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RV Tips

RV Safety Tips – Staying Secure On The Road

RVing is a dream come true for many adventurers and travelers. The freedom to explore new places, set your own pace, and have your home on wheels is a unique and fulfilling experience. However, with this freedom comes a responsibility to ensure your safety on the road. Whether you’re a full-time RVer or just hitting the road for a weekend getaway, RV safety should always be a top priority. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore a wide range of RV safety tips to help you stay secure on your journey.

1. Regular Maintenance is Key

The foundation of RV safety lies in ensuring that your vehicle is in top working condition. Regular maintenance checks are vital to avoid breakdowns, accidents, or costly repairs. Before hitting the road, make it a routine to inspect the following:

  • Tires: Check tire pressure and look for signs of wear or damage. Make sure the tires are properly inflated to prevent blowouts. You can go one extra step and get a Lippert Tire Pressure Monitoring System to constantly know what your tire pressure is at.
  • Brakes: Ensure your brakes are in excellent working condition. Brake problems can lead to accidents and should be addressed immediately.
  • Lights: All lights, including headlights, taillights, and turn signals, should be in working order to keep you visible on the road.
  • Engine: Regularly service and maintain your RV’s engine to prevent unexpected breakdowns.

Having a checklist for these maintenance tasks can help you stay organized and ensure that everything is in working order before each trip.

2. Know Your RV’s Weight Limits

Overloading your RV can lead to a host of safety issues, including difficulty in handling and braking. It’s essential to know your RV’s weight limits and distribute your belongings and passengers accordingly. Here’s what you should do:

  • Check the manufacturer’s specifications for weight limits, which should be clearly marked on your RV.
  • Weigh your RV to ensure it’s within the recommended limits. Truck stops and public scales often have scales available for this purpose. CAT scales can be found at a lot of the major truck stops across America. You can download their app( iOS / Android ) and weight your RV from the comfort of your vehicle. You can even pay for it on the app!
  • Distribute your cargo evenly to maintain balance and stability while driving.

3. Defensive Driving Matters

Driving an RV is a different experience compared to driving a regular passenger vehicle. Being a defensive driver is crucial for RV safety. Here are some defensive driving tips:

  • Maintain a safe following distance from the vehicle in front of you, as RVs have longer stopping distances.
  • Anticipate turns and stops to avoid sudden braking or acceleration.
  • Be cautious while changing lanes and always use your turn signals.
  • Be aware of your RV’s larger blind spots and use your mirrors effectively. Consider installing blind-spot monitoring systems for added safety.

4. Fire Safety Preparedness

RV fires can be devastating, and it’s essential to be prepared for such emergencies. To enhance fire safety in your RV:

  • Install smoke detectors and test them regularly to ensure they are in working order.
  • Have fire extinguishers readily accessible, and ensure that everyone on board knows how to use them.
  • Develop an escape plan in case of a fire and practice it with your family or travel companions.

5. Secure Your Belongings

While on the road, your belongings can shift, fall, or even become projectiles during sudden stops or turns. To prevent accidents and maintain an organized living space, use the following tips:

6. Safe Parking and Campsite Selection

Choosing where to park your RV or camp can significantly impact your safety. Opt for well-lit, well-maintained RV parks and campgrounds that have good reviews and a strong reputation for safety. If you’re boondocking or parking overnight in a rest area or Walmart parking lot, choose well-traveled spots where other RVers are present. Trust your instincts; if a location doesn’t feel safe, it’s best to move on to the next.

7. Lock It Up

An RV is essentially a home on wheels, and just like any home, it needs to be secured. Always lock your RV when you’re away, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Install deadbolt locks on the entrance door for added security. Don’t forget to lock the storage compartments, too. It’s also a good idea to have a security system in place, which can deter potential thieves and provide peace of mind.

