Awesome! I would love to get my hands on one to play with...any takers?? Free of course!:smiley_drive:
Tips for Stealth Overnight Parking and Building a Stealth Vehicle
- Thread starter The Wanderer
- Start date
Awesome! I would love to get my hands on one to play with...any takers?? Free of course!:smiley_drive:
armaghroadman
New member
Wow, I just noticed. I believe you are parked in one of those pictures behind a Simca?...
Accrete
Explorer
Greetings. While i realize after reading through this (and the OP's other thread where i made _a comment_) that the "Wanderer"/OP has not posted for many months i just wanted to say You Go Guy. Hats off to you for having the courage to buck the RV-norm and go with simple amenities and the Happy Hermit lifestyle.
On "Stealth Living" the only funny story i've got directly related to this sort of living is this tid bit...
Back in 1979ish i was parked in a Sacramento CA area shopping mall. I had managed a location in San Francisco and had been asked to run two shops in Sac. . . so i moved my home on wheels (a Chevy cube van with a 12' box, all stock white on outside) up to the new area. One night (and by this time i'd been doing this sort of stealth living/parked in mall shopping lots for ~18+ months?) i was reading in bed and i heard a car drive up along side the van. A door opens, i hear voices, then my gas cap being un-screwed, hear a "WoooHooo", door closes and off they go. I then let out a good laugh. All i could figure is that stealing gas caps was some sort of initiation into a club of sorts... next day i purchased a locking cap
My wife and my rig is no where near stealthy (_but i can almost hide in the trees_), and it doesn't need to be as we park mainly in BLM/FS dispersed camp areas for free. We avoid the cities for the most part except to re-supply and do laundry if away for more than a week. That said, we also pretty much avoid people! Yea, we are really Happy Hermits. I've thought about that statement. I don't know what that means as we age (mid 50's now). Time will tell. We do have two wonderful adult kids we enjoy spending adventures with, other than that there is a once-a-year fiberglass-trailer-enthusiast type campout we go to. All other outings its just the two of us.
As others have said, the lifestyle presented by the OP is not for everyone, BUT there are those that it rings a similar note with such as my wife and i.
Happy Trails,
Thom
On "Stealth Living" the only funny story i've got directly related to this sort of living is this tid bit...
Back in 1979ish i was parked in a Sacramento CA area shopping mall. I had managed a location in San Francisco and had been asked to run two shops in Sac. . . so i moved my home on wheels (a Chevy cube van with a 12' box, all stock white on outside) up to the new area. One night (and by this time i'd been doing this sort of stealth living/parked in mall shopping lots for ~18+ months?) i was reading in bed and i heard a car drive up along side the van. A door opens, i hear voices, then my gas cap being un-screwed, hear a "WoooHooo", door closes and off they go. I then let out a good laugh. All i could figure is that stealing gas caps was some sort of initiation into a club of sorts... next day i purchased a locking cap
My wife and my rig is no where near stealthy (_but i can almost hide in the trees_), and it doesn't need to be as we park mainly in BLM/FS dispersed camp areas for free. We avoid the cities for the most part except to re-supply and do laundry if away for more than a week. That said, we also pretty much avoid people! Yea, we are really Happy Hermits. I've thought about that statement. I don't know what that means as we age (mid 50's now). Time will tell. We do have two wonderful adult kids we enjoy spending adventures with, other than that there is a once-a-year fiberglass-trailer-enthusiast type campout we go to. All other outings its just the two of us.
As others have said, the lifestyle presented by the OP is not for everyone, BUT there are those that it rings a similar note with such as my wife and i.
Happy Trails,
Thom
athena-gallactic
New member
Hi Wanderer,
I'm recently employed as a computer programmer in Silicon Valley; I traveled 2+ years in a backpack, the crazy rent here makes me think that I'd never be able to save enough to own land. I started looking into living in an RV, bus, etc.
I believe my ideal way to go would be the stealth box truck; since I'd have access to breakfast, lunch, shower, bathroom at my work, I could really get away with a smaller truck.
Mostly I want the cab and body connected chassis, and small enough (how large was yours?)
But I just want to reach out to say that I find this very inspiring and instead of paying $2000 a month for a room, I am going to make my own mobile stealth home.
Any tips from the community would be appreciated.
I'm recently employed as a computer programmer in Silicon Valley; I traveled 2+ years in a backpack, the crazy rent here makes me think that I'd never be able to save enough to own land. I started looking into living in an RV, bus, etc.
I believe my ideal way to go would be the stealth box truck; since I'd have access to breakfast, lunch, shower, bathroom at my work, I could really get away with a smaller truck.
Mostly I want the cab and body connected chassis, and small enough (how large was yours?)
But I just want to reach out to say that I find this very inspiring and instead of paying $2000 a month for a room, I am going to make my own mobile stealth home.
Any tips from the community would be appreciated.
That's not a bad idea, buy your land and pay it off in a few years. Then build a house. In the interim, you could buy a box truck, live off propane for heat and as long as you stick to maybe just using your laptop and tablets for entertainment, you could live off just a few solar panels too.
However, california has some very strict laws in regards to what constitutes a dwelling, and long term rv parking, boondocking etc... I would research this as much as you can before doing anything.
toyotech
Expedition Leader
Doesnt Walmart have free overnight parking. Heck he might be able to just park it at his work. If not.
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photo_i
Explorer
Yes, it does. And it means exactly that - "overnight parking", not "permanent parking". Although one time we've met a man who have been living out his RV at Walmart parking for couple of months, while his wife was going through cancer treatment in local hospital. But cases like that are not common practice at all.
evergreengoddess
New member
Excellent information. How big is your box truck. Is it a 10 foot one or larger?
:Wow1:
:Wow1:
Dr. Cornwallis
Adventurer
I'm about to start on a topper and bed drawer/sleeping platform virtually identical to the one pictured below. In addition to what they did in the picture I'm going to incorporate a water tank up at the front of the bed (under the platform) and I'll be using a Softopper instead of a shell. A setup like this makes it possible to crawl in the back and close up without anyone ever knowing someone is sleeping in the bed. It also facilitates the quick setup and breakdown of a campsite.
4x4tripping
Adventurer
I'm about to start on a topper and bed drawer/sleeping platform virtually identical to the one pictured below. In addition to what they did in the picture I'm going to incorporate a water tank up at the front of the bed (under the platform) and I'll be using a Softopper instead of a shell. A setup like this makes it possible to crawl in the back and close up without anyone ever knowing someone is sleeping in the bed. It also facilitates the quick setup and breakdown of a campsite.
Maybe you find too some ideas here:
http://transafrica2012.blogspot.mx/p/die-schlafplattform.html
In my new travel Blog are links to most of the Equipment:
http://adventure-overland.blogspot.com/p/fahrzeug.html
I use stealth camping a lot, ob my ongoing PanAmericana Trip
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Unlikely. With unemployment at 25% I doubt they even bother prosecuting vagrancy any more. And a rig impounded will be sold to recover storage and impound fees, not to pay the parking tickets.