Anyone into RVing?

[orangeblossom]

I have no idea of the specifics, but my ILs have an awesome one and belong to an RV club. We love going on it with them, and setting up shop at a park or to tailgate.

Have fun!

[tiptoetulips]

Don't poop in the bathroom if you can avoid it. It's hard to clean out and it smells.

[readyin07]

Lol I want to. I have big fantasies of having a motor home my Grandparents had one and took my mom pretty much throughout the continental US in one. After my grandmother passed, my granddad sold his big house and upgraded to a really nice one that he lived out the rest of his years in. Clearly I am no help here, but it sounds so cozy, packing up with dh, the kids and the dog and hitting the road. The reality is we would kill each other.

[ohiowan]

Mar 1, 2015 11:01:46 GMT -5 @rennido said:

I have a travel trailer and I work at an RV store. We do not sell motor homes though. They are ridiculously expensive for what they are and lose a ton of value.

Some of the things I like to have for the outside
- a mat for directly outside the camper
At least two coolers. Don't waste your fridge space on beer and juices
- camping chairs, have extra for other people
-firewood. Unless you are good with a chainsaw...just bring your owner be ready to search
The company you rent from is will have all the stuff for you re: toilet chemical and stuff.

If you have any questions about anything else let me know.

Psa:
If you take your own firewood, make sure it's store bought and treated. Don't transport firewood you've cut or gathered yourself.

[ohiowan]

Mar 1, 2015 11:12:10 GMT -5 @rennido said:

Mar 1, 2015 11:11:25 GMT -5 ohiowan said:

Psa:
If you take your own firewood, make sure it's store bought and treated. Don't transport firewood you've cut or gathered yourself.

I've never heard of this...why?

When you transport untreated firewood you can introduce the emerald ash borer which is an invasive beetle that destroys trees. It's been pretty devastating to some areas. www.emeraldashborer.info/firewood.cfm#sthash.M6uTLCkB.dpbs

[picaflora]

My parents have been camper camping forever. Set up isn't too bad, make sure the rental place shows you how to level the trailer if it isn't self - leveling. They have a 5th wheel and do almost all of food prep outdoors. Inside is for the microwave/coffee pot/crock pot. They also have a large flat Tupperware box to wash bigger things like grill plates in since the inside sink is small.

If they don't price one you'll need a hose for water hookup. A white one is better to make it "drinkable", but none of us drink from the camper faucet.

[sjh722]

Mar 1, 2015 11:17:24 GMT -5 ohiowan said:

Mar 1, 2015 11:12:10 GMT -5 @rennido said:

I've never heard of this...why?

When you transport untreated firewood you can introduce the emerald ash borer which is an invasive beetle that destroys trees. It's been pretty devastating to some areas. www.emeraldashborer.info/firewood.cfm#sthash.M6uTLCkB.dpbs

It might depend on where you live. Our state's parks will not let you bring firewood in if you are coming from a quarantined county or state. 

[FrozenSunshine]

My parents have always had either a camper or motorhome since I was a kid. We always hook up to water for the bathroom but use bottle water for everything else.

In addition to what others have mentioned we always have a folding table to prep and serve food on outside.

If you're renting from a company they will let you know what stuff is included in the rental such as cooking equipment. Also make sure to check with the RV park you are staying at as far as their individual rules.

[thedutchgirl]

In addition to the recommendation not to poop in the bathroom, we often didn't shower either, as it would require emptying the tank in less than a week. Growing up we'd always stay at places with bathhouses, so it was no trouble to shower at those places. Also, many of the bathrooms don't take toilet paper very well--the chemicals can only do so much to break it down. You may be asked not to flush TP.

I loved RVing growing up. I'm not a huge fan of camping, but to me it wasn't much like camping as you had all the amenities.

[thejen626]

You have yo watch the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. It's hilarious!

[picaflora]

Mar 1, 2015 12:01:37 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

In addition to the recommendation not to poop in the bathroom, we often didn't shower either, as it would require emptying the tank in less than a week. Growing up we'd always stay at places with bathhouses, so it was no trouble to shower at those places. Also, many of the bathrooms don't take toilet paper very well--the chemicals can only do so much to break it down. You may be asked not to flush TP.

