Things You Will Only Learn Through Experience
or
From Other Campers

1. Holding tank gauges do not reflect reality. We have 3 holding tanks and not one of them shows the amount of fluid in them. The galley always shows at least a third of a tank when there is nothing in it, the grey water shows a third when it’s empty, and the black water tank always shows a minimum of two thirds. Obviously, we have gotten some kind of crud on the gauges and we do not seem to have a way to clear them. There is a type of tank chemical that says it will clean them, but so far we haven’t done enough travelling for it to be effective. They seem to work on the “slosh factor”. When you travel, you slosh liquids around in the tank full of chemicals and the gauges are magically washed clean. We’ll see what happens when we start moving more often than once every three months. As for the black water tank, we have discovered that when it shows full, we still have another day of use before it needs to be drained. With the galley tank, we know that when the full light first comes on we still have some time. (We have tested that out by waiting until the water actually backs up in the sink.) So far we have not backed up the shower. Normally we empty that tank each time we dump the black water so that it rinses out the sewer hose. Anyway, the point is, we have lived in the trailer long enough to be able to hear the different sounds of water going into a full tank vs a not quite full tank, so the gauges are not as critical as we thought they would be.
2. Sewer Hoses are not all alike. There seem to be three different toughness levels. The standard is probably fine for weekends. It is fairly inexpensive and when it developes leaks because you accidently dragged it over the rocks, you can just throw it away. We used standard in Mesa and in Cottonwood because in both of those campgrounds the hose never moved. With all the trouble we had in Tucson (not to mention the 30-ft run we had to the sewer) we found that the extra tough third level of toughness seems to work very well. I suppose that we could have used the middle level, but we are now completely sold on the extra tough. It just feels substantial enough to last and it is not tremendously expensive.
3. Level is not always level. In order to get the eggs to NOT slide to one side of the frying pan on the stove, we have to lower one side of the trailer quite a bit. Since the newer camper refrigerators are not so finicky about level, and inside the pan levellness is important to us, we use the stovetop as the level. Unfortunately, it also seems to depend on the pan. Once we figure out what feels the best to us and what works best for the eggs, we are going to attach some levels to the outside of the trailer to use as reference when we park.
4. The furniture that comes with your RV is guaranteed to be uncomfortable at some point if you use it every day. If you read the early descriptions of our trials and tribulations, you will remember that we spent big bucks to get a dual-adjustable air mattress which we think is outstanding. The original mattress was a big piece of foam inside a thick wire frame. (UGLY UGLY) Since then, we got rid of the old sleeper sofa which never was very comfortable and bought a reclining loveseat. Now it is much, much easier to fall asleep on the couch after dinner while watching TV. We are pretty sure that we will never have overnight guests, so the loss of the sleeper is painless.
5. Food Storage Containers are very important. You always have leftovers or something that needs to be contained in the fridge. You have to carefully consider size because you don’t have a lot of extra space. When we moved into the trailer, we got rid of many of our large plastic kitchen containers. By kitchen containers, I mean leftover holders. We had quite a few large bowls and square shapes because we had a big freezer. In the house, we sometimes used every container we had. Now in the trailer, we keep about 10 small square and round shapes. What we have found is that the quart and gallon size Ziploc bags are usually more practical for storage in the fridge. There are very few foods that are too gooey or icky to go in a plastic bag. We do still use the small plastic containers, but they are all about the same size and easily stackable in the fridge. If you are going to use Ziplocs or Glads or whatever, be sure that you get the freezer variety. They are tougher and don’t develope those mysterious leaks as often as the regular bags. For dry goods that normally go into canisters, we have found that the large kind of rectangular shaped liquid containers made by Rubbermaid seem to work well. There are sizes large enough for a 5 lb bag of flour and small enough for a bag of chocolate chips. The other type of container that works well is the large square ones that they sell fresh salsa in. In most grocery stores, you will find them in the deli case. For long term storage in a cupboard, square beats the heck out of round shapes. They fit together better. I use plastic for all my dry goods because it stacks easily, and most importantly, it does NOT break and spew something like flour all over the place. Then, because I have some unused space in the bathroom vanity cupboard, I keep my old Tupperware marinader. It is the only container large enough to hold a batch of home baked cookies. In fact, it did a very nice job of storing my Christmas cookies. It actually fits into the fridge if I need it to, but it takes up a whole shelf, so I better need it real bad!
6. Basement Boxes. This is very simple. Most of the items in the basement are in milk crates. They are very lightweight and they hold a lot of stuff, but not so much that they are too heavy to lift. Stock up on these!
7. Kitchen Appliances. When we got married, we received an Oster Kitchen Center that includes a meat grinder, blender, mixer, and salad shooter. With all the attachments, it takes up a lot of space, but for 20 years we have used it at least once a week. The base, and the mini food processor, meat grinder, and the mixer attachments all live in the big space below the kitchen sink. The salad shooter and the blades live in the “basement”. During the great purge of stuff when we first moved in, we determined that we did not need a blender, so that attachment was history and we bought one of those “boat motors” (Emeril LaGasse’s name for one of those little hand held blenders that chefs use a lot). However, since then we have discovered that there are some things we still need a blender for, so we bought an inexpensive one and it too lives below the sink. We have a bread machine that lives on the counter because we use it a lot and there is no reason to put it away. We have regular food processor that lives in the basement because we don’t use it that often. We are not big coffee drinkers, so we do not need an electric coffee pot, but we do have a Melitta drip pot for when we want real coffee. (We finally admit that instant coffee is nasty.) And last but not least, we have a spice grinder and an electric knife, both of course under the sink. (It really is a big space.) We have been labelled Gourmet Cooks by friends and family, but I would say that we both just love to cook. There are many kitchen tools and appliances that we will not do without, and as long as we keep in mind how often we use any given item, storage is not really a problem. Many others will not need as many gadgets as we do, but if you are going to live in your trailer full time, take a careful look at your gadgets before you move in. Determine which ones are necessities, which are merely desirable, and which you can easily live without.
