Thread by @NolteNC

THREAD for those considering buying a camper…

Rent one for a week. If you are happy to get home when the trip is over, don't buy one. If you are not immediately addicted to camping, don't buy one.

During corona a lot of people are buying campers only to discover...

...tt's not for them. Camping is not for everyone and as soon as you buy one you've lost a ton of money because the resale value is terrible.

We love camping. Even with my wife's poor health, we've been out at least 20 weeks over just a few years.

PROS: Sleeping in your...

...own bed. Eating your own food. Campsites are much cheaper than the average hotel room. You can bring pets. You can leave your pets and go sightsee. No noisy people in the room next door. No doors slamming all night. No expensive eating out. Run a UV light over your...

...hotel room bed and then sleep in it -- I dare you. You have your own small lot where you can grill and relax outside. Campers are a culture of conservative-leaning individualists who are family-oriented, friendly, courteous, and leave you alone.

The feeling of...

...independence is priceless.

We figure that between the hotel room and eating out, we save about $100 night.

CONS: Campers are a house that either sits for long periods or is being driven down the road -- so you will have breakdowns. My water heater went out...

...this trip. After wasting a day trying to fix it myself, I found a guy who did it (for $220). Usually you can't find a guy because they're too busy.

We've had leaks and other issues I've been able to fix myself, so I not only watched the guy fix my water heater so...

...I could learn how (because everyone associated with RVs are awesome, he was more than happy to show me), I've already ordered the part that went bad so I have one on hand. I have a lot of parts on hand, and always take a full set of tools...

...Towing a camper (or driving one) can be intimidating. You have to back up into a lot of camping spots, you have to find gas stations with plenty of room. This can get hairy.
Before this trip, I spent a week refurbishing a corner of our camper (removed bunk beds...

...installed closet and drawers), only to discover a roof leak rotted out a 6' x 4' piece of the floor. Had to be replaced. These things are a lot of work, that doesn’t include cleaning, loading and unloading.

Wi-Fi at campsites is notoriously awful...

...Campsites will advertise Wi-Fi, but I've yet to find reliable Wi-Fi. Streaming TV is out of the question. So I use my phone hotspot, but sometimes that is not good enough, so if I have to work, I set up shop at the local McDonald's.

So you have to not only love it, you...

...have to find it addicting.

We just got back after two full weeks in our tiny 22 foot travel trailer (believe me, that is small compared to most) and can't wait to go out again.

Oh, the water heater breakdown is not the end of the world because campsites all have showers and bathrooms, and we washed dishes by heating water on the gas stove.

The only breakdown that would send us home is the AC.

Oh, and RVs come barebones. At least ours did. We had to add a medicine chest, hang our own TV, add hooks, towel racks, shelving things like that... You also want to be sure your additions are lightweight as possible.

These things are a lot of work... Today, I'm...

...adding a small shelf for a DVD player and a stereo receiver, hanging a couple speakers. Going to open up a cubby hole under the bed and trim it out. The more you can do stuff like this, the more stuff is out of your way, The cubby is for shoes and the toolbox...

...by far our smartest addition, the thing we cannot do without second only to the AC, is our dehumidifier.

amazon.com/EcoSeb-DD122EA…

We blow the hot air into a corner, run the hose through the floor so it drains outside... If it weren't for this, we probably would've...

...unloaded the camper. That first trip was way too sticky even with the AC.