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Camper Van vs Trailer: Which Is Better for Full-Time Living?

Writer: Matt Zefi
Matt Zefi
Aug 12
9 min read

I have been living full time on the road for the last six months inside a travel trailer. This week I am camping in South Dakota on a bit of a boys trip with my friend Mike, who rented a camper van. So we walked through both rigs and went through the actual pros and cons of each one, side by side, in the same campground.


This video was sponsored in part by AeroPress. They paid for a segment about the AeroPress Go Plus, which I cover further down and clearly label. Everything I say about the van and the trailer is my own. Some of the links below are also affiliate links. If you buy through them I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps support the channel. Thanks for that.


One note before I get into it. Most of these pros and cons are fairly general, because there are so many levels of camper van and so many levels of trailer. I have a 96 square foot camper, and there are trailers out there that are basically houses on wheels. So I am keeping this broad enough to be useful.


Camper van vs trailer at a glance


Camper van

Travel trailer

Driving and parking

Much easier, fits normal spots

Learning curve, needs RV or double spots

Stealth camping

Good, especially unbranded builds

Not really, it looks like a camper

Setup time

Park and you are done

Hitch and unhitch every move

Fuel economy

Better

I lose about 3 mpg towing with the Jeep

Cost

Roughly $100,000 to $250,000 built out

Trailer only if you already have a tow vehicle

Lead time

Months waiting on a build

You can pick one up same day

If it breaks down

Your home goes to the mechanic

Only the tow vehicle goes in

Day trips

You take the whole house with you

Drop the trailer and drive the tow vehicle

Interior space

Narrower, a bit of a shimmy for two

Wider, feels more like a room

Bathroom

Most do not have a full shower

Mine has a full bathroom with a shower

Size limits

Fits most tunnels and roads

Tunnels and width limits become a real factor


Inside the camper van

Mike's rental is honestly one of the better built camper vans I have been in. Here is what it has.


  • Full kitchen setup with 20 gallons of fresh water

  • A full shower, which is rare in a van, plus a cassette toilet

  • A pull out refrigerator

  • Two swivel captain chairs, which double as dinner seating. We had dinner in there and a great breakfast the next morning

  • A Lagun table that swivels, raises, and lowers. I have the same style in the trailer

  • A lot of storage, including a small pantry down low

  • Window space everywhere, plus accent and house lighting throughout

  • A microwave, and cabinet hardware that locks while driving

  • A full queen bed over what is basically a garage, with a drawer system that pulls out

  • Tanks, batteries, and electronics all contained under that bed

  • A heater that runs off the van's own gas tank, an air conditioner, and a Maxxair fan for venting while cooking

  • Solar on the roof. We were pulling about 300 watts, then it dropped to 120 to 150 when a cloud came over


Camper van pros

It is so much easier to drive. Towing a trailer is a different beast entirely. There is a learning curve to a van, sure, but you pick it up fast. Backing up is the big one. Backing up a small trailer is apparently harder than backing up a large one, and I have gotten so used to it that I am now a little disoriented backing up without the trailer.


Parking. There are so many more places you can park a van. With a trailer you are looking for RV specific spots, or in my case two adjacent spots in a parking lot. When that is not available, I am kind of stuck.


Stealth camping. A trailer screams that somebody is in there. A van, even one with a logo on the side, mostly does not. That opens up a lot more places to sleep. Van life is common enough now that Sprinters are getting easier to spot, but it is still much easier to stay low profile.


No hitching and unhitching. You can pick up and be on the road almost immediately. You might want to put a few things away first depending on how messy you are, but that is it.


Better fuel economy. My camper is relatively small and I still lose about 3 miles per gallon, and I am towing with a Jeep, so it was not great to begin with. Bigger trailers will hit your mileage harder. A van is not amazing either, but it beats towing.


You can drive away instantly. This might be the biggest one. If something is happening outside and it is not safe to step out, you just get in the driver's seat and go. In a trailer you do not have that.


More customizable. Trailers are largely mass produced, so you get what you get. Vans have a lot more originality. Mike's has hardwood walls, and it just looks more unique than anything you buy off a lot.


Camper van cons

Cost. This varies enormously in both directions. Some people buy a van, throw a mattress in, and they are done. But a real build out runs from around $100,000 to well over $200,000 or $250,000. If you already own a capable tow vehicle, you only need the trailer, and trailers are significantly more affordable. If you do not own a tow vehicle, then you are buying two things instead of one.


Lead time. With a trailer you can pretty much pick one up the same day. With a van you are waiting on a company to build it, or you are building it yourself over many months, or you are living in it unfinished while you work on it.


If the van breaks down, your house breaks down. Taking it to a mechanic means taking your home with you. With a trailer you just bring in the tow vehicle, and you could rent something or have a friend tow the trailer in the meantime.


It can feel cramped. Depends on the size, but with a full build out and two or more people, you are doing a little shimmy to get past each other in the kitchen. For one or two people it is more than enough.


Most vans do not have a full bathroom. Most have a toilet of some kind, but a shower is rare. Mike's does have one, and if I were living in a van I would go that route for exactly that reason, because you are not always driving back to town to find a Planet Fitness. A shower eats space that would otherwise be a wardrobe, which is why most builds skip it.


