You don’t need a stealth camper van for urban camping

Idont understand why city officials are even concerned with overnight staying in the vehicle

Jeff Bezos has a motorhome???

Honestly imo this lifestyle requires for people to not only be social, but also to rent recognized camp sites or rest stops. This lifestyle forces people to be social for safety out of liability reasoning. For example i would probably go to state parks or rest stops and use public facilities as much as possible. Many people have this outrageous idea that they can do whatever that they want and go wherever they please. That's not how this works, scooter. Survival is necessary for all.

Homeless people can sleep overnight anywhere and not be bothered, but a camper oh my please get out of here

this might be a dumb question to experienced people, but what about rest areas along the interstates? I've seen some with special areas for RV's but most don't.

Great video, Joe. Thank you!

I'm in a bunch of vanlife/camper build groups, and some people really seem to have the idea that their camper needs to be "stealthy". Sorry, but nobody is falling for it. Your white panel van with air vents and a solar panel on the roof is so painfully obviously a camper. The alternative is leaving the van completely stock on the outside, but at that point you have a van without air circulation or windows and thats not really gonna work. Where I live there's a custom for RV drivers to give each other a wave on the road - some of the "stealth" van drivers look positively shocked when I give them a wave from my very obviously built-out camper.

I couldn't afford a place within 1 hours commute of my Seattle job because I only make a measly 90k a year so I live in a Van during the workweek and go back to my little house in the country on the weekend. I could get an apartment near work if I spent every penny on rent but I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck. I rented a room in a house full of strangers for a while but I got tired of messy inconsiderate housemates and crazy landlords. I park in residential neighborhoods because its quiet and safe. The key I've found is to not arrive until dusk, keep an eye out for no parking signs, cover all the windows so no light escapes, do not make alot of noise and minimize how much you get in and out of the Van. During the day I park at park/shopping center. Parking during the summer is alittle tricky because I need to go to bed around 9pm for my 6 am job but it doesn't get dark until 10pm and I also need to park in the shade or the Van gets to hot parks tend to have the most shade. Some cities make it very hard to park other cities are more parking friendly. I'm an electrician and I make it a point not do any work in the cities/neighborhoods that make it hard to park. If you won't accept as part of you're community than you can fix whatever electricial problem comes up you're self.

People who call police for no reason deserve neither safety nor freedom.

I lived in a Metropolis, a cluster of individual Cities, each with their own Rules and Regulations.
My NavSat had 31 overnight parking sites in it, all sequentially numbered 1 through 31.
It also had 9 overnight parking sites, designated emergency parking and numbered 32 through 40.
It was My practice to stay at each site only on the night with the corresponding date; thus 11 on the 11th and 23 on the 23rd; thus each site only saw Me once a month and on varying week day nights.
Plus as time went by, less suitable sites were replaced by more suitable sites, so there was a evolution of sites also taking place.
Coupled with this was late Arrivals and early Departures, which meant few Neighbours / Residents actually saw My vehicle and none of them actually saw / heard Me living inside it, thus it was always viewed as just a parked overnight vehicle, occasionally but infrequently seen in the area.

I now live in a small 2 bedroom cottage.

In other words, don’t buy a camper/rv.

Here’s one for you, if you get a knock where parking is allowed DONT ANSWER

I slept in a kia soul for 6 months and only got the knock once

Card board box and just sleep on street right down town.

Roll in late , pull the drapes, leave early

hi Thanks for the info! we will be travelling in class b camper in the US this year. coming from europe. could you explain the abbrevation HOA ? I only get capsites when i google, may due to geo blocking. Thanks and keep on doing this fine videos?

Nevermind RVs or even large vans.. have you seen the uptick in people living in their cars?

I have to say if I was in a store shopping and was told to leave when I came out, I’d be returning everything I just bought and having a few choice words with the management before I left.

great video. very informative

Do police or private security use thermal imaging cameras to determine if a parked vehicle is occupied?

if all these “rules” apply, who would want to own a camper? i reckon it’s abuse to be woken up in middle of nite by anyone, security or whoever, because a neighbour living nearby is offended. or by Walmart security officer. barring antisocial behaviour, they should wait til daylight to do that. if one is forced to move to another location, groggy from sleep, that in itself poses a danger, aside from one’s natural fear of being woken at midnight by a robber or other “stirrer”.
i see everyday examples of inconsiderate behaviour in our neighbourhood:
ex 1. i live in a residential street with little spare street parking. our nxt door neighbour has parked his unused tall property management trailer, with half flat tyres, out side our block of 7 units, for last 5 yrs. i’ve never complained - after all it’s council not private parking. (he also parks in space behind it but at least those ones are moved). next, he often parks one of his (several) vehicles on his driveway but outside his boundary, impeding pedestrian/cyclist access along paved footpath. but the worst insult is when his visitors illegally park their 4wd utes in our grassed front yard area “because there’s not enough street parking”, & we have to repair the furrows left by their heavy tyres. oh & i didn’t mention part of our brick fence knocked down - but have no proof who did that.
ex 2. down the road is a bridge over a small river. there are council marked areas to park on bridge. large wide interstate trucks will hog this to park for days, rather than park in nearby residential streets (by law they’re allowed 2 hrs but no sign to say that). this reduces a rather busy road to just 2 lanes a safety issue. as a cyclist i have to stop rather than risk my life moving into a busy traffic lane. or ride on the footpath which i do.

