Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[BFD]

Cool yeah, I thought you might have a Transit. I was referring to a sealed(ish) and exterior vented battery compartment. I didn’t think AGMs vented any gases at all. Hydrogen venting sounds a bit alarming but if Ford doesn’t think it poses a safety issue that’s good enough for me I guess.

My Transit will theoretically be built the week of March 6th. Fingers crossed!

Ford made the Pinto

[Trackhead]

Could totally sleep/camp in a Pinto.

[beaterdit]

That’s pretty damn exciting.

It is! Honestly I’m anticipating further delay but they seem to be catching up so maybe not. At least there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Ford made the Pinto

Yeah that was a long time ago. We had one.

[Snow Dog]

Well yeah. I was referring to venting specifically for the battery compartment. I don't think there is but I'd have to take a closer look before.

In my Grand Cherokee the battery is under the passenger seat. The OEM battery has a vent hole that connects to a hose that goes somewhere. Since the seat is powered and has to move all the way forward you'll need to jumper the GC if the battery is dead.

[SchralphMacchio]

Woke up to this … it was a very very good day!

[Trackhead]

Waiting for traffic down LCC to die down. Nice facing slope side lodging to chill out it.

[frorider]

^ This. The ability to pull in to a remote TH at 10 pm and in bed by 10:30 after a beer, or chill out in a ski resort parking lot during the rush hour…this is why the ‘yeah but you could just stay in hotels’ argument against winter RVs kinda misses the point.

[snowaddict91]

I don't do a ton of overnights or road trips in the winter, but our van has made my ski days infinitely better by giving the wife and dogs a place to hang out in the afternoons while I ski an extra couple of hours.

[Dromond]

I don't do a ton of overnights or road trips in the winter, but our van has made my ski days infinitely better by giving the wife and dogs a place to hang out in the afternoons while I ski an extra couple of hours.

This is what is getting me interested. My family naps a lot more than I do, but I still want to be able to go skiing, biking, hiking at the same time/place even if we don’t always want to start and finish every activity together.

[SchralphMacchio]

Yeah you can’t beat a Class B setup for day trip hangout spot capability.

Like, if I had a diesel dually longbed crew cab with a giant ass TC on it, I can’t imagine ever using it for a day trip to the local trail network or up to the ski hill. And you’d have to be insane to pull a TT anywhere for a day trip. But no big deal with a van.

I can’t take our trailer everywhere a van or TC can go, but it sure does make a nice base camp setup for 2 adults 2 kids and doggo.

[Dromond]

Schralph are you located far from where you ski? I was wondering if you tended to go for many days at a time. Hauling and setting up a trailer for skiing seems like no small feat.

We’ve got a lot of skiing and other stuff 1-3 hours from home. 2 hours has usually been my limit for a day trip most of the time, but with a little one it’s less viable. I’d love to be able to stay just one night, or show up early and have mom+kid nap for a while. Sounds like van business.

[SchralphMacchio]

Our normal resort is 2 hours towing / 1:45 regular driving. We take trips around OR/WA as well, it was well over 5 hours with gas and pee/food breaks each way to White Pass WA last week. I should add that OR has literally one resort with on mountain lodging, (Timberflat) and only one more with lodging a walk down the road (Ski Bowl). Bachelor is 20 miles from town/lodging, so is Hoodoo, I think Anthony Lakes and Ashland are also around that 20 mile distance from nearest town/lodging as well. Willamette Pass has a few small cabin rentals about 5-10 mins away but really not much within a 45 minute drive until you hit Oakridge. Basically an RV is the main way you get on-mountain accommodations in this state!!!

We have a local resort that’s 1.5 hours and we could day trip it, but with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, my wife just hates the idea of what happens if the 4 year old doesn’t want to ski at all, or if either kid wants to take a nap, has a bodily fluid accident, etc. I keep mentioning all the things I can load in a duffel bag and wagon, and use the Thule Chariot Double to ferry the kids to the Lodge, but she is very uninterested in all that in contrast to our RV!