The coffee setup, sponsored by AeroPress

This section is the sponsored part of the video. You have probably seen me make coffee a hundred times on this channel, which is why I was glad to partner with AeroPress on this one. I have been making AeroPress coffee every day for years, and I have had the original AeroPress Go since I bought one years back for camping.


The AeroPress Go Plus is the newer one, and I have been using it all over the West. It is compact and light, and space is always limited in here, so something that packs into itself matters. Most mornings I am up before sunrise heading out to photograph wildlife or explore somewhere new, and it gets good coffee ready in a few minutes. Boil the water, add coffee, pour it into the chamber, press it down into the insulated cup.


The real reason I use it is routine. When you are waking up somewhere different every few days, those small routines matter. A familiar cup of coffee makes anywhere feel a little more like home, whether I am camped outside Glacier, in the Tetons, or out in the desert.


Discount code MATTZ20 gets you 20% off the AeroPress Go Plus. Use it here. Thank you again to AeroPress for sponsoring the video.


Inside the trailer

Mine is a 2023 inTech Sol Dawn Rover, around 96 square feet, and I have been living in it for six months. There is a full camper tour here if you want the detailed version.


  • Dometic stove in the kitchen

  • 23 gallons of fresh water and roughly a 23 gallon black tank

  • Speakers throughout, plus lighting everywhere including high hats I will literally never turn on

  • Maxxair fan that blows air in or vents the stove while cooking

  • A three way refrigerator that runs on propane, battery, or AC power

  • Lift up cabinets for storage. All my shirts fit in one, though honestly most of the storage in here is camera gear

  • A queen bed using an insert, and there is another insert that makes it a king

  • The big rear window, which was the main reason I bought this camper in the first place

  • A Lagun table that swivels in and out or comes off entirely, plus a live edge table I added

  • A large storage container underneath that opens from inside or outside

  • A pantry, and an air conditioner and heater that run on propane

  • A full bathroom with a shower, which is one of my favorite things about it

  • 400 watts of solar on the roof. I have been fully off grid for six months running on solar alone, with no DC to DC charger like Mike has in the van


Travel trailer pros

You can drop the trailer. Unhitch, and you have a normal vehicle for the day. That saves gas and it means you can go places a van cannot. With the Jeep I can off road far past what the trailer or the van could handle.


There is a much wider range of sizes. You can get something significantly longer than mine that is effectively a home, and trailers tend to be wider too.


It feels like a room. That extra width means you are not squeezing past each other all day. Mike's first impression stepping into the trailer after a couple nights in the van was that it felt like a regular room instead of a narrow passageway, and that you do not have to climb up onto the bed.


Travel trailer cons

Size limits are real. The other night we were around Custer State Park, which has a lot of small tunnels, and I could not fit through one of them. We had to leave the trailer behind and I jumped in the camper van. Zion has the same problem. I believe the limit there is about 8 feet wide, which is not that wide, and the escort program they used to run has been shut down, so you go around the entire park. Tunnels, widths, parking, and clearance become daily considerations in a way they just are not in a van.


Towing has a real learning curve. It is not only backing up. It is knowing you have a large trailer behind you at all times, and weight is always a factor. Vans seem to tolerate a lot more in that respect because of how they are built.


You maintain two vehicles. Regular maintenance on the tow vehicle and on the trailer. Sealing, wheel bearings, all of it. And some tow vehicles need more attention than others. I am not going to knock on my Jeep here.


Which one should you buy?

If you are one or two people who want to move often, park anywhere, stealth camp, and skip the hitching routine, the van makes more sense. If you already own a capable tow vehicle, want more livable space for the money, and like the idea of dropping your house and driving off for the day, the trailer wins.


I have lived in the trailer for six months and I would pick it again. If you want the honest running total of what that has actually been like, I wrote up six months living in a trailer full time and 10 downsides of living in an RV full time.


FAQ

Is a camper van or a travel trailer cheaper? A trailer, if you already own a tow vehicle. Built out vans commonly run $100,000 to $250,000. If you have to buy a tow vehicle too, the math gets much closer.


Can you stealth camp in a travel trailer? Not really. A trailer looks like exactly what it is. Vans are far easier to keep low profile, though they are getting more recognizable as more people do it.


How much fuel economy do you lose towing a trailer? I lose about 3 miles per gallon with a relatively small trailer behind a Jeep. Larger trailers will cost you more than that.


Do camper vans have showers? Most do not. Most have a toilet of some kind. Mike's rental does have a full shower, and that is the version I would want if I were living in a van.


What happens if your camper van breaks down? Your home goes into the shop with it. With a trailer, only the tow vehicle goes in and you can rent something or get a friend to move the trailer.


How much solar do you need to live off grid? I run 400 watts on the roof and have been fully off grid for six months without a DC to DC charger. If you want the comparison between an all in one power station and a built in system, I covered that in solar generator vs DIY solar.


Gear in this video




There are a lot of pros and cons either way, whether you are full time like I have been for the last six months or you are a weekend warrior. Let me know in the comments, are you team camper van or team trailer? Thanks again for watching, and I will see you out there on the road.

 
 
 

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