What if: Systems, What I'm doing without

I’m going to start the whole systems discussion with this post on what I don’t plan on having in this camper, which is pretty much the same as what I don’t have in the van plus one or two other items, then I'll get into the systems I will have in some follow-up posts.

After years of experience and pretty heavy use, I’ve pared the systems down to what works for me and eliminated most the ones that I just don’t need, despite the fact that the marketing companies charged with selling said systems strongly disagree and insist that my life will be hell without all the bells and whistles they're flogging.

But then you kind of want to feel sorry for those guys. I mean, trying to flog a high tech system, including a highly hackable app, that allows me to start the coffee maker and open the garage door from thousands of miles away through my smart-phone has to be a tough job!!!

Shower:

I’ve discussed this before but will repeat it here.

Really?? Just what should I give up in order to fit in a shower that I will use for 10 minutes or so a day?? My closet?  The refrigerator? And then I have to have a water heater to go with my shower plus propane tanks to run the water heater. Why would I even consider giving up over 10% of my very small space for a shower that I would use 0.5% of the time?

By the time I wet myself down, soap up, rinse off and towel dry, all in an elbow knocking space, not to mention the extra time spent cleaning up the mess I just created, filling and dumping tanks and repairing water damage, I can heat some water on the stove and give myself a sink-shower for a heck of a lot less cost in time, stress, fuel and money.

Water heater:

This is an appliance I’ve been doing without for over a decade now, which means I recover two pretty good sized storage areas that I can now use for – well – storage, not to mention getting rid of the weight and a couple pretty big holes through the wall of the camper.

First there’s the space the water heater itself would occupy, a little over a cubic foot, then there's that  12x12 hole right through the sidewall. On top of that there’s the weight, about 32 lbs. when full; and when would it not be full???

And of course you need propane to operate the water heater. The simplest way to avoid running out of propane is to have two tanks. (But for cryin’ out loud, forgo the ‘convenience’ of an automatic regulator that will switch from one to the other on its own when the first tank runs dry!! If you use one of these there will be a day when you find both tanks empty because you didn’t notice when the first one ran out.)

This is the insulated propane-tank compartment  (Dual 20 lbs. bottles) for one of my earlier rigs prior to installation. At 34" wide, 24" high and 18" deep it used up a lot of space!!

With a two-tank system, as long as you refill the empty tank as soon as possible, you will always have one nearly full tank to operate off and will never run out. But these tanks, even in the petite but uncommon 10 gallon size, are pretty big and must be kept in a compartment that vents and opens to the outside.

You can mitigate this somewhat by going to a single bottle system and accepting that you are going to run out at the most inconvenient times, like when you’re 20 miles up a dirt road; and/or end up wasting part of a bottle’s fill making an emergency exchange at the nearest Home Depot just before heading up said 20 mile dirt road.

So even assuming you settle for a single 20 lb. tank system, that’s another 1.5 cu. ft. of storage space, a second big hole in the side of the camper and around 35 lbs. for a full tank.

So, considering that I typically need only one or two kettles of hot water per day for washing dishes, and myself, I don’t think so. . .

Fixed stove: 

Again, this appliance needs a fixed propane system with all the built in issues that go with it.

In addition. a fixed stove is always taking up counter space whether you’re using it or not and if you wish to cook outside once in a while a second stove must now be carried along and I really dislike duplication of function when dealing with a small space like a camper.

 This fixed stovetop is in a really neat little 10' travel trailer built by Carson Trailer, but it sure would be nice to have access to that counter space hidden under it!!

Furnace:

This is an item that takes up space, requires a fixed propane system and uses one heck of a lot of battery power when running! No thanks. . .

My substitute is a catalytic heater that runs off the disposable propane bottles and can store in a relatively small space out of the way when not in use. I typically use it to warm things in the evening and/or first thing in the morning with a window and the vent cracked, I never run it overnight, opting for an extra blanket instead, and usually sleep better for it.

Flush toilet:

This is another one of those cascading systems. If you insist on having a flush toilet you need to increase the size of the potable water supply in order to have water to flush it with, plus you have to add a blackwater tank to flush it into, plus storage for the hose to empty the blackwater tank with, plus – well, you get the idea.

On top of that I would once again be dedicating a significant amount of prime real estate for an item that then sits unused for the vast majority of the time.

