For some people, owning an RV and using it to travel is a hobby and for others, it’s an outright lifestyle. The hobbyist enjoys visiting family and camping for extended stays in the RV, while others might lodge at National parks across the country. Whatever your motivation for spending time in an RV might be, there are RV tips and tricks you can use to make your life easier, cleaner, a lot more fun and enjoyable.
Many of these RV tips and tricks were learned through trial and error – some very costly. What if, instead of making your own mistakes and learning from them, you pick up these simple RV tips?
We’ve pooled together the following RV tips and tricks, so be sure to memorize them or print them, then share and discuss with other RVers to make their life easier, as well.
Traveling or living in an RV means downsizing in a lot of ways. One of such is adjusting to life with smaller than normal appliances. If you want to store a dozen eggs in a small fridge, you can make the stacking easier by cutting the carton in half.
Sharing the driving responsibility helps reduce driver fatigue, so let your co-pilot learn to take the wheels of the RV often. This not only ensures that your campers won’t be stranded should you fall sick or be hurting, but it also reinforces the notion that RVing is for both of you.
Keeping the amount of heat that gets into your RV to the barest minimum during the summer can be quite challenging. A trick I found is to use foil bubble material, cut to the size of your windows, as a means of reducing the sunlight that gets inside your RV. This comes in really handy on those summer days when you cannot find a good shade or tree big enough to park under. It works well to keep light out of the bedroom when you want to take a quick afternoon nap.
Instead of cleaning with a solution that contains strong chemicals, you can mix a quarter cup of a water softener with a half cup of Borax laundry detergent for your cleaning. This helps you avoid the stench that normally comes out from these tanks and also makes the sides of the tank less slippery, ensuring that nothing sticks to the sides of the tank.
Propane is really important for RVers and knowing how much you have left in the tank is very crucial. One way to figure out how much gas you have left is to look at the tank early in the morning. Where you see the dew stop on your tank is where the propane level is. You can also pour a cup of warm water on the side of the tank and note where the condensation begins. Finally, you can calculate a rough estimate of how much gas you have left from the total weight of the tank. Simply subtract the weight of an empty tank from the current weight of your tank (tank weight with gas).
Once you’re the content of your black tank is close to ¾ of the tank capacity, it will begin to sound different. There will be an increasing volume of air bubbles and gurgling sound. What this means is that the fill level is above the vent line and you need to make plans to empty the black tank at the nearest convenient dumpsite.
If your plans for the day will take you away from your RV for an extended period, then you should consider turning off the plumbing line going into your RV. This tip will save you an expensive repair and untold amounts of clean up in the event of some plumbing failure while you’re away.
When you are not using the RV, drain the water from the heat tank. Even though the interior of most tanks are made of steel, letting water sit in them might cause rusting or corrosion on the sides of the tank. Also, the water gets stale after some time in the tank. It can also freeze during the winter season, thereby resulting in expensive damage.
RV owners will tell you that one of the biggest problems they have with an RV gas oven is its tendency to burn the bottom of whatever you are baking. A simple hack to reduce or eliminate this is to place a pizza stone right into the bottom of the oven, but not directly onto the burner. This will help even out the temperature of the oven and prevent burning.
I consider having a splitter where the water goes into the RV to be a very good idea. This way you get an extra spigot for connecting a hose for other things. It also makes depressurizing the water easy when you want to unhook the water inlet, thus saving you from being drenched while at it.
Having problems with smelly odors inside the RV? No need to be embarrassed. What you can do is install a fan at the top of the tank vent. This will pull out bad odors and gases that can build up and make the RV stink.
A dry shower stall will discourage the growth of any mold, bacteria build-up, and keep hard water stains from forming. Simply use a super-absorbent cloth or old towel to dry your shower stall after use. Remember to dry the towel and disinfect it regularly too.
If you want to cut down on your battery usage, you might want to consider picking up solar-powered lights from any lawn and garden center. You can hang one from a shepherd’s hook which usually holds flowers, keep it close to the window, or some other place exposed to sunlight to charge during the day and then use it wherever there’s a need for a night light, like the bathroom.
Energy-saving and LED bulbs are the future of lighting and for good reasons. The incandescent bulbs consume lots of energy, most of which is wasted as heat. Most energy-saving bulbs and LED bulbs consume less than one-tenth of the amount of power the incandescent bulb uses. You’ll reap huge benefits, especially when using an inverter or on a metered power line.
I doubt there are many things as annoying as having to deal with tire problems on a trip. Ensure a thorough inspection of your RV tires before every trip. Poorly inflated tires will age faster than normal, affect the ride or handling of a coach thereby making it uncomfortable and unsafe. Always refer to the vehicle manual for loads and tire pressure recommendation so you know how much to fill and how to get the most mileage out of your tires.
Wanna pin and save recipes? Just install a cork board on the back of your cabinet doors and pin anything you want from important instructions to bits of information that’s often forgotten. You can also pin little pieces of paper you do not want to lose track of until you are back to a place where permanent storage is available.
There will be a lot of times when being on an RV means that you are miles away from the closest health facility. That’s why you need to ensure that you have anything you might need to hold things over until help arrives. A first aid kit that contains different items in invaluable to the RV traveler.
You really don’t want to mess around with an RV wiper blades. They are expensive and a hassle to replace. When storing your RV away for the winter or any other reason, place a tennis ball between the wiper arm and the windshield. This will raise the wiper from the glass and prevent it from deforming.
For good boon-docking and cheap camping opportunities, I recommend keeping your eyes peeled for Fish and Wildlife refuges, both state and national. During the off-season when there are no hunting activities, these refuges have very few occupants. You can camp for free or at a very cheap fee at some of these wildlife resources.
Depending on where your adventure takes you, freshwater might become an invaluable commodity to come by. To conserve hot water and gray water holding tank space, you’ll have to start taking military showers. This simply means turning the water off when shampooing and soaping up in the shower. And also, do not let the water run while you’re brushing your teeth.
If you plan to put your RV away for the winter, first ensure that your batteries are fully charged and free of corrosion. Appliances can drain power from the battery even when you’ve turned them off. If you are storing your RV away for more than two months, then you’ll need to trickle charge your battery every 40-70 days to keep them from discharging completely. Consider moving your batteries indoors if the outside temperature is freezing to prevent the acid in them from crystallizing or damaging the battery container. And also remember to take appropriate precaution against rodent infestation
There you go, a handful of tips that’ll improve your RV living experience. If it seems like a lot to memorize then don’t. You can print it and paste somewhere. After a couple of weeks, you’ll likely find a use for a couple of them.
Remember, no one person knows it all, and we doubt there are lots of RVer who knew everything right from the start. As you travel and enjoy your RV living, you’ll often pick up new and helpful ideas from fellow RVers along the way, and that’s part of the journey – picking up new ideas as you go.
