#VanLife, #TruckLife, #CamperLife, #RVLife oh my?!

For the last several years, I’ve had an epic internal debate. Which is better? A camper-van, an overland build, a truck-bed camper, a tow-behind trailer? What is the perfect way to get out and adventure.

My conclusion is that there is no clear winner in this epic debate. Each solution comes with its own pros and cons and it is a matter of finding which advantages are most important to you and which negatives you are willing to accept. Allow me to talk through my experiences to help you make your own decision.

#TruckLife

The Advantages:
- Imagine just always having your living space with you, where-ever you go and there is zero overhead. Your comfortable truck that you drive from Day-to-Day just happens to also have a living space in the back. Could this get any more ideal?
- Many truck camper setups can be removed and stored, giving you access to just a normal truck when desired.

The tradeoffs:
- Your trucklife space is going to be small. Like very, unusually small. Trucklife will be more about being outdoors and setting up a solid camp around you when you arrive.
- Toilet and showers are both possible, but hard to come by and especially hard to become comfortable. You’ll more likely be using camp ground facilities and gas stations or rest areas.
- There are some really nice, comfortable truck bed campers out there, the Leer and Cirrus truck campers are great examples, but these are pretty pricey and they are heavy. To handle the weight you need a heavy duty truck with high weight capacity, like the F250 or Ram 2500. These trucks are expensive and come with limited gas milage.
- Depending on your setup, you may have to pack up your camp anytime you move your truck and that can be annoying.
- Most of your truck setups will not have a generator or climate control capabilities. It’s possible to get a compact Honda generator and some of the truck campers may have AC, but it’ll be rare and hard to find. So you’ll likely be more comfortable in the fall and spring seasons than summer.

#CamperLife

The advantages:
- A comfortable, tow-behind camper can be really really comfortable. The Airstream Basecamp provides everything you could ever need in a pretty small space. You can stand up and walk, work, cook, shower, it’s all there.
- Having your camping gear all towed behind you means that you can pack your vehicle out with all sorts of other gear and items. You can fill your truck bed with fishing supplies, kayaks, clothes. Your trailer can be packed with canopies, outdoor grills… there is so much room for supplies.
- Many smaller campers can be towed with relatively small vehicles. There are so many great, compact options out there between the ultra light Nucamp trailers to the Airstream Basecamp and the R-Pod.
- Once you get to your destination, drop your trailer and set up camp. You are now free to detach your tow vehicle and explore the area in a nimble vehicle. When you come back home, a fully equipped and functioning camp awaits. If you want to take the truck to go surfing in the morning and let your wife sleep in, no problems!
- Unlike RVs, trailers don’t really have a lifespan causing them to lose value in terms of ‘miles’. There is no odemeter keeping track and counting down to 200k-300k miles.

The tradeoffs:
- The obvious trade-off here is the need to tow a trailer. This can be a little tough at times. In windy conditions, without a proper sway control bar it can feel really stressful. It can also be hard at night and in the rain.
- There is a lot less room for spontaneous stops along your trip. You really need to know where you are going and go straight from point A to point B. If you see a cool place on the side of the road to stop, it can be a little difficult, as you need to make sure they have a parking lot that can fit your rig. Even if that rig is small, you need to think a bit and prepare.
- Driving in populated city areas is really hard. You have to constantly make sure you don’t back yourself into a corner because it is much harder to back up and turn around with a trailer in tow.
- There is a bit of skill required to maneuver a trailer. This is certainly a skill that be practiced and backup cameras have made this easier, but even the most experienced drivers can get frustrated trying to back into tight spaces and run into problems that cause damage to the trailer or your tow vehicle.
- Trailers require a certain type of maintenance. There are always seals to caulk, rodents to keep out and bearings to grease. It is definitely helpful if you can learn to do this maintenance on your own so you don’t have to take it into the dealer every year. Dealers tend to be super backed up and you need to plan a month or two out to get a service appointment.
- Storing trailers can be a problem. Many HOAs frown upon trailer based campers and will not allow you to keep them on property. Vans and Truck campers are a bit more of a grey area.
- Most trailers don’t have generators built in, but because boon-docking is generally harder in a trailer, you’ll usually be hooked up to electric at a camp site. If you do want to boon-dock, a compact generator is an option.

