Fans of the show High Maintenance may remember in season three when The Guy left New York City for some much-needed quiet time and lived upstate in a vintage RV. They might also know that much of the show is based on the life of High Maintenance co-creator and actor Ben Sinclair — and his actual RV, a 1977 Dodge Travco, that he’s now selling on Craigslist. We talked to him about his camper-van co-star over the phone from Los Angeles, where he’d flown pre-quarantine for press — and where, for the time being, he has decided to stay.
“I had a really good run with it, but I’m not going to be living in New York for a while so I would rather have somebody enjoying the vehicle, than nobody,” Sinclair says. The RV, which he inadvertently found while searching for fiberglass on Craigslist, sleeps four, has a working kitchen and bathroom, a TV and DVD player (Kramer vs. Kramer and Drop Dead Gorgeous are a few of the films he has enjoyed in it, in case you prefer a camper that comes with movie recs), a backup generator, and even a set of rooftop solar panels. Sinclair says he wrote a good part of season three in the RV, connecting his laptop to the TV and swiveling the front seat around to work with his feet up. It was actually a calm and peaceful summer spent parked by a friend’s pond in the Hudson Valley that inspired the paddle-boarding scenes in the first episode of season three.
The RV is really tall, around ten feet, which, according to Sinclair, makes it a great perch to sit on and quietly snoop. “My favorite pastime was parking it in Brooklyn on a summer night, sitting on the roof on a lawn chair just like in the show and watching people walk by. They kinda can’t see you up there, so you can eavesdrop on conversations,” he says.
He does suggest that potential buyers have some basic knowledge of cars, as the 43-year-old van has had some starter issues in the past. That said, Sinclair is confident that the engine is really strong and says that the guy he bought it from who refurbishes buses in New Jersey has always been helpful over the phone — and is willing to help the new owner, should you run into any hiccups. He recently replaced the water tank in the bathroom, so you can take a shower in it. And he offers this pro tip, free of charge: “I wouldn’t go number two in it because you wouldn’t want to carry that around with you. But you can urinate freely in it.”
In case you’re interested, we looked into the price Sinclair is asking and found that it’s slightly below the average selling price of similar vehicles. In addition, Sinclair will be donating 50 percent of that price to the Coalition for the Homeless. So if you’re looking for a mobile home to spend your socially distanced summer in, one with a little bit of history to it (and you can pick it up in Brooklyn), you may have just found your first (or next) RV. If interested please reach out to [email protected] to inquire.
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