Smallest vehicle for 5 campers?

[mattwithcats]

Look on Government Planet or Government Deals dot com for a gutted RV chassis.

Stripped inside, some have toilet / shower, nearly all have no kitchen other than a microwave.
I have seen ex SWAT vans, mobil offices, etc…
https://www.govdeals.com/asset/62/21870

 

[Rmay635703]

Only has over 200,000 miles on it so you must be right.

Photo of “maintenance “ requirements

https://tenor.com/bkBQg.gif

https://images.app.goo.gl/WKxUDrZ4sUBxh8US8

 

[vavavroom]

How's the RV/camping trip coming?

 

[JHZR2]

How's the RV/camping trip coming?

It’s not. Too big, too expensive to fit that many people. There’s no money in trying, versus packing tent camping gear in the minivan and driving where I please in speed and comfort. The massive money saved over an rv and truck buys all the hotels and restaurants I’ll ever need.

If it was just my wife and I, I’d outfit a van in an instant.

 

[MSCH]

It’s not. Too big, too expensive to fit that many people. There’s no money in trying, versus packing tent camping gear in the minivan and driving where I please in speed and comfort. The massive money saved over an rv and truck buys all the hotels and restaurants I’ll ever need.

If it was just my wife and I, I’d outfit a van in an instant.

honestly, its is cheaper to fly someplace, rent a car, stay in a five star hotel and live on room service than it is to own a RV.

my fifth wheel payment is 500 bucks a month, insurance is a grand a year...amd the cost of keeping up appearance is also there. LOL.
I just bought 4 tires for 1000 dollars.

on my Alaska trip this summer I think I averaged about 200 dollars a day in expenses..
Was gone for 2.5 months.
so I spent about 22000 dollars on RV related expenses this year.

Friends of mine are seriously looking at Class B RV's. They keep focusing on two different brands, some of the Benz Swifter chassis
and others on the Promaster Chassis. The husband likes the Benz chassis... I keep telling him no one ever saved money driving a diesel and no one ever saved money RVing.

 

[hemioiler]

honestly, its is cheaper to fly someplace, rent a car, stay in a five star hotel and live on room service than it is to own a RV.

my fifth wheel payment is 500 bucks a month, insurance is a grand a year...amd the cost of keeping up appearance is also there. LOL.
I just bought 4 tires for 1000 dollars.

on my Alaska trip this summer I think I averaged about 200 dollars a day in expenses..
Was gone for 2.5 months.
so I spent about 22000 dollars on RV related expenses this year.

I have gone RV'ing for 2+ months all added up in a year and have never spent anywhere close to that. RV's can be as cheap as a used $4000 tent trailer with new canvas already installed and less than $50/night (which is considered pricey) for electric hookups and water/dump fills available.

I have no doubt that pulling a massive 5w to alaska for 2.5 months is very costly, but that's literally the worst case scenario you picked.

 

[MSCH]

I have gone RV'ing for 2+ months all added up in a year and have never spent anywhere close to that. RV's can be as cheap as a used $4000 tent trailer with new canvas already installed and less than $50/night (which is considered pricey) for electric hookups and water/dump fills available.

I have no doubt that pulling a massive 5w to alaska for 2.5 months is very costly, but that's literally the worst case scenario you picked.

well honestly worst case scenario is probably a diesel pusher. yeah... I've had 3000 dollar camper... a couple of them in fact.
back in the day I had an old F250 with a pickup camper, 2500 dollar unit... I went all the way to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon in my old pickup camper and stayed for next to nothing via boondocking, so it was mostly the cost of fuel and food ( food doesn't even count really because you eat everyday no matter where) but going that way is the exception... the norm is what I describe below.

my implication is the RV world is full of units where people are not only paying a monthly payment, but insurance, as well as paying to store the sucker because they don't have room at home. That is the base cost for most people.

 

[hemioiler]

well honestly worst case scenario is probably a diesel pusher. yeah... I've had 3000 dollar camper... a couple of them in fact.
back in the day I had an old F250 with a pickup camper, 2500 dollar unit... I went all the way to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon in my old pickup camper and stayed for next to nothing via boondocking, so it was mostly the cost of fuel and food ( food doesn't even count really because you eat everyday no matter where) but going that way is the exception... the norm is what I describe below.

my implication is the RV world is full of units where people are not only paying a monthly payment, but insurance, as well as paying to store the sucker because they don't have room at home. That is the base cost for most people.

