Hello Bob and All,
I discovered Bob via a reference in a YouTube video about boon docking, and 'boy oh-boy' has his site changed my outlook about diving into a new life style. You see, I am a home-body who is about to become homeless, except that I'm preparing an old MH for my next adventure. Fortunately I saw my crisis coming and have been preparing for sometime now. The advice and experience shared here has given me hope that I can happily make the transition. I'll be in Quartzite for the RTR to learn more. I'm planning on staying most of the season and looking for work as a RV tech/handyman/mechanic....
My 'rig' has 60,000 original miles and is a 1984 28' foot coach with a Chevy drive-line/chassis that will tow a 1986 Honda Civic Wagon 4WD on a dolly with brakes. Curb weight of the 4WD Honda is about 2000lbs. The combined curb weight might be safely increased by 4,000 pounds. The modification of the coach goes further than most would bother with as it is intended to be a 'Total Off Gridder', to be lived in much and to be driven as seldom as possible. The Honda that gets realistically 30mpg, or bicycle will be used instead. I see it as a small sail boat to be outfitted for an around the world journey, therefore 'redundant- redunancy', and the ability to use any available resources is necessary and cuts expenses too. It should make for a good 'cabin in the woods' and BOV.
The future refrigerator will be 43 liter, 400 dollar Edgestar. Recently installed 280 watts of solar panels and two good quality deep cycle batteries produced by Johnson Controls and sold at Costco for $90 bucks each, a WW2 tent woodstove, $99 bucks, two identical and quiet good ol' 1985 Honda EM500 generators, $175 bucks each and in near new condition, a model 1308-12 Dankoff Slowpump, (don't ask, lots of bucks), a solar powered water pump ( no battery necessary) to fill 200 gallons of auxiliary water tanks with filtered water from any surface water source from as far away as 450 vertical feet from below. Water is life. With a summer sun, it is rated to pump about 500+ gallons per day using only PV. Depending on the mix of crop, this could irrigate a half to a full acre garden if need be. The filtering system is graduated from 10 micron to sub-micron (.5 micron) and can be quickly connected to remove biological, radiological and chemical contaminants if needed. The plumbing has been modified in several ways for the subzero temperatures of Montana, and for versatility. The shower has a separate insulated and small 4 gallon tank and it's own pump that can take hot water from the wood stove, or propane stove top to be poured into this small tank and mixed with cold water from the tanks, or the small shower tank can be put on the roof heated by the sun. Hot water can also be pumped from metal tanks next to the wood stove for showers, or to the kitchen sink, or from a large metal tub/bucket/pot on an open fire outside and next to the coach. Shovel snow into a large metal wash tub heated by an external fire, and pump water into the coach. The coach's primary pump is the good old Shurflow 2088 water pump that can take water from any nearby surface source no lower than 20 feet below and deliver it into the tanks, into the coach plumbing, or via garden hose, up to several hundred feet away if necessary. It can use a surface source directly and continuously. The Shureflow pump has a pressure shutoff switch.
I prefer to be as self sufficient and comfortable as possible, and 200 gallons of water could allow one to stay on site for a month or so, or one could use twice as much water without the concern of running empty prior to the 14 day limit on BLM land. Figure 5 gallons per person per day and 200 gallons only lasts for 20 days for 2 persons. Yet water is very heavy, so the tanks can be left dry and used as storage space when traveling. The interior front 6 feet of the coach was removed and remodeled to accommodate four 30 gallon drums under a 6 foot long table/workbench/desk top and the passenger front seat was removed to allow for another two 30 gallon or one 55 gallon barrel. These drums or barrels have removable tops that allow one to store supplies inside. The other side of the front portion of the coach has a lightweight portable wood stove, and a 36" x 36" antique table next to it. Both the table and the 6 foot workbench/table and the drums and can be easily taken outside and used to expand ones living area, and leave plenty of cargo or living space inside. The wood stove can also be moved outside during the hot months. It is also a good cook stove. The 6 foot workbench can also double as a third bed, and bed next to the wood stove should temps get into the minus 20 to 40 below range, as it does most years here and for several weeks. One could be sleeping next to the stove and on top of 195 gallons of temperature stabilizing thermal-mass.
In the rear, the queen size bed has been raised to double the storage space back there. The toilet is either the standard flush type or dry, a 5 gallon bucket or bag in a sealed wooden and vented box. The previous owners replaced the 3-way frig with a large and modern 600 watt, 110 volt residential type. The original propane water heater was replaced by a 18 gallon 1500 watt, 110 volt residential type. If one can afford the hook ups, these 110 volt appliances would be nice to use. I'll need a larger generator to run those, and a wood-gasifer to supply that generator with fuel. Wood-gasifiers were used extensively in Northern Europe during WW2 in place of gasoline to power tanks, taxis, and tractors. Because of the short and dark days during winter in the deep woods of Montana, 280 watts of PV might not be enough during those dark 3 months of December, January and February if one wishes to run a laptop and ham radios for hours, so auxiliary lighting is either propane, white gas, or kerosene lantern, as well as candles. White gas is good to carry as it also can run the chain saw, the coach, or the Honda. And a tiny wood-gasifer could easily be built from coffee cans and copper pipe and run a tiny 500 watt Honda generator. The old school generators could be easily converted to run on wood gas, or propane.
Hopefully some of these ideas can be useful to others. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I have certainly found this blog to be helpful to myself and I will see you-all down there in Quartzite to learn more and kick off a new adventure...
