RVs

In North America the term recreational vehicle and its acronym, RV, are generally used to refer to a vehicle equipped with living space and amenities found in a home. A recreational vehicle normally includes a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom and a living room. In other countries the terms caravan or camper van are more common, and the vehicles themselves vary, typically being smaller than in North America.

RVs are intended for everything from brief leisure activities such as vacations and camping, to full-time living, for which they are often parked in special trailer parks. (However, many trailer parks are reserved just for mobile homes, not to be confused with RVs and motorhomes.) RVs can also be rented in most major cities and tourist areas.

Furthermore, they are occasionally used as mobile offices for business travelers and often include customizations such as extra desk space, an upgraded electrical system, a generator, and satellite Internet.

Most modern dictionaries give one of the meanings for the word caravan as "a camper equipped with living quarters". They in turn give one of the meanings for camper as "a recreational vehicle equipped for camping out while travelling". The earliest caravans were used for practical purposes rather than recreation, such as providing shelter and accommodation for people travelling in search of an audience for their art, or to offer their services to distant employers, or to reach a new place of abode.

In Europe, wagons built to live in, rather than just to carry persons or goods, were developed in France around 1810. They were used in England by showmen and circus performers from the 1820s, but Gypsies only began living in caravans (vardos) from about 1850.[1]

The covered wagon that played a significant part in opening up of the interior of the North American continent to white settlement from about 1745 was a type of caravan. A well set up wagon provided its occupants with living quarters as well as a means of transportation for themselves plus their supplies and equipment.[2]

In Canada, the earliest motorhomes were built on car or truck bodies from about 1910.[3] By the 1920s the RV was well established in the US, with RV camping clubs established across the country, despite the unpaved roads and limited camping facilities.[4]

In Australia, the earliest known motor home was built in 1929. It is now in the Goolwa Museum, where it has been partially restored, It is recognized by both the National Museum of Australia and the (Australian) National Motor Museum as being the first motorized caravan in Australia.[5]

Between the late 1920s and the early 1960s some South Australian railway maintenance gangs working in country areas, where they were required to live on site, were accommodated in caravans built by the department instead of the tents they had previously used. These caravans were built like short railway carriages, about 6.1 metres (20 feet) long, but had wooden wheels with solid rubber tyres and ball bearings.

There are different classes of vehicles generally labeled as RVs:

Luxury Bus Conversion
A small class B campervan
A newer class C motorhome
A truck camperClass A motorhome
Constructed on either a commercial truck chassis, a specially designed motor vehicle chassis, or a commercial bus chassis. The addition of slide-outs, first appearing in 1989, dramatically changed the industry, as they allow a wider room than would fit on the road.[8]
Bus Conversion
A commercial passenger bus that has been converted into an RV. Highly customized with luxury components, bus conversions are typically the largest motorhomes available.
Class B campervan
Built using a conventional van, to which either a raised roof has been added or had the back replaced by a low-profile body (aka coach-built).
Class C motorhome
Built on a truck chassis with an attached cab section, which is usually van based, but may also be pickup truck based or even large truck based. They are characterized by a distinctive cab-over profile, the "cab-over" containing a bed or an "entertainment" section. Also referred to as "mini-motorhomes". In the UK, the cab-over is known as a Luton peak or Luton body.

A pop-up camper
A European CaravanTruck camper
A unit that is temporarily let into the bed or chassis of a pickup truck. These are much favored by hunters and other backwoods travelers, particularly in North America.
Popup camper
Also known as a folding trailer or tent camper, a light-weight unit with pull-out bunks and tent walls that collapses for towing and storage. Suitable for towing by many vehicles.
Travel trailer
A unit with rigid sides designed to be towed by some larger vehicle with a bumper or frame hitch. Known in British English as a caravan.

A Teardrop Trailer
Fiberglass mini 5th wheelTeardrop trailer
A compact, lightweight travel trailer that resembles a teardrop, sometimes seen being towed by motorcycles.