Our Motorhome Breaks Down While We Are Fulltimers Living Off Grid

If you are fulltime in your RV and if you break down, then you might need to live for some time off the grid. Or if you want to camp on beaches or deep in the woods, you might want to stay as long as possible. In our case, we broke down.

While waiting for our transmission rebuild, we needed to live off the grid. Here is how we do it:

1. Solar panels. We have four 100 watt Renology panels mounted on the curved roof of our Airstream Argosy motorhome. https://amzn.to/4aRwJQM The power cables come through the roof via the refrigerator vent. Also we have a portable, foldable 220 watt panel that can be pointed directly at the sun or placed under the sun if we are parked in the shade. https://amzn.to/3tOXNzr. These units provide all the electricity we need as long as there are sunny days. Our power needs are as follows: a water pump, the blower for the furnace, lights, computers and phones, a television, the e-bike batteries, and a Starlink satellite antennae for wifi. If we run into a power shortage, we have an 1800 watt generator. It is supposed to be super-quiet but it makes a good deal of noise. It cost only $300, which is 66% less than a Honda. https://amzn.to/3O0iG1g. If I had known the Honda generators are now $1000 rather than $2000 I might have gone for that. But maybe not. 

2. Water. Our Argosy has a 40 gallon fresh water tank. We filter it at the kitchen faucet as needed using a PUR filter. https://amzn.to/4aPZCwH. If we are near a spicket, we can fill up using our 50 foot hose. https://amzn.to/48uFEGe. If we are too far away from water, we'd have to use our 6 gallon portable tank. We live this one because it is thin: https://amzn.to/3tOHpPm. If we really couldn't or didn't want to move the motorhome, we could haul the water tank using the trailer for the e-bike. Our trailer is ingenious because it works for a cat but also holds 75 pounds. https://amzn.to/3NYFcYu The attachment for the bike is sold separately. 40 gallons of water lasts us about six days. Most of the water ends up in the grey water tank, which can be dumped on soil, since it is mainly used for dish cleaning. The black water tank is more of a limiting factor, since it needs to be dumped at a facility. We don't have a portable black water tank. It takes us about two weeks to fill this one up. Then we would need to drive again. 

3. Heat. We use the cat stroller/trailer to refill propane bottles. We used to have a giant tank mounted under the motorhome's frame. But places gave me flack about refilling it, saying that it was too old. So I took it off and rigged to smaller propane tanks that can be exchanged just about anywhere. These fit where the Onan generator used to live. That is something else that I took out and replaced (with the portable unit I mentioned above). The propane runs the furnace, the cooking range, and the refrigerator. We have a smaller sized Dometic fridge that I bought recently for about $900. Now they cost close to $2k. I'm not sure why. All these refrigerators need to be level to work. I use bottle jacks to get the RV level. 

4. Food. We use the e-bikes with either the cat stroller/trailer or a backpack to transport food. The e-bikes are made by Wing. They work pretty well so far. Some of the controls break and need replaced. Also the charger can break. Aftermarket chargers are ineffective, maybe because they over-charge the battery.

5. Internet connection. We bought a Starlink antennae so that we could have wifi while roaming. That cost $600. Each month the service is $150. If you're not traveling, you don't have to pay. It seems to work quite well, at a download rate of 150 mb/s. 

In conclusion, with this set-up, we can last about two weeks without needing to drive the motorhome. The limiting factor is the black water tank. This could be resolved with a porta-potty.https://amzn.to/3vxRYqG. Note that that bottom section detaches, which makes it a lot lighter. Or you can use a 5 gallon bucket and a specially designed seat. This would be less heavy than water-based units. https://amzn.to/48rwsSU