I saw a program on tv a few months ago that illustrated a rainwater collection system built onto the house. The owner of an old suburban house had a new copper gutter system installed and piped the runoff to a cistern. Basically, his roof was his water collector. The cistern was covered and vented for expansion and the input was fitted with a filter and a valve system to prevent backflow. It was also piped for overflow, in this case, if I remember correctly, to the sewer. It was simple but elegant.

I'm not sure but I think it was "This Old House". Maybe you can find it in their programming.

Hi, Will--

We rebuilt our 1970 motorhome years ago, so we empathize with and applaud you on your adventure with yours.

In reading your post, it sounds like you ought to be able to come up with good solutions to most of your issues... however, water seems like it is going to be problematic. Unless you're going to be living in a part of far-southern Cal which is prone to monsoonal moisture during the summer months, or perhaps if you are in a "June gloom" area which gets a coastal influence, even collecting dew as Rod suggested (Hi, Rod) isn't likely to get you much in the way of usable water, I wouldn't think. Sure, when there IS water, the key is to catch it and preserve it from evaporation, etc. And a good heavy summer storm WILL bring quite a bit of water in a short time, but catching a lot takes planning, and those storms are often few and far between from about April to November most years (unless you're in the monsoonal path.)

I don't have any suggestions, unfortunately, but having some experience with dry-camping (and being VERY water-frugal) in our motorhome and living through southern California summers, I'd guess that this issue is likely to be your most difficult to overcome. So when you're getting those ducks in a row, make sure the "water" duck is at the forefront. It's probably going to take some real ingenuity and frugality to make that one work out. Best of luck on all your plans!

Sara : )

Hello, again, Will--

Yes, the old motorhomes definitely were heavy-duty! I can just imagine you trying to wrangle that old generator out by yourself. The day Jeff and I put on an entire new 25-foot side wall in one piece was an experience, I can tell you! At one point ours had basically no side walls, no rear wall, no roof, and the fiberglass front off, as well. But it WAS one of the projects that did prepare us for building our home a few years later.

As for handtools for your grading, we know you're not kidding. : ) We cleared our building site and dug about 3/4 of our foundation by hand, because we had more time and muscle than money (or sense, some people said!) We only hired the last part dug because we ended up with a time deadline to meet for forming up and pouring the concrete. It was a good workout for us, our kids, and a few intrepid family members! (We did have the grading in-between done professionally, however, because it was a pretty large area.)

Good luck to you. It ought to be quite an adventure! : )
Sara : )