Customer Reviews

The Complete Book of Boondock RVing: Camping Off the Beaten Path

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has it all! Written by a couple who have been "living the life" for many years, every word has the feel of authenticity and experience-based knowledge. A lot of the material might be found in other sources but we needed a guidebook to read AND have on the shelf for reference. My wife and I have been "fulltimers" for 11 years, but have spent little time dry-camping, or "boondocking." We wanted more information on solar panels and water maintenance and we found it all here. I found no negatives about this book.

This books covers a wide range of subjects associated with boondocking in an RV. Am quite impressed with it, especially the parts about batteries and electrical systems. Most stock RVs are not designed for being "off the grid" for very long at all (without running a noisy and $$ generator) and it really helps you design improvements in boondocking capability. At least, it'll let you speak the language of electrical systems if you go to professional to have improvements made. There are books that offer more detail in the subjects covered, but that means buying several books. This one will get you started and then some. All the info in the book is useful, researched and concisely written. Have fun and we'll see you on the road.

This is a well written book, but geared toward people with large RVs. There is an extended section on Boondocking electricity, monitoring batteries and engine alternators. Then a chapter on solar and wind power, which is all very nice, but not what we were looking for and not what a large majority of people can afford. We have an 18 foot super light-weight trailer and use a Honda generator. I guess we thought this book would be more about places to go that were interesting. The list of "Selected" Boondocking sites was very limited. If You are looking for a better choice try the FREE Campgrounds book by Don Wright, either the Western or Eastern edition. Lots of great sites listed in this book.
The bottom line is that the Complete Book of Boondocking will go on our next garage sale.

I bought several books to get up to speed on RV camping with a special interest in camping 'off the grid'. I have an Aliner Ranger popup camper. My primary concern was having sufficient power while off the grid and I planned to do a lot of upgrade work to my Aliner myself. Boondock RVing provided excellent, extensive, detailed help on my electrical issues (batteries, chargers, generators, controllers, solar power, etc.) It gives specific numerical data and recommendations on top suppliers. It has the best discussion I've found on battery types (e.g. flooded cell, gel-cell, AGM, etc). It provided the information I needed to make extensive upgrades to my Aliner electrical system. The book covers other issues too; e.g. water, heating, cooling, etc. In contrast, the book "RV Electrical, Computer, Solar, and Communications Systems" by Meyer was of very little help, concentrated too much on computer issues which are common knowledge now and offering only very general information on electrical systems.

I bought this book to learn more about how to boondock. Most of the suggestions were things I already knew. More than half of the book is devoted to the electrical system -- batteries, solar panels, inverters, wind generators, etc. (The author must have a strong interest in this subject.) If you are interested in this subject and are a newcommer, the book will be helpful. My own experience has been that even though I have solar panels at my home, when camping, you usually want to park in the shade under trees. While driving, your alternator does the charging. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, the list of boondocking locations was very minimal.

This is a good book for the basics of "Boondocking", RV camping away from hook-ups, but it is not complete. The author goes into great detail about electrical systems, which is important as ample electricity is a key, but he glosses over the other key to successful Boondocking: water management. Use of fresh water occurs with washing and cooking, and the resultant cleaning up. He covers washing but spends little time discussing cooking that doesn't require much water for clean-up and has little discussion of what to do with the resultant greywater. He seems to do his Boondocking in a large motorhome, since he spends some time discussing oven recipes, so he probably has ample fresh and grey water capabilities. I suspect that hardcore Boondockers camp in smaller rigs which allow them to get further into the back country and don't have that luxury. Hence a crucial aspect of Boondocking is poorly covered.

Not only was this a thorough treatment of RV electrical systems AND easily understood, but this will also become a great reference volume which I'll refer back to again I'm sure. With some of the author's recommendations I now have the hardware and the knowledge needed to spend extended time in back-country areas and get away from crowded campgrounds. Early chapters might make it seem that it will be a very basic book, but the author soon starts thoroughly covering ground on essential subjects like storing food, cooking, heating/cooling, communications, navigation, cell phones, internet access and electrical. The electrical discussion is where the author expertly covers the nuts and bolts of batteries, alternators, generators, converters, inverters, solar, wind, sizing your system and even some installation issues. The pictures and diagrams are very good as well. I highly recommend the book for all RV'ers.

I guess if one wanted an encyclopedia from an engineering perspective, this would be the text book.

For an average RVer who wants to learn about the intricacies of boondocking, it was way too technical and boring actually, for me to stick with.

The verbage was wordy, wordy, wordy and went on way too long to hang with for long. What seemed could be covered in a paragraph or two turned into 6 pages of repeat information, said 3 different ways.

Am sure engineers turned RVers would absorb most of the information, but the rest of us .... uhhh, not. I've gotten more out of bloggers explaining how/what/why they added a solar system to their rig ... in 3 or 4 posts total.

This was not at all what I expected a book on boondocking to be. It's all about camping in either store parking lots, or in designated campgrounds.

got this book and was real excited to see insights to places to stay and hints on staying off the beatin path. it is mostly about equipment. we have been full time for some time now so that was of no interest to us. I think the book was misleading and unless you are very new at this and need to equip your rv exclusively for boondocking, don't bother to buy this book. I think there is one page on places to stay and they were real innovative like parking lots and national and state parks.