Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanikamom
Greetings from the capital of California! We just purchased a little Rockwood A122 trailer and will pick it up on Sunday. I'd sure appreciate any advice you might have for newbies, such as "must-have" accessories for an A-frame trailer and what you must not forget to bring on your first camping trip. Thanks a bunch.
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Must haves:
- some way to level the A122 side-to-side. After taking delivery, and leveling camper in the garage, I glued on a bubble level that is calibrated in inches that I found in the RV store. When approximately in position, I glance at the level, which tells me how many Leveler blocks I need on the low side. (The Leveler orange "Lego" blocks came in a boxed kit at Wal-mart for $30). I pull out the correct number of blocks and back on to them and chock. A lot cheaper and actually less work than the BAL leveler from my perspective.
- matches and/or light stick to light the stove. Everything else has built in ignition.
- pressure reducer for city water connection (this came in a kit the dealer threw in). I upgraded to a right angle metal version so the hose connects vertically. Prevents leaks inside the camper due to excess water pressure.
- a 30 amp to 20 amp converter (dog bone). And a heavy duty extension cord (12 gauge or heavier). Again, the converter came in the dealer's throw-in bag. Since the base A122 will run quite nicely off 20 amps, a 30 amp extension cord is not needed unless you are adding high wattage appliances inside. This will also let you run the camper electrical in the driveway without a dedicated RV 30 amp circuit.
- a screw-on fitting for the outside sink drain that converts the drain to normal hose. You can get a lot fancier here - ours was again a dealer throw-in. And you at least need a bucket and hose for gray water collection from that drain. There are closed gray water collection containers that are a lot fancier than our bucket. But we wash dishes at the picnic table, not inside, so our camper gray water is minimal.
- chemcials for the Porta-Potti if you are going to use it. Ours sits on a shelf in the garage along with the RV-Que. A limited amount of chemical came with the dealer pack.
- a tire iron that fits the lug nuts for changing tires if the worst happens. Also used periodically to check the lug nuts for tightness.
- a tire pressure gauge that reads to 70 PSI. Always, always fill your tires on both tow vehicle and trailer before departing on a trip. This will give you much better tire life and significantly reduce the chance of a blowout.
- a stubby screwdriver for opening the fridge outside hatches
- our water filter came without the filter element installed. I have never installed the filter element after reading the horror stories. The case doesn't leak, and I've left it alone.
- LED flashlights. Especially if you don't install a second battery. Eventually, you will run your battery down without knowing it and the flashlights will be your only source of light. We carry one in the car glove box as well.
- tow vehicle brake controller, and adequate transmission cooling
Really, really nice to have (at least we think so). This will obviously vary depending on the type of camping you do:
- EZ-Up to provide shade at the picnic table.
- folding chairs to sit outside at the campsite
- camp stove (we cook outside at the table)
- 2 plastic dish washing pans (we wash outside at the table). One is wash, the other is rinse.
- a latch of some kind to hold the passenger side dinette seat in the up position while you get stuff in and out.
- foam topper for the bed. If you want to sleep well, you need this. The standard mattress doesn't cut it for us.
- a second battery (wired in parallel) to keep the heater going through a long weekend without hookups
- a cutoff switch for the battery(ies) so that you don't have to manually wire/unwire the batteries when you get home or depart. The camper has enough parasitic load (CO and propane detectors at a minimum) to run the battery low in a couple of weeks of non-use.
- if you have a 6 cylinder CUV or minivan for towing you really, really want a weight-distributing hitch to restore the tow vehicle's handling with the 250+ lbs tongue weight. Full-size SUVs and pickups may not need it.
just our thoughts and experiences
Fred W
2014 A122, 2008 Hyundai Entourage
The best way to learn about what you need is to camp, camp and camp. Many of us started camping in our driveways or in the nearest park just to get the feel of the camper. There is learning curve, but it is not very long or steep.
Harbor Freight also has cheap sockets and breaker bars. 
Linear Mode
