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Old 04-02-2014, 10:15 PM   #1
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Building a 1 Room Retirement Home

Bonnie says retirement looms large(for her). She's got the traveling, see the world, itch. Time to dust off the trailer rehab project, a '78(or '79) 4500 Trillium with dinette/bed and front goucho. Hence the 1 room retirement home. Wait, retirement home sounds too sedentary. Well whatever.
I'm working to bring her up to technically new standards while trying to maintain the original simplicity of purpose. Part of the simplicity is one room not two. NO BATHROOM.
Is it feasible for two people to spend months traveling North America sans onboard toilet/shower room? Been eyeing floor plans of 19, 21,and 5.0 Escapes. This is more than 2' itis. First love is still our little Trill.
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Old 04-02-2014, 10:38 PM   #2
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David, its all in the comfort level. Honestly, I wouldn't consider it with another person. I want that illusion of privacy, and being able to contain the aroma lol. Sure people have done it...but that's not how I really want to be...but I almost bought this to live in Home of the Flicka 20 Sailboat totally doable...but is it what you want to do?
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Old 04-02-2014, 11:36 PM   #3
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Bonnie says retirement looms large(for her). She's got the traveling, see the world, itch. Time to dust off the trailer rehab project, a '78(or '79) 4500 Trillium with dinette/bed and front goucho. Hence the 1 room retirement home. Wait, retirement home sounds too sedentary. Well whatever.
I'm working to bring her up to technically new standards while trying to maintain the original simplicity of purpose. Part of the simplicity is one room not two. NO BATHROOM.
Is it feasible for two people to spend months traveling North America sans onboard toilet/shower room? Been eyeing floor plans of 19, 21,and 5.0 Escapes. This is more than 2' itis. First love is still our little Trill.

Simple answer YES.. It's been done.
My experience, we're not full timers but spend 3 to 4 months every year in our 13' Scamp sans onboard toilet/shower. Not even a portapotty. Our travels usually take us to National Parks, BLM campgrounds, or Forest Service campgrounds, no reservations, NO HOOKUPS. When we enter to campground we look for the toilets and try to camp close but not on top of unless they're flush toilets. (It gets a little stinky too close to vault toilet).
Showers are another thing, we can usually find a shower someplace. Many National Parks will have pay showers run by a concessionaire. In between showers I use "Fresh Bath" towelettes.

In the winter months we go south to places like Death Valley, Bull Head City, AZ, Organ Pipe Cactus NP. In the summer it's Oregon and Washington mountains, or maybe Northern California mountains.
You go where the weather is mild.
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Old 04-02-2014, 11:46 PM   #4
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Yes! We have active members here, in their 80s, that full timed in a 13 foot Scamp for YEARS. They traveled in summer and spent winters in Quartzsite, AZ.

Dave and Leslie eventually upgraded to a 16 ft Scamp with bath, and own a stick house in AZ now, but they still travel as they can.
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Old 04-03-2014, 12:34 AM   #5
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Thank you for your replies. I've read Dave and Leslie's threads in the past with interest. Being 6'4" and 225#, a 13' Scamp is hard for me. I've soloed for a couple times in one for short periods. Bonnie and I would both be bruised and battered after a night in a 48" bed.

Byron, we have had similar back country back grounds. I've spent long stretches in small tents with backpacks, gravitated to Boundary waters canoe camping last 20 years now. Good training for sharing smaller basic accommodations. Bonnie has never embraced sleeping out in the elements or in tents. She likes sleeping in the Trill though. I'm thinking bathrooms and hot showers more campgrounds than not. Boondocking might bring an interesting reaction.
We've been vacationing in Sedona with friends every March for the past few years. Hard to return to our dormant summer paradise in northern Michigan. Lots of beautiful temperate places to explore.
Thanks Gina,
I've always enjoyed your humor and wit you bring to your posts. It would be a pleasure to sit and share stories over a cup of wine down the road someday.
I sometimes wonder if Bonnie will be more or less enthusiastic the 2nd month out.
We'll have our 1st 2 or 3 week trip this summer to the Northeast.
Good to be back, Dave
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Old 04-19-2014, 07:27 PM   #6
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I don't see how you could full time without a bathroom.
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Old 04-19-2014, 11:18 PM   #7
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I don't see how you could full time without a bathroom.
me neither...its just roughing it a way I wouldn't want to.
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Old 04-20-2014, 07:24 AM   #8
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I don't see how you could full time without a bathroom.
Wow, agree, that would be a tough way to travel full time. Not
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Old 04-20-2014, 07:41 AM   #9
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This is an interesting topic, and one I feel I got a little beat up on over on the thread about removing the bathroom from a Scamp. To each his own of course, and I considered a 13' U-Haul before actually buying our 16' Scamp. I am a lot happier with the bathroom, however small. It is just my 10 (almost 11 year old) daughter and myself at present. And "we" need a place for privacy during the night. It may be more piece of mind to a single Dad than a real need but it is my money, and I opted to spend it on a bathroom. At some point in the future when my daughter no longer wants to hang with Dad, I hope to attract the interest of some mature female companion to go camping. I suspect that task will be easier with the little bathroom.
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Old 04-20-2014, 08:41 AM   #10
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If you can go one night without a bathroom, you can go 365 nights. It's not like a trailer bathroom offers a vanity, makeup storage, good lighting, or any of the comforts of a luxury home bathroom. If you can get a shower at a campground, and use a porta potty when away from modern conveniences, what difference does it make if it is one night or many?

