Solo Woman Shares Reality of Truck Shell Living

everyone welcome back to my next video well we're in for a real treat today we are catching back up with Linda hi Linda hello and uh Linda you've been on the road for how long now three years three years my goodness this is the coming up on the end of my third year amazing that's all a long time well covid during 2020 of course that was sporadic but I retired the first of January 2020 and I've been on the road since and you've been in a couple rigs now three this will be kind of your third so what has been your Evolution on rigs started out in the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport added a very small utility trailer to that then I purchased a travel trailer in addition to those the first two then I bought the truck with the travel trailer and I sold the Hyundai so I still have the utility trailer the travel trailer and the truck and now you've been traveling with me for a while now and you wanted to for this trip you wanted to be very tight and small and you moved into just the pickup correct I didn't want to drag the either of the trailers I didn't know where you might take me so and we've been in the law in the back country the whole time uh you have a nice the nice little tight it's small but very pleasant little travel trailer yes 1973 travelmate which is a a classic vintage but vintage yes really pleasant but it's very roomy for two people it might be a little cramped but um I've had three in for dinner and it wasn't too bad so now you've been in this uh just the shell for three and a half months and you have something you have a real comparison you can compare it to being in the Hyundai the SUV and the and the just the cargo trailer than that and then this so uh for the folks out there who are thinking about do can they live in a shell or do they need a travel trailer uh you are in a perfect position to help them out what do you think so far I love it it's exactly what I wanted what I was looking for it's tight if you have um any type of a mobility issue where you can't be on your knees and moving around sitting cross-legged or on your knees I wouldn't advise it but as far as getting the job done living you know for for a place for security and out of the way is perfect it's absolutely perfect I put the reflectix up so there's privacy there and I have this little curtain privacy in the back um I've never felt unsafe I'll show a second bed in a in a moment that I put in the cab just in case I felt unsafe so what kind of unsafe well how would you feel unsafe well if I um heard possibly Bears or saw Bears out in Camp or um that type of that thing yeah because they would have a hard time getting in there but I would want to be able to drive away from you know if they were in my immediate area and I couldn't do that if I were in the back right the big problem with security in the back is you got to get out to get in the cab to get in the cab right so if you're in Bear Country which we have no we haven't seen any bears no no so but they're out there but we haven't seen anything yeah yeah so if they're not where we were I don't know where they would be yeah yeah we've we've spent the summer deep in the back country right which raises one of the hugest advantages of being in the pickup is how easy this thing is to drive into the back correct yeah I was a little worried skeptical I knew I didn't want to tow you know the trailers especially that 73 right we'd have beat it to Pieces yeah there it's got high clearance not a four-wheel drive but it's been just a go-getter as far as I'm concerned okay yeah yeah and you know you're not towing a trailer or even a small travel trailer like you're 73 but it's uh you're getting better gas mileage yes probably substantially better gas mileage my pocketbook can't tell it but yeah I guess it's so expensive yeah the price increase but yeah if you're watching this in the future gas is regular has been around five dollars a gallon most places we've been in in the back country it's even more expensive yes so that difference in uh I bet you're getting a third more so at five dollars a gallon spending a third less is pretty significant it evens out but yeah so and it's worked for you so far it has it has yeah ask for anything more it's a luxury apartment well you know I guess to some it could be and you made it really simple and we have a video on the build so go back and watch the video on the build uh but you made it very very simple and easy I didn't want to be too complicated um in case I need to take it out for any reason okay well why don't we take a look around and you show us your little luxury apartment on Wheels okay all right come on in let's do that all right why don't you uh walk us through your lovely little home my lovely little home outside I have my my potty and my kitchen all in the same box oh my oh my a water jug for my water this is just basic storage got these little boxes at Walmart they detach really easy to take down utensils to cook with coffee spices little another thing I found at Walmart just to hold different stuff a little louetti A friend gave me a refrigerator nice yeah and it's powered oh it comes directly off the solar off the battery I have which is back in the corner back here yeah there's your solar system how much solar do you have and where is it 310 watt panel on the roof of the camper shell good that's that's a substantial amount well it's more than I need for this little nine times out of ten the battery is at a hundred percent charged and this these are all my clothes up here in these boxes like this and this I don't know can you see I can yeah yeah yeah explain to people what those are setting on oh because I happen to know this is a three bedroom luxury apartment this is a um quarter inch three quarter inch plywood yeah um that just goes from the side rail of the the camper shell right here side to side and I can put my mattress from the front back here and you know have a second person sleeping up here right I could sleep up there if something was going on down here right and then my food is under here too this is just a little um open tray I found at the farmer's market at the farm store like Tractor Supply and it holds food and this is a blow up air mattress got this uh REI I believe uh exped was that what that was if I remember