8. Emergency Kit Preparation

Having a well-stocked emergency kit can be a lifesaver in various situations. Here’s what your RV emergency kit should include:

  • First-aid supplies: Stock a comprehensive first-aid kit with bandages, antiseptics, pain relievers, and any necessary prescription medications.
  • Flashlights: Have multiple flashlights with extra batteries for nighttime emergencies.
  • Multi-tool: A multi-tool can help you make small repairs or adjustments on the road.
  • Jumper cables: In case of a dead battery, jumper cables or a jumper box can get you back on the road.
  • Spare tire: Make sure your RV has a spare tire and the necessary tools to change it if needed.

It’s important not only to have these items but also to know how to use them effectively. Regularly check your emergency kit to ensure that all supplies are in good condition and replace anything that has expired.

9. Stay Informed About Weather Conditions

Weather can have a significant impact on your RV travels. Before you hit the road, check weather reports for your route and destination. Staying informed about the weather can help you plan your trips more safely. In the event of severe weather conditions, be prepared to alter your plans and stay in a secure location until it’s safe to resume your journey.

10. Socialize and Build a Network

One of the beautiful aspects of RVing is the strong sense of community among travelers. Get to know your neighbors at campgrounds and RV parks, and attend group activities if available. Building relationships with fellow RVers can provide you with a support system on the road. They can offer advice, help in emergencies, and alert you to potential issues in the area you’re traveling through.

11. Carry Safety Documentation

Always have essential safety documentation on hand. This documentation should include:

  • Copies of your RV’s registration and insurance. Make sure your insurance is up to date and provides adequate coverage for your travels.
  • A list of emergency contacts, including family members, friends, and any fellow travelers or RVing friends you’ve met on the road. You can download an Emergency Contacts form that we made by clicking here.

Keep this information in a secure location, such as a dedicated folder or a safe, and consider having digital copies saved on your phone or a cloud storage service for easy access.

12. Regular Safety Meetings

If you’re traveling with family or friends, conducting regular safety meetings is essential. Review procedures for various emergency situations, such as fire, medical emergencies, or severe weather, to ensure that everyone knows what to do. Being well-prepared as a team can make all the difference in the event of an emergency.

In the world of RV living, safety should always be a top priority. By following these RV safety tips, you can enjoy the freedom of the open road with confidence and peace of mind. Whether you’re a seasoned RVer or new to the lifestyle, a secure and enjoyable journey is within your reach. Remember that while these tips can significantly enhance your RV safety, unforeseen circumstances can always arise. Staying vigilant, adaptable, and prepared is the key to enjoying your RV adventures to the fullest while staying secure on the road.

RV Tips

10 Things To Do To Get Ready To Go Camping

If you are like we are right now, and are just weekend warriors, there are several things that you need to do every time you get ready to go camping. Let’s go over 10 things that we do to get ready to go camping.

NOTE: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. Affiliate links, do not affect the price you pay, but will give us a “referral fee” to help with the expenses. 

1 – Figure out where you are going and make reservations

We try to go camping about once a month, more if we are able. With the way that I work, I have a three-day weekend every other weekend so it works out great. One weekend we will go camping, the other weekend that I’m off, we work around the house. Hopefully, we end up choosing the right weekend so that the weather cooperates with us.

The first thing that you have to do when you decide it’s time to get away is to find a place to go and make a reservation. Being that we only have three days without me having to take days off of work, we try to find somewhere that we can get to within five to six hours. Most of the time, camp grounds will have check in times around 2-3pm. That gives us time to get up, eat breakfast and leave by 8am to get there around check in time. 

If you don’t have a campground that you like going to a lot or are like us and like to try different campgrounds very times, there are several ways of finding a campground to goto. Check out our post about Finding Campgrounds to Goto for more information.

2 – Make a menu of what you are going to eat

I know what you might be thinking. You are going camping to relax and not have to worry about what you are going to cook when, or something like that. If it is just two people, then meals aren’t probably that big of a deal. However, if you have kids or a big family, then it is going to be a little more important.

