Living in a motorhome is full of adventures and challenges for modern people who are disciplined by the house.
When North Drift adopts motorhome as a long-term way of life, caravan is more about how to live in the city at a low cost and with dignity.
North Drift actor Ma Li now lives in a RV for 9 months, and he is one of the few people in this group who has survived. Even so, after getting married, he still faces many questions: can he really save money in a caravan life? How long can you stay on the motorhome?
Minimal romantic moments
In Beijing at the end of December 2021, the maximum temperature during the day was minus 7 degrees Celsius, and Ma Li burned a pot of boiling water at the window of the caravan, which was burned in a portable card stove. He sat by the window, a cloud of white mist released by the lid of the pot, and he habitually rubbed his hands and moved his hands closer to the white mist. This is his preferred way of heating in winter, usually with a diesel heater to keep the room warm and moist.
Ma Li's motorhome had a large window, and when he bought it, he saw this – he could see the trees of the caravan camp outside the window. In winter, he sat by the window for an afternoon.
In the summer of 2021, he drove his motorhome to Weihai, Shandong Province, where it was parked on a sandy beach. Through that window, Ma Li had seen the blue sea, the orange-red sunset, and he could hear the sound of the waves lapping in his motorhome. When in a good mood, Ma Li wears a pair of swim trunks and plunges straight into the sea, or climbs a hillside overlooking the city. But such romantic moments are rare in the motorhome life of the horse rate.
On the day of the interview, even if you turn on the diesel for heating and boil the pot of boiling water, you have to beware of the cool breeze that enters the small cracks. A few days ago, the glass on the roof of the Ma Li caravan fell off for some reason, leaving only a cover plate, and the wind probably came in from there.
The thermometer is attached to the center of the caravan by the horse rate, and no matter which area of the caravan you are in, you can almost see it at a glance. The thermal insulation and cold resistance of the caravan are worse than the house, and it is extremely important to pay attention to the room temperature of the caravan. In November 2020, on the day of the first snow in Beijing, he was woken up early in the morning, the air conditioner was turned off, and the room temperature of the RV plummeted to minus zero.
He climbed up to the roof to see that the "main force" of power generation, the solar panels, was covered with a thick layer of snow, which could not generate electricity or heat. To make matters worse, his diesel heater also had problems, and it was not good to find a big brother to repair the car.
The only thing he could turn to for help at the time was the silent generator, an inefficient way of generating electricity that was often used in emergencies. In practice, 1 hour can add up to 1 kWh of electricity to the motorhome. The power generation efficiency could not keep up with the heating demand, and he did not suffer from frost for 3 days of waiting for the diesel heater to be repaired.
In the summer and autumn, the actor Ma Li basically moves outside the caravan and invites friends. (Figure/ Horse rate)
However, there are shortcomings in either heating method. According to the horse rate, diesel heating, heating for 3 hours to burn 1 liter of oil, "is the most cost-effective heating method." But the average 6-hour heating time in the winter made his 10-liter diesel barrel quickly bottom out. And diesel heating must be turned off at night, otherwise it is easy to have safety hazards. Turning on the air conditioner for a long time will have a very large power loss, and it will also make the air in this small space drier.
The cold test also comes from all sides. In December, the water pipe in the horse's caravan is frozen. Ideally, as long as the RV water pipe is connected to the water source, the indoor water demand for drinking, washing, and going to the toilet can be met. But for most of the time, especially in winter, the horse rate had to complete all water needs outside the car. After a while, Ma Li had to run to the public toilet outside the car. He also relies on this toilet for his daily washing and domestic water.
Running in and out in winter makes it even harder to stay warm for a long time. Bathing is also a big hassle of motorhome life. Before, Ma Li deliberately went to the gym to do a card continuously, and bathing was a big purpose.
