Enjoy Van Life Without A Permanent Investment With The GoCamp Camper Van Rental

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Camping on a van that’s been modified to be a functional motorhome sounds like a fun way to spend the summer. Unless you enjoy working on cars, buying a van and tricking it out to become a livable house-on-wheels, on the other hand, is probably not as fun. So why not just rent a camper van? That’s exactly what GoCamp is offering with their camper van rental service.

Based in Portland, Oregon, the outfit has a fleet of Eurovans and Vanagons, all of which have been modified to be full-featured camper vans. They can throw in all the gear you need for the camping trip, too, so no need to invest in equipment that you probably won’t use more than a few times a year.

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Each GoCamp van comes with front swivel seats, so you can have it facing the road while you drive and have it facing the interior once you’ve settled down at camp. It has room for sleeping up to four people: two in the van using the fold-down rear seats and two at the pop-up tent on top, with either a full complement of beddings or sleeping bags already included when you pick the vehicle up. Planning to bring more than four people? The outfit can also add overflow tents and extra sleeping bags, although each add-on comes with extra charge.

For cooking on the go, each van comes with a Coleman stove, a countertop, and a working sink for cleaning up, along with all the cookware, cutlery, and tableware you need to prepare and eat all your meals. Of course, they throw in a full set of camping items, including a camp table, four camp chairs, two headlamps, and other basic camping gear.  A bunch of add-on camping gear are also available, including a 10 x 10 foot shade, extra chairs and benches, a portable battery, and more.

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Planning to bring mountain bikes to your trip? They can throw in a bike rack that holds up to four bikes, although you can also mount your own rack if you have one, provided it’s compatible with the vehicle you’re renting.

If you’re renting one of GoCamp’s Eurovans, they have a standard layout that gives you two benches (one fixed and one removable), with a good load of storage cabinets next to the sink housing all the bundled camping gear. It comes with built-in auxiliary battery that you can charge at campsites, so you can enjoy real creature comforts even when taking the van down forest service roads.

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The Vanagon, on the other hand, ditches the removable bench, but gets you a collapsible table and more storage space, along with a fold down rear bench. It sports a similar kitchen and storage layout as the Eurovan, although it doesn’t have the latter’s auxiliary battery power, so you might want to rent one of their portable batteries if you need to get some appliances running.

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Pricing for GoCamp’s rental camper vans start at $150 a night during slow seasons and $170 a night during the height of camping season.

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7 Responses

  1. This is the perfect way to start your vandwelling lifestyle. You will love vandwelling. Renting this won’t tell you if you’ll like permanently living in a van traveling around or not because you will. Instead, this will help you to decide what you do want and need for your mobile home before you invest in a vehicle because you will love the freedom.

    Some people like simple vans that they can retrofit themselves. Other people may prefer a truck with a camper on it. In order to be more discreet, I suggest a normal looking van that appears to be a commercial vehicle. You can then park and sleep in your vehicle in more areas because you’ll look like you belong. This goes for urban camping because you might not always want to spend the night in the Walmart parking lot.

    The GoCamp vehicle outfit is that way I would like my van to be when I can go full time with this lifestyle. I am not good at building things, but there are companies that specialize in outfitting vans for vandwellers. You buy your van and then take it into them and help design what you want your interior to look like. It is much more expensive in the short term to do this as opposed to building it yourself, but you can avoid costly mistakes because these companies have experience when it comes to living in a van full time.

    I highly recommend the Eurovan rental over the Vanagon because of the auxiliary battery. It can be used to run an Air conditioner while the van’s engine is turned off.

    If you are entirely new to van dwelling but are interested in possibly doing it full time as a lifestyle change, then do a rental for a couple of weeks from GoCamp or a similar company and just go. Don’t plan, don’t stress, just go. ENjoy yourself and the random adventures you will find. After a week you will learn that you do indeed want this lifestyle permanently.

  2. These small vandwelling vehicles are much easier to maneuver than a full-sized RV. You will also get much better fuel economy.

    1. I am surprised at the number of senior citizens I see driving long motorhomes. Some of them can’t even properly back out of their driveway in their car without knocking their mailbox down, yet they think that they can drive a motorhome.

      1. Once a driver is taught how to properly operate a motorhome, it isn’t too complicated. The hardest part for beginners is understanding exactly how tall your RV is, so you don’t get crash into a bridge or other overhead hanging object. Backing up in an RV takes a bit of practice for some, as well as maneuvering corners by going wider than in a passenger car.

        Although learning to drive a motorhome safely is something that most people can do, you still might not want too. Many people find driving large motorhomes to be stressful. For these people, a smaller motorhome might work better. They may also choose a smaller class B van style RV instead of a huge diesel powered CLass A motorhome.

        Another good option that we found that works best for us is to have a camper mounted on a truck. We have a camper that is easy to haul around. We can hop in back and take a nap in luxury with air conditioning or heating going at any time. If we are going to be in an area for an extended period then we will open up the slideout. With our slide out open we have more than enough room for both of us and a couple grandkids.

  3. I think this is an amazing method of traveling, but not to rent them $150 a day is way too much for this, but I am sure people will still rent them. If you go on a 10-day vacation, at $150 per day just in the rental cost of the camper van will run you$1,500. You still have to add in tax, food, fuel, and spending money. For that cost, you could go on a nice cruise to Alaska or the Bahamas. Not saying I would rather go on a cruise, but it is a much better value.

    The last cruise I went on was a 10-day cruise to Alaska. We got it on sale for $799 per person for an inside cabin. It included all of our food too. It was definitely a great value and a hassle free method of traveling.

    I would like to buy an old VW van that runs well and use for a trip, but they are expensive to buy. The cheap ones need a lot of expensive work too lol. I have rented an RV before. It was a mid-sized Minnie Winnie model. It was great to sleep in, but was awfully hard to drive. I don’t know how people are able to drive the full-sized RVs.

    1. My father bought a Minnie Winnie and his payments are around $140 per month. His monthly payment is cheaper than 1 night with the GoCamp rental. He bought the 24-foot version, but there is also a 33-foot version. The 24-foot version is almost perfect for him and my mother. They no longer sleep in our house when they visit. They just park their RV in our driveway and then hook up to our electricity. As much time as they are spending in it, they might as well sell their home and live in it full time.

      1. The Minnie Winnie is massive compared to the GoCamp. I think if you are the type to drive somewhere then stay there for an extended period then a larger mobile home is a great option, but if you like to move around more than a van style camper will be easier and cheaper.

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