The Bug Out... House?

We’ve talked quite a bit in the past about bug out bags, bug out plans, and even bug out vehicles. Today, though, I want to offer up the notion of a bug out house.

Don't worry, I’m not seriously going to try and convince you that you can somehow move your entire house, and while having a second house that is distant enough from your primary residence to serve as a bug-out location would be great, no way is that blue collar. But what is blue collar, and almost as good as having that second house, is having some manner of RV or camper.

I will concede that large, fancy camping rigs are incredibly expensive, sometimes costing as much as a small house or even more. But a budget-minded individual who is a bit handy can acquire an older unit for the price of  a teenager's first car. A rig like this will need some maintenance that newer units won’t yet need, and it won’t have all the top conveniences, but it will keep you warm (or cool, depending on season) and dry, and is considerably more comfortable than a tent.

Trailers obviously aren’t as quick to press into action as a simple grab-and-go bag. Depending on who we’re taking with us, and where we are when we get the call to go, it would take my family somewhere between one and two hours to get loaded up, hitched up, and on the road. My brother-in-law can have his trailer rolling in an hour or less, but his is a much smaller and simpler rig. However, the trade-off for that slower reaction time is that a trailer can be kept stocked with sundry nonperishable supplies and equipment that would be infeasible or impossible to carry in a bag.

Another complication with a camping rig is the need for a tow vehicle and fuel for same. I’ll go into the particulars of towing at a later time, since it's a valuable skill to know, but for now it's enough to say that all but the very smallest of cars can tow something. My best friend hauls his trailer with a Dodge Durango, I pull mine with an old Ford F150, and my last rig, which my brother-in-law now owns, could easily be pulled with a midsize car.

Finally, don’t discount the “recreational” part of the name. Recreation is vital to mental and emotional health, and maintaining your emotional well-being during an extended emergency is every bit as important as keeping up your physical health, and if you’re so lucky that you never need to bug out, you can still use your RV or camper to spend time outdoors, learning and practicing skills, and making lifelong memories. Many of my outdoors experiences growing up came while camping in Mom and Dad’s old rig, and the love I had for those experiences drove me to build more skills and learn more. These are the same skills I now pass on to the Scouts I teach, as well as to my friends’ children.

If you’re caught in an evacuation scenario like the Southeastern USA regularly gets with hurricanes, or the Midwest is currently seeing with rain and flooding, being able to hitch up a small house and leave within an hour or so grants a lot of flexibility. You don’t need a friend with an available bed, or a hotel room that may be in short supply, and you don’t have to figure out where to stash the family pet(s); all you need is a friendly parking lot or a bit of driveway at a friend’s home.

[Editor's note: Chaplain Tim has a series on converting and upgrading an RV ad a bug out vehicle here.]

Lokidude

RV Water Systems

The water system on an RV is basically a smaller version of the infrastructure that supplies your house. Most people don't like to think about their water until it stops working; they just assume that you get water when you turn on the faucet, and when you flush the toilet it all magically disappears. Living in a camper will put you in closer contact with two of the best things humans have ever developed: clean water and efficient waste management.

Since most Class A motorhomes are “self-contained” - meaning they don't require any external hook-ups for short stays - they carry their own supply of water. Even the old slide-in pickup campers and pop-ups had a water tank and pump to supply the sink. The complicated part comes from where the water goes after you use it. Simple (old) campers commonly had a drain hose from the sink that you routed outside, letting the waste water drain onto the ground. That is frowned upon today, and is definitely not an option for toilets. The solution is a three-water system of tanks and piping that is put together like this:

Clean (Blue) Water
My motorhome has a 90 gallon clean water tank, mounted to the frame under the bed in the rear of the coach. Being careful with water will stretch that out to a couple of weeks' worth of water; if I can find an outside toilet and shower, it'll last for a month.

The tank has a 12VDC pump to supply potable water to the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, water heater, toilet, and shower. The pump draws its power from the coach batteries (I covered the electrical system last week) and pumps around 3-4 gallons per minute, which is enough for a water-saving shower head or any faucet.

Standard RV water heaters are propane-fired versions of a household water heater that only hold 6 or 10 gallons, so you'll learn to take quick showers. Be sure to watch those water heaters carefully; the “instant on” point of use water heaters use a flow switch to start the heater, and if a faucet isn't open far enough to meet the minimum flow set point of the switch, there won't be any hot water.

There is a female garden hose fitting on the left (driver's) side, all the way to the back, for filling the tank. Most campers also have another female garden hose fitting for hooking into the water system at campgrounds or an outside faucet on a house. You'll want a pressure regulator on the garden hose (which needs to be rated for potable water) to prevent spikes in pressure, which can damage your plumbing -- campers water lines are made from plastic to allow some movement without breaking while you travel down the road, but they don't handle sudden pressure changes very well.

You also don't want to try to run the water pump and the campsite hookup at the same time! The campsite water pressure will be much higher than your pump can produce and it will force water backwards through your pump. This can lead to burned out pump motors, pump impellers coming off, or air getting trapped in your pump, all of which mean that your pump won't work when you need it.

