A camper life update
It’s the middle of April. Spring is springing. The sun is out today, a good day in the middle of a season where rainstorms and sunshine take turns crossing squares off our calendars.
I have survived my first winter living in an RV designed for three seasons of camping. If you’re the type of human that requires minimal comfort, this life probably isn’t for you.
I’ve survived my first six months, a whole half a year al-damn-ready, of living in my 2002 Coachmen Spirit of America travel trailer that I have dubbed the Scrapes of Wrath. Less than 200 feet of living space. Glad I’m of a plucky nature.
The campground I spent the winter in, and where I’ll hopefully be moving on from soon, is the only public, full hook up campground within a few hundred miles, that is open all year round. I understand why, and I bet this will begin to change over the coming years as more and more people give RV life a go. But winter in the Midwest is shit. It’s awful and brutal to things like water pipes, and there’s dozens to over a hundred water tap hookups in a campground. Trying to prevent them from freezing, and bursting all winter is a challenge. Keeping them operable all winter, impossible.
So this campground is what it is. My only option for living in this area in the winter. For now. And campgrounds are like hotels. Some are five star. Some are clean and reasonably affordable. Some you’d keep driving past and nap in your truck at the next rest stop. If there’s only one hotel in a 300 mile radius and you have to live in a hotel, you hope for the best.
This place doesn’t spend a lot of money or effort to maintain or upgrade much. The hot water went out in the lodge for 10 days. That’s where the bathrooms and showers are at. It was 10 days of 90 second screaming cold showers, and hoe baths in the camper sink. Remember when I wrote that my water lines froze and I had a lake in my camper over the winter? I repaired that by bypassing the hot water tank in my camper, intending to someday, when I have the bucks, buy and install an electric heat-on-demand hot water tank. They build them for RV’s. But for now I wash dishes and take hoe baths by warming up a large bowl of water in the microwave. You learn to get by. But those two weeks weren’t fun. I like showers. As a former homeless human I try to take two of them a day if I can. I get my best ideas smoking a joint in the shower.
In addition to the winter damage to water lines, my city water inlet valve froze over the winter, ruining the check valve inside of it. That check valve protects the entire camper’s water system from high water pressure. RV’s are built with cheap plastic water lines, and even cheaper plastic connections, so if I connected my camper to a campground with high water pressure at their taps, well, there would be a lake in the camper again and a lot of repairs.
When the check valve froze, it automatically blocked the inlet, and it’s a fragile plastic check valve that had broken parts I couldn’t repair or reset. This is when I learned that I can’t rely on “universal” RV parts. After several trips to a national RV supply chain with a location 45 miles from my camper, and a lengthy chat with a bored RV tech with nothing to do RV wise in early winter March, I learned that modern campers had major engineering redesigns about 8 years ago. My 22 year old camper doesn’t have many modern designs.
I spent some extra money because I wanted to upgrade my water inlet connection to one that not only had the safety check valve to protect my camper, all RV inlets have those valves built in, but I got one that had a built in water pressure regulator to prevent high pressure altogether. But when I got home 50 minutes later, I found that that valve didn’t fit my camper. I’d have to cut the sheet metal outside to accommodate the new modern sized valve, a task I’m capable of, but not ready to undertake. Lucky I saved my receipt for a return. This wasn’t my first wrong sized camper part purchase. There’s about 8 different types of RV lightbulbs by the way. Took me three tries to get the right ones. I figured they were all the same like household lightbulbs. Nah man. Welcome to camper life suckers. I first bought a pack at the RV parts store, on a trip there, after my third light had burned out and I was suddenly dealing with too much darkness. I like it dim, but damn, a brother needs light to read by.
I simply scanned the bulb selection, they all looked like the bulbs in my camper, and bought a mid priced multi pack. Got home. They didn’t fit. Took them back. My girlfriend, Jess, gifted me a half used pack of camper bulbs from their summer use RV. They didn’t fit. The metal part on the lightbulb that you screw in at home? There’s a lot of differences in that metal part in RV bulbs. Got the right ones by ordering online.
Meanwhile, with my city inlet valve not operable, I had to use a hose to fill my fresh water tank and turn my water pump on to flush the commode, make coffee, or do dishes. But in campgrounds, they use a special outdoor tap at the individual site hookups, that has a special relief valve on top. If the tap freezes, that relief valve breaks and releases pressure from the top to protect the actual pipes from bursting. Yeah, that froze over the winter, too. Before I could use my water line hose to fill my fresh water tank, that had to be fixed. I notified the campground, waited a week, while carrying my water jugs 200 yards everyday to the lodge to fill to have drinkable water in the camper, finally asked the office lady about it a third time when she notified me they had dozens of sites to get to and they would get to me soon. I went and bought the wrong part from Home Depot, took it back, ordered the right one online, got it two days later, and fixed the campground’s tap myself. The part cost $6. Fuck it.
