Downsizing from a GIANT motorhome to a tiny overland expedition vehicle.
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- We sold our 32' class A motorhome and just bought a 4x4 expedition vehicle. The adjustment from full time living in the vehicles is taking some getting used to.
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There are several reasons I watch this channel religiously.. great scenery, editing and nice people. But the main reason is your true honesty. I just love it.
I can't even begin to imagine the change that you are having to go through. It certainly will take some time. I really like the new rig. You have been in some amazing country with this. Not sure Nellie could have made it. Thanks for taking me along and sharing your journey with me. I appreciate this. Shelby looking good. Stay safe and happy trails.
We put a memory foam on top our mattress and put the fitted sheet on the memory foam not the mattress, very easy to bend the memory foam.
Harry Authement I do exactly the same thing Harry. I was going to recommend that to them but I saw your comment. Making the bed is so ez using this method. Happy travels - Harold
Harold, when it works it works!
Our spare bedroom has that setup. Works well for the mattress was to firm.
We do the same thing for our rear corner bed and also the over the cab bed in our Class C, we bought gel infused vented memory foam toppers and they don't get hot.
There is definitely a balance with RVs. Like you say, a lot of RVs can go a lot of places even if they can't go the last mile. Carolyn goes down a lot of dirt roads in her 25 foot Class C. If the cab is comfortable, then you have a pretty good touring vehicle. A lot depends on how often people want to move along to the next site. But this was a great blog.
Love the honesty. The refrigerator and freezer would be an annoyance for Ina and I. Perhaps a dorm type refrigerator would be an option for for drinks with the main one open for meal prep. We enjoy the videos and hope you both are enjoying the journey. Stop and see us in DC.
I'm very happy that you guys made the move to stop running around in circles in your own back yard and finally travel the world.
When researching Europe's rules or countries outside of Europe, pay special attention to travelling with a dog (Australia will shock you) to driver's licence and vehicle compulsory equipment.
In Europe, the vehicle gets towed off the road and you will get heavily fined if you don't have a truck driver's international licence because the weight of your XV exceeds 3.5 metric tons. It will get checked many times! Switzerland and Austria, amongst many other countries, have inspections lined up for you.
You will also need stickers on the back of the XV stipulating the maximum speed you are allowed and certain countries specify which safety equipment you need to have aboard. A road atlas will give you a lot of those informations.
A thorough research will let you breeze through whatever inspections are thrown at you.
Since you will be traveling in Europe, it would be so easy to get a few vaccines, cross from Spain, then drive through Africa and go get sleepless nights in lion and hyena countries.
Whatever you do, I'm sure a lot of people will be waiting for your every vlog, I know I will.
I'm very happy for you guys.
Bett
For your toilet..... flush it before you use it, this removes the pressure build up and then it won't spray up after you use it. Happy trails and thanks for the great video's!
I have a memory foam mattress on my class A. The bed is not a queen but a double and I find the fitted sheets are fairly easy to put on. Just line corner seam up with the corner of the foam and then grab the foam and bend it the sheet should just flip over onto the mattress. Start at the back corner and work your way around.
I also found that all that sheet tucking was a pain, so I bought a single sheet, it fits the bed completely and it’s long enough but has hardly any thing to tuck in on the sides, perfect.
Love it....Tell it like it is....People don't like the truth but for me TRUTH is a learning tool. Thanks.....
This is so interesting seeing this change and learning. I did have a thought about the bed. I think there is bedding called Betties or Betty bedding where the sheets and comforter are sewn all together and just zip to make it up. I believe less junk more journey features these. Wishing you all the best and hope to meet some days on the road. Nowellsblessedadventures.
Take a look at beddys bed . They have a stupid where the top of the bedding is accessed via zippers and is easy to make. The sheets are sewn in, you will however need additional comforters for extreme cold weather though.
One day I will have an expedition vehicle just like yours. I would absolutely love to live in it full time. I can't thank you nice folks enough for taking us along on your journey.