So back to trailering … yeah, it’s non trivial to set up - backing in is best done with the lot not very full, and it’s an absolute mess when the lot is busy. But the tricky part is chiseling out enough ice to set the leveling blocks into place, crossing fingers that the scraps of landscape fabric under your leveling blocks will help keep the thing from sliding when you pull the trailer tire up onto it, and getting the correct number of blocks needed for side to side leveling on the first guess.

All told it’s well over 30 mins from when we pull into the lot to when I tell the fam they can jump out of the truck.

Process: Remove WDH load bars, open propane, back and align the trailer (Austin Powers style) to optimize clearance and alignment with the other spots, level the trailer side to side (snow ice chipping involved), remove bins from cabin that prevent wife and kids from entering, fire up propane appliances (furnace, WH, fridge), chock wheels, unhitch and fore/aft leveling (more snow ice chipping involved under the tongue jack), stabilizers down (more snow ice chipping involved under the stabilizers), thank goodness I have a rad trailer with no slides but if you have one then you need to deploy that as the final step. Then wife and kids are allowed to enter and I get to work setting up camp while my wife gets breakfast or dinner going (as it’s best to arrive early AM or early evening). I still have 15 mins of pulling skis, table, chairs, grill, propane, generator from the trailer storage and truck … connect the generator and electrical setup so that it’s ready to go if we need microwave for dinner, or the next day to recharge after a night of furnace, fridge heater, iPad and phone charging etc. Even more involved is if I set up the “backyard” area between the trailer and the snow bank (clear snow if needed and pile it into a rough bench that I’ll shape later) to make our gear station and hang out area. Move truck - either the spot is too short to stay hooked up, or I want my truck set up to protect any “yard space” I’m allowed to have. Needless to say, tear down takes a while doing all that in reverse, plus digging out and clearing snow off the rigs, but usually the kids play in the snow while I’m doing all that.

My wife said she doesn’t think it’s worth it for a one night trip, but plenty of people do it! A lot of people also don’t bother getting perfectly level etc, but then your propane fridge may not work (I know most people with big batteries are going 12V compressor now) and cooking / eating / sleeping all suck if you don’t have it leveled pretty good. 2-3 nights is typical for us (2x/month) and we try to get at least one 4-5 night trip a year. We are set up to do about 7 nights but it takes a lot of water use discipline to keep the gray tank from filling up.

Getting home is also pretty involved … hook up to dump station (I have a sewage cleanout right at my parking spot at home), dump and flush tanks, set up electrical heaters to dry out the cabin, pull the dirty laundry, pull the food (won’t take any chances with rodents), wipe down messes the kids made, arrange all the skis and boots and junk so that it dries out well, take stock of inventory items that need to be replenished … then during the week chip away at getting er all ready to go again come the weekend!!!

[SchralphMacchio]

Here are my thoughts on the various rig types:
-Van - most mobile, easiest to drive, least space, can make it work with 2 adults 1 kid and/or dog but it’s so tight and tiny tank capacity, not the end of the world if you get denied from a FCFS type overnight situation and have to quickly pivot plans, awesome for day trips.
-TC - also very mobile, need aftermarket suspension work on truck appropriate for your rig (maybe wheels and tires too), cabin space isn’t any bigger than a van unless you get a really big ass TC, which also means you are now in longbed dually territory, technically can be dropped for a base camp so that you can use the truck locally but I can’t see wanting to do this in the winter, I’m really not sure a TC makes sense over a van or Class C unless you have another reason to have a decently sized or big ass truck.
-Class C - not as mobile as a TC but it drives like a moving truck so it’s not bad, decent cabin space, storage and tank capacity, great option for a purpose dedicated vehicle, not technically car seat compatible for really young kids (this was a dealbreaker for my wife).
-Travel Trailer - not very mobile, need to have reservable spot, takes the most time to set up, could benefit from aftermarket truck suspension work but not critical unless you are undertrucked, towing with chains sucks, towing on nasty slick roads is scary AF, towing in gusty winds is scary AF, you get to decide to have as little or as much space and tank capacity as you want, makes a great base camp if you are heading to various destinations in town or different THs.
-Fifth Wheel - Seriously, do you really need that much space? Pulls better than a bumper pull TT but now you need a big ass diesel truck, probably not a problem paying for that if you spent the money on a big ass 5er to have all the creature comforts of a stick house.
-Class A - have fun driving a 26,000 lbs bus on a nasty road then parking it at a busy ski area. Though a buddy of mine with wife, big dog, and 3 kids has a sweet 1964 GM coach RV conversion, makes sense when you have that many passengers.