Generator:

For a boon-docker this sounds nice, maybe even necessary, but it weighs a lot, costs even more, even for a portable unit, and when I did have a generator at least 90% of its hours came from the bi-weekly maintenance run I gave it to make sure it would be functioning when I needed it the next time.

Solar has been a much better solution for me and when that's not enough, like when the batteries get down to 50% charge (Going farther is going to damage them!) because of clouds or a shady campsite, yet I still have supplies and hikes for a few more days, charging them off the engine alternator will get me over the hump. But don't use the engine, or generator for that matter, to charge the house batteries to any more than 80% because you will just be wasting fuel and time as that's about the point where the batteries will start accepting the charge at a slower and slower rate, so you are in the territory of diminishing returns!

After having a generator in one of my rigs, it actually turned out to be no hardship at all to eliminate it from later rigs; so a generator wasn’t even in the consideration for this camper.

Microwave:

That’s right, I said microwave. This is another item that takes up space (Like a month's worth of cereal boxes kind of space!) but gets used infrequently. I have been keeping track and have only used mine a half dozen times in the past 60 or so camping days.) And without a generator or high-capacity inverter and big batteries, it can only be used when shore-power is available.

A small lidded saucepan on the stove, Or better yet, a 1 quart cast iron dutch oven, both of which I carry and use for other things as well, can be substituted for most of what the micro is used for. Maybe not quite as conveniently but I’m pretty sure we’ve already passed the point where the pursuit of, and reliance on, ‘convenience’ is insidiously damaging our quality of life.

If leaving it behind proves to be a mistake then there are a couple spots where I could tuck in a small micro after the fact.

TV:

Actually I’m still a little torn by the thought of eliminating the TV altogether, but in reality it usually just turns out to be an annoying obsession; on those rare occasions when I have any TV reception at all that is.

I find that I often end up trapped in front of it while desperately and monotonously trying to find the least offensive drivel to watch on the little box rather than sitting back and enjoying the nature I’m out there pursuing in the first place.

So lately I've been ignoring it, even when camped in places I'm pretty sure I would have some sort of reception. As a substitute I have a handful of instructional videos and a couple boxed sets of old classic TV shows, (Curiously mine, 'As Time Goes By' and 'Last of the Summer Wine' are British shows. . .) I can play on the laptop.

 

Electric kettle:

One more item that can only be used for one thing and then only when hooked up to shore power. 

Currently I carry both an electric and a stove-top kettle, but I think it's time to eliminate duplication of function and leave the electric kettle at the house where electricity is usually more readily available.

Slow cooker:

Another 110V item. I've only used mine twice in the past 60 or so camping days and it has already been removed from the van, so that's another item that will not be making the cut for the camper.

Here's a hint. Once the Dutch oven has been loaded up with dinner and heated on the stove to simmering, a couple tea-light candles slid underneath (Larger Dutch ovens require more candles.) with a tin-foil wind shield to keep the candles burning and the heat where it belongs, will turn it into a dandy little slow-cooker!

 Inverter:

 Currently I have a 'whole house' inverter in the van, but then the output breaker failed a few months ago so it no longer inverts. I haven't bothered to drag that monster up out of its hole, crack it open and replace the faulty breaker yet because, though convenient, I only used it infrequently. And when I did, like say to fire up the microwave for a few minutes, watching it suck upwards of 100 amps at a time out of my batteries was - well - disquieting. 

Supposedly the inverter is also good when used in standby mode while plugged into shore-power. In this configuration it will fill in the gaps when the shore-power voltage drops a little too low. Only, in my experience this sort of situation is usually encountered when trying to run the AC in a camp full of people trying to run the AC, so the low voltage is not a short-term condition and trying to run the AC off the inverter for more than a few minutes will kill the batteries in a hurry!!!

So for these reasons, and one other that I'll get into when I'm talking about systems I will have, I have eliminated it from the camper.

I'm sure there's more I could be putting on this list of 'conveniences' I either do without already or will eliminate from this camper, but the ones listed here give a sample of the thought process that goes into the decision to eliminate them from my camping life.

What if: Interior, finishing out the last of the cabinets

This final little bit on the interior layout covers the space from the aft ends of the countertops to the rear wall.