There are far more people that tent and camp in tiny trailers than there are those who use massive expensive equipment. You wrote an absolute truth ("it's cheaper to fly than own an RV") that isn't so truthy and then used a worst case scenario as proof. I just don't think that is representative at all of how the majority of us rv or tent or camp. The OP was obviously not looking for something that pricey, and he doesn't need to either.

No doubt there are lots who spend too much on RVs. But that's a choice for them, not a requirement in the least. That's all I'm getting at. Even if 70% spend half of what you did in your example, it's still not a requirement to do so.

 

[JHZR2]

There are far more people that tent and camp in tiny trailers than there are those who use massive expensive equipment. You wrote an absolute truth ("it's cheaper to fly than own an RV") that isn't so truthy and then used a worst case scenario as proof. I just don't think that is representative at all of how the majority of us rv or tent or camp. The OP was obviously not looking for something that pricey, and he doesn't need to either.

No doubt there are lots who spend too much on RVs. But that's a choice for them, not a requirement in the least. That's all I'm getting at. Even if 70% spend half of what you did in your example, it's still not a requirement to do so.

We love tent camping. Love state parks, national parks, etc.

Stealth camping maybe for two in a van seems like a neat concept, but it’s just not viable for five. Van camping in case of torrential rains/etc. was more the concept, doing so at a relatively reasonable cost was key, not because of the money per se, but because of the perceived value when all costs are included.

 

[02SE]

It’s not. Too big, too expensive to fit that many people. There’s no money in trying, versus packing tent camping gear in the minivan and driving where I please in speed and comfort. The massive money saved over an rv and truck buys all the hotels and restaurants I’ll ever need.

If it was just my wife and I, I’d outfit a van in an instant.

We've heard this argument often from people, when they would see our RV set-up. I always told them that sounds great, if where you're going has hotels and restaurants readily available.

Where we primarily take an RV, rarely has any kind of services available. Being self-contained and comfortable, miles from any services, was what we enjoy about an RV. Of course you pay for that comfort, but the experiences it enabled has always been worth it to us.

On the other hand, we're not getting our rig up some hiking trail either. For those situations we can use the RV as a base camp, to hike from. Or just leave the RV home, take backpacks, a tent and sleeping bags, and 'rough it'.

All sorts of options to camping, it just depends on the experience you want.

 

[MSCH]

There are far more people that tent and camp in tiny trailers than there are those who use massive expensive equipment. You wrote an absolute truth ("it's cheaper to fly than own an RV") that isn't so truthy and then used a worst case scenario as proof. I just don't think that is representative at all of how the majority of us rv or tent or camp. The OP was obviously not looking for something that pricey, and he doesn't need to either.

No doubt there are lots who spend too much on RVs. But that's a choice for them, not a requirement in the least. That's all I'm getting at. Even if 70% spend half of what you did in your example, it's still not a requirement to do so.

I don't know about that. I see far more RV's than I do tents.. in places that accept both. Even national parks, more trailers than tents.
trying to think what cheap RV I have seen?

When I was up in Alaska and Yukon Territory, only people I saw in tents were homeless or bear bait..

 

[hemioiler]

I don't know about that. I see far more RV's than I do tents.. in places that accept both. Even national parks, more trailers than tents.
trying to think what cheap RV I have seen?

When I was up in Alaska and Yukon Territory, only people I saw in tents were homeless or bear bait..

"tents and tiny rvs"; that's in comparison to expensive/massive 5w's and diesel pushers. In the provincial parks I've been to, they all have a ratio of like 70% small sites vs some larger ones and then some pull throughs at the end.

The point remains; you're not required to drop large amounts of money to get out and have fun.

 

[ragtoplvr]

You don't have to stand up when still half asleep when nature calls at home?

My tent does not have a high ceiling and my air mattress is on the ground. At 67 getting up off the ground and out the small entry is harder than it was 10 years ago. Being half asleep does not help as does the need to get a light and shoes. Not like home.

 

[ragtoplvr]

I don't know about that. I see far more RV's than I do tents.. in places that accept both. Even national parks, more trailers than tents.
trying to think what cheap RV I have seen?

When I was up in Alaska and Yukon Territory, only people I saw in tents were homeless or bear bait..

And adventure motor cyclists. A very few haul a highly Specialized tent trailer .