What is a fulltimer?

There are some never ending debates in the RV world.ย  For instance, among avid RVers toss out the question, “Fifth wheel or motorhome?” and you’ll find yourself in an opinionated discussion.ย  Ask the fifth wheel crowd, “How big of a truck do I need?” and the rest of the evening will be filled with discussion.

And, if you want to have some fun, ask “What is a fulltime RVer?” and you are in for an entertaining conversation.ย  The crux of the matter is whether just living in a RV makes one a fulltimer.ย  Obviously, there’s a difference between living behind your grandmother’s house in their 1947 Airstream which is sitting up on concrete blocks and traveling around the country in a high dollar RV.ย  The question is, does the first person get to wear the “fulltimer” label?

I think the real problem is that the term “fulltimer” needs a qualifying adjective.

Think of the different kinds of fulltimers there are.ย  At one extreme there’s that person living in the 50 year old camper on the concrete blocks.ย  Then we’ll find people in more current rigs spending their winters in the sunny south and their summers in the moderate north, moving back and forth between campsites they may even own.ย  There are people who follow their jobs, moving when the work moves (and people who are workcamping from place to place).ย  At the other extreme are those who are touring the country.ย  Beyond all that, somewhere in the mix are people who are dreaming of becoming fulltimers and those who have had lots of fulltiming adventures but have now hung up the keys.

I propose that we just invite all of them into the fulltimers’ tent (not to offend you tenters who are reading this).ย  Then, when we want to be more specific, we add an adjective that clarifies just what sort of fulltimers we are at the present time.ย  In my examples above I’ve mentioned several kinds of fulltimers:

  • Stationary
  • Seasonal
  • Working
  • Touring
  • Wannabe
  • Usedtobe

I’m not trying to do a complete list here – rather, to move the discussion in a positive direction.ย  If you are a fulltimer, what adjective would you use to describe your fulltiming approach?

Just for fun, I’ve created this flowchart to help illustrate my thinking.

Of course, all of this is worth just what you are paying for it.

Fulltimer