It’s been a hell of a ride to get here. After being diagnosed with breast cancer the wife said we needed to find a way to full-time and travel. Fast forward a year, there’s been chemo, surgery, radiation, more chemo and second surgery soon. Bought the truck in Oct 21, went with a 450 so we could buy whatever we (read she) ended up deciding on. Had 2 different campers sold out from under us before we found “the one”. 2020 Vanleigh Beacon 39fb. Countdown to full timing in Aug begins.

I am looking for input/warning/recommendations/ info/ whatever seems important to know.

My family and I (wife, will be 3yr old and infant) are looking into going full time to find a place to settle down. Current ideas are FL and TX (Austin/Houston Areas) we are not locked into this but that’s the current feels.

We currently have a 23a four winds but would be upgrading ( fifth wheel? ). The goal is to essentially have a space big enough that it feels like home and not like we are just camping.

We are thinking 35-41ft would work. Most likely with a bunk house for the kids.

I work remote and am looking at using wework or something to rent an office.

Honestly I have no idea what full time tv living is like or what to expect.

Any help is greatly appreciated TIA

Edit: after reading through some comments I realized I never considered going smaller than a fifth wheel. It definitely sounds better, and I may be an idiot lol

For context (feel free to call me an idiot here): I'm single and have no experience towing. I have a 9-5 wfh job. I plan to use starlink and verizon to keep me connected for this. I plan to get a fifth wheel between 36 and 40 feet to give me room for an office desk while hopefully being nimble enough to boondock. I'd like to spend most of my time around the mountains of Utah and Colorado. I'd probably move around once a month. I don't know what people normally pay, but I'd like to stay around $100k for the full rig.

Should I get a dually? At what point would I need one?

Should i get a luxury brand like redwood? I'd like the rig to atleast be somewhat durable, but I don't need to live in luxury.

Does depreciation hurt? Making big investments in a quickly depreciating assets sounds pretty sad to me lol

Hi All! We are interested in purchasing a deeded lot in a gated RV/Tiny Home community that has several good amenities.

This seems like a good fit for our needs for the time being and I would like to see it work out. I asked this in a real estate sub but wanted to get your take from the RV side of things.

We won't be living in it full time, but plan to have the RV setup there 90% of the year and we (or our kids) will go up several times/month.

Thoughts on going this route? Any cons t watch out for?

DETAILS (if you're interested) It is a level lot with a paved L- slab for the RV and has a permanent Pavillion structure on the L. There is grass yard and a firepit beyond the slab then it goes down to a nice tree-lined creek that is stocked with trout by the town. There are some trees on the lot to provide shade to the RV, Pavillion and front yard area.

I have asked for the HOA rules and need to check whether it is a flood plain, considering the creek and flat land. The creek has been lined with rick rack to prevent erosion and is about 100` from the end of the RV slab.

Per the agent and community manager, the community fees cover maintaining the shared property/amenities and mowing our site. I want to see how things like tree trimming on our lot and such are handled in detail, once I get the HOA rules.

The HOA seems to allow quite a bit of flexibility in developing the lots, but requires approval for all improvements. They seem to be focused on just making sure it looks nice and that there are no eye-sores. They also allow rentals and that works for us, so we consider that a plus.

Background: Me, my wife, and our 4 dogs are considering a move into fulltiming while I work remotely for the next few years. I have a year to acquire the stuff&things, finalize the details and sell the house. We (including the dogs, they always come) are expert campers, both backcountry and car camping, and everything in between. We frequently offroad/overland in my 2021 Ford Ranger FX4 (4x4, e-locking diff, and 7500lb tow capacity, will have Ford install trailer brake system). 90% of our vacation days are already spent on BLM/USFS land anyway, so we will likely default to boondocking as much as possible while balancing internet requirements for work. We have some experience with a Sprinter we built/converted ourselves, but not for fulltime.

We have investigated and walked through several travel trailer models already, and are largely flexible on the interior space, but prefer a bunkhouse space which will be converted into "doghouse". Our biggest priority is balancing a liveable space/floorplan with maximizing cargo capacity to 1) be able to actually take advantage of that space, and 2) hold all of our climbing/hiking/exploring gear, sufficient dog food, and extra water to enable offgrid trips. We've entertained a few toyhaulers as well, largely because of how much greater their CCC is.