Gray Water
Gray water is what goes down the drains from the shower and sinks. This water isn't clean, but since there is no human waste involved, but it's not quite sewage either. My gray water tank is broken pretty badly, so I'm going to have to replace it. The original tank was 60 gallons, and it sits between the frame rails of the chassis. There are a lot of pipes connected to the gray water tank and they're all glued in place. so it's going to be a pain to replace.

Watch what goes down your drains. Fats, oils, and grease (FOG in waste treatment terms) will coat the inside of your tank and block your level sensor. Once the layers get thick enough, they will blind off your drain port and prevent your tank from emptying. There are chemicals available to remove FOG, but they're mostly just a concentrated base like lye with some fragrance added.

Black Water
The waste from the toilet drops directly into the black water tank. That's the only direct connection, although some models will have an overflow from the gray water tank. Mine is supposed to have a 60 gallon black water tank, but I haven't measured it to make sure. With just the two of us using it, that should last at least a week before needing to dump it.

Since this is where the nasty stuff is stored, the black water tank will have a vent pipe that runs up the wall and vents above the roof. Mine has a 2 inch pipe and needs a new rain cap on the top - anything on the top of an RV is going to get exposed to a lot of weather as well as the wind from driving, so expect a lot of wear and tear up there.

Speaking of the sewage, I recommend using one of the biological treatments on the market to help digest the waste between dumpings. After a few days in warm weather, black water tanks get pretty rank as the waste ferments. I'll have a chance to test a few different brands next summer, but don't have a specific one to recommend right now.

RV toilets are odd in that they don't usually hold water until you get ready to use them; having a bowl full of water as you drive down the road is a good way to end up with wet floors. The normal procedure is:

1. Open the toilet lid. 
2. Step on the small lever to add water to the bowl, or on newer toilets push the single lever down part-way. Add as much as you think you'll need, usually about half-full. 
3. Use the toilet as normal, with the caveat that toilet paper for an RV is designed to break down (dissolve) quickly and isn't going to be as comfortable as household TP. 
4. To flush, step on the large lever, which also depresses the small lever (on newer toilets you just push the lever down all the way). The large lever opens the sliding gate allowing everything to drop into the black water tank, while the small one turns on water flow to flush everything down. 
5. When you're satisfied that the bowl is clear, close the lid. This isn't just to mollify the womenfolk; it will help keep bad odors from creeping back up and into your bathroom. 

Dumping Your Waste Tanks
Good campgrounds charge you a fee for overnight stays, mainly to pay for their infrastructure. Part of that infrastructure may be a sewer connection at each camper site, which means you can hook your drain hose up to a port in the ground and dump your tanks when they get about half full. This is great for extended stays, since it means you won't have to leave your camp site to find a place to dump the waste tanks. It's not a good idea to leave the dump valves open all the time because the solids will tend to stay in your tank unless you have a good supply of water moving to flush it out.

Several businesses have free dump stations as an incentive to get campers to stop at their stores; look for a Cabela's store or a Flying J truck stop. Interstate highway rest areas are another good place to find dump stations, and around here the county fair grounds usually have one as well. Other truck stops may have dump stations, but they may charge a small fee for their use. Joining one of the large campers groups will get you access to free dump stations at their locations as well.

How to dump your waste tanks:

1. Get the drain hose out of its storage compartment. That's usually the rear bumper, or at least near it. 
2. Connect the hose to your waste port. It's usually a 3" fitting with quarter-turn locking ears. 
3. Connect the other end of the hose to the dump station. A lot of times this is just sticking the tapered end of the hose into the hole in the ground, but some have locking tabs. Use the locks if they are available, as that will prevent smelly messes. 
4. Open the dump valves. There are differing opinions on the “correct” procedure, but the one that makes sense to me goes like this: 
1. If the black water tank is not full, open the cross-over valve from the gray water tank until it is at least 2/3 full. 
2. Close the cross-over valve and open the black water drain valve. 
3. Once the black water tank is empty, close the drain valve, open the cross-over valve again to flush it with the contents of the gray water tank. 
4. Drain both tanks and rinse both with fresh water. 
5. Adding a couple of gallons of water and your choice of treatment chemicals is a good last step. 
5. Flush the hose with clear water before putting it back in storage. 
6. Clean up any mess you may have made. The next person to use the dump station will appreciate it. 

I have heard tales of people in a bind having to dump their black water tanks into road ditches, and the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation of Cousin Eddie dumping his waste down a storm drain gets brought up whenever my friends hear about my purchase of an RV. I don't advise either method in civilized times (combined storm/sewer lines are a thing of the past), but if TSHTF, you'll dump waste where you can. Try to be somewhat considerate and at least cover your waste, though; insects and other pests will find it soon enough.


While my recent articles have been about the various parts of an older RV, most of the information is transferable to small cabins or off-grid houses as well; my small house just happens to be mobile.

RV Electrical Basics

Because my RV is basically a mobile Bug-out location (BOL), I need to make sure that the electrical systems are good enough for moderate use. I'm not going to be living in it full-time for years, so it doesn't need a generator capable of providing substantial power for decades nor the fuel capacity to keep a generator going that long, but I do want to be able to have lights and running water (I could live without the microwave). Here's what it has and what I'm going to do to improve it.

What's There?

