By Betsy Longendorfer • Building Electrification Committee
We’ve all dreamed about taking time out of our busy lives to travel and to enjoy the outdoors, maybe even living off the grid. Professor Ben Wymore, of Yeshiva University, and his wife and two children did just that for three years, and they continue such adventures even now during the summers.
Ben got his love of the outdoors from his parents—who met through the Sierra Club and frequently took the family hiking while he was growing up.
In a July webinar presentation to the Building Electrification Committee of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey Chapter, Ben talked about his travels and the energy-efficient modifications he made to his recreation vehicles. He also discussed what he learned about living in this comfortable-yet-minimal lifestyle.
The Trip
Ben purchased and completely re-outfitted a Wildwood 26BH travel camper and, later, a 36-foot fifth-wheel Keystone Avalanche 360RB.
His family’s original intention was to travel the United States for a year, so he quit his job as a computer programmer, and his family rented out their home in Rockland County, NY, to supply some income during the trip. They began their adventure in August of 2013. Because conserving money was important, they stayed in places where fees were not required.
For example, the federal Bureau of Land Management owns vast amounts of land west of the Mississippi, and camping is free as long as you don’t stay in one place longer than two weeks. You must provide your own water and electricity. Other free “campsites” included Walmart parking lots, synagogues, casinos, and the driveways of friends and family, Ben explained.
They could obtain drinking water refills at visitor centers, chambers of commerce, gas stations, and interstate rest areas. Lavatory wastewater could be dumped in free or pay dump stations along the way.
The couple’s junior high school–age children were home-schooled on the road. Of course, they received a boots-on-the-ground education about the United States. The family’s leisure activities included hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, cycling, and motorcycling. Ben even brought along his powered paraglider, which consists of a motorized propeller that he straps on his back and a fabric “wing” or canopy for lift.
The family’s expenses were so low that they were able to extend their trip to three years. They returned only when their eldest child was due to start high school, in 2016.
Ben kept a detailed blog, which includes a map showing different days and trip segments.
Camper Modifications
Ben and his wife are now empty nesters, but they continue to travel in the truck camper shown above. Ben has made extensive modifications based on his travel experience. The entire roof is outfitted with solar panels, and the supports for these needed a lot of thought—and sometimes emergency roadside repairs—due to the powerful airflow at highway speeds and the somewhat flimsy design of many RVs.
The solar panels on the truck camper charge a large custom battery assembled from individual battery cells. The battery feeds current to an inverter, which produces 120 volts of alternating current, enabling use of general appliances. It also runs a mini-split heat pump air conditioner, which Ben installed on the back of the RV. Air-conditioning is essential in the Southwest!
The truck camper’s refrigerator can be run on propane or electricity, lending flexibility to energy management. On the large RV used for the family’s multiyear trip, Ben installed a conventional stove/range modified for propane use, because propane is portable in cylinders.
A huge problem with propane is that the regulator assumes sea-level air pressure when mixing and combusting the propane fuel and air to power the refrigerator. Because much of Ben’s travels have been in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada mountains, he designed a truck camper system to modulate the fuel/air mixture depending on the ambient air pressure. Ben notes that propane use is minimal now that he has replaced his heater with the mini-split. A single propane cylinder has lasted up to six weeks.
Hot water for showers and sinks in most RVs is produced by heating a hot water tank with propane. In the truck camper, Ben replaced that system with an instantaneous hot water heating system in order not to have to maintain a tank of water that wasn’t being used. To avoid carbon monoxide exposure, Ben added an exhaust fan to the shower.
Ben accesses the Internet through a Starlink dish, mounted on the roof of his current RV. He wryly noted that he originally designed a camouflaging system consisting of an old tire that surrounded the dish, to avoid theft.
Conclusions
Off-the-grid living can be very rewarding, but extremely energy-efficient living requires a lot of thought and mechanical skill! Reflecting on his family’s three-year trip, Ben said,
Living within the confines of a 180-square-foot space demands that every object have a justification for its presence… There’s a palpable sense of freedom in only having with you what you really need, or at least what you will actually regularly use.
He said the trip was as fulfilling as his family had wanted:
We had hoped to have a year of together time, time to experience America’s natural wonders, time to teach and learn from our children, time to get to know one another better. And time to explore, dream, and discover. Looking back now at what was the most transformative chapter of our lives to date, I’m so happy we decided to turn our backs on our comfortable suburban life and stable jobs to explore this amazing world together.
Although Ben is now back at work, he and his wife continue to travel during the summers. Ben continues to work on modifications to his camper truck!