We went with a small TT to get good cabin space / tank capacity and have something I could pull with a truck I could use as a daily driver and MTB shuttle rig. Though ours isn’t light - 1000 lbs tongue weight, plus family and a shitload of gear means that I have an F-250 gasser with RoadActive Suspension mod and Rancho RS7MT/9000XL shocks as my daily driver.

[Trackhead]

Here are my thoughts on the various rig types:

I've owned all of them except Class A. Old school van way back when, three truck campers, two fifth wheels, one class C, three travel trailers, one pop up trailer. I have a 10 year old. I love my custom box truck camper, but only built it because I already had the truck (low miles). If my truck wasn't such low mileage, I'd buy a van to replace it.

Van = Mobile, no set up, can use as daily driver, driving space is living space. Would have to be AWD. Daily driver part is the biggest advantage, don't need to insure another vehicle.

[Dromond]

I can appreciate the effort put into a brain dump for the benefit of others. Thanks for giving another NW dad some pro tips.

The ski lodging situation in WA us perhaps a little better than OR, but not much. Availability and quality tend to be poor.

We don’t have parking for anything more than a van, so I should probably just rent one sometime to see if it’s worthwhile. We’ve spent a lot of nights happily camping in a Forester (three season mostly) so anything larger, with vent fan and heater, sounds palatial. We also tend to move locations frequently when traveling, rarely staying for more than a night or two, so I have a hard time imagining extensive setup time being worth the hassle for us.

[altasnob]

I have little kids and pop up truck camper. But I only went truck camper route because I bought my parents' old diesel 3/4 ton from them. My dad has custom built Ford Transit that I helped him design, and we camp together all the time (so have a good idea of vanlife as well). The only thing I like about truck campers over vans is quieter driving because you are not hearing everything in the back rattling around. And my truck can go places that an AWD van can't go. That's not really important in WA as most of our roads are just basic gravel roads. I don't think there are many places in this state you couldn't take an AWD van (my 2wd Ford Focus has been everywhere here). The Rockies are different though.

If my truck dies (it's an 07) I think I would get a van, maybe even just a mini van. Design it so you can haul kids around town and not feel ridiculous. But have heater, removable DC cooler (awesome in summer), solar, lithium house battery, vent fan, and be able to have a bed in back for sleeping. I don't have any built in cooking or plumbing in my current setup and like it that way. In the summer, we cook outside on propane and I use blue jugs and tubs for water and dishes. Rack on back for bikes, up top for skis and surfboard (but still have room for a solar panel). Built in awnings are cool and all (my dad has top of the line Fiamma awning) but I think a $50 10x10 pop up is just as effective and easy to setup.

I mainly only take day trips with the family in the winter and don't see that changing much. Most of my camping is in non winter and I don't mind pitching and sleeping in tents (let the kids sleep inside van if they want and the wife and I will sleep outside; she's crunchy like me). In rainy ass PNW your setup will slowly die as it sits outside all winter getting hammered by rain (I have roof leak and mold I am dealing with at the moment). Garage or covered parking would be awesome but I don't have that.

