Tips for Stealth Overnight Parking and Building a Stealth Vehicle

bcbullet

New member
I have driven my "stealthy" Ford Transit Connect all around South America and the safety issue was the main reason to choose this small car.
It does have windows but are darkened and with curtains on the inside it is very good.
Small so you pay normal car rates...
Use less fuel, etc, etc...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110619461288827785000/albums/5458987367121082865


Awesome! I would love to get my hands on one to play with...any takers?? Free of course!:smiley_drive:
 

Accrete

Explorer
Greetings. While i realize after reading through this (and the OP's other thread where i made _a comment_) that the "Wanderer"/OP has not posted for many months i just wanted to say You Go Guy. Hats off to you for having the courage to buck the RV-norm and go with simple amenities and the Happy Hermit lifestyle.

On "Stealth Living" the only funny story i've got directly related to this sort of living is this tid bit...
Back in 1979ish i was parked in a Sacramento CA area shopping mall. I had managed a location in San Francisco and had been asked to run two shops in Sac. . . so i moved my home on wheels (a Chevy cube van with a 12' box, all stock white on outside) up to the new area. One night (and by this time i'd been doing this sort of stealth living/parked in mall shopping lots for ~18+ months?) i was reading in bed and i heard a car drive up along side the van. A door opens, i hear voices, then my gas cap being un-screwed, hear a "WoooHooo", door closes and off they go. I then let out a good laugh. All i could figure is that stealing gas caps was some sort of initiation into a club of sorts... next day i purchased a locking cap ;)

My wife and my rig is no where near stealthy (_but i can almost hide in the trees_), and it doesn't need to be as we park mainly in BLM/FS dispersed camp areas for free. We avoid the cities for the most part except to re-supply and do laundry if away for more than a week. That said, we also pretty much avoid people! Yea, we are really Happy Hermits. I've thought about that statement. I don't know what that means as we age (mid 50's now). Time will tell. We do have two wonderful adult kids we enjoy spending adventures with, other than that there is a once-a-year fiberglass-trailer-enthusiast type campout we go to. All other outings its just the two of us.

As others have said, the lifestyle presented by the OP is not for everyone, BUT there are those that it rings a similar note with such as my wife and i.

Happy Trails,
Thom
 
Hi Wanderer,

I'm recently employed as a computer programmer in Silicon Valley; I traveled 2+ years in a backpack, the crazy rent here makes me think that I'd never be able to save enough to own land. I started looking into living in an RV, bus, etc.

I believe my ideal way to go would be the stealth box truck; since I'd have access to breakfast, lunch, shower, bathroom at my work, I could really get away with a smaller truck.

Mostly I want the cab and body connected chassis, and small enough (how large was yours?)

But I just want to reach out to say that I find this very inspiring and instead of paying $2000 a month for a room, I am going to make my own mobile stealth home.

Any tips from the community would be appreciated.
 

gggplaya

New member
Hi Wanderer,

I'm recently employed as a computer programmer in Silicon Valley; I traveled 2+ years in a backpack, the crazy rent here makes me think that I'd never be able to save enough to own land. I started looking into living in an RV, bus, etc.

I believe my ideal way to go would be the stealth box truck; since I'd have access to breakfast, lunch, shower, bathroom at my work, I could really get away with a smaller truck.

Mostly I want the cab and body connected chassis, and small enough (how large was yours?)

But I just want to reach out to say that I find this very inspiring and instead of paying $2000 a month for a room, I am going to make my own mobile stealth home.

Any tips from the community would be appreciated.

That's not a bad idea, buy your land and pay it off in a few years. Then build a house. In the interim, you could buy a box truck, live off propane for heat and as long as you stick to maybe just using your laptop and tablets for entertainment, you could live off just a few solar panels too.

However, california has some very strict laws in regards to what constitutes a dwelling, and long term rv parking, boondocking etc... I would research this as much as you can before doing anything.
 

toyotech

Expedition Leader
That's not a bad idea, buy your land and pay it off in a few years. Then build a house. In the interim, you could buy a box truck, live off propane for heat and as long as you stick to maybe just using your laptop and tablets for entertainment, you could live off just a few solar panels too.

