From what I remember of my research looking at boats and boat births on the peninsula, the boat space cost was about the same as an apartment, then you needed to pay to buy and maintain the boat. (anything in water needs... a lot of maintenance to remain floating.) - certainly around silicon valley, there aren't free places to park your boat. (the economics may be different elsewhere.) also, I did this research around the first dot-com bubble, it's likely the numbers have changed. But still, there is a reason why they call them 'holes in the water into which you throw money'
RVs are a bit more of an open question; where are you parking it? I mean, you /can/ boondock for free, switching between walmart parking lots and the like, but that requires an RV that can move when the owner of the space wants it to move, (and when the wastewater tanks need to be emptied.) and functional RVs are pretty expensive, and they require maintenance. is that more than what an apartment would cost? certainly if it's a nice RV. Could you buy a cheap RV off craigslist and keep it running for a year for $12K in depreciation and maintenance? maybe? but it'd be a close thing, and it wouldn't be a nice RV, and you'd have to move about often. but maybe. I do see a whole bunch of people boondocking on Stockton Ave near one of my co-lo facilities.
RVs are a bit more of an open question; where are you parking it? I mean, you /can/ boondock for free, switching between walmart parking lots and the like, but that requires an RV that can move when the owner of the space wants it to move, (and when the wastewater tanks need to be emptied.) and functional RVs are pretty expensive, and they require maintenance. is that more than what an apartment would cost? certainly if it's a nice RV. Could you buy a cheap RV off craigslist and keep it running for a year for $12K in depreciation and maintenance? maybe? but it'd be a close thing, and it wouldn't be a nice RV, and you'd have to move about often. but maybe. I do see a whole bunch of people boondocking on Stockton Ave near one of my co-lo facilities.