I believe I could stock that thing up and get lost in them Mountains... Beautiful.... I think it’s cool what you guys are doing, Good luck and Travel Safe...
thanks for taking us all along. That area is absolutely beautiful. That sky beyond the mountains is probably the best I've ever seen Enjoy & happy & safe trails.
Beddy’s for the bed situation. Love that you are keeping your humor!
for the bed sheet issue..what about buying a futon cover that zips. They make them in many styles & sizes. You wrestle it on there and then leave it for awhile before taking it off to wash. That was the part I hated most about our sideways bed in our 20' Rpod... good luck ;) Thanks for sharing your beautiful camping locations.
That is a cool vehicle. I am not sure I could live in it (or out of it) but it is really cool. It will be a fifth wheel for us. We are still shopping but a purchase is coming soon.
Awesome guys, appreciate your total openness and honesty. I must say I am excited to watch how y’all adapt and maximize the space . We are using some of the things y’all shared in the first RV.
It will take some getting used to.You have changed from An RV with RV comforts and suspension to a lorry with a day cab and a box behind it.Both suitable for many different things
you will get used to living in 13 feet for sure. It is the perfect size for heading over seas. have fun. check the fluids in the rear end for sure. enjoy
I am enjoying your journey, but after your World Tour, I see you two going back to something bigger. Maybe a Super C with with better ground clearance for boon docking. We had a corner bed in our old class C and crawling over each other to use the bathroom in the middle of the night at 66 loses its luster. Be safe and happy trails. Mike and Barb...
LOL, I would have to agree with you, I worry that at some point we may both need to get up in the middle of the night and if you try climbing over each other you nearly fall out of bed, whether we put a new cabin on this one or buy a different vehicle all together, someday we will go back to an island style bed, but it works for now and makes good use of our limited space. R~
Have you looked at RV Superbags. The sheets and comforters are attached with a summer side and a winter side
Sounds like you have made the right choice with your new rig. Congrats!! Suggestion for the bed: get a mattress topper, and use a cotton duvet cover as your bottom sheet. Plus you can roll it up during the day, keeping it clean and creating some lounge space :-)
Thanks for sharing.
thank you for detail video
You’re very welcome. Glad it helped.
I've seen some people put 3 or 4 sheets on the bottom and just take the top one off when needing to launder it, that way you only struggle once in a while. However, the memory topper idea with fitted sheets that another viewer mentioned seems like a good idea too. If you have multiple sheets on the bottom then you dont have to find cupboard space for them. Safe journeys.
I have to concur with comments by others, that you have amazing scenery and do extraordinary things with your editing. You're also very genuine people and it's a pleasure to watch an average situation become an extraordinary adventure.
However, somewhere I must have missed other than the cost of your new vehicle, how it is you can support your travels and this lifestyle?
Are you being sponsored? It seems extraordinarily expensive to go to Europe for 5 years and travel the world.
I admit this will obviously encompass pleasurable memories throughout most of your life. It will certainly be interesting to follow and I'm looking forward to when you finally land in Europe. Are you shipping your vehicle over by boat?
Out of curiosity would it have been easier to take a shorter boat crossing into Russia? If that's at all possible.
I would imagine after 5 years you're going to be extremely tired of living in a box. 😐
Looking forward to your adventures and I wish you safe travels.
Star Oceans look back a few videos and u will get every question answered
Having a 40 ft class A, I think you have to have the outdoor camping mindset to really enjoy downsizing. To me more positives. Just being able to access more remote areas is a plus
Nice to be able to see the inside. It looks great!
Sounds like you need to mount an air compressor somewhere. Not only can it be used to re-inflate your tires after lowering them for offroad but you can run a hose to the inside for dusting and drying the shower/bathroom walls. That might cut down on the bug situation.
We have on board air.
Cool then all you need to do is mount a quick connect inside for "household" use. I use one in my setup and it's great. I even have a snap-on vac that use compressed air.
Sounds like you might need to ventilate the living area a bit more to reduce moisture.
