{
  "title": "Off-Grid by the Numbers: Van, RV & Boat Living in 14 Facts (2026) · Sorted Gear",
  "url": "https://sortedgear.com/off-grid-by-the-numbers/",
  "publisher": "Sorted Gear",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-22",
  "source": "Sorted Gear — computed from our free calculators and cited primary sources.",
  "findingCount": 14,
  "findings": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "category": "Solar and batteries",
      "stat": "A flat-mounted solar panel loses 40 to 55 percent of its output in midwinter, and roughly 10 to 22 percent a year.",
      "detail": "Most RV and van roof panels are bolted flat for driving, which works in summer but badly misses the low winter sun. Tilting toward the sun recovers most of that loss, with the biggest gains in winter and at higher latitudes.",
      "source": "NREL PVWatts; computed by the Solar Panel Angle Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/solar-panel-tilt-angle-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "category": "Solar and batteries",
      "stat": "The best year-round panel tilt is your latitude times 0.76, plus about 3 degrees, not your raw latitude.",
      "detail": "At 40 degrees north that is about 34 degrees facing true south, not 40. Diffuse sky light favors a slightly flatter panel than the old latitude rule suggests.",
      "source": "Charles Landau; pveducation.org",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/solar-panel-tilt-angle-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "category": "Solar and batteries",
      "stat": "A 100 Ah lead-acid battery gives you only about 50 usable amp-hours; the same 100 Ah in lithium gives about 80.",
      "detail": "You can safely pull a lithium battery down to roughly 80 percent and lead-acid to about 50 percent. Lead-acid also loses up to 40 percent more capacity under a hard inverter draw (the Peukert effect), where lithium barely flinches.",
      "source": "Battery University; computed by the RV Battery Runtime Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/rv-battery-runtime-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "category": "Solar and batteries",
      "stat": "A typical van pulling about 78 amp-hours a day needs roughly a 215 Ah lithium bank and 305 watts of solar.",
      "detail": "That assumes two days of reserve and an average 4.5 peak sun-hours. The catch most people miss: size the array to your worst travel month, not the annual average, or you run short exactly when the sun is lowest.",
      "source": "Computed by the RV Solar & Battery Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/rv-solar-battery-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "category": "Generators and propane",
      "stat": "Starting watts, not running watts, set generator size: a 13,500 BTU RV air conditioner runs at about 1,400 watts but surges to roughly 2,900 to start.",
      "detail": "That is why a 2,000 watt generator that looks big enough on paper trips out the instant the compressor kicks on. Size for the single largest startup surge, not the steady draw.",
      "source": "Champion and Honda wattage charts; computed by the Generator Sizing Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/generator-sizing-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "category": "Generators and propane",
      "stat": "A soft-start device cuts an RV air conditioner's startup surge by about 65 percent, often dropping you a whole generator size.",
      "detail": "With one fitted, a small 2,000 to 2,200 watt inverter generator can run a single 13,500 BTU air conditioner that it otherwise could not start.",
      "source": "Micro-Air EasyStart; SoftStartRV",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/generator-sizing-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "category": "Generators and propane",
      "stat": "The furnace, not the stove, empties your propane tank: a 20 lb tank lasts an RV furnace only about 3.6 days at 4 hours a night.",
      "detail": "A 20 lb tank holds about 430,000 BTU. A furnace burning 30,000 BTU an hour for 4 effective hours uses 120,000 BTU a day, and that shrinks fast as the nights get colder and the furnace cycles more.",
      "source": "Computed by the Propane Tank Runtime Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/propane-tank-runtime-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "category": "Generators and propane",
      "stat": "A generator run too close to an enclosed space can kill within minutes: carbon monoxide causes about 100 portable-generator deaths a year in the US.",
      "detail": "Run a generator outdoors only, at least 20 feet from any door, window, or vent, even with them open. For powering an enclosed space you sleep in, a battery power station is the safe choice because it has no engine and no exhaust.",
      "source": "US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/generator-sizing-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "category": "Internet, data, and power on the road",
      "stat": "Your 'unlimited' plan caps hotspot data, usually at 30 to 100 GB, then throttles it; a typical remote worker uses about 110 GB a month.",
      "detail": "Almost every unlimited phone plan is unlimited on the phone but caps high-speed hotspot or tethering separately. The number that actually decides your plan is the hotspot allowance, not the word unlimited on the box.",
      "source": "Carrier hotspot pages; computed by the Mobile Data Usage Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/mobile-data-usage-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "category": "Internet, data, and power on the road",
      "stat": "Upload speed, not download, is what breaks video calls on a hotspot or Starlink: Zoom needs more upload than download at 1080p (3.8 up versus 3.0 down).",
      "detail": "Connections are asymmetric, with far less upload than download, and Starlink's median upload is only about 19 Mbps. A link that streams 4K flawlessly can still stutter on a call because upload and latency, not the headline download number, are the limit.",
      "source": "Zoom system requirements; Ookla; computed by the Internet Speed Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/internet-speed-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 11,
      "category": "Internet, data, and power on the road",
      "stat": "The airline carry-on limit for a power bank is 100 watt-hours, and the real capacity is mAh times 3.7 volts, not the 5 volt output.",
      "detail": "A 20,000 mAh bank is about 74 watt-hours, comfortably flight-legal. Calculating at the 5 volt USB output instead would wrongly show 100 watt-hours, overstating it by about a third and possibly flagging a legal bank as banned.",
      "source": "FAA PackSafe and IATA rules; computed by the Power Bank & Watt-Hour Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/power-bank-watt-hour-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 12,
      "category": "On the water",
      "stat": "Anchor rode is measured from depth plus bow height plus tide, not just depth: 15 feet of water can mean 22 feet of effective depth.",
      "detail": "Add a 4 foot bow roller height and a 3 foot tidal range to 15 feet of water and you are scoping off 22 feet, so a 5:1 all-chain scope is about 110 feet of rode, not 75. Anchoring off the water depth alone is how boats drag.",
      "source": "Computed by the Anchor Size & Scope Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/anchor-size-scope-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 13,
      "category": "On the water",
      "stat": "Over distance, wire gauge is set by voltage drop, not amperage: a 20 amp load over a 30 foot round trip needs 6 AWG, not the 12 AWG the ampacity chart allows.",
      "detail": "A static ampacity chart cannot see the run length, which is exactly how short, thin runs get undersized and lose voltage. The longer the run, the thicker the wire, regardless of the current.",
      "source": "ABYC E-11 and NEC voltage-drop method; computed by the Marine and RV Wire-Gauge Calculators",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/marine-wire-gauge-calculator/"
    },
    {
      "n": 14,
      "category": "On the water",
      "stat": "A boat's solar array gets a harsher 0.7 derate than a home roof's 0.75, because the rig, boom, and bimini shade it.",
      "detail": "Shading from rigging means a marine array delivers less than a land install of the same wattage, so a cruising sailboat drawing 60 amp-hours a day still needs roughly 260 watts of panel and a 240 Ah bank.",
      "source": "Computed by the Sailboat Battery Bank & Solar Calculator",
      "link": "https://sortedgear.com/tools/sailboat-battery-solar-calculator/"
    }
  ]
}