Like most motor homes, mine has three separate electrical systems and they're all interconnected to a certain extent. The main separation is between the engine electrical (known as the “cab”) and the living quarters (the “coach”).

Cab power is 12VDC, provided by the engine's starting battery and alternator.

• The alternator is a heavy-duty version of what is normally found in cars, rated for about twice as many amps as a car alternator. 
• The battery is a large light truck battery.
• Cab power runs all of the things associated with driving the motor home like headlights, turn signals, clearance (marker) lights, engine electronics, and the starter. 
• In order to prevent idiots from getting themselves stranded with a dead starting battery, there is no way to get power from the cab to the coach.

Coach power in my RV is a mix of 12VDC (batteries) and 120VAC (electrical hook-ups).

• There is a storage compartment at the rear of the RV for two deep cycle batteries, like you'd use for a golf cart or trolling motor. 
• These supply all of the lights on the ceiling as well as the water pump, furnace (it has its own miniature propane furnace for winter travels), control circuitry for the refrigerator and water heater, the starter for the on-board generator, and various little fans and exterior lights. 
• These batteries are kept charged by a converter box that uses 120VAC from either the generator or shore power (when you're plugged into an outlet at a campground). 
• There is a “starter boost” switch on the dashboard that will engage a solenoid and briefly add the coach batteries to the cab battery in case you left the headlights on and can't start the engine. 
• I've already switched out all of the 12VDC incandescent bulbs in the coach with cheap LEDs from Amazon. I picked two different styles of LEDs to do a comparison (short ones and long ones), and so far there is very little difference. I can have all 24 lights on at once and only use as much power as 2 of the original bulbs, and they run cooler. The shift in color from the yellowish hue of the incandescent bulbs to the slightly blue of LEDs also makes the RV look more appealing -- it just doesn't look as old and worn under bluer light. Morale is important, especially if I plan on spending a lot of time in the RV.

• The 120VAC system is fed by either the generator that produces ~50 Amps, or the shore power cord which is rated for 30 Amps. 
• The rooftop AC units are 120VAC only and each pulls about 20 Amps, so there is some creative use of switches and wiring to power both of them at the same time, but that's particular to my RV. 
• The refrigerator is a 3-way model, running on 120VAC, propane, or 12VDC. 
• There are a handful of standard household outlets scattered around the coach so you can plug in your laptop, coffee maker, power tools, or cell phone charger. The one in the bathroom is actually a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) model because there is a possibility of it getting wet from the shower. GFCIs react quicker than standard circuit breakers and provide an extra level of safety in wet locations. 
• There are also duplex outlets on the outside of the coach for hooking up anything you want to use outside, and they have rain-proof covers on them.

What's Missing?

I have plans to modify the electrical system quite a bit. There is some redundancy in the existing setup, but I want more; I'm a belt and suspenders type when it comes to simple systems that I plan to use a lot. I don't want to be shut down on the side of the road because of a single fuse (BTDT) or have to cancel plans because of a minor mechanical issue. I like redundancy, it's insurance against Murphy's Law.

• The current coach battery setup is too small. There is currently room for about 200 Amp-hours worth of battery and I'm going to double that at least. I'm investigating where would be best to place at least two more deep-cycle batteries.
• The power converter is 120VAC to 12VDC. I'm going to be adding a large inverter to be able to go the other direction and use the new coach batteries to provide limited 120VAC. The inverter will probably be placed in a space vacated by the old water heater after I replace it with a more efficient on-demand model.
• There will be solar panels on the roof, tied into the 12VDC coach batteries. Mounting them and running power cables is under study right now; it'll be next spring before I'll be able to afford them, so I have time to plan out how many I need and how I want to mount them. I'm trying to figure out what I'll need and how much space I have to mount them on. You also have to remember that they have to stay in place as I'm traveling down the road at 65 mph, so mounting is important.
• Most of the interior 120VAC outlets are going to be replaced with modern versions that have USB 2.0 power ports built into them. Too much of our lives runs on rechargeable batteries these days.
• The outside outlets and the ones in the kitchen area are going to be replaced with GFCI outlets. I like having the extra security/safety, and they're not that expensive.
• I am going to install a master kill switch on the cab battery. It will be hidden from sight, and will completely disconnect the battery from the engine for anti-theft and anti-idiot reasons. I'm trying to decide if I want to use a keyed switch for extra security, but run the risk of losing the key and being shut down.
• All of the outside lights, with the exception of the headlights, need to be switched to LEDs. LED headlights exist, but they don't work well in cold climates. The heat from a halogen bulb will melt ice and snow off of your headlights, but LEDs run cooler and get blinded fast in any kind of winter weather.
• I need to install LED light bars/strings inside the cabinets and put a few along the floor as night lights.
• Each of the exterior storage compartments is going to have an LED light installed inside, along with a switch on the door. I am contemplating wiring the switches to a notification panel in the cab so I'll know if any of the doors are open before I start driving.
• I need to install a separate AM/FM radio for the coach. We like music, and I don't want to use the cab battery for anything once we're parked. One nice thing about having a smaller space than a house is that I won't need very large speakers to fill it with sound.
• Speaking of radios, I am working on a communications station for shortwave and other radios. I'll have a Citizen's Band (CB) up front by the driver's seat, but I want a scanner and a Ham Radio setup as well. I'm still working on getting my Ham license; testing locations are a bit of a drive and they don't test very often.
• The generator is not currently hooked up to either the 120VAC or the 12VDC coach system. I'm not sure if this is because the previous owner (PO) couldn't get it to run or if he just didn't want to mess with it. I will be dropping the generator out of its hiding place and doing a thorough tune-up/minor overhaul on it, which will be covered in a post of its own. 
• The PO has passed away, so I can't ask him questions. I'm finding a lot of electrical issues, so he might not have been able to offer much help anyway. He also didn't leave any of the owner's manuals in the RV, so I'm digging through various internet forums to find what I can.