Once you know how many days you are going to be camping for, you will know how many meals you should plan out. We tend to do things a little backwards when we camp. At home, we try to keep breakfast and lunch as an easy meal and then something more filling for supper. When we are camping though, we try to do things we don’t normally do and have a nice hardy breakfast, an easy lunch and then something that our kids can help with or do themselves for supper.

Once you have your meals planned out, make up a grocery list for it and go shopping a day or two before. If you do it shortly before you go camping, you are less likely to use the things that you bought for camping on other meals. Which brings us to our next tip…

3 – Turn on the refrigerator the day before

Don’t ever put cold food into your refrigerator if you just turned it on. It can take a good four to six hours for your refrigerator to get cold. Once it is cooled down, it is ok to put your food in it. You don’t want your food to get to warm and you get sick while on your camping trip.

We recommend buying a RV to 110v adapter and plug in your trailer the day before. If the 110v plug is on at least a 20 amp breaker and there isn’t much else on it, you can use it to power your trailer for the lights and refrigerator. This will not be enough to run the air conditioner or anything big, but it will power the lights and refrigerator. If possible, have a dedicated 30 amp circuit installed in your break box for your camper. This will allow you to 

4 – Check the First Aid Kit to make sure it is fully stocked

While camping is supposed to be fun, it can also be dangerous. Whether it is just a minor cut or a broken leg, you need to be ready to do what you can. When you are getting your RV ready to go camping, make sure that you check your first aid kit. Make sure that any creams or anything else that may have an expiration date is checked. Also make sure that you replace anything that was used. 

Whether you make your own first aid kit or buy one(like this one), go through it and write down what is all in it. While you are going through it check it off on the list showing that it is there so you will know exactly what you need to replace. 

5 – Do a thorough check of the outside of your camper

This is probably one of the most important things in this list. Failing to check on some of the things on the outside of your camper could have serious repercussions on your camping trip. 

Check your tires! Make that each of your tires is aired up to the proper PSI. Check the treads on the tires to make sure they still have plenty of tread on them. Having a blowout while you are driving at highway speeds could cause you to have a severe accident or at the very least do some pretty significant damage to your RV. 

Check your wastewater connections. Make sure that the cap is on the outlet and tightened down. The last thing that you need while your driving down the road is to get pulled over by the police and be accused of dumping waste water down the road. 

6 – Check Propane Levels

Check your propane bottles; verify that all the connections are tight and each bottle is turned off. Some people will say that leaving them on all the time is ok, I would HIGHYLY recommend turning them off. Leaving the tanks on while traveling can be really dangerous. If one of the lines comes loose, or get punctured, propane will fill whatever protective cover you have on them. One small spark is all that is needed to turn a small leak into a major issue!

Are your propane tanksl full or almost empty? How do you check it? Most smaller tanks do not come with gauges, so here are a few ways to check and see how full your propane bottle is.

Use Water

Liquid propane is very cold! Get you a pitcher of warm to hot water and slowly pour it down one side of the tank. After you have dumped all the water, run your hand down the side of the tank and feel where it turned cold. Where it turns cold is the level of you tank.

Weight

Most propane bottles come with two different weights stamped on the side of the bottle. One is Tare Weight(TW) and the other is the Weight Capacity(WC). The TW is weight of the bottle empty. If you happen to have a scale with you, weight your bottle and subtract your TW from it. This will tell you how many pounds of propane you have left. Granted this, by itself doesnt tell you a lot, but take it one more step and you can get a fairly close idea. 

Now that you know how many pounds are in your bottle, divide that number by the difference between the TW and the WC then multiply it by 100. This will give you the percentage that is left in your bottle. 

There are two problems with this method though. While you are camping, I highly doubt that you will bring a scale with you. If you live full time in your RV, then you might have a scale.

