Quote:
Originally Posted by rockfordroo
You might want to get the 2nd yr extended warranty for $150. If the dealer didn't give you the paperwork, you can find it in the Library here on the forum.
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Get the 2nd year of warranty.
Go camping for a night or two in the driveway, or a nearby park. Try everything you can to make sure it works.
If you are like most people, you will need mattress toppers to be able to sleep at night. With the top down, try to get an idea of how much space you have between the bed and the ceiling. This will limit the thickness of the mattress topper.
The other mod you will want soon is a battery disconnect. Even a pop-up has a surprising amount of parasitic loads that will drain and ruin your battery in a couple of weeks while it sits waiting for you to go camping. When you store the pup between trips, throwing the disconnect is a lot easier than unbolting the battery cable. I learned the need for a disconnect the hard way - it cost me a replacement battery after the first winter.
At a very minimum, you will want a hose and fittings that connects your sink drain on the outside of the camper to a bucket underneath the camper. Many people use something more fancy. Never mind if you have a model with a gray water tank.
Other things you will need (hopefully included in a "dealer accessory package"):
- assuming you have a 30 amp shore cable, adapters to plug into 15/20 amp and 50 amp outlets
- a hose to connect to city water and/or fill your water tank
- pressure regulator for when you hook up to city water
- depending on toilet type (I'm assuming a porta-potty), toilet chemicals
- unless you plan on using wood blocks from home, a set of the orange Leveler (Lego) blocks to level the camper side to side is the cheapest and lightest method
- some kind of level to level to - I use a stick-on level mounted to the front of the camper for side-to-side, and use a carpenter's level on the roof for fore-and-aft.
- 4 wheel chocks. I use the plastic variety from Walmart for my A-frame pop-up.
- socket, long enough wrench handle or breaker bar to fit your camper lug nuts. Also a jack that will fit under the camper and lift enough to change a tire (my minivan scissors jack is adequate in my case).
- tire pressure gauge. I inflate my tires to full sidewall pressure before each trip.
Depending on the state, you will have to register and get a license plate for the PUP. A trip to DMV with the title and/or dealer paperwork is usually required.
That's really the minimum to get started. Make lists of what you really want or need, but don't have for the first year. Also, keep track of what breaks or doesn't work for your warranty. Finally, after a couple of trips, take out stuff you don't use on a trip. For us, we removed the RV-Que and mount (I don't like BBQing against the side of the camper, and I can find much better portable table-top grills) and the porta-potty (we just use campground facilities).
hope this helps
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time