The terms are driving me nuts, and I confused on how to post topics about some issues

[Blue]

The terms are driving me nuts, and I confused on how to post topics about some issues…

Ok so when I hear the word “vandweller” I immediately think “someone who dwells in a van” and likely somebody who lives in a van because they cant or don’t want to live more expensively, but this website, and Wikipedia disagree.

Here’s the wiki definition…
A vandwelling may be:
A Campervan
A Recreational vehicle
A Travel trailer
A mobile home
Vandwelling is a lifestyle of living full or part-time in a wide variety of vehicles, mainly cargo vans that have been modified with basic amenities like house batteries, a bed platform, and storage space. Although the term can apply to living in other types of vehicles, it is mainly associated with vans because the word vandwelling is a portmanteau of the two words van and dwelling. Some vandwellers live this lifestyle by choice; seeking freedom, self-sufficiency and mobility by living outside the normal life of paying into conventional housing.
So right off the bat, I’m wrong in my assumptions, just because you identify as a “vandweller” does not mean you live in a van (makes 0 sense to me).

Then there are “full time RV’ers.” Which I assume is people who live in an RV rather than a home full time. I go on to make other assumptions about this lifestyle, I expect that “most” full time RV people are retired, and living mostly in paid campgrounds. Possibly moving from east to west or north to south depending on the season (IE snowbirds) but generally full time RV’ers could afford to live a different non-mobile lifestyle but they are choosing to live differently.

Then you have “Stealth Vandwllers” this term more accurately portrays what I expect “vandweller” should mean, people who live in vans and try not to get noticed, most commonly because they cant or wont afford to live differently.

Then you’ve got “boondockers” people who live mostly in the outdoors, most likely on BLM land in whatever kind of vehicle.

Then there are “stealth campers” and “ninja campers” but most commonly I think this refers to people living in tents on BLM or private land without permission.

Then there is “mobile homeless” very poor people living in their cars or vans, often with mental problems, long criminal records, or addictions. I’m admitting here too that I’m stereotyping excessively, but I gotta kind of do that to get the understanding of the terms and the differences between them.

Now, besides the terms… I guess one issue I am having is the variance in lifestyle is huge with these very different types of “vandwellers.” Somebody who can afford a 300,000.00 RV, and multiple year round paid luxury campground memberships, is going to be living an extremely different lifestyle than somebody who must live in a van at Wal-Mart or down by the river because they cant afford to live anywhere else other than maybe a refrigerator box. Affluent well off full time RV’ers aren’t generally going to have to worry about police, or go to food banks, etc. and when making a post say about the importance of avoiding staying in areas where groups of other vandwellers gather so as not to be identified as a vandweller… it does not reflect their lifestyle at all.

So should I

A)assume in my posts that all vandwellers have the same issues
or
B)Be more specific as to the type of vandweller lifestyle I am speaking to or
C)Don’t make posts specific to a single (general or assumed) vandweller lifestyle.

PS if you have other terms, or think my usage of the terms is faulty, I’d like to hear about that too…

 

[Lucky mike]

HHHhmmmm..............That makes me a high end Vandweller , I'm in an RV as I got older I screamed more comfort....the backpack and sleeping bag didnt get it , made it tough jumping trains.....The car Ritual got old fast.....the van was the best economically....but the RV as I got sicker made the best choice......guess it doesnt matter what your in or how you see yourself.....Im not homeless its just portable...I'm just a Traveller!!!

It cost no more for an RV than it does for a van as long as you stay out of the dealers....and the MPG Sucks in an RV !!!!....8 to 10 down hill with a tailwind!!!!

 

[rvwandering]

Your definitions (they are stereotypical but I understand your reason for that) seem pretty accurate to me. Many of us fit into more than one category. For example we are fulltime RVers who boondock but also stay at Walmarts and public campgrounds but never luxury campgrounds. We've learned a lot about how to live on the road so I often post on forums other than the RV forum.