External gauge

While both of the above methods will work, they are relatively a lot of work. You can buy your an external gauge to install inline with your bottles and you will have the fill level at a glance. This is the gauge that we use on our grills. This will work on the propane bottles for your RV as well, but I think there is something better than this.

One of the things that we have on our camping wish list on amazon, is the Mopeka Pro Check Bundle Propane wireless tank monitoring system. We will be getting it pretty soon, and we will do a review video on it when we get it. If you are reading this a while after this post was written, I will include a link to the video.  This bundle comes with two magnetic tank sensors and a LED tank display. You simply place the magnetic sensor on the bottom of a propane tank, it then uses ultrasonic detection to determine the fill level of the tank. It will transmit that level to the LED display that you can mount somewhere in your RV. You can also get the reading on your smartphone using a free app and can set alarms per tank connected to alert when a tank gets low.

7 – Do a thorough check of the inside of our camper

Now that we have checked the outside, let’s move to the inside  and get it ready. There are alot of things that you should check on the inside of you RV and every RV is different, so Im just going to hit on some of the top things to check. We recommend making your self a check list of things the check on your RV. Click here to get a copy of the check list that we use for our RV. 

Check your water connections

Having a water leak in your camper can be very destructive to it. Camper are made from very lightweight material so getting it weight can be a very bad thing. Go though each of your water connections and make sure everything is hand tight. Check your sink, you toilet, dishwasher if you have one, outside kitchen sink, etc. Anywhere that has a water connection that you can get to needs to be checked on a regular basis. The bouncing of driving down the road and loosen them up.

Food and drinks

Dry food and drinks can be brought early and put away in its place in your RV. Keep the cold stuff inside until the day you leave and only after your refrigerator has been on for at least 4-6 hours. 

Toiletry items

If you do not go camping on a regular basis or live full time in your RV, make sure you stock up your rv with toiletry items the day before. Things like toilet paper, tooth brushes, tooth paste, mouth wash, soap, shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, etc

If you go camping on a regular basis, buy extras of your toiletry items to keep in your RV. Most of these items don’t take up a lot of room and have long shelf lives. 

8 – Check your vehicle

You also need to make sure your vehicle is ready to tow your RV or be towed by it whichever the case may be. If you are towing your vehicle behind a motorhome, most of this will not apply, but if you have a towable RV, then this is very important.

Tires

Check your tires! Make sure that your tread is good, especially the rear wheels. Check the tire pressure to make sure it is set to the proper PSI. We recommend doing this the day you are leaving to go camping. Temperature changes outside affect the pressure of your tires so what may be good the day before while it was warm, might not be enough the next day if it is colder outside. Here in Texas, this is a regular occurrence. At the time of writing this post, it is about 40 degrees outside. Yesterday the high was 78 and tomorrow it is suppose to be in the upper 60’s, lower 70’s. 

Check the fluids

Check all the fluids in your vehicle. If you are getting close to your normally scheduled oil change, go ahead and get it changed. Towing a heavy RV, adds additional wear and tear on your engine than normal driving does. You engine will typically operate at a high RPM while towing than it does without the extra weight. 

Check your brake fluid, transmission fluid, water in your radiator and even your windshield washer fluid. Make sure everything is within normal limits or topped off before you leave. 

9 – Gather all the clothes

Lastly, gather all your clothes that you are going to be taken with you. We will typically get everything packed a day or two before we are scheduled to leave. Get everything out to your RV and put in their place. Unpacking everything when you arrive at your camp site just takes away time that you could be relaxing. 

If you have kids, get them involved in this part of it. Tell them what the forecasted temperatures are suppose to be and let them choose what they want to wear. This allows them to have some input to the camping trip. This will also give them a sense of pride on what they wear during the  trip. Obviously, make sure that what they pick out is appropriate to the weather. One of our kids is very much into JoJo Siwa and will choose a her favorite long sleeve shirt even when it is 80 degrees outside.