My marriage would not survive in a 13 foot camper. It's hard enough to get along all the time in our 37 foot Motorcoach. So I'm remodeing and repowering said Class A to make it more back roads friendly. Don't plan on off roading it, but dirt and gravel roads shouldn't be an issue when I'm done with it.
We bought Beddy’s Bedding for our Airstream bed. Awesome zipper makes it take seconds to make the bed., and it hugs all 4 corners all the time. Good quality too. Check it out, we love it!
Another bed idea is the sleeping bed bags. By sewing a flat sheet to fit perfectly into a sleeping bag and adding Velcro or snaps to hold the sheet in place, you create a nice little sleeping pod that can be rolled out each night and rolled up each morning in no time at all. The sheet provides a barrier between the bag and the body, meaning you can replace the sheet from time to time and avoid washing those bulky sleeping bags so often.
Thanks for the pros and cons. Good to know!
Great video of your transition. Love the fact that y'all two seem so perfect for each other. 👍
Great drone shots always look forward to them. You two are adjusting fine. Change is good. Cheers
You live IN a class A and OUT of everything else. Enjoy your journey and thank you for sharing.
Forget the sheets. Upholster the bed. Use two sleeping bags zipped together on top of your very large "couch". You could also take out the mattress and use or make a futon type mattress. You could use it as a little teeny tiny living room during the day. Fold down the "mattress" at night and top with a sleeping bag. I use a sleeping bag in my sticks and bricks. No bed to make ever again.
Love the scenery.
Great video of the valley. Very beautiful scenery! I would love to live there!
BED SITUATION. . . In my 18 wheeler, the bed is situated similarly. My solution to not looking at a loose sheet was to get a super fluffy comforter and fold it in half. I would spread it out over the top of the bed without tucking in any corners, strictly a top. The excess long ways would go under the pillows. So the only loose sheet I could see was the side facing me and that was easy to fix. The key was to use a fluffy comforter so there were no wrinkles to have to smooth out. Hopefully this is something you could apply to your situation. I know when I finally figured it out for me, it felt so much better to see my bed made and on top of it, to look nice at the same time.
You might find a small electric chain saw useful for firewood and road clearing. That and a gallon of bar oil won't take a lot of room. And as you travel I bet you find the cooking on a stove will be more convenient than a grill. Your getting some really useful break in information before you leave the country. I understand about the refrigeration issue and I hope you can work it out in that small space. Happy trails.
All I can say about making the bed in a recreational vehicle is that you don't have to go to the gym afterwards. Our old TT had a bed in the corner and I wrestled that bed for 30 years. Now we have a MH with the bed in a slide and I'm still wrestling with the mattress. Don't need a gym or a sauna.
Consider a Travasak (oversized sleeping bag). They are great.
We have essentially the same rig. Cassette toilet burping? We do business with the valve open, always. Bed sheets? We bought two mattresses from an RV mattress joint that sit next to each other. Mine is softer, hers is firmer. With two mattresses, you can tilt the back mattress up to tuck in the bottom sheet. Finally, from that video it looks like you have TOO MUCH STUFF! Especially kitchen. Get rid of hard things, go with soft things. Limit yourself to one type of kitchen gadget, and only two plates, two forks, etc.
On the sheets.... one of the things we did to help keep our sheets secure is to use bed sheet straps. link: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076D9HTRK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Those have helped us tremendously. Outside of using those, we are just used to making the bed a two person operation. My husband holds the mattress up, in a way that I can then wrestle the sheet around the corner. Then, I clip on one of those straps. It is a total pain in the rear. But, it usually stays in place better and I don't have to re-tuck the fitted sheet every day.
Excellent post. Can't wait till the next one. TYVM so enjoyable, watched it twice
Hey , good stuff guys ! please keep me posted , im headed to overland expo east 2018 and will be purchasing a vehicle soon. earthcruiser or GVX adventure truck.
We haven’t made the announcement on the channel yet, but we’ll see you at Expo East.
Attach straps to the bottom sheet on the far wall, run them under the mattress to the side with the opening. Every morning, give those straps a yank to make the sheet taute. Not sure if it will work, but worth a try.