[The AD]

Uh oh, ski bum van life has hit the big time:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/t...ng-oregon.html

Presumably this is paywalled, but here's the tagline:

Where #Vanlife Meets #Skibum

In the Pacific Northwest, ski resorts set aside spots in their parking lots for vans and R.V.s, creating overnight communities of skiers and riders. One writer toured three Oregon resorts to test the scene.

The three resorts are Mount Hood Meadows, Hoodoo, and Bachelor by the way.

[Dromond]

I have little kids and pop up truck camper. But I only went truck camper route because I bought my parents' old diesel 3/4 ton from them. My dad has custom built Ford Transit that I helped him design, and we camp together all the time (so have a good idea of vanlife as well). The only thing I like about truck campers over vans is quieter driving because you are not hearing everything in the back rattling around. And my truck can go places that an AWD van can't go. That's not really important in WA as most of our roads are just basic gravel roads. I don't think there are many places in this state you couldn't take an AWD van (my 2wd Ford Focus has been everywhere here). The Rockies are different though.

If my truck dies (it's an 07) I think I would get a van, maybe even just a mini van. Design it so you can haul kids around town and not feel ridiculous. But have heater, removable DC cooler (awesome in summer), solar, lithium house battery, vent fan, and be able to have a bed in back for sleeping. I don't have any built in cooking or plumbing in my current setup and like it that way. In the summer, we cook outside on propane and I use blue jugs and tubs for water and dishes. Rack on back for bikes, up top for skis and surfboard (but still have room for a solar panel). Built in awnings are cool and all (my dad has top of the line Fiamma awning) but I think a $50 10x10 pop up is just as effective and easy to setup.

I mainly only take day trips with the family in the winter and don't see that changing much. Most of my camping is in non winter and I don't mind pitching and sleeping in tents (let the kids sleep inside van if they want and the wife and I will sleep outside; she's crunchy like me). In rainy ass PNW your setup will slowly die as it sits outside all winter getting hammered by rain (I have roof leak and mold I am dealing with at the moment). Garage or covered parking would be awesome but I don't have that.

I’ve never seen someone with a heater and roof vent in a minivan. It seems like there would not be enough space. Inside bike storage when traveling is also limited. Otherwise, the driveability would be awesome.

[fleaches]

I’ve never seen someone with a heater and roof vent in a minivan. It seems like there would not be enough space. Inside bike storage when traveling is also limited. Otherwise, the driveability would be awesome.

I've been doing the minivan thing in a sienna the last couple of years. No roof vent, but I built a heater in a Pelican box that I can set up outside ans pipe into the window. I think it would also be possible to put one in permanently where the rear fold down seats usually are, but you'd give up some storage space. Instead of the roof vent I just have some rain guards on the windows and Crack those a little and blow a little DC fan if I need more air circulation.

The one thing that sucks a little about minivans in winter is that there's a lot of rearranging gear and cooking and teeth brushing that happens outside of the vehicle before getting in bed. When its really cold out that's no fun and I sometimes wish I had a bigger van I could cook in, but the rest of the year it's great.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[SchralphMacchio]

We don’t have parking for anything more than a van, so I should probably just rent one sometime to see if it’s worthwhile. We’ve spent a lot of nights happily camping in a Forester (three season mostly) so anything larger, with vent fan and heater, sounds palatial. We also tend to move locations frequently when traveling, rarely staying for more than a night or two, so I have a hard time imagining extensive setup time being worth the hassle for us.

I actually sold my '16 FXT when I got my '13 F250 crew cab 6.75' bed gas truck, which I got specifically to pull a winter capable TT!