Thanks, I'm in Wales UK, but this feels totally relevant to us as well!

I’ve had a VW bus for about 30 years. I’ve been stealth camping all during that time, from the west coast to the east. I only got “the knock” once in Martha’s Vineyard. Many times when I am on the road, I park in a motel parking lot at night because they are used to having a turnover of vehicles every day so I can basically lend right in. I was never bothered and always felt safe.

Avoid Walmart- I was wheel locked in SLV, Utah.

What if you go to a campground and want a tent site? Will they deny you then if your not in a typical camper?

Wow, HOAs are weird.

It doesn’t matter where you are, whether in a campground, RV Park, Stealth Parking on a city street, in a business parking lot or on BLM land, DON’T throw your trash out or play your music loud, don’t pull out chairs or your awning and don’t pull out your slide out in a Walmart parking lot. I have to wonder when you got hit in the head that made you think that a) you are more important than everyone else? b) that nasty behavior is acceptable ANYWHERE? Just in case it needs to be said, you don’t own the road either. If you can’t behave like a normal adult, park in your driveway and stay there.

Those that think a cargo van is stealth should rethink that. A cargo van parked on a residential street looks like a perp van if no one knows who it belongs to.

So, what would happen if you simply did not answer to; “The Knock”? Would they eventually get bored and go away?

You people with your "tricks" to urban park...
Here's a thought, stop sneaking around, parking in neighborhoods or trying to blend in, just go out of the urban areas and park.
Most cities have decent travel centers/truck stops near them. Take the LITTLE extra effort to go park at them. Nobody wants you parking in neighborhoods or other locations where they live, and most parking lots have tow companies cruising around because the owners don't want you over night in their parking lots. You are not cool or slick because you park in urban areas, matter of fact, you are not cool, slick or smart when you spend $80,000 on a van to start with. There are really no good reasons to urban park, cities are dirty, crime filled locations.
Do the RV world a favor, quit sneaking around to park, do it legitimately

Ich verstehe nicht dass der Camper bei walmart der seinen müll am parkplatz verteilt hatte nicht von den anderen Campern hinaus geprügelt wurde. Verdient hätte es dieser rücksichtslose Idiot auf jeden Fall. Solche Menschen verdienen es nicht dass man sie weiter Unheil anrichten lösst.

Why oh why does every "activity" always have a Kim Jong Un type character? (Throwing his missiles around, spoiling it for everyone).

I’m getting ready to make a stealth camper from a Toyota Sienna minivan. I’ll have nothing on it to give it away except maybe blacked out windows so you cannot see inside.

You say "common sense" like most have it. To paraphrase Voltaire, not so much.

Parking in residential areas directly outside someones home is going to cause you issues. Residents who've had problems with RVs or vans are very sensitive to seeing this because very often bottles of urine or trash is left behind.

I got the knock at my climbing gym they threatened to tow so I cancelled the membership

Use google maps satellite view to recon for those quiet discrete spots. You can even use “street view” to read the signs for any restrictions.

As a former California resident, I can understand the hostile atmosphere. So many homeless, so many people living out of their cars or vans, and you always seem to find the mess, realize they ran an extension cord to your power, used your water, left their trash, etc. Add that many are not nice people, you have increased crime as well. We had a neighbors house that was ransacked. Sadly we were clueless, they had pulled into their driveway, had been there for days, and we assumed they were guests.. not. That’s why California has such restrictive rules, and people come out immediately if you park in front of their house.

In my opinion, you forgot the most important reason to get a stealth van in urban camping ---> "Crackheads" . It's all fine and dandy to camp any where, until all your stuff is stolen. A non-stealth camper van in an urban environment says please come rob me now!!!

Of course it helps to have newer vehicles. Looks like a middle-class vacationer, and they dont automatically assume "homeless".

Only in America would a ban on overnight parking be a thing.

Word to the wise: check laws in the state you're in. Afaik, it is illegal to stay inside your vehicle overnight parked on any property owned by a government or municipal entity. In this case, it was to break up a long-term protest happening in the city of Nashville, but it's a state law.

So with all that scenario, even if you were in a car ( not a camper) you would have experienced the same thing :D

“The knock” what happens if no one is inside the camper? Does it get automatically towed?

Figured anyone with a 5th wheel set-up has to park their camper somewhere outside a city before they drive their tow vehicle downtown.
Anyone you know who has a good system for visiting cities with a fiver or Class A?

Do not answer the door just pretend you’re not there

Very good video, thanks. Being from Canada I always wanted to visit the Florida key, so I drove down there in my class B. When I arrived in Key West, I paid for 24 hours to park at the post office $40. At 1145pm I got the knock. You can park there for 24hrs but you cannot sleep in your vehicle. Cops did an ID check and told me to leave after many questions. After spending a couple hundred dollars and after my 5 hour touring around, I left and never went back and never will.

If you are in Florida now, you can carry a gun. There aren’t any restrictions in the current law, so ALWAYS carry a gun. Everyone else probably is.
Now NOBODY tells me where to park. Because digging a hole big enough to bury a body sized turd only takes a little while more than digging a hole big enough to bury a turd. 😆
❤️✌️

I live in my ram promaster nobuild not class b full time for 2 months and ive camped everywhere never got the knock ive also been camping before living fulltime in parking lots never got the knock either prob cuz i got a passenger plate with no record

This is classist for sure. It is NOT where they are, it's the rig you have. And it's not your behavior. It's your rig.