Finally finished our homebuilt RV!

[Fermion]

We have now been full time on the road for just over one month and have made it as far as South Dakota (currently near Deadwood). We just finished up a couple of nights camping under the shadow of Devil's Tower (pic below) which is VERY cool.

We also made it through a Brexit, where I had to ride my motorcycle 15 miles to get a couple bars of cell reception in the Bighorn mountains of Wyoming so I could buy 500 shares of SPY with some of our house sale money at $199 and change during the special one day sale. Thank you Great Britain!

Currently loving the life. We have sailed Pend Oreille in Idaho, Flathead Lake in Montana, (nothing in Wyoming), and plan to put the sailboat on the Missouri river in South Dakota soon. Spending about an average of $10 to $15 a night for lodging (most nights free, some nights in RV park or hotel). No electric bill (1100 watts of solar), maybe $15 a month for propane, no water bill, no house payment, no property tax. Montana even had no sales tax so we bought some RV/boat things there during that opportunity.

 

[JDARNELL]

Nice. You have a website or a blog about your adventures?

JDARNELL

 

[eytonxav]

Beautiful pics, keep them coming!

 

[dvalley]

Fermion, we need more updates so I can live vicariously! We've crossed paths on a couple of posts such as this thread I started http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-50-60k-post-retirement-expenses-71322-2.html - I have similar plans as you with similar NW goals. I love the idea of offroading/BLM camping etc. I too have a garage full of tools that I consider my prized possessions.

I'm curious where you stored your 7k milling machine? I know you sold your house but do you have a landing pad that you can come back to or are you planning to stay on the move for the foreseeable future?

What about 10-15-20yrs from now? will you buy a house in a lower cost of living area? how do you stay connected on the road? do you have a POBOX for other mail/amazon dilveries etc?

 

[Fermion]

dvalley: We sadly sold the cnc mill as I did not want to pay storage for it for 5 years or more. I have no idea how long we will travel but I want to go to the Florida Keys and sail quite a bit, also go up to Alaska and do some prospecting. I do not know if we will settle down again in a house, although we might build a remote Alaska cabin just for the hell of it if I can find some cheap land. We still plan to buy a big sailboat and sail around the world eventually.

The past week has been quite the adventure. Coming from a eight day stay at an awesome FREE Army Corp campground at Douglas Creek on Lake Sakakawea (see first pic) our truck starting throwing some codes. P0500 which was not real concerning, but P0302 which is a misfire on cylinder 2. I was like, oh no, I should have replaced injectors 2 and 3 when I had 1 and 4 done .

We managed to drive to a remote North Dakota city park in Hannaford where they had electric, water, sewer, showers for $12 a night ($200 a month if you wanted!). The only downside was only verizon worked, not AT&T. There was plenty of room to de-pod (tm) so we unloaded both pods from the truck, loaded the motorcycles on the truck flatbed (or what is left of the flatbed) and drove the truck to Fargo to get serviced. We rode the motorcycles back and stayed in our pods for about 6 days while they fixed the truck (runs great now with the two new injectors and a 2nd inline fuel filter). This was our first experience with our game plan for if we ever have a breakdown and it worked out so well (although I do not want another breakdown please..injectors not cheap!). It was quite relaxing camping in the pods while off the truck and the garage/workshop pod is so nice to work in while it is all the way on the ground. We did end up playing a lot of Minecraft on Xbox One though because North Dakota seems to get every thunderstorm that always missed Seattle.

Off to Minnesota next I guess....although with the heat and stupid mosquitoes I have been scanning the map to see if there was some HyperLoop to Maine or somewhere cooler.

 

[eytonxav]

Off to Minnesota next I guess....although with the heat and stupid mosquitoes I have been scanning the map to see if there was some HyperLoop to Maine or somewhere cooler.

At least probably no Zika mosquitos that far north.

 

[NW-Bound]

...We managed to drive to a remote North Dakota city park in Hannaford where they had electric, water, sewer, showers for $12 a night ($200 a month if you wanted!)...

Some cities have amazing RV facilities for dirt cheap, though I have not passed by one to make use of it.

Had to look up Hannaford to see where it is. It is surrounded by lots of farmland. Come to think of it, I have been to South Dakota, but not North Dakota.

 

[Sittingduck]

Thank you for sharing. I have found this absolutely fascinating. Please keep posting your adventures as internet connections allow. You really had a very detailed and unique plan on what you wanted to do and executed it perfectly. Congrats!

 

[Fermion]

Yes, lots of farmland and windmills. It was actually fun riding our dual sport motorcycles past all of the corn, sunflowers, wheat. North Dakota seems to produce a large amount of the food we eat in the USA. They also produce a lot of mosquitoes.

 

[NW-Bound]

Facts about ND that I just looked up: 90% of the state is farmland, and 25% of the workers are involved in farming.

By the way, the Black Hills area in SD is worth visiting, if you have not been there. We visited in July 2011. Do not remember being bothered by mosquitoes.

 

[dvalley]

Thanks for the updates Fermion. Sounds like lots of fun adventures ahead. Subscribed!

 

[Fermion]

We made our way down to Florida on the forgotten coast (the cheap part of Florida!). We rented a little house on a small lake for a month just to spread out a bit (and the house was not really that much more than the RV park). I think we will winter in Texas on the gulf though. Fewer tourists, more room.

Put our sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico today off the Florida panhandle. She has now sailed in the Pacific ocean, eight states, and the gulf.

We were joined by a pod, or maybe lots of pods of dolphin? There were at least 20, and they followed us every way that we tacked, swimming along the sailboat and diving under it. I wish I had had a mackerel to toss to them.