As I've mentioned before, I bought this RV cheap with the full knowledge that it was going to take a lot of work to get it back into shape. Besides learning the details of how things operate, this work will allow me to customize the RV to fit my personal tastes. So far, I haven't run into anything that I can't do, and if I do find something out of my reach, I have friends who can work on things for me. My worst case scenario would be something major wrong with the engine, but I can get that swapped out in a buddy's shop within a week, although it might cost me a case of beer and $1000 for an engine. Ford made a lot of the 7.5L (460 cubic inch) motors and they're easy to find.

I will soon have access to a paint shop that is large enough to fit the RV, so it may even get a fresh coat of paint this winter. Being a generalist has its advantages, and I've learned how to do a lot of different things over the years.

Next week I'll cover the plumbing, which is almost as complicated as the electrical system.

Why an RV for Prepping?

I probably should have started my RV related posts with this one, but it just didn't “gel” until this week. I'm a simple man, and what I write has to make sense to me before I'll publish it. This part of my journey just wasn't ready to be written before now.

As I think I've mentioned before, I've been camping since I was in diapers - mom actually used to change our diapers at the campgrounds we visited back in the early 1960's. I've spent weeks at a time living out of everything from a sleeping bag with a cover to a Class C motorhome (my recent purchase is my first experience with a Class A). There isn't a whole lot of mystery to living in the outdoors for me any more; I've been through most of what can go wrong at least once in the last 50-odd years. Here are a few of the reasons I recommend looking at an RV from a prepper's viewpoint.

Mobility

An RV is mobile by definition. Being able to hook up to a camper or hop into a motorhome and drive away from a natural or man-made disaster is one of the key selling points for a prepper. My Class A is fine for paved roads and well-maintained gravel roads, but I wouldn't care to take it too far down unimproved (dirt) roads or off-road. A tow-behind trailer hooked to a 4WD truck could get to more remote locations, and offers more options once you've arrived.

Distance

Being able to put distance between you and a crisis situation is important to surviving most emergencies. Hurricane coming ashore? Get your butt to higher ground. Riots making life difficult in your city? Go far enough away that the looters won't find you. One of the bumper stickers I saw on an RV the other day said, “One of the joys of living in an RV is that family can't visit a moving target”.

One of the down sides to RV's is that their mileage sucks. My F250 with a 5.3L engine gets a miserable 15 MPG, but my 32 foot Class A with a Ford 7.5L (460 cubic inch) engine will be lucky to get 10 MGPG. Larger Class As with a diesel engine are on par with city buses and semis, 4-8 MPG. This is why most RVs have at least 50 gallons of fuel tanks installed - to get you a few hundred miles between fill-ups that make your wallet cry.

Comfort

Living out of a pop-up or turtle camper is cramped, but it beats the snot out of sleeping on the ground. I went with a full Class A because of my wife's medical needs and the fact that I prefer to sleep where bugs have a hard time getting into bed with me. Having a supply of fresh water and a way of cooking food makes life easier to bear, regardless of what else is falling apart. Being able to carry our computers and TV with us is a good way to beat boredom, and I'll have plenty of power for the various radio systems that are going to be installed.

Housing

While I don't live in tornado alley, I have friends who do. We might see a twister or two each summer, but they rarely come within 20 miles of my house. Once I get my RV back into shape, it will probably be stored for most of the year at a secure storage lot about 30 miles away, just in case I need to use it if my house were to be destroyed. On the odd chance that fire or a tornado were to hit my family or friends, I have mobile housing that I can offer them until they get their house back together. A medium to large RV would also make a good guest house for visitors (mother-in-law housing), giving them a bit of privacy and control over their lives that may be lacking after a disaster.

Self-Sufficiency

If you're looking for the bare essentials to self-sufficiency, an RV will meet most of your demands. Since they carry their own water, fuel, and electrical generator while providing shelter and storage, they are close to being self-contained; food is about the only thing that they can't provide, but parking one next to a large garden would cover most of that. If you're looking at adding solar panels to your house or bug-out location, setting up a smaller system on an RV will let you work out the little problems before you make a major investment in equipment.

Practice

Do you have family that is new to prepping? Children or a new SO that don't have a firm grasp of what it means to prepare for emergencies? Traveling in an RV will teach them some very important lessons, like how to get by with a limited wardrobe and how to live in close quarters with other human beings without killing each other. Since most of us are going to be storing an RV for months at a time, you'll get to practice winterizing and fuel storage every year. Meal preparation on a small stove using food that has been stored in the RV will be good practice for once you get to your bug-out location and start living off of the long-term storage food you've got cached, and taking a shower with a limited water supply is always a good skill to have. If you've ever thought about the “small house” fad that's been going on for the last few years, consider that most RV's have less than 300 square feet of floor space and still manage to feel comfortable.