#VanLife

The advantages:
- Vanlife is kind of like #trucklife in that your living area is always with you wherever you go, but in Vanlife that area is usually quite larger. In VanLife, the space serves as a living area first and a driving space second, where as trucklife has those items in reverse priority. Vanlife has the advantages of a high roof to give you room to stand and walk. Your front, captain’s chairs can spin around when you park to turn them into living room chairs. With the exception of the dashboard and windshield, every bit of space of the vehicle is designed with a specific camper-oriented goal in mind.
- Unlike RVLife, Vans are relatively small and fit into a similar foot-print as a large truck. The 2500 Promaster has a footprint of only about 19 feet, which is about the same as my long bed Tacoma. Assuming your van is in this size class you can drive and park just about anywhere. But NOTE: this is not true for all camper vans as some of the Sprinter based vans can be quite large.
- Camper Vans have the advantage presenting themselves externally as well… vans. This makes them kind of like a camper in disguise, allowing you to camp in more places that you couldn’t with other setups. It’s also helpful for justifying storing them in your driveway if you have HOA restrictions on campers.
- General vehicle maintenance can be done at any local mechanic shop or dealership. You don’t necessarily need to take it into an RV service center.
- Many vans have a built in generator, along with rooftop solar and lithium ion batteries. Because boon-docking (camping off-grid) is a common use of camper-vans, most will be fully self functioning and allow you to camp comfortably with AC or heat without needing to be hooked into a power source.

The Tradeoffs:
- Every inch of space in a camper van is essential. This requires you to pack very carefully and to buy products specifically based on their storage size. You’ll have to make compromises on what you can bring with you. If there is anything you want that there isn’t a space for, you’ll need to find a way to add that space or leave it behind.
- Because of the space limitations, the sort of camps that you can set up may be a little limited. You may choose that to save space, much of your camp area may be inside of the van itself, instead of setting up tents and canopies and tables and grills outside.
- A quick day trip will mean packing up your vehicle. You’ll need to unhook your electric and sewer lines, pull your awning in, close up the roof vents, clear the shelves and get your van into driving mode before you can just haul off into town to grab a lunch. This means you’ll need to be pretty methodical about keeping things picked up and put away in your van.
- Even though a compact size camper van can fit into a vehicle space, it isn’t always easy. There may be some struggles fitting even the most compact of camper vans in tight spaces. You also need to be aware of your vertical clearance. Most parking garages and drive-throughs will be a no-go.
- Camper Vans can be quite pricey, especially compared to some of the less expensive tow-behind campers. This is primarily because the vehicles themselves, the Mercedes Sprinter and the Ram-Promaster are not inexpensive vehicles. Also, camper van builds are usually bit more low-batch and hand made, vs some of the inexpensive trailers which are mass produced. While this means a higher price tag, it usually comes with higher quality.
- A camper van certainly has a limited capacity in terms of people that can live comfortably in it. I would say that capacity is 2. Because of their size, two people trying to move around each other can be quite challenging. If you add a dog or a child to the mix, it is certainly possible but each life-form will make things more complicated. A camper van usually only has one bed, but there are solutions like the overhead tent space in the Winnebago Solis, or the front cabin based airbed by Looma which can extend that. Regardless of where you are able to put a second bed you’ll still have to find a way to move around each other and store everyone’s stuff, and that won’t be easy.

#RVLife

Note, all of the other sections in the blog, I have experience with because I own a product in their respective category. RVLife is an exception. I do not own a class A or class C RV and honestly I don’t have any desire to. So take the section below with a grain of salt.

The advantages:

- Imagine if you could bring your full sized house, along with all of its space and comforts, to any state park in which you wanted to live for a given amount of time. That is the promise delivered by RVLife.
- I bet music festivals are pretty dope when you get to travel like you’re a rock star on tour.

The tradeoffs:

- A nice, large RV that doesn’t give you constant problems and headaches is going to be very expensive. You’ll likely need a loan similar to your first mortgage to make this happen.
- You can’t just take your RV into town casually. You’ll need to know exactly where you are going and your ability to stop anywhere along the way will be limited.
- Traveling between point A and B is going to be expensive, as your vehicle will not be getting double digit MPGs.
- Driving a good RV will usually require a commercial class driver’s license and a certain set of skills that takes practice. It would likely be a bad idea to just go buy a full sized RV and start driving it if the largest vehicle you’ve driven previously was a Ford Taurus.