Filling out the space at the aft end of the driver's side or left-hand counter will be a cupboard wide enough to fit a Norcold Model NR751 fridge. This is the new version of Norcold’s 2.7 cu ft 110V/12V compressor drive model.

This fridge is less than 2 feet tall so there’s plenty of vertical room in this cupboard to mount the fridge up at eye level, but even this small version of a ‘newfangled ice box’ weighs in at 50 lbs., and that’s before loading it with food. So in order to keep the camper's all-important center of gravity under control I'm mounting the fridge as low as I can.

 

The leftover space above the fridge will make a very nice pantry.

By using a track-style adjustable shelf system two or three shelves can be added to the pantry to maximize it’s potential. (Track style allows the shelves to be locked in place which is a good thing in something like a camper that bangs and rattles on down the road. Pin style adjustable shelves don't have any provision for locking the shelves in place, and picking them and their contents up off the floor every time you drive a few miles gets tiresome!)

Natural instinct is to use the bottom shelf for large items and set up the adjustable shelves above that to take the smaller things. Unfortunately that would be wrong. Generally speaking, larger food items are also light weight, such as boxes of cereal and bags of chips, where small items tend to be heavy such as cans of soup. So, back to that center of gravity thing, set the adjustable shelves to keep the heavy stuff low and and use the higher spaces for lighter items.

The space I have to work with aft of the counters is a half inch shy of 30” wide yet the fridge only requires a cabinet 19.5” wide. I've chosen not to turn the remaining 10” into a narrow cupboard but rather just leave it open.  This isn’t due to laziness on my part but rather experience at living in small places.

With a few hooks, a bracket or two and a wire basket, this space will accommodate a broom, wet jackets or rain-gear and damp gloves and hats, all things that can be very difficult and annoying to deal with in an over-engineered, under thought-out micro-space. (What?? You didn’t think the floor was going to keep itself clean and that it was always going to be perfect weather did you?)

The space over on the other side, aft of the right hand counter can go two ways.

First I can use it as an open-faced closet by simply installing a hanging bar. This is the arrangement I’ve used in many of my past RV’s and it works out pretty well. I don’t mind having my clothes on display when it means I can do away with clumsy, heavy closet doors. If I need additional ‘dresser’ space because of a lack of overhead cupboards, as in one of my lift-top rigs, a simple fabric ‘shoe shelf’ that hangs from the bar works pretty well.

Compared to the 18” hanging bar I’ve had in my past two rigs the 30” bar in this camper will seem palatial!

The second option, if additional clothing storage is needed, is to install large, sliding wire baskets in this space. (Along with a fixed shelf at the top where you wouldn't be able to reach into a drawer.) Drawers like this will actually hold more folded clothing than a hanging bar in the same space; but come on! Just how much clothing do I really need!!

So back to the hanging bar version.

Clothes will hang quite nicely in a space as little as 24 inches front to back, but as you can see this closet is almost 30” deep.  The reason for that is the toilet that will store away on the floor under the closet. Remember that the floor isn’t as wide as the sides of the camper shell so in order to tuck the approximately 13” wide toilet (And the pedestal it sits on, but I'll go into more detail on that in another post.) neatly away I had to extend the closet outward a little bit beyond what was strictly necessary for hanging clothes.

The toilet doesn't take up the full 30” width of the space under the closet so there's room left over to store something else under there as well, like maybe a portable space heater.

And before we leave this area of the camper I want to go back to the weight issue. Between the water tank and air conditioner I have about 157 lbs. over on the left, or driver's side of the camper. Between the batteries and the toilet I have about 160 lbs. over on the right side.

This might look like things are pretty well balanced out before adding the refrigerator, but both the batteries and toilet are closer to the centerline of the camper whereas the air conditioner, which accounts for about half the 157 lbs on the left side, is right out at the far left edge of the camper, shifting the center of gravity towards the left despite nearly identical weights on either side of the centerline

What this all means is that from a weight distribution standpoint it makes sense to put the fridge over on the right, or passenger side of the camper rather than the left.  Well, I tried it that way but just didn’t like the way the space flowed.

The plan with the flow

With the fridge over on the driver's side (The left side), as in the drawing to the left, the faces of all the lower cabinets on that side pretty much line up and it’s a straight shot all the way from front to back. 