I loved RVing growing up. I'm not a huge fan of camping, but to me it wasn't much like camping as you had all the amenities.

Good point on the toilet paper - make sure you have some that is safe for septic systems.  

I don't get the not pooping thing.  You've got to dump the tank and use the chemicals regardless. Dad swears its easier to dump a full tank than a partial tank, and there's never been an issue with smells.  You will want rubber disposable gloves though - just in case. Also, when you dump the black (toilet) you need to make sure you have enough grey (sinks/tub water) to flush out the pipes.  We usually go with 2/3 full grey tank.  Running out of tank room depends on how large it is and if you have a full hookup (electric, water, and sewer).  I don't like to shower in the camper though because the space is tiny.  In my parent's old camper I'd knock the door open with my elbows.  I haven't showered in the new one.  

[craftyone]

Is your hookup at the resort full hook ups? That means it will have a septic hookup, if it does, then we do use water more (cleaning dishes, having the kids take a bath, pooping etc). If we only have water and electric we limit the water usage since we have a trailer. We have a 30 gallon caddy that lets us dump black and grey, but it can be a hassle because you generally have to dump the waste at your trailer then tow it in car (on your hitch) to the dump station. If the bathrooms are nice we usually shower there.



If your Walmart is a supercenter, you can buy RV safe toilet paper. You can also buy a water filter that you can attach to potable water hoses. We generally us that to wash dishes/ourselves, but I generally get few gallons of water for cooking and drinking.

Make sure you test the smoke, propane (generally hard wired), carbon monoxide detectors and have batteries in case. Never fails that they start to beep at 2am. I have bought additional detectors since the one we have are in the forward part of the trailer and I bought it for the rear.

If you do RV full time, we have a RV power surge protector. Some parks/resorts may have surges and it can fry your system. We also have a water pressure regulator because of the same thing. Some places might have issues with high water pressure and you don't want to flood your rig. Buy a small kit of tools and keep it in the rv. RV's generally bounce around in transit and it never fails how much things get loose or need repair. We generally have a set of older kitchen items, bath towels etc that we keep in the trailer. We don't keep much glass in the rv, just plastic items for the reason and we put most items that might break in the front of our trailer because it won't bounce as much as the back.

Keep an extra set of keys outside the trailer(trust me my kids locked us out once). Are you in a more cold weather area? You will have to do winter maintenance (either put in RV antifreeze or drain the water out). You will need to check the batteries every so often to make sure they have distilled water in them). Tires need to be covered if not using the vehicle often due to dry rotting.

You can buy leveling plates for the jacks. We bought a 2 foot level to let us know when the rv is leveled. You really don't want to raise the rv legs that high if you can help it. Hence the levelers. Trust me we accidently did and it rained and the jacks fell of the levels and we ended up having to fix the bent jack. PITA.

We generally have made it more comfortable by buying egg crate mattress pads and regular sheets/blankets. We added blackout curtains to the bedrooms because you don't know when you might have a spot light 2 inches from your window.

We stock our trailer with all types of indoor things to do: games, video games, coloring books, books etc because you don't know if it might rain for the whole day and your kids will bounce off the walls in 2 hours in a little trailer.

The refrigerator takes a ton of time to get cold. We generally put in cold drinks etc when we start it up to get it going and have a little refrigerator fan to move the air around. But we then move the food in and the drinks outside in the cooler. We do most of our cooking outside (some trailers have an outdoor kitchen ours has an outdoor gas stove).

Command hooks are awesome at hanging up hooks.

We always buy wood at the site or nearby based upon not being allowed to transport wood due to pests.

Most parks and resort have a camp store that have tons of items that you might forget to bring and if you don't RV at a more rural park you generally will have a store within a few minutes.

Don't be surprised at how much work it can be at first getting to know how to setup etc. Eventually you will get it down to a science. We also aren't surprised at the maintenance or repairs. We didn't buy a horrible cheap or expensive trailer, but it does cost us money each year. We generally do all our vacations via the trailer so we build it into the cost.

We always bring smore making supplies--my kids love them.