I discovered Bob via a reference in a YouTube video about boon docking, and 'boy oh-boy' has his site changed my outlook about diving into a new life style. You see, I am a home-body who is about to become homeless, except that I'm preparing an old MH for my next adventure. Fortunately I saw my crisis coming and have been preparing for sometime now. The advice and experience shared here has given me hope that I can happily make the transition. I'll be in Quartzite for the RTR to learn more. I'm planning on staying most of the season and looking for work as a RV tech/handyman/mechanic....
My 'rig' has 60,000 original miles and is a 1984 28' foot coach with a Chevy drive-line/chassis that will tow a 1986 Honda Civic Wagon 4WD on a dolly with brakes. Curb weight of the 4WD Honda is about 2000lbs. The combined curb weight might be safely increased by 4,000 pounds. The modification of the coach goes further than most would bother with as it is intended to be a 'Total Off Gridder', to be lived in much and to be driven as seldom as possible. The Honda that gets realistically 30mpg, or bicycle will be used instead. I see it as a small sail boat to be outfitted for an around the world journey, therefore 'redundant- redunancy', and the ability to use any available resources is necessary and cuts expenses too. It should make for a good 'cabin in the woods' and BOV.
The future refrigerator will be 43 liter, 400 dollar Edgestar. Recently installed 280 watts of solar panels and two good quality deep cycle batteries produced by Johnson Controls and sold at Costco for $90 bucks each, a WW2 tent woodstove, $99 bucks, two identical and quiet good ol' 1985 Honda EM500 generators, $175 bucks each and in near new condition, a model 1308-12 Dankoff Slowpump, (don't ask, lots of bucks), a solar powered water pump ( no battery necessary) to fill 200 gallons of auxiliary water tanks with filtered water from any surface water source from as far away as 450 vertical feet from below. Water is life. With a summer sun, it is rated to pump about 500+ gallons per day using only PV. Depending on the mix of crop, this could irrigate a half to a full acre garden if need be. The filtering system is graduated from 10 micron to sub-micron (.5 micron) and can be quickly connected to remove biological, radiological and chemical contaminants if needed. The plumbing has been modified in several ways for the subzero temperatures of Montana, and for versatility. The shower has a separate insulated and small 4 gallon tank and it's own pump that can take hot water from the wood stove, or propane stove top to be poured into this small tank and mixed with cold water from the tanks, or the small shower tank can be put on the roof heated by the sun. Hot water can also be pumped from metal tanks next to the wood stove for showers, or to the kitchen sink, or from a large metal tub/bucket/pot on an open fire outside and next to the coach. Shovel snow into a large metal wash tub heated by an external fire, and pump water into the coach. The coach's primary pump is the good old Shurflow 2088 water pump that can take water from any nearby surface source no lower than 20 feet below and deliver it into the tanks, into the coach plumbing, or via garden hose, up to several hundred feet away if necessary. It can use a surface source directly and continuously. The Shureflow pump has a pressure shutoff switch.
I prefer to be as self sufficient and comfortable as possible, and 200 gallons of water could allow one to stay on site for a month or so, or one could use twice as much water without the concern of running empty prior to the 14 day limit on BLM land. Figure 5 gallons per person per day and 200 gallons only lasts for 20 days for 2 persons. Yet water is very heavy, so the tanks can be left dry and used as storage space when traveling. The interior front 6 feet of the coach was removed and remodeled to accommodate four 30 gallon drums under a 6 foot long table/workbench/desk top and the passenger front seat was removed to allow for another two 30 gallon or one 55 gallon barrel. These drums or barrels have removable tops that allow one to store supplies inside. The other side of the front portion of the coach has a lightweight portable wood stove, and a 36" x 36" antique table next to it. Both the table and the 6 foot workbench/table and the drums and can be easily taken outside and used to expand ones living area, and leave plenty of cargo or living space inside. The wood stove can also be moved outside during the hot months. It is also a good cook stove. The 6 foot workbench can also double as a third bed, and bed next to the wood stove should temps get into the minus 20 to 40 below range, as it does most years here and for several weeks. One could be sleeping next to the stove and on top of 195 gallons of temperature stabilizing thermal-mass.
In the rear, the queen size bed has been raised to double the storage space back there. The toilet is either the standard flush type or dry, a 5 gallon bucket or bag in a sealed wooden and vented box. The previous owners replaced the 3-way frig with a large and modern 600 watt, 110 volt residential type. The original propane water heater was replaced by a 18 gallon 1500 watt, 110 volt residential type. If one can afford the hook ups, these 110 volt appliances would be nice to use. I'll need a larger generator to run those, and a wood-gasifer to supply that generator with fuel. Wood-gasifiers were used extensively in Northern Europe during WW2 in place of gasoline to power tanks, taxis, and tractors. Because of the short and dark days during winter in the deep woods of Montana, 280 watts of PV might not be enough during those dark 3 months of December, January and February if one wishes to run a laptop and ham radios for hours, so auxiliary lighting is either propane, white gas, or kerosene lantern, as well as candles. White gas is good to carry as it also can run the chain saw, the coach, or the Honda. And a tiny wood-gasifer could easily be built from coffee cans and copper pipe and run a tiny 500 watt Honda generator. The old school generators could be easily converted to run on wood gas, or propane.
Hopefully some of these ideas can be useful to others. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I have certainly found this blog to be helpful to myself and I will see you-all down there in Quartzite to learn more and kick off a new adventure...
You sound very prepared for you next big adventure, enjoy!!