10 – Clean RV and make beds

Beds and linens

When we get home from a camping trip, we will strip our beds and wash all the sheets. We also grab all the towels, wash clothes, and dish rags and get them washed as well. After they are washed, they can be brought back to the camper for storage or you can store them inside your main house and brought out when you are getting ready. Whichever way you choose to do, we recommend not making the beds until you are getting ready to go camping to keep them fresh for your trip. 

Take any bath towels, wash rags, dish towels, etc to your camper. Again keep them folded to maintain their freshness better. This also allows you to gather them while Camping easier as well.  If the place you are camping at has shower facilities you can use them instead of your rv show to give you more room to shower. Most RV bathrooms are cramped and the shower doesn’t have a lot of room. 

Sweep your floors

The last thing that you should do when getting ready to go camping, is sweep your floors. All the traffic of setup has undoubtedly tracked dirt inside your camper. Things may have been dropped, spilled or otherwise on the floors. When you are all done, sweep thoroughly. Sweep under your slides as well. If something was dropped and got kicked or bounced under a slide, when the slide is put back in, it can damage your floor. 

The last thing that you want is to have a dirty RV that you have to clean when one of the biggest reasons to go camping is to get away from the normal day-to-day grind and relax. So do it before relax time starts.

Conclusion

I hope that this post helped you and we thank you for taking the time to read it. If you have any tips or things that you do to get ready to go camping, leave it in the comments below so others can benefit from it. 

If you enjoyed this post, please considering following our blog and us on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Facebook and Instagram will have more behind the scenes type content, and we will post on them when a new post come out. On our Youtube channel, we are going to start doing companion videos to some of our posts for those that would rather watch a video rather than read a blog post. 

Until its time to Hitch Up again, 

Happy Camping

NOTE: This post was originally posted earlier this year(2023) when we first started our blog. I am posting old posts to get caught up with the present and then I will start writing new posts.

RV Tips

Deciphering RV Model Numbers

Hopefully by the time you are reading this post you have made a decision on what type of RV you want, now let’s go through the different floorplan options. Let me preface this by saying this is no small choice. It took us several months of looking at floorplans to find what we liked. Even after we picked a few floorplans we wanted, it wasn’t until we actually saw the RV in person that we decided to get the Dutchman Kodiak Ultra-lite 332BHSL.

Thankfully most RV dealership websites have pictures of the floorplans and you can sort and filter by certain aspects of the RV. However, I think it is still a good thing to understand what you are looking at at a glance when you are scrolling through the listings so let’s go over what the model numbers mean.

The Number Portion

The first three characters of the model number can be one of two things and both are currently in use as of the writing of this post. One of the options is that the number represents the square foot of the RV. So let’s use the model that we bought, 332BHSL. If 332 was the square foot of the trailer and we do a little math:

Length x Width = Area in square feet

We know the width of an RV is typically 8 feet wide so we would have to adjust the formula to be:

Length = 332 / 8

The answer would be 41.5 feet in length. I can tell you that our camper is 33 feet long so 332 is not the square foot of the RV. 

Typically, according to the research I have done, is that in a fifth-wheel RV, the 332 would be the square footage. However, our RV is a bumper pull so it is different. According to what I have read, typically, in a bumper pull RV, the first two numbers of the model number are the length of the trailer. So for our trailer, the first two are 33 and our trailer is approximately 33 feet long, so that matches.

The third digit in the model number I really couldnt find anything as to what it was for certain. Some sources said it was the year that that floorplan had been manufactured. So in our case it would be the second year. Other sources stated that it was how many slides the RV has. Again it would be correct for us because our RV has two. Maybe it is just something that the manufacture does that isn’t standard across the industry, I don’t really know.

The Letter Portion

Now, on to the letter portion of the model number. The letter portion of the model number is fairly easy to figure out if you know what you are looking for. They are not standard across the industry, but they are typically pretty much the same for most.