8. After appliances, comes Cookware, Dishes, and Utensils. As you might guess, we also have a lot of this stuff. We actually cut our household items down by a half when we moved in. We went from stoneware dishes to Corelle which is pretty light, but still very sturdy. (Weight IS a factor in a trailer.) The Corelle is tough enough that we just leave it on the shelves without that anti-slippage stuff under it. So far, in over 3,000 miles of travel we haven’t broken any of it. We found some very nice plastic drinking glasses, but kept a few real wine goblets. Most of our serving bowls and platters are Corelle which have the added bonus of plastic lids. “Double duty” items, that also work as leftover storage. We always used to kid about items in our home must be multi-purpose or we don’t want them around. Now it’s even more important. Pots and pans I think I mentioned very early in my story, we gave away our enamel covered cast iron and went with stainless steel. And that leaves bakeware. I’m not really a big baker, but I do have a number of muffin and cookie recipes that we can’t seem to live without. The only consideration you have there is whether or not the thing will fit into the miniature oven that comes in an RV. Which leads me to...
9. RV Ovens are like miniature ovens that are almost impossible to control. When I set the oven at 350°, I can end up with any temperature from 300° to 500°, according to my handy-dandy oven thermometer. When I bake something now, I just set it and hope for the best. Of course, I spend a lot of time opening and closing the door to check the temperature. So if you are into baking, plan on this predicament.
10. Carpet. My caution here is to stay away from anything light. Remember that if you are going to spend a lot of time in the trailer, it is a very limited space. Your main walking path will very quickly get that “well travelled” look, if you know what I mean. In just one year, we are ready for our second carpet shampoo—and we are very careful about tracking in dirt—and our carpet is NOT what I would consider a light color. Just a thought.
11. Fans and Air Flow. After living in Arizona for many years, we learned that moving the air (in any type of home) helps keep it cooler. Air conditioners are fine, but you can set the temperature a little higher if you use floor fans. We have always used floor fans in our houses and have continued to do so in the trailer. Yes, it is a bit awkward to walk around them, but there are many days when we don’t turn on the air because the fans are adequate. (By the way, we still don’t like to be hot, even though we live in the desert.) The Fantastic Fan we installed in the kitchen vent is terrific and we keep talking about one in the bedroom. Gary is ready, but I keep holding out. Maybe this summer we will. I do highly recommend them, but don’t believe the ads that say they are “whisper quiet”. They aren’t quite that quiet, although they are nowhere near as annoying as the cheesy ones they install in the bathroom.
12. Television and Computer Tie-downs. Here is a quick reminder about what our computer desk looks like. For the first two trips, we moved the TV, scanner, printer, and monitor to the floor. That’s OK when you only move a few times a year, but when you go someplace that requires packing up every morning, it would get old. So, we installed some brackets on the wall above the TV and next to the computer desk. We bought some nylon straps that fit into the brackets and now we can strap the TV onto its stand and the computer cart gets held tight to the TV cupboard. We use some bubble wrap to bumper the cart and the CPU. Now, the only things that get set down are the monitor and the scanner. We are going to install a stop for the shelf that the printer sits on. It is a little startling to see the shelf slide in and out on its track. It makes us a little nervous about the printer. When we get to the daily travelling part, we may find some other ways to make it convenient, but for now this seems adequate.
13. Levelling Lumberyards, and Stabilizing Jacks. This refers to the pieces of 2X6 that we carry around for levelling and stabilizing the trailer. I have seen that collection of wood called a lumberyard by the manufacturers of the plastic stackable thingies that do the same thing. It doesn’t look like many people are as fanatic as we are about stabilizing the trailer. We really don’t like that “bouncy” feeling you get in a trailer. So, since we have lots and lots of space in the back of the truck, we have about 20 pieces of 2X6 about 2 feet long. We use them under the front lifter jacks, the back stabilizers, and under our screw jacks. We have four screw jacks that we position under the trailer to stop some of that bounce. Sometimes we need a couple pieces of wood under them and sometimes we need a lot. Maybe some day we will find some larger screw jacks, but for now we are happy. We also purchased a kingpin stabilizer while we were at the Voyager in Tucson. The dealer who sold us the trailer said that they aren’t necessary any more, but we found that they do eliminate a lot of the side-to-side movability of the trailer. We were dubious, but the man we bought it from (Hi again Jim!) let us try it out for a few days and we were totally convinced. There are many, many different types of these stabilizers, including homemade. Ours has three legs, and most seem to have two, but regardless of the number of legs, they really do help.
14. Avoiding the Truck Dents.Someone that we met up in Cottonwood told us about a trick to save 5th wheel owners from mangling the back of their pickup. His feeling was that sooner or later, everyone who owns a 5er is going to drop it on the truck. This happens when you don’t get the hitch completely locked before you try to drive away. What happens then is that the kingpin pulls out of the hitch and the neck of the 5er crashes down onto the back of the truck, leaving a very characteristic dent on both the trailer and the truck. He says that you should find a tree stump that will sit in the very back of the truck, just a little shorter than the height of the hitch. If the pin pulls out and the trailer crashes down, it will fall on the stump and protect your truck. Our plan is to never do that. We always do a test pull with the trailer brake on before we undo the tire blocks and pull up the landing legs. (Saw that in a tips column in an RV magazine.)

    Well, if we come up with any new suggestions, I will add them in a later update and refer you to this same page.