I'm getting close to retirement and I've got vacation time to burn, so I got an RV to use while visiting friends and family that are scattered around the USA.  I don't fly any more due to the TSA and various other political policies, so I thought I should at least be comfortable while we're driving around the country. I'll have more articles about my project RV as I start working through the issues that it has - I bought it cheap knowing that it needs a lot of work, and this way I'll get to know it better than someone who just signed the loan paperwork and drove a new one off of the lot. Being able to repair or bypass things is a large part of me being a prepper, so this is both practice and an education for me.

A Different Kind of Cold

While researching the various systems in my RV, I managed to find an installation manual for the refrigerator and it emphasized the differences between a typical household refrigerator and the kind you'll find in an RV. Those of you who have no interest in getting an RV may find some of those differences useful if you're looking for a refrigerator/freezer for a remote cabin or other “off-grid” living quarters.

Most RV refrigerators will run on either 120VAC power or propane (LP), while a few models like mine will add 12VDC as an option. It may sound strange, but they actually cool the inside of the refrigerator by heating up a “boiler” using a propane flame or an electrical heating element. The method of cooling is called “single pressure absorbtion refrigeration” (SPAR) instead of the conventional“vapor compression” method (VC)used in air conditioners and household refrigerators. Here are a few of the differences:

A conventional VC system uses a compressor/condenser unit to turn gaseous Freon (a generic name for a family of fluorocarbons) into a liquid, then pumps the liquid through an expansion valve which causes it to turn back into a vapor. The change from liquid to vapor is known as a “phase change” and requires quite a bit of heat to accomplish. The liquid gets that needed heat by pulling it out of the inside of the refrigerator, cooling the contents. The hot vapor is then routed back to the compressor, which further heats it as it compresses it back into a liquid, and finally to the condenser where the excess heat is exhausted to the outside air.

A SPAR unit uses two gasses (usually hydrogen and ammonia) and a liquid (water) that absorbs one of the gasses, all kept at roughly the same pressure. The ammonia, in liquid form, absorbs heat from the inside of the refrigerator and changes phase to a gas. That gas is absorbed by the water, which is then heated in a small “boiler” to drive it back out of solution. The gaseous ammonia condenses back to liquid form in a condenser and flows back to the heat exchanger inside the refrigerator. The hydrogen serves as a carrier for the ammonia and eliminates the need for a mechanical pump to move the liquid ammonia. SPAR systems have no moving parts, so they will last a long time. There is no compressor, and the condenser is a lot smaller, but in return efficiency takes a dive; SPAR units are only about a third as efficient as VC units, which is why SPAR systems are rare in houses today. 

My grandpa used to buy Servel refrigerators that ran on kerosene, back in the 1930s and 40s. I've heard that they would run on as little as a quart a day. You can still find them for sale on eBay and Craigslist, but they don't meet all of the current safety regulations and the safety nannies are trying to get them off of the market. Servel was the brand name used by Dometic, which is the major maker of SPAR systems in the world, for their household appliances. They still make them, but they are all propane-fired now. A full-sized refrigerator will burn about a pound of propane each day, so a grill-sized 20 pound cylinder would last about two weeks (they never fill cylinders more than 85% full [17 gallons] for safety reasons).

The VC system uses an electrically driven compressor, which requires a big surge of power to start. The SPAR system will have a control board and ignition coil that require electricity, but most of that is 12VDC. RV systems generally have a 120VAC heating coil to replace the propane burner when you are hooked up to the grid or running a generator, mine also has a 12VDC heating coil as an option, but it is not rated for the full cooling capacity and the manual advises using the DC option for no more than 6 hours. Electric heating elements are not efficient, and I avoid them wherever possible.

VC system have a compressor, which is a sealed unit with moving parts inside. There is no maintenance, when it dies it has to be replaced and that usually costs more than a new refrigerator would. Compressors can be noisy when they run, whereas a SPAR system is almost silent (unless you're using a generator to power it).

Cost can be an issue. Since SPAR units are targeted at the RV market, their production is nowhere near that of VC units. Economy of scale knocks the price of VC units down to half or a third of a comparable SPAR unit. SPAR units also tend to be smaller, somewhere between a dorm fridge and a house fridge. The smaller size is a plus for me, it means that the refrigerator will get cleaned out more often and there's less of a chance of leftovers getting lost in the back of a shelf.

If you're on a budget and still trying to put together a bug-out location or a bug-out vehicle with cold food storage, keep an eye out for people scrapping or parting out an older RV. It's hard to kill something with no moving parts, and replacement circuit boards are still being produced for a lot of the older models, so a used RV fridge might fill a niche if you have medication that needs to be kept cold or just want to enjoy a cold beer (or have ice cubes in your lemonade) as you watch the world fall apart around you.

