Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Need advice on RV living

My family and I are going to start building our new home this coming spring/summer, as soon as we sell our current house. I will be contracting the home and doing most of the work myself, so I would like to be living nearby. We are contemplating renting, but we have a dog and are worried about finding a decent place near our land, that would allow us to have a dog, and we also don't want to just "flush" our money down the drain every month on a rent payment. Our other option is to buy an RV and live in it on the land while we build.

Has anyone done something similar to this? What were the negatives? Positives? We have two little kids and we are a pretty close family, so I don't think we will mind the cramped living spaces.

I have very little knowledge about campers, so forgive my ignorance in advance. My main concern is running water and lp gas. I know that the campers have water storage, but is there a way to hook up directly to a well? Also, how "good" are those 5-6 gallon water heaters? It doesn't seem like you can take a very long shower. I assume you can hook up larger lp tanks than the ones that come with the camper (so you are not constantly refilling tanks), is this correct? And, what about waste disposal, can you hook directly up to a septic? Are they insulated good enough to live through a winter (NW Indiana)?

Thanks, guys, I'm sure I will have more questions to come.

We had a thread 1-2 years ago about temporarily living on a place while you built there, largely discussing the pros and cons of mobile homes. I will have to see if I can find it.

I've had several campers on my land before I bought what I call my "white trash trailer house". I have both a well and a 250 gallon propane tank. MY PERSONAL feeling is that campers are OK for weekending or hunting leases but not much more.

You can hook to a well with a camper and/or an RV. Buy or rent a large propane tank and it also hooks up. Both will hook into a septic system. Buying a "decent" camper or RV is a pretty good trick.

Contracting the house is OK but it usually takes a little longer to get the job done due to availability of sub contractors at the time you wan't/need them. Nothing ever seems to happen on time including inspections and permits. I'm kinda leading into the constraints of small water heaters in campers and cramped living space during construction for a family of 4. However, I would bet that you can get campers with larger water heaters.

My 14x70 mobile home is just that; a tied down house home on blocks with the wheels removed. I bought it used for $6,500. It cost another $1,500 to get it moved and set up. I didn't expect that. If I ever decide to build, I will sell it and probably lose money. Gotta admit, I didn't buy wisely. Lots of places have restrictions against mobile homes but not against trailers so check local codes/ordinances, etc.

If it were me, and it's not, I would have to go with a used mobile home. But then, we time my Wifes showers by the calendar instead of the clock. You will probably have central heat and air with a 30 gallon hot water heater.

A plumbing Contractor told me that the "average" home uses 270 gallons of water per day. I wonder about the mix between hot/cold water usage.

bbjr
I have a 30 ft camper and can answer some of your questions.
Yes,you can hook straight to the well.The hot water heater has a drainplug in the bottom.Take it out and put a "dipstick" heater in its place.Yuoll get more hot water,faster and wont use as much propane.The stick costs around 12.00.
Yes,you can hook up sewer direct too.
Yes,you can get bigger bottles.
Depends on the camper.Ive seen some no better than a cardboars box,however I have a dutchman brand and its very well insulated.Been camping in hot and cold with no complaints.Just my 2 cents.If I can be of help let me know.

Hey Dave,I see we were both reading the same thread.I wasnt gonna say but I agrre with you,pretty small for 4.

bbjr, Listen to Dave. Travel trailers or campers are only comfortable for a few days, then they close in on you. I guess you could buy a great big one with three or four bump outs, but that would be expensive. I would go with a trailer house for temporary living if it were me, especially if you have kids. Just my two cents worth.

No luck on finding the trailer-at-the-pond thread with first two methods I tried.

My In-Laws had a used 80 foot mobile home at their country place for 20 years or so before they finally built there. They put in (over time) the permanent electrical service, septic system, and well which would later serve their house, and hooked the trailer up to each one as it was available. I don't know what the orignal heating system was in the mobile home; when I came along my FIL had put a fuel oil furnace in it with a 200 gallon tank outside that would heat up the main living area/kitchen/dining room PDQ. There were also a couple of window air conditioners that got ran a lot in the Summer.

It was overnighted-in at odd intervals, but got used a lot as a place to cool off or warm up and have meals. After they built their house there, they sold the trailer.

I have a 35’ Winnebago Class A with two slides and all the bells and whistles a person could want. If I was single I could live in it fulltime and be very happy, but four people…I might last a month. Happy wife = Happy Life…she’s going to miss a regular size refrigerator, garbage disposal, washer/dryer and dish washer.

All good advice above Bbjr.

As Dave said above, check out your local regulations to determine what you can live in on your property first.

A new RV's loses a very large percentage of it's value the moment you drive (or tow) one off the lot, then you would have to look at the cost of upgrading the water heater, septic system, etc as mentioned above. If you can find a good used one then you would have less drop in value but might have to contend with maintenance issues. So in my mind you would have to compare the total of the loss on the RV value; plus the upgrade costs; plus registration costs; plus maintenance costs versus the cost of rent to determine which option makes more sense financially.

