Slashdot Mirror
A Mobile Home for the Wired Professional
mikael writes "The BBC is reporting that an Internet entrepeneur has given up on the high cost of housing in the city but has decided to merge his office/home lifestyles in the form of a luxury custom-built mobile home. Utilizing satellite technology, VoIP and a home cinema for video conferencing, the owner and his girlfriend are able to communicate with clients from anywhere. At the same time, the machine allows the occupants to remain self-sufficient in water, food, electricity and amenities for a whole week, allowing them to commute to the nearest national during the weekends." The price seems high even for all the amenities; a well-equipped Airstream can be had for enough less to pay for quite a few electronic upgrades.
I used to work at an RV Dealership pumping LP. These machines are insane. Some times, old folks would come in and plunk down giant multi-million dollar checks, or even cash, to walk out the door with one of them a few hours later (we hated that).
My father, whom I worked with at the time, did all these sorts of upgrades - one time, I worked helping install a computer into one as the centre of a digital home hub. I did a lot of the work with that, and it was insane. And yes, they paid cash.
To me, it would seem that the latency involved with satellite communications would really inhibit the use of VoIP. Either that or make it really, really difficult to use. Are there any /.'ers who can vouch on either side of this issue?
This was done by bicycle, http://www.microship.com/, 20 years ago (complete with a binary "keyboard" on the handlebars so that the rider could type while riding and satellite uplink) and my aunt gave up her house 10 years ago to go RVing and says she doesn't understand anymore why anyone would want to own a house in the first place.
Slashdot breaking news story: Sam's Club!
KFG
2 yuppies, cruising around in a motor home with no fixed address is fine, if a bit expensive (gas prices in UK?).
I don't see this as a real money saver. Yes, 1/4 million pounds is less than many (by far not all) homes in SE england. But depreciation and operating expenses will eat up any potential savings, and when they decide to give up this hobby, they'll be behind the real estate/money curve.
But, if money isn't a consideration (and it appears not to be in this case), why not do it for a couple of years? I'd get tired of it pretty quick, but he might not.
"It's a beautiful part of the country. We're keen rock climbers, so we can't complain about having well-known UK crags around the place."
Well, that's understandable.
As a fellow climber, I can completely understand where they're coming from - it really sucks having to carry 35 pounds on your back and set camp at a base from where you can climb.
While it is a little extreme, it does make sense.
I was doing full-time computer consulting and living full-time in an RV back in 1997-2000 (in the US), and I was hardly the only one. Even then, it wasn't that hard to stay in touch; plenty of RV parks would let you plug in a wired modem somewhere, more and more had internet hookups right at every site, and you could have a satellite modem if you were willing to pay enough for it (around $2/minute for 9600 baud access, which was plenty good enough for email and shipping code back and forth in those less bloated days). It's fun when you get to camp in the boondocks next to a hot spring for a couple of weeks and still bill a good hourly rate for the hours you care to work on your laptop while recharging from the solar panels. It's not so fun when you're stuck in the client's parking lot in Schaumburg Illinois for a week in winter because they really need to see you on site and the propane heater barely keeps up with the chill.
Sigs? Sigs? We don't need no steenkin' sigs.
He fought against birth control, represents an anti-science institution, and generally represented much that I hate.
Sure, I basically agree with you there. But he also played an important, perhaps critical, role in freeing tens of millions of people from oppressive totalitarian regimes, and in the end that is worth a bit of respect, don't you think?
I wonder what his strategy for physical security is. Now that he's announced the location where the vehicle is going to be parked every weekend while he himself is strapped to the side of a mountain at some altitude, I hope he's got all this stuff well secured against theft, fire, and vandalism, or better yet, attended by a gearsitter.
There's always insurance, but after the second hit or so the insurance companies get somewhat less enthusiastic about renewing the policy.
They're titled just like a car (or, more specifically, like a car trailer...). When you buy or sell one, you transfer a title just like transfering a title to a car.
I know all this because I now live in my second mobile home. 1800 ft^2, $40,000 in Rochester, Michigan. I put an offer on a *1200* ft^2 house at $175,000 and was turned down.
People complain that you don't gain equity in a mobile home like you do in a house. That's fine. I take the $1300 a month I would have put into a mortgage on a house significantly smaller, and put it all into an index mutual fund. 10% increase per year: at least as good as what I would have gotten from a home!
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
I've been doing something similar for the past six months. I purchased a fifteen passenger van in Colorado -- refurnished the interior with bed, closet, kitchen, pullout laptop desk, girlfriend, and surfboard storage racks -- and shipped it to Maui. It's been great. Net access is pretty good over cell modem, or we can wardrive when we want to download a movie torrent. :) I've been working three hours a week teaching physics for food money, and windsurfing tons. Journal and pics here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mauitian/
If anyone is considering getting something like this, don't make the mistake of getting something with a built in motor. Get a trailer with a separate tow vehicle. I prefer 5Th wheels (they tow nice), but make your own choice.
With the built in motor you have to drive the whole house to a store, and fitting an RV into a standard parking spot is an exercise in frustration. Worse if you want to park near downtown sometime. Much easier to leave the house behind and just take the tow vehicle.
And there is the problem of what if it breaks? With the separate tow vehicle you just drop it off at the dealer and drive a loaner car. You will be hard pressed to find a town that doesn't have a dealer who can fix your truck, while someone willing to touch a RV is harder to find. Or just trade the truck in on a new one (only rich people live in an RV, it is too expensive for normal folks, so this is reasonable). Of course you could trade the RV in when it breaks, but good luck finding one you like in a random town, while truck dealers are all over.
Oh, and if you are doing this, please don't get a gas engine! Diesel is much more efficient, meaning it won't burn what gas my generation wants to live with for the rest of our life.
I've been doing this for over a Year.
And for about $14k. And $5k for the pickup truck.
I'm posting this from the pod right now.
Most RV parks have WiFi, well the good ones anyway, so latency isn't a problem.
"Fortunately, he's one of those computer geniuses. [hotel links]I'm sure he'll be able to think of something[/hotel links]."
;)) As I warned in that earlier comment, be careful lest you are sucked into the world of interesting things Greenspun has written, which are addictive and time-sucking.
You're right that he can find a hotel (though they're scarce in some parts; I'm pretty inured to sleeping in my car when necessary, annoying as it can sometimes be -- however, I don't have an RV for which to find safe haven), but that additional cost adds up quickly, especially if the repairs are like those experienced by Phillip Greenspun. (The link was handy; this story had made me find it to post in an earlier comment, too
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5