Essentials for first trip
What you need for gear is a personal thing.
Here's my kinda short list.
Get 2 25 foot white drinking water hoses. If you are
close to the spigot you can just use one and you
don't have to fool with an extra long hose.
Get a garden hose pressure regulator. Found in the RV isle
of many dept stores and RV stores.
Less than 10 bucks for the brass one. They usually work for a few
years and then slow down and you get a new one......
Some folks have found the plastic one, which is even cheaper,
not acceptable.
The campgrounds around here usually have good water but some
folks also use a water filter -- it's up to you.
Last season we had "cloudy" water with heavy chlorine taste and
smell at a CG.
We now have a filter.
Your trailer may have a filter already- if so get a couple extra cartridges
for it. These are typically available at most home centers or Wal Mart.
Carbon filters should help remove odor and taste as well as sediment.
Get a
30 amp 110v 25 foot extension cord.
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/s...27989&src=SRQB
or similar.
Or Amazon.com and search for 30 amp cord
You just need ONE hot night where your cord would not reach
and you'll wish you had the extra 30 amp cord!
Wasp Spray -- be very careful every time you raise the cover
on the electrical hookup box in any campground! Wasps love to
build nests right in the top of these!
You can cut some wheel chocks out of 4 x 4 lumber or plastic
wheel chocks can be found at Wal-mart or the RV isle of most
department stores.
You also need an assortment of 2 x 6 boards cut about 12" to 36"
long with one end cut on 45 degrees.
Use one or more of these under the tires for left to right
trailer leveling.
You can usually find the plastic leveling blocks (they look like
giant Leg-os) at Wal-Mart if you don't have deck lumber scraps to
make your own.
THESE ARE G R E A T
We bought a pair of "stick on" trailer bubble levels.
Found online or most any RV store and the RV isle at
Wally world.
They are very handy!
I can stand at the front corner of my trailer and immediately
see if we are level in both directions.
If you use these you need to 1st get your trailer as level as you
possibly can using a good carpenters level, then just stick them on
a front corner- one on the front and the other on the side.
Get a couple 6 foot household extension cords. Our toaster has
such a short cord it won't reach the outlet under the table.
Same for the coffee pot.
Get a cheap coffee percolator and toaster for the trailer.
Wally World under 10 bucks each.
If you plan to boon dock (camping without 110v electricity)
buy yourself a stove top coffee percolator - found in the
camping dept of most stores.
Fly Swatter - you need this!!
Paper towel roll holder, toilet paper holder, small waste baskets
for bathroom and kitchen. Wal-Mart bags make perfect liners for
these small waste baskets.
Most of us hang one or 2 extra towel bars in the bathroom.
We added a towel ring near the sink for the dish towel.
Put a peg or hook on the inside of the bathroom door for
your towel or bath robe.
Broom
And now a short discussion on TOILET PAPER!
We don't buy RV toilet paper because we don't normally use the
toilet for #2.
The general consensus is that RV paper isn't really any better
at decomposing than most other brands anyway.
Since we camp mostly in state parks- they have clean restrooms and
we use them. Even if we did us our toilet for #2
we don't put toilet paper down the john. That's what the waste basket
in the bathroom is for. Years of house boating has trained us in
this. (You don't put ANY paper down a marine toilet.)
If you are going to use the sewer hookup in a CG you will
need sewer hose.
Get some re-useable rubber gloves or disposable plastic
food service gloves for dumping.
It ALWAYS gets on your hands so most of us use gloves since we
are leaving at that point and washing hands may not be convenient.
Wall-Mart or any RV store has holding tank deodorant.
We prefer the liquid because we put some in both tanks.
(Some down the sink and some down the toilet.)
If you just want it in the black water tank you can drop
the granular or tablets down the toilet.
It's cheap and works. Get some.
Add it to the holding tanks after you dump if you
have time i.e.: not a line of people waiting for you to clear the
dump area. Otherwise add it at the first opportunity during
your next stop.
Outside thermometer with suction cups. Stick it to a window
looking in but remove it when on the road.
We keep a basket in the shower floor for dirty clothes.
We also have 2 small hand baskets -- about the size of a dish pan
for carrying clothes, soap, towels, etc to and from the shower house.
>>>Find some way to fasten your TV to the shelf or it WILL fall
out on the floor the first time you tow your trailer!
(Otherwise set it on the bed surrounded by pillows.)
If your clothes hangers fall off the bar while
traveling, hang them with the hook facing the other way and
they won't fall off. THIS WORKS!!
Get a long nose butane lighter for lighting the stove burners.
(Keep a few spare matches just in case....)
Take a note pad and pencil with you so you can write down the
little things you need. You'll soon be stocked up and traveling
high like the rest of us!!
Use check lists every time!!
One for what to bring and one for things to check before you
move the trailer.
I left my jacks down once. It really bends them if you do this!!!
Others have driven off with the TV antenna still up.
USE a check list!!!
Well, I guess this wasn't so short after all.
Welcome to the fold.
You have been assimilated!
Resistance was futile!!
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