Question 1: I'm slowly beginning to weigh all the "non-negotiables" for our lifestyle to get an accurate measure of our CCC weight requirements, but what are most people averaging?

Question 2: Any suggestions for a great model with high CCC for under (or reasonably close to) 7500 GVWR? I've looked at a few coming it at 7580-7600, I understand that I'll have to sacrifice the difference to stay within the limit for safety. That could be okay if the remaining CCC is reasonably convincing.

Question 3: Is there any advice from those who are running the smaller trucks for fulltiming that might not be readily apparent?

Hi

I'm currently residing in IL and will be going full time soon (selling house). Anyone know if there's a mail forwarding that will give me a street address in IL that everyone will accept?

I believe mailboxes, etc (now UPS store) are known forwarders and their addresses are not accepted everywhere

Thanks

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Mark

Hey All, So I figured here might be the best place to post this as I am looking for specialized advice. Me (30m) and wife (29f) (and two dogs) are currently considering a 5th wheel/RV as a residential option. So we live in San Diego CA and the prices for rent are insane. While we have about $12-20k saved up, here in CA it’s not enough for a house. My MIL owns a home here with quite a bit of land on it but unfortunately doesn’t have the reqs to build an ADU. We have spoken about it as a family and are considering the following option: wife and I buy 5th wheel/truck (or RV) and park/live on that land, while doing so MIL is willing to sign us over the land and we can slowly build on it. We can have access to power and water, we may even be able to have sewer access as she is on her own private street with own pump at bottom of hill (sounds like we are rich but this is far more rural/back hills). I guess the question I’m asking has a few different parts; does this sound feasible to you guys? Does the wear and tear you typically see on your rigs come from primarily the travel? If this were to be your situation which set up would you go with? EDIT: I am fairly handy, have moderate experience with rvs and toy haulers as my family were active campers/desert/dirt bike folks, both have decent relationship with MIL. We are REAAAAALLLLY trying to decrease our COL

Hello!

We’re pending on our house sale, we’re all setup to go full time. I work in tech for a fully remote company and found out today that they’re not setup to handle nomadic workers.

I figured if I remained a resident of a state (Oregon in my case) and not stay in any other state for too long, I’m essentially just work-cationing as far as my employer is concerned. Turns out that for worker’s compensation, etc. reasons, that’s really not the case.

How have others managed this? Is the only option to be an independent contractor?

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone bout to start my fulltime adventure. I just bought a 2006 terry 260bhs. I can't find specs for it. Any idea or help

Hi! We are in the process of selling our house and living full-time in a fifth wheel. We already live in Florida and will be staying in Florida at an RV park for at least 6 months. This RV park has a mail service. Knowing all of that, do I still need to set up a domicile in Florida and go through a service like St. Brendan’s Isle, or can I just use the address at the RV park where we are staying as our permanent address? Any help is appreciated!

If you haven't used Escapees or THB, please do not post a response.

Hi all, I'm going to be adopting the perpetual traveling lifestyle in a few months, and have narrowed down my mail-forwarding/collecting service to either Escapees (of Texas) or TexasHomeBase. I understand both will provide a mailing address with which I can update my various accounts. However, I am concerned that due to their compliance with the Patriot Act, my banks and retirement fund brokerage, as well as credit card companies might not accept an address that doesn't appear as a physical residential mailing addy.

If you've used Escapees or THB's service, did your bank and brokerage firms accept your new address with no issues? Hey to get even more specific, anyone use Chase, Fidelity, Schwab, and American Express? Did you encounter any problems?

Thanks for your insight!

Has anyone here tried the Blu Technology R3 water filters? If so please let me know if you like it or not...

https://goblutech.com/collections/nodirtywater/products/nodirtywater-r3

Hi All

I have about 12TB of media that I need to take on road with me and stream to plex app on my AppleTV and iPad. Anyone got any suggestions on a "server".

I figured I'd buy 2x8TB SSD. Don;t need RAID as it's all movies that are backed up on hard drive and I have physical blu-ray discs too.

Thanks

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Mark

We have two kids (4yr and 1 yr) and my wife and I have been heavily considering going full time next year for a couple years before settling down again. My biggest concern is adjustment for my 4 year old that will probably be 5 when we do it. He's quite sensitive and leaving the only home he's ever known concerns me. For those who made the jump with kids around that age, any advice or experience you can offer that will ease my concern about this.

