 When you think of camping in an RV, you may picture luxury: electric-powered lights and television, running water, and a flushable toilet. At campgrounds that offer full hookups, those things are realities. Boondocking, or dry camping, however, means sacrificing those luxuries. Or does it? Without shore power electricity, you can camp as if tent camping, reading and participating in outdoor activities rather than watching TV or using a laptop, and relying on solar-powered lamps after the sun goes down. But those aren’t your only options. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live off-grid in an RV, we’re happy to share about our experiences doing so. Powering Up and Topping Off Thanks to the 10 solar panels on our fifth wheel roof (six 160-watt and four 100-watt), we typically get enough energy to keep our three 170-amp-hour batteries charged to power everything we want to operate. That includes my work laptop, dual monitors, office light, Bob’s computer, our TV, digital picture frame, and Google Home — and even charge our phones. We rely on propane to run our refrigerator, water heater, space heater, stove, and oven. Our rig has designated holding spaces for three 7-gallon/30-pound propane tanks, which provides plenty of fuel for a week or two off-grid. We limit microwave use, instead opting to heat water, coffee, soup, and leftovers on the stove. For water to make coffee and meals, clean dishes, brush our teeth, flush the toilet, shower, and drink, we have to find a potable source to fill our 75-gallon freshwater tank. We prefer to do this near our camping destination at a gas station, campground, or dump station rather than hauling the liquid long distances, which can affect fuel efficiency and put unnecessary strain on Gulliver and Tagalong.  We tend to stock up on groceries, prescriptions, and other supplies before going boondocking. That way, we can stay longer, which saves on fuel. Finding Warmth on Cold Mornings On cold workday mornings, I get out of bed and, clad in a fluffy robe and slippers, descend our three steps to turn on our portable propane heater in the living room. The portable heater is more energy-efficient than our onboard propane heater, which uses electricity to start the motor. After that, I open my office door to try to get some warmth in there and then roll up window shades. Most of our windows include two shades: privacy and blackout. We pull down both after the sun sets to help keep cold air out. Opening the shades in the mornings lets sunshine in for natural heat. Then I check our VictronConnect phone app to get a read on our batteries’ state of charge. If it registers 75% to 80% and the weather forecast calls for a sunny day, I know I can run my little electric room heater in my office without too much dent on our battery life.  If, however, the reading is closer to 50%, I need to conserve as much energy as possible. That means starting my workday in the warmth of bed or in the living room near the heater using my laptop disconnected from a power source and from my wall-mounted dual monitors. When my tummy starts rumbling, I heat water on the stove to brew coffee in our 50-ounce French press and make a bowl of oatmeal. “What about Bob?” you may be wondering. He stays in bed reading the news and then has a light breakfast on his own. On rare occasions of multiple cloudy days, Bob starts one of our two propane-powered generators to charge our batteries up to 100%. Dealing with Waste With no garbage pickup off-grid, we have to remember to take our trash with us to deposit in a public wastecan anytime we venture into town. We also have to be mindful of the liquid that goes down our sink and shower drains. Our fifth wheel has a capacity of 85 gallons of this gray water, which tends to add up fast — even with turning off the faucet between lathering and rinsing when taking a shower. Wastewater also comes in the form of black water, or toilet water. Our rig has a 50-gallon capacity for this. Our gray and black water tanks usually last for a couple of weeks before we need to empty them. If we plan to boondock longer than that and don’t want to hook up the truck and trailer to haul to a dump station, we have to find a way to dispose of their contents. Some RVers carry a macerator and portable wastewater tank for this purpose. We don’t have either of those, so we try to take advantage of public restrooms when away from our RV and be vigilant and sparing when using water from our faucets. Enjoying Nature By camping off-grid, we’re able to get our rig into scenic areas we otherwise wouldn’t, such as in the shadow of a towering mountain, atop a butte overlooking a city, or near a rushing river or expansive lake.  We like to take daily walks in nature to get exercise and admire wildflowers, desert flora, and varying terrain — and creatures big and small in their natural habitat when we happen upon them. Getting out of our rig also allows us to meet other RVers and exchange stories.
Being in nature isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, however. It often comes with windy conditions, the price we pay for the beautiful surroundings. We’ve learned to accept that as part of the experience. Despite that aspect, we’ll continue to take advantage of the boondocking opportunities that come our way. You might also like 7 Best Boondocking Hacks.