It used to be me and my fiancée driving around using my MHW Tangent 2.1 tent for everything, at all times of year! From the Southwest to Rogers Pass and in between! Adopting the puppy didn't change that ... but then came kid number one and I think that's when the crazy parent affliction kicked in. We upgraded the (spacious for a 2 person) tent to an REI Kingdom 6, which I swear could be used to shelter my Forester if I had wanted. Actually I think the crazy parent affliction started the day our 8 month old, who was not old enough for a blanket, and woefully underdressed, and still small enough that we were paranoid about having her in the sleeping bag with us, was crying all night in her pack and play when it was unexpectedly in the 20s one night. In the morning we realized the tent was covered with 1/4" of hoar frost, and our little girl's feet were pure white from her body shutting down blood vessels to extremities to keep her core warm. I ordered like $350 of clothes from Columbia online that day, but I'm pretty sure that's when the crazy parent syndrome kicked in ... and then the second kid came along and that sealed the deal!

We were actually pretty content having our one kid crawl around the ski lodge with one parent while the other skied. It was having the second kid, just 2 years after the first, and still wanting to ski that winter. Initially I wanted a Northern Lite TC, but beyond the serious $$$, I realized that for 2 kids and dog it would be a super tight fit as the kids got bigger, and apart from not having the money for a crew cab 8 foot bed diesel dually, the truck would be completely useless to me for anything other than hauling or pulling an RV. I had lengthy conversations with Teh Poacher about it, who works out of his TT several days a week mid winter, also happens to live here in town and tows to and skis the same places as us, and he gave me a lot of great feedback about towing and camping in the snow that got me on board with changing plans. I bought the truck when kid number 2 was 2 months old, and the trailer a few weeks later!

[altasnob]

The one thing that sucks a little about minivans in winter is that there's a lot of rearranging gear and cooking and teeth brushing that happens outside of the vehicle before getting in bed. When its really cold out that's no fun and I sometimes wish I had a bigger van I could cook in, but the rest of the year it's great.

Do you have swivel seats in the front? That seems like it would make the inside of a tight minivan much more usable. Not sure if swivel mini van seats are even a thing yet (Ford just recently added OEM driver swivel seat for their full size Transits). But I assume it will be a thing if it isn't already.

I like the heater in a box that can be thrown in when needed, or put into other rigs as well. I also like your ghetto fan setup. Could always design a RV fan, or even just a computer fan, into a custom fitting that you can put in the window and close the window tight on the custom fitting. That way you don't need to cut the roof, and only set up fan as needed.

[SchralphMacchio]

Uh oh, ski bum van life has hit the big time:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/t...ng-oregon.html

Presumably this is paywalled ....

I'm paywalled and would love to read it ... but the photo has a newer model Outdoors RV and a nice looking Class A in it. Both of those are $$$$$$$, neither of them are ski bum or van life!!!

[Trackhead]

The only thing I like about truck campers over vans is quieter driving because you are not hearing everything in the back rattling around. .

My class C was like that, drove me nuts. Figured Vanlife would be less rattlecan, but maybe not?

[ikonfreewasatch]

Waiting for traffic down LCC to die down. Nice facing slope side lodging to chill out it.

I saw your rig in the parking lot that day. Thought about knocking on your door but I only brought one beer with me. Haha. Traffic may have looked bad from the parking lot but it really wasn’t. I pulled out of that parking lot at 439 and was down the canyon and home in less than 30 minutes. The morning drive up was fucked cuz there was dipshits putting on chains in the middle of the road and other dipshits towing campers up the canyon in a snowstorm.

[Dromond]

The one thing that sucks a little about minivans in winter is that there's a lot of rearranging gear and cooking and teeth brushing that happens outside of the vehicle before getting in bed. When its really cold out that's no fun and I sometimes wish I had a bigger van I could cook in, but the rest of the year it's great.

You are the first person I've heard of using a heater in a vehicle that small that is not a RTT. In a PNW climate, any outside activities can become wet/cold activities which make the in/out rearranging gear a problem when the weather isn't great. Basically car camping is good 2-3 season but hard to stretch into other seasons unless you are camping solo or just hardy.