Basic Types of RVs

While looking for my RV, I had some choices to pick from. The variety of camping trailers and self-propelled campers is kind of mind-numbing for some, so I'm going to list most of them and give some of the pros and cons from a prepper's perspective. Here's a link to some common terms used when describing campers.

Campers break down into two major groups, towed and self-propelled. Each of these groups has many sub-groups which are further divided by manufacturer and floorplan. I'll start small and progress through the sizes.

Towed

http://galleryhip.com/small-camper-trailer.html

The simplest form of camper is the tow-behind hard shell. Often referred to as a “turtle”, these are a good choice for using when travelling solo or with a significant other because they rarely have accommodations for more than two people. 

Generally weighing less than 1200 pounds, they can be hooked up to any vehicle with a trailer hitch. The newer ones have more amenities than the one we had when I was growing up, which was little more than a rolling bedroom. These days you can find them with cooking equipment and heaters.

Easy to move but with limited interior space, “turtles” will keep you dry and protected from bugs quite well for a long time. They have very few moving parts, so maintenance is simple. Keep the bearings greased and the tires in good shape, and they'll roll for a long time.

http://easiercamping.com/are-pop-up-campers-better/

If you want a bit more space, the next size up is the “pop up” or tent-trailer design. The small ones often open from only one end, deploying a canvas or nylon tent structure to create a sleeping area. Larger ones will have a central roof that moves up, exposing tent-like walls and shelf-like tented platforms that slide out each end. 

Because of the canvas or nylon tenting, this style is not as waterproof as a hard shell trailer, nor are they good at holding heat in or out. The life of the trailer is determined by the life of the canvas, which may last up to 20 years with good care. 

The popular Coleman pop-up campers have been around since I was a kid, and we spent a lot of summers living out of one. The slide-out shelves provide a roughly queen-sized bed space on each end, large enough for four people to sleep on. Inside the central area is a propane stove, small sink, ice box, and storage areas. Some floorplans will offer a table that folds down to make another bed, bumping the sleeping capacity up to six. Folding couches are an option that can increase bed space to eight people, which is usually too many in my opinion. Fairly light, these can be towed behind most rear wheel drive cars and pickups. Maintenance on the tenting and the various cables that move the roof and shelves can be a pain.

http://marriottcamping.com/CampersAvailable.htm

Need more room to stretch your legs inside? The next step up is a conventional tow-behind, with more options and floorplans than you can shake a stick at. Most of them will sleep 6 to 8 people in moderate comfort, while providing larger cooking and storage areas. Most of them will come with air conditioning and a heater, as well as running water from a 20-30 gallon fresh water tank and 12V DC pump. The sink may empty into a gray water tank, or it may just drain to a hose outside on the ground. Larger ones will have a simple bathroom with a black water tank to hold the waste until you get to a dump station (larger campgrounds and some Interstate rest areas are good places to find dump stations). 

This is about as small as you'd want to go if you're travelling with children in wet weather. Trust me, having two or three kids cooped up in an 8 by 8 trailer for a day or two will make sleeping in the rain look good. Having 20 feet or more of floor space to spread out in allows more breathing room and a lot more storage space than a small trailer.

http://vogeltalksrving.com/2014/07/redwood-rv-introduces-sequoia-luxury-fifth-wheel/

Have a big family, or just want to take a small house with you? Now we're getting into the fifth-wheel trailers. Rivaling motor homes in amenities, you can get anything you want in a fifth-wheel, literally anything you can afford. Hot tub? I've seen them. Full bar? Yep. Nothing but beds? Those are called bunkhouses and can sleep up to 20 (common at remote construction sites). Want to take your snowmobiles with you but don't want to haul two trailers in tandem? Those are called toy haulers and will have a platform for loading your ATVs, personal watercraft, or snowmobiles on.

The floorplans are versatile because most of this class of trailer uses slide-outs to increase the floor space once you've reached your destination. Imagine being able to push your living room wall out 2 to 4 feet to make room for a larger couch and you get the idea behind slide-outs. The downside is that during travel, the slides are retracted and take up floor space. You're also going to need a good-sized (¾ ton or more) pickup with a fifth-wheel hitch in the bed, which eliminates using the truck bed for storage. Slide-outs use either a cable system or gears to move, and the overhanging weight will require the use of stabilizing jacks under the trailer to keep it from tipping over. Maintenance is key to keeping everything working properly.

Self-Propelled

http://www.rvbusiness.com/tag/truck-campers/

The smallest of this class is the pickup camper. Usually something that slides into the bed of a pickup, with a portion protruding over the cab of the truck, this class of camper is akin to the “turtles” in amenities and floor space. Low-profile models will have a roof that hinges up or rises to expose a canvas wall similar to a pop-up camper. The lower profile reduces wind resistance and increase your gas mileage.

Beds are usually over the cab of the truck (very limited head room and not a good choice for claustrophobics), a table that knocks down to form a bed, and maybe a bench that can fold out into a bed. Propane stoves and small sinks are common in the older ones; the newer ones can have a bathroom (with clean, gray, and black water tanks), refrigerator, and queen-sized bed. They won't fit in short-box pickups and many of them will extend a couple of feet out the back of the bed of a full-sized (8 foot bed) truck. 

