Customer Reviews

RV Boondocking Basics: A Guide to Living Without Hookups

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We're in our second decade of boondocking/dry camping. This book would have been such a great help when we were planning our RV life style.

It's basic enough that if you are serious about making this you way of like you can put a pencil to all the applications covered in the book and use them when you start building that perfect boondocking RV.

The theory and explanations are elementary enough for someone setting in an office dreaming of getting out on the road during vacation or after retirement can visualize and analyze what has to be done. Then they can take this book home and they can use it like a guide to get started on a new life style only we know.

The freedom of living off the grid is something no one can really explain.

Buy and read the book and I'm sure you will not travel with out it.

The DeMarises cover electrical consumption, battery basics, some alternative energy sources, and hauling out the sewage. It's a short quick read. No treatment of offroad driving or RV operations, selecting (and avoiding) campsites, running a low impact campsite, basic equipment for rv boondocking (shovel, axe, rope, tow strap, etc.) or any of the other many "boondocking" topics which spring to my mind. This is money easily saved.

Boondocking is the art of staying in your RV in a remote area, off the grid, without the hook-ups of an RV park. RV parks are nice, with fresh water faucets to resupply you, showers, sewage dump stations, even cable tv and phone lines at some parks. The book covers some basic info on camping without the hookups an established park provides. Basically how do you run your RV in the middle of nowhere. It is a challenge to be sure, but folks do it all the time. The authors tackle the most obvious issues, like power. While generators are an obvious source of power, they give some advice on solar and wind power systems to supplement your power supply. They also give good conservation tips. At the time you buy this book, check the date as the technology in this area is changing fast, and that info will only be good for so long. They also tackle storing and hauling water, as most RV's only hold a few days supply of water. And they address the hauling and disposal of "black water", the sewage from the RV. Some of the solar and wind stuff gets pretty technical with formulas and equations. The writing style is friendly, the book is small and slim, at 96 pages. I wish it had more, but was glad for what it provided, a good start in the right direction and I know more than I did before.

I have camped a couple dozen times for a few days each time, and wondered what it was like and what was needed to really 'camp-out' long term. Don't think I learned anything new here. Was disapointed in the lack of depth on all levels. All info could use an update. I can easily find more info with a quick search on-line.