Category — MOBILE

Mochagypsy: Slowly outing herself as an off-grider

I’m happy to announce that I am now a full time RV-er!  I intended to write a climactic entry the night before my big move (the last day of October), but a hurricane Sandy came along and knocked out my Internet connection.  I will not complain too harshly since compared to many others in my region, I got off easy.  It’s somewhat strange for me to think about how I had an idea to change my life only a few months ago and now I’m writing this entry from the inside of my new home.  I guess life really is that simple.  It’s only the stops we take along the way in our journey that makes change seem so complicated.
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The new love of my life

……I have bought my new home… and her name is Eunice. 

Here she is! This beauty is a 1994 Ford Coachman, a fully self-contained camper van. The interior is a sophisticated teal, my favorite color. Although I would deny suggestions that this what sold me (of course I would).

I put down a deposit just in time!  A group of retirees, ready to buy, pulled up to the curb where the van was still displayed for sale just as the previous owner was writing my receipt.

My mechanic (who kicked in negotiation services for free) talked down the previous owner, Rich, to $6,800.  It was worth every penny.  Rich, who declined the much higher price the old folks offered with very good grace, always made sure Eunice had the best of everything. He used a storage facility in winter, thus allowing her a relatively youthful appearance despite her maturity.  She rides smooth! (more…)

Jeff Jan – the Solo Man – its his stove

You need to be able to handle the larger logs, branches and trunks – that is best done with an outside furnace which directs the heat inside. You need a fire you can watch and enjoy – that consumes the medium size logs.

But what is to be done with the tiddly twigs and leaves or the cuttings from tree pruning? Its fairly pointless burning them – they are gone in 60 seconds.

The Solo Stove provides an answer – it’s a well-designed camping stove – one of many rocket stoves on the market. Rocket stoves are so called because they burn at a high heat. (more…)

There are many ways of living off the grid, for some it means buying up some land, putting up a small cabin with solar panels and such, growing a garden, hunting and living as close to the land as possible. For others it means something entirely different. There is a whole culture around van living, ie living in a vehicle, usually a van or camper, not setting roots in any one place, being free to move around as they please. (more…)

Almost any bike will do

Be careful – they will take your money, a lot of it, and deliver a bike, but it will not be solar powered in any sense that you or I recognise. And it will not go faster or longer than you can go under your own power.

Solar powered bikes have intruiged inventors for decades now, but have you ever wondered why there are none on the market?

Its the battery stupid

Bikes are incredibly ergonomic. You push the pedals, this turns the gears and the power from your legs is amplified many times over into the speed of the wheels. The main thing that slows you down (apart from your own weight of course)? The weight of the bike. (more…)

The Prolite Suite is a travel trailer small enough to be towed by a Smart car but large enough to sleep two< With their ability to pack a bedroom, dining area and kitchen into a small space, travel trailers are a great idea. But their convenience has traditionally been offset by their substantial weight; most require full-size cars, trucks, or minivans capable of towing them.

The Prolite Suite has rewritten the rules on travel trailers. Although it can sleep two people and comes with a double bed, table, mini-fridge, and portable stove, the Prolite Suite only weighs 250 kilograms (550 pounds). That's light enough to be towed by a two-seater Smart car, which is how Roulottes Prolite (www. roulottesprolite.com) likes to showcase this Lilliputian home on wheels. (more…)

Van with a Plan – how to beat the system with little money

National Post profiled a couple from Calgary who are quitting their lives in the city and building a tiny house on a trailer.  They told the magazine they are doing it because the system has not really worked for them – they worked hard all their lives but have nothing to show for it – no home and  no savings. So they want to get off the merry-go-round, and start having some fun. 

“Being attached to society hasn’t really served us,” says Kirsten Shaw.  “We don’t have money in the bank, we don’t own a home. We don’t have any retirement money saved up. Quite honestly, at our age, that’s something we need to take seriously. If we can reduce our monthly expenses by $2,000 that is money that can go towards our children having fun and a retirement fund.” (more…)

Spare batteries are a must for staying in touch

Anyone living off the grid develops much better-than-average skills at surviving during power outages and natural disasters. Here are a few words of advice on battery maintenance and staying connected that may be useful to those in Tampa or New Orleans over the next few hours or days  -

After Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on safety and security initiatives to ensure cell service is available as long as the cell towers are still standing, so an empty battery will likely be the first challenge to keeping in touch and keeping informed.

Battery tech and capacity has failed to  improve or even kept pace with modern electronic technology  and the problem is particularly acute with the latest smart devices . And everyone is carrying more of these devices, which means more batteries. Smart devices do 20 times more than cellphones used to, but they also draw 20 times more power.

The result is a much shorter overall battery life per charge due largely to all of the extra stuff that smartphones and iPhones have built into them. Regardless of which smartphone you have, when the power is out, you are going to want to make its charge last as long as you can. There are a number of ways that you can accomplish this with a little care and planning. (more…)

IT looks like somebody in the construction industry has been listening to all this talk about off-grid homes. At last.

Quest is a 400-square-foot, off-grid capable, factory-built alternative home that its creator says is versatile enough for a variety of applications, including instant housing, affordable housing, resort units, temporary housing, and accessory dwelling units. It is on a tour of Californian cities as its makers try to drum up sales for the home, which is slow gaining market share because of its high price.

But perhaps what Quest is best suited for is to provide affordable housing for elderly care/retirees, as the U.S. faces the largest upcoming demographic of seniors in its history, many of who may not have income, social security, a 401K, or pensions, the company says. (more…)