There is a type of trailer called a "Park Model Travel Trailer" that is basically a tow and park trailer. Generally it will have more room and features than other types of RVs. Google "Park Model Travel Trailer" and you will see what I'm talking about. You can get an idea about costs in your area on http://www.rvonline.com

I completely understand your desire to live on the property during construction - I'm facing the same delima.

Trailer living is very close quarters. There isn't much insulation in exterior walls so you'll be running the heat a lot in the winter. Interior walls have almost no sound buffer. And there will probably be only one toilet.

A family of four living in one for any extended period of time will either become very close or they will become axe murderers.

I personally would build my shop first and make it habital. Unless your going to be using the RV for travel in the future.

I think it depends on what kind of person you are and what you are used to. My Mother-In-Law was tired of my Fater-In-Law quiting jobs and moving the family around so she took her part of the family land and started slapping boards together. She decided that she was staying there and he could do what he wanted. Knowing it was just temporary, she built a shanty...barely. When I came into the picture, she had added rooms and had been there a while and saving money for a real house. It had a kitchen, bathroom and living room but even though my future wife had warned me, my mouth still dropped when I saw it. A better foundation it might not been so bad but it was leaning bad, had leaks,and electric wires everywhere. They have a real house now. I'm so glad.
My point is, that woman is so stubborn that she decided that was what she wanted and she never second guess herself. You know yourself better than anyone. Can you live in a little box? And can your wife also?

I'm sure gonna try...
(Actually, it should never go much beyond a couple nights at a time...or until the porta-potti overflows...whichever comes first)

I found the thread I was looking for. In addition to discussing accommodations at property not yet lived on, it also has info on starting out on a new piece of land in general.

New member, New pond, maybe Old question

Now I need to go find a black magic marker and Sunil's SMB.

We invested 8k on a 37' travel trailer. Added a 30 gallon water heater in a closet, well water, and septic. If you take the wheels off and don't register it you can take the mortgage interest as a deduction as a second home if you want as well, just as you can a mobile... err... "manufactured" home.

We are only there on weekends but if there are places to play the kids won't be inside much so crowding may not be a problem.

BTW for the most room make sure you get a slide out if you go with a travel trailer...It makes a huge differance in comfort and room.

I'll second what JHAP said on the park models... I just got a good deal on a used 2005 model. Our plans are to use it as our weekend place for the next several years, and then live in it while we build our house. We are putting in all of the utilities now, and will be able to use them for the new house when we build it.

It's not huge, but at 12 feet wide and 37 feet long, with a sleeping loft for our two kids, and a private master bedroom, I think it will be very comfortable for this type of plan.

Here's a view of the interior....



Here's a view of the exterior....



And finally the view from the soon to be constructed front porch...



Good luck with your plans.

GaryTexas

Thanks, guys, lots of good advice here. I let my wife read the thread and we are discussing some of the points right now. I will be back with some more questions in the next couple days.

bbjr,

We've done it twice in the last 22 years while building a new house. It was not in our plans either time.

The first time was 22 years ago when the kids were going into 2nd and 6th grades. At the end of May, we had to move out from the house we sold. The new house was supposed to be ready at the end of June. We finally got to move in at the end of October. For much of the summer we "house sat" as various friends went on vacation. As school time came, we wanted the kids to be able to start school in their new school.

We lived in two motorhomes - about a 28-foot class A, and a 28-foot class C. The class A was borrowed. We used it mostly for sleeping. The other was for general living, cooking, etc. We had a well and temporary electric, so that helped. But, I didn't have a reasonable way to dump, because we had to park a long way from the septic tank. So, I had to empty the tanks into a carrier each day, and dump that into the septic tank. I think my wife and I only had one real melt down.

We also lost a lot of our belongings. They were stored in a self storage place when we got a "hundred year rain." A small creek flooded the place. Insurance wouldn't cover it because it came up under the door -- not through the roof! Insurance companies!!

We did it again in 2003. This time it was just my wife and me. Similar story. The house should have been ready in May. We moved in on October 1. We had a 30-foot class C motorhome that we lived in from early June through the end of September. Thankfully, we also had a weekend home about 75 miles away. We were able to park the motorhome in a mobile home park near where we worked, so we had decent hookups. And, we were able to spend our weekends at our country place. That wasn't too bad.

If I had it to do over again when we had the kids with us -- I'd have found a rental apartment or house somewhere.

We sold the most recent 30-foot Class C motorhome on E-bay the summer after we moved in. A missionary coming from some island in the South Pacific bought it. He and his wife had four children. They planned on traveling throughout the U.S. doing missionary work for a year. I didn't think they were real sane when they bought it. I can't imagine what they were like when the year was up.

Good luck,
Ken