I suppose if you are going to stay in wintry or soggy weather it would matter, but most fulltimers seem to go south for the winter.

You can always check into a motel once in awhile for a little pampering.
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Old 04-20-2014, 08:49 AM   #11
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If you can go one night without a bathroom, you can go 365 nights.
Maybe.... but anyone who has had Montezuma's revenge when camping or travelling appreciates the on board facilities.

Doing the 100 yard dash in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, in close to freezing temperatures is not fun.
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Old 04-20-2014, 08:54 AM   #12
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Maybe.... but anyone who has had Montezuma's revenge when camping or travelling appreciates the on board facilities.
Amen.
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Old 04-20-2014, 09:02 AM   #13
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Maybe.... but anyone who has had Montezuma's revenge when camping or travelling appreciates the on board facilities.
However, at that point your spouse is going to have to move out of the trailer, anyway. Go to a motel, check-in, and suffer in comfort.
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Old 04-20-2014, 09:44 AM   #14
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It's just me, but I have a sensitive stomach and I grew tired of the wee hours of the am pullin clothes on fast and running for the porta-castle...I like having my porta pottie inside.
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Old 04-20-2014, 10:01 AM   #15
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If you can go one night without a bathroom, you can go 365 nights.
For me it is all about having a trailer that allows be to be as flexible as possible about where I camp. There are some pretty nice spots to camp where there are no facilities what so ever - not even a pit - so getting by for even one night would be an issue. Some of the places are pack in and pack out - that include *all* waste so digging a pit isn't going to work well either. Grey water dumping is also frowned on. So having a bathroom and showering in the trailer with holding tanks allows me the freedom to camp were ever I want to go with as little hassle as possible.
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Old 04-20-2014, 10:11 AM   #16
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If you can go one night without a bathroom, you can go 365 nights.
Are you trying to convince me that I don't have to go?
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Old 04-20-2014, 11:06 AM   #17
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Back in the 60's and 70's, when my G-ma (who was in her 60's) went camping in her VW van (not a camper), she always had an empty coffee can for those stops and o'nites when there were no facilities.
That'd be a little harder with the coffee containers now!
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Old 04-20-2014, 12:48 PM   #18
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You can never miss what you've never had. Did fine as a backpacker, tenter and car camper without a full bathroom.

Have one in my Scamp. Now, I'll never go back. Besides, I desire it. YMMV
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Old 04-20-2014, 02:56 PM   #19
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I backpacked through parts of the Appalachian trail in my late teens/early 20's, but a fused disk in my back and a steel plate in my ankle, well now its Caravan time!

I lead a fairly simple live, lived on a 27 foot sailboat for almost 10 years...I could live in my ParkLiner (especially if I could turn it into a Tardis!) but I wouldn't do it without a few comforts (unless I was homeless tucked away somewhere) a toilet of some kind. I had a flushing toilet with a holding tank on the boat...I eventually yanked it and went with a porta pottie for simplicity since the coast guard wants to inspect everything for compliance...well was easier to dispose of (marina had a free porta pottie dump station(but at the time wanted $8 to let me pump my **** out lol))

Power to you if that's how you want to live...but depends on your personal desires...choosing campgrounds with nearby facilities...well it is a few systems you won't have to worry about in you fiberglass egg... but for me they are key systems lol
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Old 04-21-2014, 03:47 PM   #20
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Been thinking on this. What I love about my trailer space is that feels wide open. An enclosed bathroom would diminish this. So I'm going with a simple porta potti for starters. Privacy, between my wife & I, will be achieved by locating it behind the closet and being courteous to the user. For longer term camps, a shower/potti tent option set up just outside would be good for non developed campsites. Without the added expensive complexity we can also afford to stay at campgrounds with some amenities.
The porta potty's tank does have to be dealt with on a daily basis whereas a black tank only weekly. But it is simpler and easier to drain. I designed a Thetford toilet and black tank system for the trailer, but will leave it on the drawing board for now. Plenty of other items to update anyway.
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