Do you camp without electric hookups, or are they a must-have when looking for or booking a campsite? Do you always camp without electric hookups or only some of the time? Are you a boondocker who never camps with electric hookups?
Please tell us in the poll below. Thanks!
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We are set up to boondock but so far we haven’t had to. We have found inexpensive camp areas that have electricity available.
The only time we have not had a power hookup was while in transit.
Happy RVing and see you down the road!
When travelling with DW, we have electricity except when we stop overnight cracker docking, or wally docking. When on my own, I can go either way.
Never, if I can help it!
Only when we have no choice, we both need our CPap machines and the batteries only last a day or two.
Hi, Ed. Here’s a recent article from Nanci Dixon (in case you missed it) about using a CPAP machine when boondocking that may help you: https://www.rvtravel.com/cpap986/ Good luck. Have a great day. 🙂 —Diane at RVtravel.com
No boon docking for me. If I didnt want my A/C, fridge, and TV I would have bought a tent
instead of a motor home. And I hate listening to that generator.
Couldn’t agree more!!
Not a boondocker. Only time we may not hook up is if we Walmart or rest stop overnight.
Absolutely!!
The only times we are not using any shore power is when moving major destinations from point A to point B. We never pay for an overnight site as it is a total waste of money. There are SO many safe locations to stay at while traveling plus our coach is setup to sustain itself for weeks if necessary. When traveling to Alaska from Florida we can take as long as 5 weeks to accomplish that move. We may use a campground less than a handful of times during that period. When we do it’s mainly to take a break from the daily driving routine and catch up on laundry, email, bills, etc. We always stay for two nights when taking a break or if visiting friends we may even stay longer.
We regularly camp without hookups in transit to a destination but other than 7 days off grid at the Balloon Fiesta a few years ago it’s mostly one or two nights max
Many of our nights are just transit stops. We will only do electric hookups at longer stops or driveway camping.
We use the propane as much as possible to avoid the generator (except when the batteries get low and also hot summer nights🙂). We have a stove top percolator and camp toaster for the bagels and reheat meals in the stove instead of the microwave.
Great question. Seriously want to go big lithium just to run the AC at night and run the genny or alternator to charge during the day. But big cost…
Tim, the upgrades will be well worth it (IMHO)
Adding more solar + inverter so we have more options and save hookup time for one-nighters.
Even have a 50 amp outlet at the bricks-and-mortar.
I’m really pleased to see that 80% of the respondents are hooked up most of the time, that means they are not using the boondock spots I like. The Four Corners area has become so crowded I sometimes wonder whether it is worth having an RV any more.
Awesome +1
With dogs on board, we need to be careful to not to “cook” them. Other than that, we could get by for several days.
We are between “almost always” and “three quarters of the time. Lately (as in since last March) we are almost always with electric. By far the greatest reason we camp without electric is tailgating at my wife’s school for football weekends. That did not happen last year; we’ll see if it does this year. We are both vaccinated now, so we’ll see what the school decides.
We HAVE to have electricity for my husband’s oxygen concentrator he uses at night. If we could find a battery powered one that would last at least 8 hours we could change that.
Hi, Kaeleen. Did you read Nanci Dixon’s recent article about using a CPAP when boondocking? https://www.rvtravel.com/cpap986/ Maybe that will have some information useful to you and your husband. Have a great day, and take care. 🙂 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you, I did see that. Unfortunately an oxygen concentrator pulls much more power than a CPAP. Before he needed the oxygen, we found it easy to go through the night with his CPAP and then run the generator in the morning. Not so with the concentrator.
Thanks for the explanation, Kaeleen. I have no clue about how any of that works, but wanted to mention it “just in case.” I hope you can find a solution. Have a great day! 🙂 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Once or twice a year only. I enjoy the challenge of extending water and power for a week. If I do need power I have on board generator.
Set up the RV to be independent from a power pole. This has allowed us to get some really great campsites, as well as flexible enough to find a spot, when the “utilities-sites” are all taken, which is a lot of the time. Lithium, solar, generator and that much maligned inverter for emergency power from the RV/Toad engine.
Interestingly, our RV is really an energy hog and uses quite a bit of power, so having multiple sources available allow us a lot of flexibility.
15yrs FT. Only boon dock when in Alaska; Quartzite; while traveling cross country. These times are diminishing with our health.
Got too old to ruff it anymore now just want to relax and enjoy on yeats dont like saying old
I like to keep things as simple as possible. Boondocking usually offers the freedom of the best scenery & camping environment. Most everything in my old MH ruins on propane or 12 volts, even the TV. So unless it’s hot and I need to run the A/C, shore power is not a necessity. Just run the engine for about 20 minutes every three days or so to add some “juice” back into the cabin battery.
Always FHU… Full-time since 2016
98% of the time we are in a campground, we have power/water. We are ‘weekend warriors’, so we don’t always need sewer. We really only go ‘unplugged’ when we are spending a night in a parking lot or rest area during a road trip – and even then we have the generator.
The only time the trailer is plugged in is at home to cool down the fridge before we go. Then it’s the solar panels. Got 200 watt panels last year and didn’t have to run the generator once over a week. We’ve been out up to 10 days boondocking. However, it does help that we camp near a forest service outhouse for during the day.
When workcamping I have a full hookup. When Fun camping no hook ups.
Most of the time it’s hook up to electric but I have found the portable oxygen will make it through the night off the batteries through solar but there again I only use it at night and I only sleep 5 hrs.