Make your questions very specific if you want answers that fit into your style of vandwelling. You'll probably still get answers that don't fit but at least you'll get more that are helpful.

 

[Donedirtcheap]

Good morning Blue
Wiki isn't right about everything. Lazy description or they had bad inputs


My disclaimer: any of what I say here is not a condemnation of of what others decide to do for themselves. It is not a judgement of who is better or worse. All of this is not said just to Blue.

When I say RV, I mean everything. Maybe a van could be class V and be right next to class "B". The only difference is that B usually has a high top and holding tanks.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stealth


Stealth is breaking the law. If I stay anyplace that I can just go in and park and NOT have to sneak, then its not stealth. If I have to sneak or evade its stealth. I don't care if you do it, heck maybe I will do it someday. All I'm saying is don't try to sugar coat it or twist it into something it isn't. If you see me doing it I wont be making any excuses about it, you will hear me say this..........."Hurry, get inside, I have some coffee or cold beer in the frig, lets watch the Walking dead bro". I will say it that way because I will know that we are doing wrong.

To me boondocking is staying on BLM, state forest or federal lands legally with no hook ups. I guess Walmart, Home Depot or Cracker barrel would be boondocking too. Usually places that are free but all BLM land is not free, just cheap. I said staying LEGALLY because it means going by the rules that are in place. To me its not camping but when I describe camping it fits that description too.

If you said you were going camping I would think state park, national or federal forests, private or county parks with the main identifying characteristic being you have to pay. They could be full hookup or just an outhouse.

When you say vandweller I think person living in a van. When you say the same guy that was living in the van is now at sunny palms park somewhere in AZ, I think fulltimer.

A fulltimer could be moving everyday or staying for months at an RV park, BLM land, or from Walmart to Walmart. He would own no property. If he stops somewhere and illegally stays where hes not supposed to, he is stealth camping.

When you say full timer I think class A, B, C, TT, 5er, van. If you have a storage unit with cherished possessions or you are weaning stuff away you are still a full timer. If you own property that you can go back to or a house that you have rented out maybe you are a wanna be full timer but I reserve the honor of the name full timer to those that have made the tough decisions involved. Its not knocking you, its not a negative thing, its just my thoughts.

If you were a full timer and you buy a piece of land and place your RV on it or you build a dwelling on it you are now "Off the road".

If you live in you RV and work, you are a fulltimer. If you get investment money, pension, SS or still work you are still a fulltimer. Where the funds come from doesn't doesnt change it.

If you walk the streets and have no RV to go to, the system considers you homeless. If you have no established address you are homeless. If you are placed in the shelter at 123 main street I would think that social services considers it your contact point so you are no longer homeless. Blue could teach me more about that.

If you live/walk the streets and backpack/tent and have an address in SD or Texas or whatever, I would call you a fulltimer, many wouldn't. While you are doing it and you sneak into the back corner of the city park, I would call it stealth.

If I leave my SB for the winter I'm a snowbird or part timer and I could be a wannabee. If I leave the south for the winter and go north, I'm CRAZY.

 

[Donedirtcheap]

HHHhmmmm..............That makes me a high end Vandweller , I'm in an RV as I got older I screamed more comfort....the backpack and sleeping bag didnt get it , made it tough jumping trains.....The car Ritual got old fast.....the van was the best economically....but the RV as I got sicker made the best choice......guess it doesnt matter what your in or how you see yourself.....Im not homeless its just portable...I'm just a Traveller!!!

It cost no more for an RV than it does for a van as long as you stay out of the dealers....and the MPG Sucks in an RV !!!!....8 to 10 down hill with a tailwind!!!!

I have ALWAYS also had to blow in the carburetor to achieve those MPG's.

 

[Zil]

First; make up a word that you can use to name the collection of folk on this forum. Just a matter of simplifying the conversation rather than using all the other words that confuse the definition.
Second; change that word's spelling to Van Dweller. Ok make that one word = Vandweller can be used to describe all who post here or read the posts.