You're carrying your home with you, but it's hard to leave it somewhere if you want to go shopping without it. Watch the weight if you're driving a ½ ton pickup, as some of these are over 1500 pounds when empty. Low maintenance and sturdy, they'll last a long time.

Motorhomes come in three sizes, commonly called classes, and the classes are a bit confusing. All three classes come with the basic stove, sink, beds, and at least a toilet. Most of them are self-contained, meaning they don't need to be hooked up to any utilities. They carry their own water, waste storage, and power generation. The variety of floorplans and the quality of the interior designs is amazing.

http://imgarcade.com/1/small-rv-campers/

Class C is in the middle, and is a van that has been chopped off behind the driver's seat and had a pickup camper melded to it. Lengths run from 20-30 feet. These are easy to spot because of the bed space that protrudes over the driver's cab (which is obviously a van front end). They are moderately comfortable to stay in, but not the most comfortable to travel in. Fuel mileage and power usually suffer from the high roofline and extra weight being added to a standard van. They don't handle cross winds very well, and they tend to waddle down the road if the suspension is worn or wasn't designed properly. 

http://www.pic2fly.com/Campers.html

Class B is the smallest. It's basically a conversion of a standard, cargo, or high-capacity van. The roof is usually raised to provide headroom and windows are added and moved to fit the floorplan. It normally sleeps 2 or 3 people, is comfortable to travel in and is designed for short stops on long trips. Models that start as cargo or high-capacity vans have engines and transmissions better suited to handle the extra weight, so handling and fuel mileage aren't as bad as a Class C.

http://www.shoppok.com/collegestation/a,38,58784,1990-Airex-Class-A-33-foot--bartlett-.htm

Class A is the big boy league, with some being built on stretched out heavy van frames, others using a fire truck chassis, and the really big ones starting out as a bus frame or custom made. Lengths vary from 25-50 feet.

Newer ones all have slide-outs, some as many as four of them, to increase the square footage. Prices on new ones start at $100,000 (and go up to well over a million), and used ones tend to hold their value if they are well-maintained. Smaller ones are normally gasoline powered, with the the Ford 6.8L V10 or the GM 8.1L V8 being common today (it was the Ford 460 and GM 454 for many years). The larger ones are have diesel engines, usually mounted in the rear (hence the term “diesel pusher”, since the engine is “pushing” the RV). Gas vs. diesel is almost as contentious and Ford vs. GM: gas engines are easier and cheaper to maintain, but diesels last longer; diesel fuel stores better than gasoline, but costs more; diesel engines create more torque, but in a narrower band (this is why a gas-powered pickup can get by with a 4 speed transmission, but a diesel works better with a 6 speed).

Last but not least is the catch-all category custom builds. I've seen everything from food trucks to Metro buses turned into campers. Some are well-done, others look like Bubba should have found a better tin shed to put on wheels. There are too many variables to cover here, but there are plenty of examples on the Internet if you're interested in exploring this option.

I have driven commercial vehicles for many years and recommend training, or at least practice, before a first-timer puts a Class A on the road. Having a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) helped when I got the RV added to my vehicle insurance. Most people aren't used to having their taillights 30-40 behind them or the shear weight of a vehicle this large. Stopping distances are on par with a tractor-trailer, not a car. Tires are normally duals (two per side) and need special attention paid to inflation pressure. My Class A RV has a “tag” axle to carry the extra weight. A tag axle is an additional axle attached to the frame but not the driveshaft; it carries weight but doesn't provide traction or braking. Tag axles also like to drag a bit if you turn too sharply.

Avoiding Craigslist Scams

I've been thinking about buying an RV for quite a while, and I finally accumulated enough money in my savings account, so I started looking around to see what prices were like. I'm not looking for another bug-out vehicle; just something that I can load the wife into and do some travelling. It'd be nice to see friends who live in other parts of the country while maintaining control of my own security and being able to travel with things that would be difficult to take on an airplane. (Spam cans of ammo are heavy, firearms don't always make it to their destination via the airlines, and I trust the TSA about as far as I could throw one of them.) Having optional living quarters is also comforting when I start thinking about the various disasters that could keep me out of my house.

We have some well-established camper sales lots in my area, one of them having been in the same location for almost 60 years. I know people who work (or have worked) there, and I have dealt with a few of the companies over the years while repairing campers for friends. Buying a new camper is worse than buying a new car: the market is a lot smaller and there is less competition, so the sales-weasels will try to get you to buy way more than you'll need. I looked at some of the new prices -- I can buy a house in this area cheaper than some of the 5th-wheel trailers go for, and I'd have to buy a better truck to tow it with. The new Class A (self-contained and self-propelled) campers all start at more than I paid for my last two houses combined.

I'm getting close to retirement age, and most of my money is tied up in trying to get set to survive living without a daily job, so buying new is not an option. (Give me a few more years and the house will be paid off and I will be debt-free.) If you have a few tens of thousands of dollars laying around or don't mind taking out a loan (neither fits me), then a new camper, trailer, or motor home might be an option. For me, I knew I would be buying something used, probably needing repairs, and I needed to keep the price below $10,000. I started with Craigslist.