However, the cold is not the most difficult to overcome, and the hot summer is the relentless power killer. In the summer, the temperature is basically at 20 or 30 degrees Celsius every day, "my caravan is basically soaked, and it is impossible to turn on the air conditioner." There are always a few days in the summer, the power system of the caravan can not keep up at all, the caravan power outage, air conditioning, refrigerator, etc., is the most difficult few days of the horse rate.
In the first few months, his RV has been parked in more than a dozen parking lots – mostly in Fangshan, Beijing and Hengdian, Zhejiang, but also in Shanghai, Yancheng, Jiangsu, Qingdao and Weihai, Shandong. Once in Yancheng, Ma Li missed the latest time to drive his car into the local scenic parking lot, so he had to park in front of a farmer's house in the scenic spot. That night, Ma Li spent the night without water and electricity.
Surprises and surprises often follow. At 6 o'clock the next morning, as soon as Ma Li heard the movement of the head of the household getting up, he followed. He began to talk to the head of the household, and soon the head of the household agreed to let him go into the house to take a bath and prepared a large bowl of noodles for him. That morning, the two of them sat opposite each other at the table, and the horse rate ate the noodles, and the two talked for a long time.
Many times, Ma Li also had to deal with the noise outside the caravan, the failure of large and small parts in the caravan, obstacles on the way to move, and how his trailer was attached to the car in front.
Is a motorhome a better choice for North Drift?
Ma Li is the most suitable type of person for the housing car, he is an actor, does not sit on work, the place of work is not certain, and a business trip is several months. For most of the year, he filmed in various crews, and other times he interviewed in various locations and received advertisements.
Ma Rate is about 1.8 meters tall, a body of tendon meat, simple life, can also suffer hardships, know how to order a mcdonald's package for more than a dozen dollars, and can also book a hot spring bed for dozens of dollars a night. He is a native of Shandong, familiar and talkative, and is willing to use his brain when encountering unexpected situations. These qualities are invisible barriers to entry for RV life.
Ma Li chose a housing car to solve some very realistic problems - he rented a house in Beijing for 10 years, rented a single room in Chaoyang District, and the average monthly rent was 4500 yuan. After 10 years in the industry, he basically gave up the possibility of a sharp increase in income, and it was more practical to throttle his expenses. He went out to shoot for a long time, and the cost of foreign accommodation and the vacant rental house in Beijing were also a problem. Also, the audition location is too far from the place of residence, which is also his long-term pain. He used to live in Chaoyang District, and occasionally had to go to Fangshan District to audition, and the one-way commuting distance was three or four hours.
After moving into the caravan, once it is necessary to shoot a scene in the field or audition from a distance, Ma Li drives the caravan to relocate the family.
Is it cost-effective to rent or a RV? Ma Li calculated the account: in Beijing's Chaoyang District, the whole set of "old and broken", a year fixed rental costs at least 50,000 yuan, this price is still rising every year. He bought a domestic trailer caravan, which is 100,000 yuan. The service life of a trailer motorhome is usually 15 years.
In winter, the exterior and interior of the horse rate motorhome. (Photo / Shu Shaohuan)
The monthly cost of housing vehicles is not large: fixed parking fees of 300-900 yuan, but also encountered parking lots that do not charge money; fixed fuel, charging fees of several hundred yuan each; buy a gym monthly card, as long as more than 100 yuan. In the past 10 years, Ma Rate has spent an average of 4,500 yuan on monthly rent, and about 60,000 yuan on intermediary fees, water and electricity fees, home improvement fees, etc., with a total cost of nearly 600,000 yuan.
If you have a residential vehicle for 10 years earlier, buy a domestic trailer-mounted caravan for 100,000 yuan; the average monthly parking fee is 900 yuan, a total of 110,000 yuan in 10 years; the cost of diesel heating and generator oil for 10 years is 30,000 yuan. In other words, he can save about 360,000 yuan.