With the fridge reversed, or what I call the funnel plan

When I put the it over on the right, or passenger side, the fridge cabinet has to extend several inches beyond the adjacent countertop, and over on the other side, the closet cabinet has to extend beyond the sink countertop by over 4 inches to accommodate the toilet.

This layout also requires shifting the door opening towards the right or passenger side of the camper shell by 6 inches. This, due to outside step requirements (Which I'll talk about in a future post.) also requires reversing the door so it opens to the driver's or street side of the camper, away from most campsites and right into the dangerous side of the truck.

Visually, having the fridge over on the left side chops up the space and physically it feels like the path from the front of the camper to the door is now being forced by the two protruding cabinets to funnel down into a narrow gap. Both of these might be acceptable in a larger space but not here.

So I opted for the better flow and kept the fridge over on the drivers' or left side of the camper.

 

A certain amount of side to side weight imbalance is tolerable but even so, careful stowage of supplies will be in order. For instance the stove, cast-iron pots and dishes should all be stowed in the right-hand cupboards, saving lighter things for the left-hand cupboards.

This ends the detailed examination of the interior layout. Next time I’ll start talking about the various systems that will be installed, and just as importantly, the ones that won’t be installed.

What if: Interior, some thoughts on cupboard doors and drawers

I know from experience that traveling with open cupboards, uppers or lowers, is just asking for a mess after the first tight turn, but so far I've left doors off my drawing because I also know doors can get in the way and they add weight.

I’m not sure what the alternative would be other than the bungee-corded netting I’m using as shelves for lightweight things in the van. It's pretty light weight and I could hook them in place over the various cupboard openings for travel and unhook and stow when parked.  But, in addition to be a bit cumbersome if I’m on the move a lot, at $22 per 8”x24” net that could get nearly as expensive as doors with all their hardware.

I suspect that eventually I’m going to end up putting upward opening hinged doors on the uppers and maybe sliding doors on the lowers, (Sliding doors don't swing out into the space you're trying to stand in at the same time.) but for now it’s easier to visualize the space without them on there.

So about those doors:

 

Remember how the pipes to Grandma’s kitchen sink used to freeze in the winter because they were up against an outside wall? How you had to leave the cupboard doors open on cold nights so heat could get in there?? Well an RV is pretty much nothing but outside wall and despite marketing hype, just about as well insulated as Grandma's, so I’m a firm believer in vented cupboard doors, pipes or no pipes.

Some of the vented cupboard doors in one of my past designs

The van doors. The lattice is painted to mimic the runner I cut to fit the floor

The doors I built for the van are frames with hand-made, half-lap lattice set into them, but something lighter like coarse burlap or even screening would also work. In fact imagination is the only limitation here.

There needs to be a frame for mounting hinges and latches and keeping the door – well – door shaped, but as for what fills in the rest? Anything that breathes yet is strong enough to corral an errant mug sent flying by that last pot-hole will do.

Here you can see a little of the runner the van doors are painted to mimic

In another rig I hand-made vents from the same walnut the frames were built with and then set them into bird's-eye maple panels

Close-up of the walnut vents

And the drawers:

You might have noticed that I didn’t include any drawers in this camper.

It’s not that I don’t like drawers; in fact we are drawer people. They are so much handier for getting into and finding stuff than cupboards are, especially low cupboards where you have to get down on hands and old, abused knees to reach in.

A few of the drawers in our living space, which was not yet finished at the time of this photo, .

In our 380 sq. ft. of living space we have a total of 44 drawers and I have another 26 out in the shop. Having built every single one of them from scratch I’m not averse to building a few more, but the hard truth is drawers, for all their advantages, are also not the most efficient users of space once I account for clearance on the sides, back and for the drawer slides. But more importantly in a small RV, drawers are heavy. I still have the weight of the original cabinet to which I then add additional wooden boxes, and the slides themselves are no lightweights either. It all adds up.

Not counting the pull-out pantry, which by the way is really heavy, I’ve been living with a single drawer in the van for several years now and find that acceptable.

For this camper I’m going one further and planning on using narrow vertical baskets hanging on the wall at the aft end of either countertop for storing flatware, knives, stove lighters, etc., you know, the stuff that’s in my single drawer right now. There are some nice looking ones commercially available or I can build my own, customized to my particular needs.

Next time, the final installment on the interior layout