neighbors. You only have to see them when you drive in and out of the neighborhood. The HOA takes care of the land but they don’t run the people off. I don’t think they can legally or they would have. They’ve been there so long I can see he cars on Google maps.

My neighbor talked to one of the people and apparently he was told about “the spot” by a friend of his who grew up here. :lol: It’s actually gotten bad during the pandemic. Somebody posted a photo of one of the men lying on the curb passed out.

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GandK
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by GandK »

This really REALLY depends on your particular social web.

After a few years on the road in the US: you have a ton of free options if you only want to park a week or less and you're not extremely picky about location. The problem is if you want to park longer than a week OR if you need or want a particular area... especially a popular area. Then you can expect "pay to stay" to apply unless you happen to have a friend or a club membership location in the area.

Apps we use: AllStays (iPhone only), FreeRoam, iOverlander, RVParky and Wikicamps.
Memberships we use for free stays: Boondockers Welcome, and informally our church membership. This is in addition to BLM, National Forest and Florida Water Management land usage.

We have generally separated the function of safe undisturbed sleep from the environment we need for the rest of our daily activities, and find that this choice works best for giving us the greatest number of free options. Example: especially in cities, we stay outside the city at night, and then drive into the city and use public parks, public libraries, casinos, or even shopping centers during the day.

And in a pinch, you can almost always park free in a hospital parking lot. I do not recommend it unless you can sleep through anything; they tend to be brightly lit and noisy (ambulances etc.). But they are certainly safe.

The big downsides to the "sleep in one spot, ADL in another" strategy are that your things must stay tucked away, and things like outdoor camp chairs become frequently useless.

TIP: if not a church member, ally yourself with a secular volunteer organization. Many groups will happily let you park on their site and even provide utilities if you will donate some of your time and energy to their cause.

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Sclass
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by Sclass »

How do you keep your stuff from being stolen when you’re out and about?

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GandK
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Re: Stealth van camping

Post by GandK »

Sclass wrote:
Mon Oct 25, 2021 8:29 am
How do you keep your stuff from being stolen when you’re out and about?
Unless staying somewhere trustworthy, when we leave the site, everything is packed away and locked. We don't e.g. leave camp chairs and cooking equipment sprawled around.

We've never had anything stolen. That said, we don't have many belongings worth stealing, and only two of those (our tow car, and a fairly new Trek bicycle) stay outside of the camper. I have mild anxiety about the bike in particular, but both vehicles stay locked up when not in use, and no one has messed with them.

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