hello everyone and welcome to my home for the past two and a half years i have lived in
a over 20 year old truck camper it is a 2000 lance light 825 it's eight feet six inches
long and it fits in the back of my short bed truck today is not a tour of the truck camper
i have done an extensive tour if you'd like to click this link here or i'll also link it below
you can see a full tour of the camper i wanted to talk about what it is like to live in an
old truck camper some of the challenges some of the pluses and that is what we're going to talk
about today it is a rainy day here at my current camp winter is definitely on the way i've been
experiencing more storms and rain on the road and there's been snow in the local mountains
much needed precipitation it's a good day to stay inside and talk to you all first we'll
address the obvious it is tiny it is a very tiny space it is smaller than the tiniest tiny home
i've had people come in here who said that it's actually smaller than what they thought i guess
with some of the camera angles i get it appears larger but it's a small space i think that for me
living in here alone is you know comfortable i've gotten used to it but having two people in here
full time especially it gets pretty snug i have had guests and that's worked out okay but i can
see that maybe having another person in here full time would be a little bit of a challenge
if you're not a regular viewer of the channel i am a backpacker i was a backpacker and a hiker before
i hit the road full time and what that taught me was how little i really need to live it taught
me a very minimalist way of living that i could carry everything that i needed to live on my back
so that really prepared me for living this type of a lifestyle it is incredibly minimalist you
have to really downsize in order to fit all of your belongings if you're living full-time
into the camper and your vehicle if you're not okay living in small spaces this probably isn't a
lifestyle that would work for you today i want to talk about the challenges and the pluses of living
in this specific old track camper when i bought it it was used i bought it in 2019 and it was quite
dated it was very clean very very clean but it definitely was dated it definitely had a 90s flare
it still has a lot of original parts to it let me show you what's original
this blue upholstery is original i actually made those curtains with my mom but those
valances are also original you can tell they look pretty dated the cabinetry finishing is
all original you can see it has kind of that gold border on there that's a little bit dated there
and then this wallpaper is also original definitely has kind of a funky look to it
originally when i purchased the camper i wanted to do a complete overhaul and
a complete remodel unfortunately my timeline to hit the road full-time kept getting pushed back
and i really got to the point where i was just on a deadline where i needed to move out of my
apartment i had already given notice and i just needed to do the minimal amount that i could do
before hitting the road so i made it homey i think i worked with what i had to do the best i could
and i think it looks very cute maybe at some point if i ever find the time i will eventually do that
complete remodel but until then it feels like home to me it's always been very important to me to
make any place that i've lived in feel like a home so i always strive to give it that homey comfy
feel the kitchen is an area i did do some work on it had a hideous wallpaper worse than what i just
showed you so i painted over that and then put that backsplash behind the stove and it turned
out really nice i believe that this is one of the smallest campers that lance makes and because of
its compact size it does not have an oven so i do miss having an oven and not being able to bake
but i am so impressed with an engineering that is involved in making something like this that
can fit in the back of a truck that you can actually live out of it's just amazing it has
really everything i need another thing i did was i painted the bottom of the dinette this red color
and i also replaced the floor the floor was just an original very 90s looking linoleum
and i put this wood laminate flooring in i was definitely going for a cabinet kind of vibe
even though the trek camper is over 20 years old i didn't want it to look like it stepped out of 1999
another challenge of living in an older trip camper is this old refrigerator it still works
but it is tiny i do need to go get some more groceries i can only fit maybe a week a week
and a half's worth of groceries in here at a time because the refrigerator is over 20 years old it
is quite finicky it can take me multiple times to try to get it ignited i normally run it on propane
because i am usually not hooked up to hookups it is a three-way fridge so you can run it on
ac power dc power or propane and most of the time i'm out boondocking so i'm running it on propane
which means i have to ignite it last year my peso button on there no longer worked to ignite it
and i found a repair shop in tillamook oregon it was right across from the tillamook creamery
and they did not have the part so they had to order it and they allowed me to stay in their
parking lot they were so nice and sleep there for free until we waited till the park came in
i was able to walk right across the street and get ice cream and macaroni and cheese at the
tillamook creamery and we got it taken care of it still can be finicky it's
lately been more finicky than it has in quite some time i also need to occasionally blow out the flu
outside the flue can get caked with dust and dirt and i learned how to do that
on youtube so occasionally i will go out and do that and get that cleaned out and that usually
helps for a while it's still running i'm not going to replace it until it completely dies
because they are quite expensive for new ones they're about i think over a thousand dollars
to replace this tiny little it's more than a house refrigerator for a full-size refrigerator so yeah
it's not going to be replacing until it completely dies and knock on wood that doesn't happen for a
while and speaking of propane another challenge i have been asked a lot why i use this mr buddy
heater and i've been asked if i have a furnace here in the camper i do uh unfortunately i only
have the capacity to use a four gallon propane tank that propane tank needs to be used to run
my two burner stove to run my refrigerator and to heat my water for my showers if i were also
to use it to run the furnace and heat the camper i would run out of propane really really quickly