But this is only the most ideal algorithm, and there are many costs that are not taken into account. This includes another self-used car (as a front car of a trailer-mounted caravan), which costs more than 100,000 yuan and a total of at least 200,000 yuan for the caravan that can be on the road. The price of the trailer with better performance is generally 200,000-400,000 yuan. After living in the caravan for a long time, it also faces large and small maintenance costs - today's heating equipment has failed, the window on the roof of the car fell off yesterday, the door of the toilet the day before yesterday was broken, and so on, and the probability of maintenance is very high.
If you can really live in a motorhome for more than 10 years, this is indeed an economical way of housing. But the reality is that many car owners have a "honeymoon period" for RV life, and after moving in for a year or two, the frequency of RV use will be greatly reduced.
On used RV websites, reselling RVs that are a year or two old abound. RVs are still notoriously low in retention rate, and RV blogger "RV Slow Travel of Residential Trees" once threatened, "Don't consider the retention rate when buying a house". It is not uncommon to see large price reductions when reselling RVs.
It can be seen that the cost of new RVs is not low. Using a used motorhome or modifying a van yourself may be a more economical approach. The low-income "motorhomes" described by American journalist Jessica Brudder in the documentary novel "The Land of No One: Survival in America in the 21st Century" usually buy modified trucks that have been transferred to N hands. However, the tuition fees to be paid cannot be ignored.
Marriage, the last straw that broke the camel's back?
What should I do after marriage? This is the thorny issue that Ma Rate faces today.
Most of the time, Ma Li lived alone in the caravan, and his wife did not live with him. How to solve this problem, the two have not yet discussed a solution. But the horse rate is not discouraged. "Feelings, this matter is mutually discussed." He continued to analyze, "She can also understand my difficulties, I can make so much money in a month, is it to rent (part of it) or use it elsewhere?" ”
Ma Li and his wife are considering having a child, and after having a child, they still can't live in a car, and he still can't make up his mind. He just vaguely felt that in the future, he should take his children to experience two kinds of life - one is to live in a caravan, if the child likes, then he will change to a bigger caravan, 20 square meters; the other is to live in the house, "the child should feel that the caravan life is not interesting at all, well, let's go home and live." If the child has not experienced it, make a choice for him, Ma Li feels that this is irresponsible behavior.
When Ma Li first moved into the caravan, his friends around him were not optimistic: "They think, buddy, you are too dramatic, your choice is too unrealistic." Now, after living for 9 months, he is facing the problem of getting married and having children, and his friends are even less optimistic, "This matter is too hanging."
However, Ma Li is very open to this, and the caravan is only an option added to the house: "Before, the caravan was the privilege of the rich. But now, you can buy a second-hand motorhome for tens of thousands of dollars. "Taking ten thousand steps back, even if you don't take a car in the future, Ma Li feels that it is a good choice now." Saving more money every year and returning to your hometown to buy a suite after seven or eight years is not also a plan for the future? ”
Ma Li also often communicates with some "riders", "Not much, the whole Of Beijing (long-term) housing vehicles, maybe two or three." A Beijing "car friend" known to Ma Li often works overtime until the early hours of the morning, and he simply lives in the RV in the parking lot under the company for a long time. There is also a shandong big brother who has lived in a caravan with his family for three months because the newly renovated house is still smelling.
In the summer and autumn, parked in the outdoor parking lot, the horse rate will move the activities such as stir-frying, drinking tea, and resting to the outdoors as much as possible. In the winter, there are fewer people in the caravan, and his outdoor activities are restricted. On the day of the interview, there was a group of people outside the caravan, he seemed very excited, ran over to talk, rubbed rice, and shouted at the guests who came: "I lived here for more than ten days before, and I didn't even have a personal shadow." ”
Asked if the caravan would feel lonely, Ma Li asked: "Before, I lived alone in a rental house, and every day I opened the curtains and saw an anti-theft net. The outside of the house is plastered with small advertisements, and most of the things in the house except for the coffee machine are not their own. Isn't that kind of life also quite lonely? ”
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What do you think of motorhome life?
Author | Shu Shaohuan
Original title | refused to rent a house, and North Drift chose a motorhome
First published in New Weekly, Issue 604
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