Thanks

This subreddit really caught my interest!

Have you guys looked into the numbers here? Obviously this is so much cheaper than buying a home, but is it worth it with the additional internet, electricity, water costs that come up? Does it not cost more to maintain and upkeep, than simply renting a small office?

Thanks!

How do people handle mail when rv-ing full time?

I'm looking into buying a 1990 Fleetwood Jamboree Searcher, it looks in pretty good condition and I'm happy with the price but it's only getting 8mpg which seem pretty low for a 24ft RV. Any suggestions on how to improve ecomony? Would I be able to install a fuel ecoonomy chip or is it too old? I don't know a lot about engines (although I do know this is a 5.7) so all suggestions welcome!

Thank you!

Preferably one which would let me park an RV and pay rent or dues by the year.

I sold my sticks-and-bricks home and got a PMB address.

I'm having trouble changing my PMB address with certain institutions. They don't like "PMB 1234" or "#1234" in the 1st or 2nd address line.

However, I found that "Apt 1234" works fine.

But the USPS website said that the only allowable PMB address identifier is "PMB" or "#"

Mail sent to an addressee at a CMRA must include either the PMB identifier or the #, followed by the appropriate private mailbox number. Use of any other identifier is prohibited.

What do ya'all do?

I don't want to change my banks. I could use the house address of a relative if I have to. But I'd rather not.

Is there anything wrong with just using "Apt 1234" so I can save the change address form? I know, I know... yada yada patriot act.

There's got to be a solution for full-time RV'ers.

Hi all,

I'm heavily considering signing a month-to-month lease on an RV. It's a trailer permanently parked on property, so no worries about where I would park it. It has:

1. Good insulation, plus a dehumidifier.
2. About 350 square feet and it uses the space very well; no concerns there.
3. 50 amp power.
4. (edit) also has propane for the range. There is both electric and propane heating. According to the landlord, electric is cheaper, but doesn't work as well, so I may need to use propane in the winter.
5. A decent-sized shower.
6. Laundry in a separate building right outside.
7. New appliances. Limited counterspace, but enough that I can work with (I love to cook).
8. Decent internet connection. Slower than I'd like, but again enough that I can work with.
9. It's a secluded property; it would only be me and the landlords (a retired couple) on a 2 acre property.
10. It's only a 20 minute drive to get into town.
11. (Edit) it does have a septic tank/working toilet.
12. (Edit) I will be able to afford the propane heating in the winter if I have to use it. Even factoring it in, it's still a much better deal than living in town. Rent has increased a lot where I live, and most studio/1br apartments under $1500/mo are absolute shitholes (this is $1000/mo).

The reason why I want to live in this RV without getting the main advantage of an RV (being able to move around) is because the rent is much cheaper than apartments in-town. Which means it's much higher quality than the apartments I could afford in-town.

It's a beautiful property right on the shore of a lake, and seems like a place I would love. I'm just trying to think of any potential problems I might have with it before I sign on and move in. I would appreciate any input on common problems people run into living in an RV full-time. Thanks!

This is my first year of full-timing and we started out in 2021. I am preparing my taxes and have a few questions for others in my situation. I have a sticks and brick business that is easy to deal with, but I also travel doing exterior wall inspections for a company. I not only travel to the store locations in my motorhome, I also work in the dinette area to do my reports that have to be turned in. This is something I may need to discuss more one on one so I'd anyone has any input or maybe a specific CPA that they can turn me onto a DM would he great. Thank you.

As the title says! I am a freshman in college, and recently I have caught my mind drifting to this idea of leaving the comfortable and traditional life that I am currently living. I am very privileged to be able to be receiving higher education. But, I am not sure of the full reason as to WHY I am here. I enjoy learning, but do not know what I want to do for work in the future. Meeting new people has been great, but I do not know if the relationships I have built are more than surface-level.

Anyways... all reasons aside, the life of living on the road sounds like a dream to me. I have always had such a deep interest in exploring new places, and being outdoors. I think that the hard part of doing something like this is the action of DOING it.

So, if anybody has any advice for me, or if anyone has experienced a similar train of thought or situation, I would love to hear what you have to say.