so for me it's just better to get the small bottles for my mr betty heater and
i'm looking at heater options somebody sent me a very kind subscriber sent me a diesel heater
quite a while ago and i still have not had that installed i'm looking at some options for heating
other than this because little bottles of propane can be costly as well but that is why i do use my
mr betty heater you know everything out here in in living in this truck camper is in limited supply
water propane you know energy if there's no sun like it on a day like today uh there isn't any sun
so my solar isn't working at its full capacity so that is something that is a challenge about living
in an old truck camper or an rv probably in general is just that everything is in limited
supply my tanks here uh water tanks here are very small because it's a small camper so my freshwater
tank is 18 gallons my black tank is 10 gallons and my gray water is 11 gallons my shower and
my toilet both empty into my black tank so that can fill up pretty quickly managing my resources
is also a challenge it's definitely something that i constantly have to keep an eye on as far
as making sure that i have water my tanks aren't filling up i have enough propane to run everything
that i need to run in my camper and it's not like when you live at home and you live in a sticks and
bricks home anyhow and you have unlimited supplies of those things another thing that you have to get
used to living out here on the road or i had to get used to is not taking as many showers
you get used to probably showering maybe once a week unless you get lucky for some reason and have
more access to showers but generally uh yeah you're not taking as many showers out here one
of the quirky things about my bathroom is when i turn on the faucet in there
water comes out of my shower head and gives me an unintended extra shower so what i do is
i just brush my teeth and wash my hands in my kitchen sink and problem solved it's an older
camper just one of the things that you have to deal with i'm sure i can have that looked
at and repaired but i don't need to pay the extra expense right now when i have a solution
i have had the bathroom sink replaced since i owned it and i've also had the plumbing in the
back for the dump tanks replaced and the water pump was the original water pump so that has been
replaced as well after i purchased it i also had a leak here over the bed which i discovered when
i was in utah so i had to have that repaired so i have had to do some repair work on the camper
since owning it speaking of the bedroom area one of the things i love is i could fit a full queen
size mattress a regular mattress in this area i am really happy about that i replaced the mattress
right after i bought it and i love my bed a lot of people have mentioned to me that they would
probably be claustrophobic up there but i don't feel claustrophobic whatsoever it's my little
layer i'm very comfortable up there the only thing that is a pain is making that bed and that space
if i'm making if i'm just making the bed it takes me about 10 to 15 minutes but if i'm actually
changing the sheets after washing the sheets it could probably take me about a half an hour it's a
very awkward space to maneuver around in up there it has been just a steady light rain all day today
speaking of weather and winter being on its way this camper is not very well insulated as i
mentioned it is the lance light model which means i think there's probably even less insulation than
maybe their regular models that means that when it's hot it gets really hot and when it's cold it
gets very cold i do not have an air conditioning it is wired for air conditioning however in order
to use air conditioning anyways you have to be plugged in or have a generator i don't carry a
generator i don't really have the room for it and i also don't carry an extra propane tank for that
reason i just don't have the room to carry it especially in the back of my camper or the back
of my truck because i have lots of other supplies back there so that means i usually head for cooler
climates in the summer and warmer climates in the winter and i also don't go anywhere
where i'm plugged in very often so there's no point in really having an air conditioning
so far i really haven't had an issue i mean there have been days where i've been pretty hot in here
and i'll just have a fan running right on me and just do whatever i can to try to stay cool
and then in the cooler months i have my heater i sleep with a sleeping bag over my bed i normally
don't turn the heater on unless it's you know in the 30s if it's in the 40s i'm warm enough with
a blanket and a sleeping bag over me all night long and i'll usually put it on in the morning
i'll jump out of bed turn it on jump back in bed wait till it warms up and then
once it's warmed up i'll get out of bed but i've been able to make it work and it's all about
you know adjusting your lifestyle out here and making adjustments you can adapt to anything
it's pretty amazing the human spirit and how adaptable we are and how we can just adapt to
whatever our conditions are and that's what i've done i liken it very much to living in an old
house you have quirky things about living in an old home and i like old homes they have character
and i like my old home it has its quirks it has its challenges but i have an
ever-changing view the view out my back door is constantly changing and i get to travel
it takes me on amazing adventures it feels comfortable it feels like home when i get
to come here at the end of the day hiking or adventuring and get to sleep in my own bed and
if you watch my video from yosemite i was just in awe of the fact that
at the end of the day i was in my own little home in yosemite national park and sometimes i just am
in awe of that and i have the ability to do that and i've really made this place feel like home
now the truck that it sits on my old 2002 chevy silverado that is a story for another video
oh boy there's been a lot of work put into that baby but it's a beast anyhow thank you all so
much for joining me uh i really appreciate your support everyone who has supported the
channel whether it be a patron or anyone who's donated to paypal or anyone who's
supported in any way shape or form thank you so much i couldn't have done it without you
i couldn't do it without you also by commenting liking and sharing my videos that's a way you can
support me and if you subscribe to the channel as well i very much appreciate it i will see
you all on the next adventure and thank you so much thank you for joining me see you soon bye
do
you