right you are correct it was so you know and I just put a little hook in here to hang things on I usually have my brush over here like this and you know different stuff this is just a little table that Anya made and it covers the wheel well but um and I didn't want it tied uh screwed down to begin with I might do that in the future um and there's not a lot else to do this that was the whole tour this is real you know and I might advise putting either two or three layers of this on and I just unscrewed a couple of the windows the screws that hold the window in and um put it right through the reflectix so it doesn't fall this is a little rubber mat I got at Home Depot rolls up these husky mats they're awesome for your knees yes in and out of the tailgate these things are extremely comfortable sometimes I even sleep on just this and this right because you're on your knees the whole time you're inside right right and it's it's very doable that way I've got the fans that run off the blue Eddie there's a little bit of storage down here we're having a birthday party in a couple days so we've got some little cakes for birthday parties and all of this stuff is not expensive you know these were like a dollar a Dollar Tree about 12 at Walmart for these just very very inexpensive yeah you don't have hardly anything at all really no in this build no no no no no um I found a little Rod a used little curtain rod that I just put in here and again I unscrewed the around this frame every so often and put these little ties in to hold that up and that's what I closed the curtain with right and then the curtain is just an old sheet I found at some thrift store somewhere and I just close it like this at night and fortunately we've been in the mountains uh so heat has not been an issue but we've had some hot days how does it does it stay cool enough yes if I position the truck correctly right the this door hatched door back here needs to be due north right and then the sunshine does not come in as much and then with the little fans I usually put one up here and it pulls the cool air in so it's very pleasant in here yeah even during the hottest of the days we've had so far yeah now you are as soon as we get back out of the uh out of the mountains on this trip and back into the desert you'll move back into the trailer the travel trailer right because it's in storage right now it's just bigger and nicer you know it's more comfortable so but this is this is a great way to go yeah I'm not going to be in the back country we're going to be near a city and or closer to a town not a city um but I won't be moving the trailer right so we just found a way to to make a compromise and enjoy both The Best of Both Worlds all right very good okay so uh you have a super cab so you got a lot of stuff up there I do so should we check it out all right let's do that that's this that's the uh third bedroom the third bedroom yes yes yes so Linda now we're up front taking a look at your cab and you've got an enormous amount of storage space up here yes and how did you make that happen well I had much help Anya built a bed for me half inch plywood I suppose legs and they made it so I had storage underneath all the way across yeah that is a huge amount of space under there you can really really get a lot of stuff in there right right and and above it too and they made it so that I could put a mattress on and sleep up here if need be so there's a refrigerator behind Cody right that uh I run off to jackery and I just swapped a jackery and the little blue Eddie you saw in the back earlier and this charged directly off my battery and then swap those out to run that refrigerator and as we see if you're a person who has a dog on the road you've got a perfect place for him to hang out and sleep and oh yeah Cody seems to enjoy it oh Cody loves it I think he likes hanging out here just as much as he does with me and then we have or I have a backpack for all the copies of all my important documents and things I need to keep my hiking backpack and just different you know little storage bag I made stuff yeah this just keeps my drinks cool when I travel I have a tent over here that has a few things in if I'm camp for a while in a certain place and I want to ride into town you know I can take some things out so that I have more room if someone wants to ride with me or right yeah so after uh three and a half months now of being in this pickup in the Shell uh give us your final Impressions does it work absolutely I love it it's a little cramped in the back but you know if you're gonna live in something like this you're going to know that prior to going in and I was very aware that it was going to be a small space but that's exactly what I wanted and it works it's excellent okay well thank you so much Linda for sharing your home with us and and all your great work as the camera lady and uh so folks I hope you've got some really good ideas here just pull the back seat out of one of these super cabs and build a bed and my goodness you've got storage and an extra sleeping space you got a spare bedroom for your luxury apartment and uh you are set and who knows maybe even a coat a dog like Cody will adopt you and move in right I wouldn't be opposed to that either yes code okay well folks I hope you got something out of this video uh that you've got some good ideas you could learn and what do you think could you live in this small space if you had to if this is what you needed to do could you do it I'd love to hear from you well thanks again Linda you're welcome well folks if you got anything out of this video Like Us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later bye now

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 114,354

Keywords: car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, camper, camp, boondock, travel, caravan, tiny, house, RTR, Bob Wells, Nomadland, CheapRVLiving, Cheap RV Living, vanlife, van life, how to live in a van, van dwelling, van tour, van conversion, living in a van, camper van, van build, diy van build, sprinter van, van living, #vanlife, van dweller, campervan, vandwelling, diy camper van, RV Life, Living in an RV, Class B, Class C, Truck Living, Living in a car, boondocking, Living in a RV

Id: 7Dl50awf2rk

Length: 15min 51sec (951 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 10 2023