Let go through some common ones:

Living Room

RL – Rear Living

FL – Front Living

  • The living room area is located at the front of the RV, closest to the tongue
  • I have seen some really nice fifth-wheel RVs that have a front living floorplan that are very nice.
  • Example: 2023 Forest River Rv Salem Hemisphere 378FL

RE or FE – Rear or Front Entertainment

  • This is basically the same as the Rear/Front Living above, but it may have an upgrade entertainment system. This like a bigger TV or a surround sound system. Things that are normal the typical would have in them.
  • Example: 2023 Cruiser MPG 2780RE

Kitchen

FK – Front Kitchen

RK – Rear Kitchen

  • The kitchen is located on the opposite end from the hitch at the rear of the trailer
  • This is generally found on bumper pull and fifth-wheel RVs
  • Example: 2023 Palomino Puma 30RKQS

OK – Outside Kitchen

  • This is a small kitchen area that is accessible from the outside of the camper
  • This could mean two things.
    • It may be a very small trailer and the only kitchen is located on the outside of the trailer. For example, a tear drop camper has out outside kitchen or
    • The RV will have a normal kitchen inside but also have a condensed version outside. Typically with a small dorm style fridge, sink, griddle or stove and some storage areas. 
  • These are nice to have for those times when you are cooking meat or something that is messy to cook and you don’t want to mess up the kitchen inside to cook it. It is also nice for when it is hot outside so you dont heat up the entire camper cooking.
  • Example: 2022 Ember Rv Overland Micro Series ROK

IK – Island Kitchen

Bedroom

BH – Bunk House

  • Somewhere in the floorplan there is an area that had at least two bunk bed style bed in it. These could be smaller than twins like our bunk beds are or it could be about the size of full beds.
  • The beds could be in their own room or it could be right off the living area with only a curtain for privacy
  • Example: 2023 Dutchmen Rv Kodiak Ultra-Lite 332BHSL

MB – Middle Bunk

BL – Bunk Living

  • Bunk room that has a top bunk bed and a jack knife couch as the bottom bunk. It will have things like a TV, desk, wardrob area in it as well.
  • This one is a guess on my part because it makes sense, at least in my mind
  • Example: 2023 Forest River Rv Salem Hemisphere 369BL

QB – Quad Bunk

TB – Twin Beds

  • Twin bed in the RV
  • This is typically found on the smaller RVs
  • Example: 

Q or QB – Queen Bed

DB – Double Beds

RQ or FQ – Rear or Front Queen

K or KB – King Bed

Bathroom Location

RB – Rear Bathroom

FB – Front Bathroom

Slides

WS or S – Single Slide

SS – Super Slide

DS – Dinette Slide

  • A slide includes the dinette
  • I have seen a lot of floorplans of smaller bumper pull RVs that have just a single slide that moves the dinette out to make more living area.

TS – Triple Slide

  • RV with three slides

Misc

SLX/XLT – Lightweight/Ultra-Lite

W/WE – Western States Edition

  • States like California and others have different RV laws than the rest of the country does. To comply with these laws, some RV manufactures have to make specific changes to their units for compliance reasons.
  • This type is geared more towards motorhomes than towable RVs due to things like emissions laws for example.

There is a lot of model codes out there. Some of them are easy to figure out, others don’t make any sense at all! I saw one trailer that was a tear drop trailer and its model number was 10SS. In other RV the SS means Super Slide but in this instance…

Common sense tells me that when you are determining a model number for an RV, you want to make it where it will highlight the best feature or the most noticeable feature on the unit. Makes sense, right? Maybe if I knew what they stood for, then maybe I would understand why a letter combination was picked.

I hope that this bit of information helped you decipher the RV model numbers you may have been looking at. If it did, please consider following us on our blog, facebook and Instagram.

Until it is Hitching Time again…

Happy Camping

NOTE: This post is was published earlier this year when we first started out blog. I am posting all these blog posts from before prior to posting new content.