Craigslist is easy to navigate and a lot of people like it because it's free. Most listings have pictures (this is important) and a price in the title, and the search function on the left-hand side bar gives options like min/max price and distance from your location. There are warnings about scams at the bottom of the page, but those don't go far enough. The scammers are looking for three things; your money, your contact information, and your personal data. If they can just take your money, they will. If they can't do that, they'll be looking to steal your identity or at least add your contact information to the files of other thieves. Some people are too trusting, and there are always jackals out there looking for some way to get money without having to work for it. Here's what I ran into and how I learned to avoid the scammers.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Nobody is going to sell a five-year-old RV for a couple of thousand dollars. Nobody is going to deliver an RV (more than a few miles) for free. One scammer told me they'd deliver an RV from 1200 miles away for just the cost of gas. That fails the smell test, since they'd be eating all of the lodging and meals for travel both ways.

Read the Ad Carefully
One of the warnings that Craigslist offers is “buy local”. If you are looking at an ad in a local Craigslist and it doesn't have at least a city listed, it's probably a scam. None of the sellers that I contacted who didn't have a location in the ad were local.

Compare Prices
Looking at other used RV selling sites will give you an idea of what RVs similar to the one you're looking at are selling for. There are so many brands, models, and options available that it is unlikely you'll find an exact duplicate, but you'll find something close. Rvtrader is a site with a lot of listings, so it is likely you'll find something similar to what you're looking at. RVT is another option with 100k listings for variety.

Look At the Pictures
If you see text over the picture that isn't advertising a dealership, it's probably a scam. I use a browser add-on called Tineye to reverse-search images that I find on the internet. If the same picture is being used for listings in multiple states, it's a scam. A lot of scammers grab pictures from legitimate RV dealerships and use them in their ads, so watch for other ads to pop up in the results. Google offers a reverse-search option for images that works, but isn't as convenient.

Sharpen Your Search Skills
There are a few online sources of average prices for used RVs, with NADA being the most respected. They are the “Blue Book” that you'll hear referred to in used vehicle ads.

If there is a phone number in the listing, look at the area code and see if it is local to the area. I'm in a fairly sparsely-populated state, so I only have to deal with a half-dozen area codes within 200 miles in any direction. A lot of larger cities have that many many area codes just within the city limits. Internet searches for phone numbers aren't very useful anymore, because they all want payment for any information and a few of the cell phone companies don't even release their data to the public.

Have a Good Spam Filter On Your Email
Craigslist offers an anonymous email option for contacting sellers; use it! Don't give out your actual email address until you have made some effort to make sure you're not dealing with a scammer. Spam filters and throw-away email addresses will give the spammers something to play with. Gmail actually does a good job of filtering out the idiots, and I've noticed that hotmail and yahoo are getting better.

Exchanging Money
Once the scammer has you hooked, they are going to try to get your money. Western Union, wire transfers, money orders, gift cards, and fake escrow companies are the options to look out for. They are all one-way transfers, which means that once you have sent it, the money is gone; none of these options give you any recourse if the deal falls through or the product isn't as advertised. PayPal may be an option, and offers some options for disputing a sale. Be aware that eBay does NOT offer an escrow service, regardless of what a seller may tell you! I've dealt with eBay for 20 years, three of them as a seller, and I know their services quite well. (Check their FAQ here.) A legitimate escrow service will charge a fee for their services, so if you use one you need to negotiate who is going to pay that fee.

I prefer cash, but that has its own problems. Carrying large sums of cash to a location of the seller's choice is probably not a good idea. Practice situational awareness, have someone else with you for security, and walk or drive away if anything looks wrong. Banks will ask a lot of questions if you try to get anything over $1000 out of your accounts, due to federal anti-drug laws. I have a 30-year relationship with my bank and my banker is used to me dealing in cash, but if I hit a different branch I have to answer questions before they'll give me my own money. I've only had to complain once in those 30 years and my banker took care of it for me.

Titles and Paperwork
The best bet is to get a “clear” title: no liens, not stolen, with all of the required signatures in the right places, and nothing erased or covered with white-out will make your visit to the DMV/county tax station a lot easier. Be sure to  check your state laws, since they vary so much, on the different types of titles -- here in Iowa we have regular, salvage, and “prior salvage” titles. Once a vehicle has been damaged to the point where repairs will cost 50%+ of the value, you can get a salvage title. With a salvage title, you can't get it registered (license plates) or drive it on the road legally. Once repaired and inspected by a state official, we can apply for a “prior salvage” title and get it plated. You will not be likely to get a loan on any vehicle with anything other than a clean, regular title.

Any sale without a title is a problem. State laws vary, but to get a replacement title without a current registration in hand you're going to have to jump through some hoops. The DMV will have to do a title search, which gets tedious if they have to contact another state, and then determine that it wasn't reported stolen or totalled by an insurance company. Most states will try to contact the last owner to make sure it wasn't stolen. Then they will have to inspect it and issue a new title, which adds more delays. Unless you're buying an RV for parts, I'd avoid the hassles of buying one without a title.


I managed to find a motor home in my price range about an hour from home on Craigslist and will be writing more about it once I get it home. I need to get cash from the bank to pay for it, so it will be sometime this week before I drive it back and start working on it. It has some issues, but is mechanically sound and none of the damage is irrepairable.