However, california has some very strict laws in regards to what constitutes a dwelling, and long term rv parking, boondocking etc... I would research this as much as you can before doing anything.

Doesnt Walmart have free overnight parking. Heck he might be able to just park it at his work. If not.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

photo_i

Explorer
Doesnt Walmart have free overnight parking.

Yes, it does. And it means exactly that - "overnight parking", not "permanent parking". Although one time we've met a man who have been living out his RV at Walmart parking for couple of months, while his wife was going through cancer treatment in local hospital. But cases like that are not common practice at all.
 
Excellent information. How big is your box truck. Is it a 10 foot one or larger?

:Wow1:
For those that aren't familiar with the term, "Stealth Camping" is about a vehicle that is not as it appears. It is not about breaking any laws or regulations, just about being unseen and unnoticed for your advantage.

Check out my full time box van camper that I live in full time:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...e-is-my-simple-custom-GMC-Cube-Van-conversion

I have been living on the road for over 3 years now and came back from a trip up the Can-Am Alaska Hwy to Fairbanks, AK last year.

There are times on the road, after a long day, where you just want to pull off somewhere and sleep for the night without having to find a camping ground or pay for for an RV park. They wont even accept my vehicle and in fact most expedition type vehicles in many RV parks. They want the 50-100K motor homes.

I have spent many, many nights in Walmart parking lots, Targets, truck stops, Home Depots, casino parking lots, even just on a side street in some small town.

When I talk about "Stealth", I don't mean hiding, I mean being unseen and unnoticed. Just so it's understood, I'm not hiding from anyone or breaking any laws. I am just keeping a "low profile" and staying unseen. I intentionally left my truck looking like a plain commercial rental moving truck. From the outside it looks like any one of thousnds of plain, work trucks you see around the country every day.

Take a look at my truck:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91848136@N05/sets/

I have had police pull up right next to me at night. I was sure that I was about to get hassled, but they were just using my truck as a hiding place to watch the road for speeders and had no idea that I was sleeping inside.

I haven't seen any posts here ExPo about this topic, maybe others can share their views and ideas. I understand that this approach is not right for everyone, but many will find it useful.

Peace
 

ober27

Adventurer
Welcome to EXPO evergreengodess. The wanderer started the thread, but he hasn't been posting for a long time.
 

Dr. Cornwallis

Adventurer
I'm about to start on a topper and bed drawer/sleeping platform virtually identical to the one pictured below. In addition to what they did in the picture I'm going to incorporate a water tank up at the front of the bed (under the platform) and I'll be using a Softopper instead of a shell. A setup like this makes it possible to crawl in the back and close up without anyone ever knowing someone is sleeping in the bed. It also facilitates the quick setup and breakdown of a campsite.

2r5at8x.jpg
 

blueridge

New member
Saw a story about a guy living in a truck camper, his income came from traveling around the US doing annual maintenance checks on pizza ovens.

Who knew.
 

4x4tripping

Adventurer
I'm about to start on a topper and bed drawer/sleeping platform virtually identical to the one pictured below. In addition to what they did in the picture I'm going to incorporate a water tank up at the front of the bed (under the platform) and I'll be using a Softopper instead of a shell. A setup like this makes it possible to crawl in the back and close up without anyone ever knowing someone is sleeping in the bed. It also facilitates the quick setup and breakdown of a campsite.

2r5at8x.jpg

Maybe you find too some ideas here:

http://transafrica2012.blogspot.mx/p/die-schlafplattform.html

DSC01600.JPG


In my new travel Blog are links to most of the Equipment:

http://adventure-overland.blogspot.com/p/fahrzeug.html

P1080660.JPG


I use stealth camping a lot, ob my ongoing PanAmericana Trip
 

Davev1954

Supporting Grouch
I heard the Wanderer was picked up for vagrancy, his rig impounded and sold off for unpaid parking fines and he's got free room and board for 7-10.

:ylsmoke:
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
I heard the Wanderer was picked up for vagrancy, his rig impounded and sold off for unpaid parking fines and he's got free room and board for 7-10.

:ylsmoke:

Unlikely. With unemployment at 25% I doubt they even bother prosecuting vagrancy any more. And a rig impounded will be sold to recover storage and impound fees, not to pay the parking tickets.
 

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