My thought would by to tow a small heavy duty trailer. Something that could handle the terrain. I would envision a high quality aluminum trailer, light but strong. Even swapping out winter for summer cloths would present a challenge for your current setup. I don't believe you guys are going hard core off roading, so towing a trailer could be manageable.
Great update guys....keep em comin !
Here is a Tip for you when you have the con's over whelming you think of the good things they are always out weighing every thing
The outro drone video was fantastic:
Love your honesty, you are young, anything is possible. How about sleeping bags with just a sheet layed out in each one. Easy laundry at least?
sew in velcro or magnents for the sheet corners to keep them attached or order an oversized bottom sheet perhaps.
RV superbags or swear it works better than suspenders, elastic corset fasteners.
Wife saw mothers and bought new @ fabric/millinery shop. Also doesn’t rip sheets😇.
Connection points long sides, stay in place until you remove👍.
Another great video! Thank you for sharing!
I think I would swap positions of the fridge and freezer.
I wish we could, we discussed that possibility, but the current appliances can’t be traded and made to fit, so we have to look at new units to accommodate that option. Totally agree with you though. I wouldn’t mind the freezer under the seat in the least.
Regarding maintenance: does the fact that the engine is diesel make the maintenance typically more expensive than a gasoline one?
Change is good but not always easy good luck safe journey
Check out... Quick Zip bedding... might be a solution... we have a corner bed & just hate making it up so I'm considering trying out quick zip at least hoping it will make it tolerable in making the bed.... as for Ben well I know my husband can relate.... I tell him he may need some type of sling to hold up the junk or at least a spray bottle to rinse off 🙈... maybe switch out the frig & use a up right cabinet but keep the freezer where it's at now.... I'm sure it'll work out soon
love the drone shots.
As for the bed problem.... I use a two person sleeping bag, and I wash the bag once a month, but I wear PJs to bed so it doesn't really get that dirty. And when it's hot I just sleep on top of the bag.
Ya....supper top heavy....im allegro sales man......like you guys
I dunno what fuel prices are there. But here the mpg goes out the window here on the eastern US when you compare gas vs diesel prices. Though the diesel is nice going up hills.
When you were in California and switch from the Class B to Class C, I wonder how this switch was going to be. You have about the same space that we have in our Promaster, we have a very open concept, most of our things are dual purpose and flexible in location. Laughed when you talked about the toilet, we had a similar experience with ours, its all about pressure, its a volcano going up hill (less outside pressure) and a suction toilet going down hill. Thanks for sharing and safe travels.
Love it! Keeping it real!!!!
Sounds like all positives, hooray! ✌🐧
Nice & useful video!! I´m not know when, but I know we will sell our motorhome here in Spain, and I will buy an expedition vehicle somewhere over the world and travel around the world for a few years. Maybe from Alaska to Argentina. Greeting from Spain.
Ben are you guys considering a compost toilet and getting rid of the cassette altogether? I commend you guys for going "all in" on the whole expedition, minimalist vehicle. I think the relative simplicity of your systems will come in handy once you are traveling in more primitive, 3rd world countries.
Forget about the bottom sheet and just use a big blanket to sleep on. Attach all blankets together along the bottom using big clips.
I’d like
To see how you manage in the van cooking too x
I’m thinking a simple screen tent with rain fly would be a big plus just to have more space when you are in one spot for more than one or two days.
Curious if you could go over Insurance and what you need or us required to go overseas with your new vehicle.
Already bought a beautiful screened in room tent with a floor, it’s wonderful. Exactly as you mentioned, it’ll be used when we stay somewhere more than a day or two. The funny thing is the screened tent has more sq footage than the EV, it’s 10’x10’. LOL. We joke and say we’ve made an addition and it’s more than doubled our living space 😃
His and Hers VLOGS love it.
Nice very interesting to hear your perspective on it all. I love the dunk you junk comment, old mans junk brought on a good laugh as well.
Nice flog,.... i Love to see more
Check out Beddies bedding.