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 It seemed like a good idea. We dropped off Tagalong in the middle of the desert west of Phoenix, closed up and secure and surrounded by fellow Xscapers. Then we took Gulliver to Yuma to visit my parents. What could go wrong? We knew our rig was in good shape after all the attention we had given it in the past six weeks, so we didn’t expect any issues. Does any RVer in such a situation? Bob’s phone rang at 10:30 p.m. five days into our getaway. His full-time RVer brother, Tom, had called to notify us of a disturbance in the desert: a loud beeping emanating from the Pinnacle (our rig) that could be heard inside a nearby RV above the sound of rain. Suddenly wide awake two hours from our home on wheels, we had to get to the bottom of this. In Search of the Cause Bob and I talked through the possible sources of a beep inside our rig and narrowed it down to three: the smoke detector, the refrigerator (if out of propane), and the carbon monoxide detector. We gave Tom the keycode to get inside our rig. As soon as he opened the door, we heard the loud din through the phone. It wasn’t a steady beep, which eliminated the refrigerator possibility. That left two others. Opening our dining room slide, Tom noticed blinking red and green lights on our carbon monoxide detector. As he got closer, he discovered the code meant our CO detector had reached the end of its life.  Great! At that hour, no place was open to get a replacement. Even if a place had been open, it would have taken us a minimum of 2.5 hours before we could get back with a new unit. A Temporary Fix Bob and I both searched the internet for a way to deactivate the alarm. Bob found a button combination that would buy us 72 hours — and could be repeated up to 10 times. Tom performed the button operation, and silence returned. We didn’t have to hit the road that night after all. Having to work the next morning, I dozed off while Bob scoured Amazon for a replacement unit. Based on a review by the owner of a 2018 Jayco North Point fifth wheel (the sister of our rig), he ordered a Briidea carbon monoxide detector (paid link) to arrive two days later at my parents’, the date we planned to return to Tagalong. At the mercy of the package deliverer before we could travel, we were able to enjoy some game playing with my parents to pass the time. The unit finally arrived at 3:15 p.m., and we were free to hit the road, allowing us to return before sundown. Out with the Old, In with the New The next day, Bob gathered his tools, got comfortable on the floor of our coach, and went to work to remove the faulty unit. With that out of the way, he connected the wires to the new unit and put it in place, a quick and easy process. The original unit that came with our trailer and the new one detect both carbon monoxide and propane. The factory-installed one, however, only had one light indicator, leaving us to guess the problem if an alarm sounded. The new one has two light indicators for clarity and greater peace of mind.
We’re thankful for the fellow Xscaper who noticed the chirping coming from our rig and said something about it. And we’re especially grateful Tom was nearby to call us and help with a temporary fix until we could provide a more permanent solution. The RV community is a friendly one. We’re glad to be part of it. You might also like When Things Go Wrong in RV Life.  As with any home, RVs require maintenance — even if they’re not driveable. We live in a fifth wheel: Tagalong. Although it has no motor, things still break or need attention from time to time. When you travel regularly, proper RV maintenance becomes a priority. Otherwise, the issues that arise could quickly exacerbate as a result of the mini earthquakes experienced during transit. Nearing the end of a long-term RV stay, we knew we needed to take care of some problems. Every year, it seems, we have to deal with broken window shades. Sometimes they get stuck open. Other times, they stop rolling up or down. We’ve learned how to replace the springs that control the movement, but removing the shades from — and, even worse, reinstalling them on — the walls is no easy feat. Still, the job had to be done. Here are some other maintenance tasks we’ve had to tend to. Shine Restoration We bought our fifth wheel in Mesa, Arizona, in June 2019. With no place to store it, the dealership agreed to keep the rig on its lot for six months. That worked well for us, but the Arizona sun and heat took their toll. Fast-forward just a few years, and we found ourselves wanting to address the dullness of Tagalong’s exterior to extend the life of our rig before it was too late. So, we booked a wash-and-wax job. Three workers showed up at our home and walked around the rig, assessing the job ahead of them. After their evaluation, the foreman explained that the clear coat protection on the rig had eroded. A wash-and-wax job alone would not restore it, he said. Tagalong needed something more intense: oxidation remover.  Since we don’t have to paint the exterior of our RV home every few years like we did our sticks and bricks, this seemed like a necessary equivalent. We decided to invest in the added protectant to restore Tagalong’s luster — for nearly double the price we had planned to pay. Four hours later, the men finished the job, eager for us to see the results of their labor. The dullness we had grown accustomed to had been erased, replaced by a shine that made our rig look almost like new.  Upholstery Fix Like other RVs built in 2018, our rig came equipped with artificial leather living room furniture. This quickly became an industry problem as the furniture material kept its integrity for only a few years before starting to peel. Because of that, modern RVs come with fabric furniture. When our recliner loveseat began peeling, we bandaged it with brush-on leather repair. That held for about a year before it, too, started to deteriorate.  Not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars to replace our loveseat, Bob did some research and discovered self-adhesive leather repair kits in a variety of colors and sizes, available on Amazon. We took some measurements and ordered a roll to cover the material on both headrests, the location of most of the flaking. Working together, we cleaned the furniture, measured and cut the replacement material, and carefully and slowly attached it to the loveseat. Although it’s not a perfect color match, the fix covered beautifully. Thrilled with that success, we ordered a larger roll to blanket the loveseat seats, one of which had started to peel. Requiring larger pieces, that repair job proved a little more challenging. But we pulled it off and salvaged our furniture.  Step Renovation The two stairs inside our rig that lead from the main living area to the bathroom and bedroom came covered in a protective plastic. Situated right inside the entry to the rig, the stairs are regularly exposed to sunlight, never mind the day-in, day-out use they’re subjected to. In many areas, the plastic had become brittle and broken. Wanting to prevent a tripping hazard, I decided to rip up all of the plastic protectant down to the particle board. I vacuumed the stairs to remove any dust and debris. Then I taped the edges and painted the stairs with a durable black floor paint with granules in it to prevent slipping. The two-coat restoration lasted for a year. After that time, some of the paint along the edge of each step wore down to wood. A little touch-up paint did the trick to correct the issue and keep the stairs protected and looking nice. Seam Recaulking We’ve had our share of water issues since moving into our RV. Not wanting to face anymore, we keep a close eye on external areas that could be at risk for allowing rain in. When installing new solar panels, we noticed the caulking along one side of the roof had pulled away, likely a result of the sun beating on it. Bob ordered some silicone caulk to fix the issue, but before he could apply it, he had to remove the old silicone. He spent a couple of hours teetering on the edge of the rig, painstakingly peeling the old sealant and rubbing the seam clean. After another hour on his hands and knees to recaulk the seam, he emerged victorious — and sore from all the kneeling. Despite that, we shouldn’t have to worry about rain seeping in.
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AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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