We have some fishing gear now and so will be trying for speckled trout or flounder (maybe snapper if we sail into deeper waters).

 

[Dreamer]

Wow, what a life! RV'ing, kayaking, riding motorcycles, sailing...sounds like a permanent vacation. Impressive, that you built the RV yourself. Keep updating this thread, please.

 

[rodi]

Fermian - you and your wife are truly living the dream!!!

 

[Fermion]

Still bumming around here in Florida, near Saint Augustine. The weather has finally turned tolerable (was 80, now 68).

We found a nice little county park right on the lake where you can keep your sailboat in the water next to your camp for free. The park is about $20 a night for full hookups.

The weather and wind have been great for sailing. I am trying to get as good as I can on this little 17 foot boat knowing it will be a different beast when we purchase a big sailboat. We set off on Wednesday in 15 to 20 mph winds and did not use the outboard for anything except docking. We had to tack 19 times down a narrow river channel full of stumps and snags to get to the bigger lake and it was a blast! Once we got on the big lake the wind had gusts to probably 25mph but yet I did not reef. We were on a 20% heel and were doing 6.2 knots in a beam reach in a boat with a max hull speed of about 5.6 knots. :-D

We found another town on the lake with a dock and Tiki bar so we pulled in there to eat lunch.

Anyone else miss work?

 

[Fermion]

An update. We bought some property (28 acres) in north eastern Washington (in all of our travels last year, Washington was still the best). We plan to continue traveling with the RV pods but this gives us a little bit of a home base to spread out and relax from the jumping from spot to spot every two weeks. We also want to do some winter activities but I don't want to drive the rig in snow, so we may do a winter here on the property as well.

We have a LOT of trees. Douglas fir, ponderosa, grand fir, cedar, and lodgepole. The lodgepole is nearing end of life according to our forester and we should sell it. There are perhaps 400 to 600 of them around 14" diameter and 70 to 80 feet tall. I cut down three that were too close to the RV for comfort and it is nice wood, tight grain. I am using some of it to support the garage pod LOL. Just out of the three trees I probably could get four or more cords of firewood. Need a wood stove or something.

We unloaded the pods and picked up a new toy! A Kubota U35-4 mini excavator of around 9000 pounds! Oh My is this thing fun! It can rip out a stump in 15 seconds that takes me 15 minutes to dig out by hand. We picked it up in western Washington and drove it 300 miles on our Isuzu NRR that normally carries the RV pods. We even drove over the 4200 foot Stevens Pass (went in the slow lane).

How many other RVs can carry a 9000 pound excavator with no trailer needed?

 

[Christine]

Congratulations with the property and the toy!

My RV definately can't unless I use a trailer.

If I'm not going south in the winter I put studded tires on my RV and drive in the snow. It's rear wheel drive and rear heavy so it behaves very well in the snow. It looks to me like yours is rear wheel drive too. Not that I want to push you into the snow!

 

[RetireAge50]

Excellent! You are truly living the dream. Those excavators are amazing. We rented one to clear stumps and posts from a property we developed. Really a blast. Enjoy your new playground. Maybe I'll try to find you sometime while riding our dual sport motorcycles.

 

[dvalley]

I've said it so many times already but seriously I want to be like Fermion when I grow up! RVs, tractors,/xcavators, dual sports, living in the woods in the snow, wood stove...all things I've been dreaming of for when I retire. For now I live vicariously through these posts and some people I follow on youtube and blogspot.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Still bumming around here in Florida, near Saint Augustine. The weather has finally turned tolerable (was 80, now 68).

We found a nice little county park right on the lake where you can keep your sailboat in the water next to your camp for free. The park is about $20 a night for full hookups.

Gotta ask--read on some boating forums about people getting hit with large fees/taxes for boating in Florida. I think the gotchas are not being registered in another state, coming to FL in the first 6 months after purchase, or being in FL for more than 90 days. Any of these trigger a requirement to register the vessel in FL. Did you run in to any of this?

 

[spncity]

How about an update! Would love to see pics of the finished inside or even pics now that you have your stuff in the RV.

What is are the top three things you wish you'd built differently or added that you don't have. I can't remember if you have a washer/dryer.

Thanks!

 

[wannabefire]

This is one of the best threads I have ever read!!!! Unbelievable!

 

[spncity]

We built an RV (from scratch!)

Did you have any drawn plans for this build or did you just figure it all out? Were there RV type components you could purchase?

We have a commercial up-fitted fifth wheeler (bought from original owner; it was built back when there was some decent quality control that RV factory). Luckily, DH has been able to repair any issues - but we sometimes wish we had something that was easier to repair. Knowing where the electric, drainpipes, etc., run would be nice.

So sometimes we fantasize about buying some sort of tallish gooseneck trailer shell and going from there. Currently we prefer to pull with a pickup truck since it serves as the local transport without having to pull a vehicle.

No CNC skills - but have tools and skills for building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, woodworking, vehicle repair, lite upholstery. Some welding available from a relative (limited by time).

Anyway - if you and others have time or inclination to comment, feel free.

 

[Fermion]

Hi, been awhile since anyone commented on this thread.

We modeled the RV pods in Rhino (a CAD program) but did not have any particular "plans" other than a general idea of what we wanted.

We still have the pods but sold the truck. The pods are in great shape under a pole barn we built and we will very likely get back to using them some day. We are building a house (also from scratch!) and converting a big sailboat to electric drive. I guess we like building stuff.

I have thought about getting a fifth wheel trailer to carry one or both pods. The main pod is about 5500 pounds though...would have to be a beefy trailer and tow vehicle.

 

[spncity]

I guess we like building stuff.

Truth~!