I just checked the website if you use the code Pioneer you get 24% off the order .
What about a flat sheet just tuck and go
I have a question on the cassette toilet. I noticed when you dumped it in the outhouse the first time, it has a very small capacity. When you're back boonie camping with no facilties for miles...yeah, do you bury it, go in the woods, or did you keep your blue tank on wheels to hold it until you find a dump site? Two people could fill it fairly fast I would think. Do you use a enzymatic treatment, or nothing? Thanks for the info!!
Doona cover instead of fitted sheet
Oh, another question.....do you carry a 2nd toilet cassette for capacity or in case of malfunction/breakage of the only one?
Feel like you aren’t happy as you use too ! X
I think more than anything you sense our exhaustion. Between everything that happened this past winter and getting ready to embark on this journey we tuckered ourselves out. We’re looking forward to enjoying our new rig and taking some much needed relaxation time. It required a big push to get here and now we can enjoy it. R~
His and Hers VLOGS as long as you guys are okay I’m in the uk if you ever come my way always a English cup of tea
put a tarp on the outside picnic table, pull out the mattress , work on it upside down, put back in the RV
my wife refuses to do this since she thinks spiders will make a nest in it for the 10 minutes its outside the RV. :)
Not really a van for the uk diesel is £1.33 a litre. :(
Use the zipper style sheets
I know you’re planning to travel overseas soon, but I’m curious how you’ll feel about not having a toad while traveling in the U.S.
We’ve never had a toad while RVing/EVing in the US. For the most part we’ve always done just fine. Of course, a toad makes everything more convenient, but sometimes it creates a lot of extra hassle, too.
Wow I think I heard it before, but no AC is that true??????????????
True and fairly common on EVs that run solely off of solar power.
Just to clarify, we have AC in the cab, just not the cabin
Just use doubled up sleeping bags
are you guys going to bring bikes or a scooter so that you dont have to drive truck into the very tight streets and or non existant parking for a rig that size you will encounter in much of europe.
We haven’t decided yet. We would like to get inflatable kayak rafts at some point and think we will likely get some bikes once in Europe, they are a great form of transportation there.
While im from Montana...very near where you are shooting your videos and have been here since i was 3 in the late 60's. Ive traveled and worked extensively overseas. I'm headed to Croatia , where i worked as a horticulturalist after the war at end of August for 5 weeks . I still keep a registered vehicle there( google... 1994 fiat panda) which im going to use on my annual road trip thru montenegro bosnia and Albania and bulgaria... camping fishing and generally hitting the back roads and enjoying some of the most wild and spectacular country Europe offers...I love the baltics... trust me bikes and or other small pactical (nthink electric bikes)transportation before kayaks...you will not regret this...
Did I miss the part where you tell us what drove you to tears?
You wanna know what’s funny, I can’t remember anymore what I cried about. I know I had smashed my finger in the dinette lid, and just had a general sense of weariness, but the details are gone. Long since replaced with feelings of happiness and enjoying our new adventure. Probably the same tears that come for everyone who makes a big change and a move in life and wonders if they were crazy even if just for a split second. R~. 😃😃
Toilet toilet toilet...
no1's... open slider and use then short flush close slider and very short flush just enough to leave a 1/4 inch of water in bowl.
No2's... open slider then short flush to wet the bowl then line the bowl with tissue paper use then flush close slider then another very short flush just enough to leave a 1/4 inch of water in bottom of bowl.
Water should stay in the bowl if the seals are good if not they are easy to replace.
You should be using Blue chemical in the waste tank and Pink in the flushing tank.
When emptying the cassette remove screw cap and tip then press the button to allow air in, after washing out add a small amount of water then the Blue chemical and that's it all done... that's how it's done in the UK.
(20 years caravaning and 4 years with an RV in the U.K. So I know how it works in both, been a follower for maybe 3-4 years hope this helps)
Mike Marsh and open the slider slowly or it sprays up llike she said!
Go to beddys.com for your bed - making issues.
No no no no. Not worth it for me. Sorry
Very big junk. Lmao