 

[Blue]

All good suggestions and observations I like the idea of van dweller being someone who actually dwells in a van and vandweller being a lifestyle term.

 

[Lucky mike]

I consider all that are on here "Travelers" ....."Alternative Lifestylists"(not to be confused with other definitions)

Living a Migrant life was here long before!!!.....look at the bright side , you dont have to drag your TeePee.....load your wagon......grab your Club and ride your dinosaur into the sunset....

Living by the means available to you and being humble about it carries no shame , we all were clueless when we stepped into this lifestyle, a few dreams and alot of trial & error helped most of us stay out here that like it......others ended up out here to survive and hopefully work there way out.....there is no wrong way or name to descibe how its done.....Like Bob has said and I live by it to....your welcome in my Camp anytime ,I'll always give you a hand up if its within my means...just dont stop by if your looking for a hand out. you can show up with a blanket roll....car , truck , van ,RV it doesnt make a difference your no better than me...............We all have our story ,each is a lesson to be taught

 

[Donedirtcheap]

I mention calling vans class "V" because there is such an irony in it all. If you tell most people that you are living or camping in your van you immediately see it in their faces. You know, its the oh they are dirtbags look. If you tell someone oh I'm camping or living in my class "B" they are like oh ok you're one of those RV type people. They then ask what a class B is because most people don't know. They think its ok because its got a "class" label but they don't know what it is. People are often ignorant and ignorance and prejudice go hand in hand. Because you have no holding tank or may not have a high top you are guilty.

Experiment some time and tell people that you live in a class "V". I bet you get a puzzled look but you probably wont get the eeewww dirtbag look.

 

[akrvbob]

It's my website and I get to define its terms.

On this website a vandweller describes an attitude and not a choice of a vehicle.

Of course I am not defining it for you or for anyone else. Your welcome to define it any way you want.

But that is the official definition of this website.
Bob

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

The wiki definition was added by a member because the definition it had before was worse and lean.

 

[jonthebru]

I think the semantics aren't as important as the concept and lifestyle.
Some here don't go near any cities, some rarely leave the city where they work. Some strive to live a low cash lifestyle with style, some have an income of some sort coming in and roam freely. There are many in selfbuilt vans and many in purpose built RVs.
I have lived in the back of a pickup but that was when I was 40 years younger. When i leave my jungle home here in Hawaii I will travel the country in a small class C RV simply because I would like the comfort and I won't have a place in North America to build out a van for vandwelling to my specs. Inevitably I will occasionally pay to stay in RV parks but only to do laundry or be close to some special event or location. Paying to stay in a National Forest or next to an Army Corps Of Engineer lake won't bother me as it costs something to keep even the roads maintained. (None of us want to pay more taxes, so we have to get used to "user fees".)
From my observation fulltimers seem to switch vehicles, some quite frequently; going larger, downsizing, moving to a trailer, or from a trailer to a motorhome, infinitely variable, all the time learning from their experience.
One the biggest common issues is the state of residency and having a "permanent address." There seem to be only a few choices in reality but it takes some research and planning.
I'll stop now.

 

[Blue]

Well there are a lot of issues, I guess some live in a RV by choice others have been forced into it and are doing it to survive, one step away from a cardboard box, and all the l levels in between The concepts and lifestyles might be radically different and some defined terms would help communication.

 

[Lucky mike]

Well there are a lot of issues, I guess some live in a RV by choice others have been forced into it and are doing it to survive, one step away from a cardboard box, and all the l levels in between The concepts and lifestyles might be radically different and some defined terms would help communication.

I tried the cardboard Box thing once.....moved out to the suburbs , the bridge abutments were alot nicer......then just decided it was time to move on and jumped the next train going south.........altho the memory seems ok.....nope wouldnt do that again but always can say , been there done that!