Anyway, after two months of filling my tank with a hose once or twice a week, not too big an inconvenience really, I take all my showers in the lodge’s public shower stalls, and use their restroom half the time. I finally got the right city inlet valve from UPS this week. Special order for my old ass camper. No built in pressure regulator. I bought that separate. Small upgrade.
My GFCI outlet by the kitchen sink, the outlet you see by your sinks at home with the ‘test’ and ‘reset’ buttons, mine went out in January. It shut down all the outlets on that side of the camper. No biggie really. I don’t need much electricity. I’m a simple man. But it was inconvenient keeping my coffee pot on my desk for three months, and nearly fatal to my desktop computer a dozen times. RV plugs are not the same size as the ones in houses. Two orders to get the right one finally, mind you, all this is sometimes money permitting. I might have to wait a week or two sometimes to squeeze an extra $30 for a needed part. Anyway, apparently the camper’s outdoor plug got moisture in it over the winter, which shorted out the plug, which caused the Gfci to trip, and well, camper life sure is a learning adventure. But damn, it’s good to have my coffee pot next to the sink again finally, and far away from my computer. We can’t afford to replace that.
Now that the weather is better, I'm back to my remodeling ways. In a daily battle to find space in my tiny home, I tore one of the campers bedroom walls out this week, and the interior painting commences once again.
And I spent four hours this week removing the 22 year old built in refrigerator. RV refrigerators are built to be powered by either electricity or propane. Mine had a defective electric switch, so it only ran on propane. I have a propane leak in the line to the tanks, there’s a kit to replace the lines, and I’ll get to it soon. But I’ve been without a fridge for a while. And a stove. Told you I’m a pretty simple guy. I get by just fine.
To replace the electric switch on the old fridge was $400. And a new RV fridge is $500+. I decided a while back to replace it with a small, electric apartment sized fridge at earliest convenience. I can get one of those new in the next few weeks for around $225. I don’t need it to make me a grocery list, just keep my food cold.
But removing the old fridge was a hell of an ordeal. Had to cap the propane line off. Shut the power to the camper off AND disconnect its emergency battery just to be safe, then cap off two electrical lines for the other sensor switch. Then remove four bolts from the rear bracket. You access all that outside the camper through an 18” x 18” access panel. Then back on the inside you remove the switch plate, and eight screws holding the fridge to the cabinet, then lift a 200 pound refrigerator out of the cabinet by yourself. No sweat.
But hold on. The refrigerator does not fit out the only door to the camper. A common issue when replacing them. I knew from all the articles and videos I watched before undertaking the project. They install a bracket around the refrigerator by using spray foam and rivets. That bracket is installed after the fridge is put in place when the camper is assembled and used to mount the fridge inside the kitchen cabinet. Removing the fridge doors wasn’t bad. I used to install and deliver appliances many years ago, and I’ve done a lot of side hustle handyman work over the years. But removing the steel bracket so I could get the fridge out the door was a two hour marathon using a breaker bar and big hammer. I could have cut it with my Dremel or sawzall but I didn’t want all that insulation, foam, and metal dust in my tiny camper home, although I reconsidered that decision a dozen times. You ever beat 24 rivets off with a pry bar and a hammer. It’s an extreme work out for a middle aged writer. The fridge is out now. Shop for my new one after my tour next weekend.
Still to come, much painting, remodeling the bunk area so my kids can comfortably spend time this summer with Dad, and building my custom desk and dining space, and a pantry shelf in the kitchen coat closet. Then, to paint the outside. No biggie. There’s nothing but time, right?
Man, listen. This camper life ain’t probably for everyone, but in the coming weeks I’ve got six months of the kind of living coming that a lot of people spend their vacations chasing. I’m excited to have my patio with my awning open. To get the fire ring warmed up soon. Get my table top grill cleaned up and ready for action.
I’m getting more and more acclimated to camper life. My camper home, the Scrapes of Wrath should be fully remodeled and customized by mid summer, and I reckon we’ll figure out the rest as we go. I’ve cut my living expenses, minus healthcare, weed and child support, three things I can’t control, to under one grand a month. Most Americans spend more than that on groceries in one month. Or just their rent. I don’t need much. And I’ve still got more than I need, now.
Stay tuned next time for a lengthy discussion on the joys of draining RV black tanks, how to cope with using a public shower everyday, and the kinds of people you meet living in rural campgrounds.
Love y’all. Thanks for your support.
-Dan
This wall and cabinet took up too much room.
Hey. I’m a bachelor. But the wall is gone.
More room now. Notice the net pockets hanging on the wall? My $20 clothes storage solution. Two shoe organizers cut, some Velcro and thumbtacks and I store all my T shirts, socks, and boxers on the remaining walls of the bedroom.
Hunter S Tomcat. My literary agent and supervisor.
He escaped for 30 minutes during the remodeling this week. His scared ass hid under the camper and came crawling out when I called for him.
Yeah, fuck.
Punk.
It's a good thing that you're handy with things. If it were me I'd been frozen or drowned or both. I'm proud of what you're doing. Nicer weather sure will help, eh?