So I was able to off-grid boondock for 7 days, without starting my engine, from April 11th-18th, 2025 in Hernando, FL. During this time the weather was perfect, high 70’s daytime & low 60’s at night with 80% humidity. Each of the 7 days had cloudless, totally clear skies. My van was also parked during this time in direct sunlight in a field. (GPS - 28.90458° N, 82.30795° W)
I have a 2022 Storyteller Overland Beast (63.22) with the Volta Flex Pack version 4.1 and 12kilowatts of power. [Thanks David Moorleghem for the specs]
I did not use any climate control (heat, A/C nor ceiling fan). I only used my van’s 12 volt system for the refrigerator (24/7), interior van LED lighting during the evening and had on my Gen 3 StarLink Trio AUX 1 setup from about 6AM-10PM each day.
All my cooking needs were done by using an external propane camp cooking setup. No van power was used for any cooking.
Each day, I took a STO Halo Shower with the Geyser sponge hack onto the van’s original shower water system. I used anywhere from 4% to 8% of the van’s fresh water supply each shower. Normally it’s 15% to 20% water consumption without this Geyser hack. I took my said showers in the warm afternoons, so I did not need to use 12 volt energy to heat the shower water.
Other than the STO’s 90 Watt rooftop solar panel, I also had and deployed two (2) older EcoFlow 160 Watt foldable solar panels (EFSOLAR160W), connected in parallel to the SAE solar input port on the side of the van.
So I arrived at 3PM of the first day with 95% Volta SOC. I would only loose about 10% of the Volta battery capacity in a 24 hour period each of the seven days. Keep in mind that I would be either net neutral in the mornings and late afternoons. Or as much as 130’ish Watts positive during peak daytime solar hours. @At the end of the seventh (7th) day, I was at a 20% Volta SOC! I then engaged the Beast’s Boost Mode for one (1) hour of engine high idle which boosted my Volta SOC to 55%. A 35% gain.
After this full week of off-grid boondocking, I was out of bottled drinking water, fresh food and most importantly, beer. Plus my rear garbage pouch was full. I needed to resupply, so I headed home.
This entire week I was extremely comfortable and even though I had no cellular signal, I had full high speed Internet connectivity via the StarLink Roam plan. Also I had the T-Mobile StarLink Satellite texting Beta in case of an emergency during the night while my primary Trio StarLink was powered off. I also used a simple battery operated AM/FM/Weather portable radio to fall asleep to and notify me of any NOAA severe Weather Alerts.
