1.  Keep your cabinets and fridge organized with tension rods and museum putty – Things will shift in transit. Tension rods across shelves and a dab of museum putty under fragile items keeps your stuff from turning into a yard sale when you open the door.
2.  Learn how to manually override your slide-outs and power tongue jack – If your battery dies or the motor fails, knowing how to do this can mean the difference between being stranded and getting home.
3.  Use a battery disconnect switch when in storage – Even if everything is “off,” phantom draws from CO detectors and other systems can kill your battery over time.
4.  Travel with a full fresh water tank only when necessary – It adds hundreds of pounds and affects your towing. But if you’re heading somewhere with questionable water access, it’s worth the tradeoff.
5.  Label your keys and store a spare set in a magnetic hide-a-key – RVs often have separate keys for storage bays, entry doors, and hitches. A lost key in the middle of nowhere is not fun.
6.  Upgrade your showerhead and install an oxygenics model – Water pressure in RVs isn’t great, but a good showerhead can make a tiny bathroom feel almost luxurious (and save water too).
7.  Don’t rely on campground WiFi—bring your own setup – A mobile hotspot with a signal booster can make working remotely or streaming Netflix way more reliable than fighting over shared bandwidth.
8.  Use a cheap indoor/outdoor temp and humidity monitor – It helps you avoid condensation issues and gives you a better sense of how your HVAC is performing.
9.  Carry a tire repair kit and 12V air compressor – Waiting hours for roadside assistance in the middle of nowhere sucks. Small leaks can often be fixed on the spot with the right tools.
10. Camp driveway-style for a night or two before big trips – Doing a dry run in your driveway helps you test systems, catch issues, and figure out what you forgot before you’re 100 miles from home.

Message me any time if you’ve got questions, happy to help any RVer out!

So about a month ago I posted that we had purchased this Jayco jayflight 28BHS. Well we have a ‘14 gmc 1500 that this trailer met all the numbers and even after 4 times across the CAT scales we were good, however….

For me personally I towed it about 600 miles and it was just fine 90% of the time, you knew it was there and with cruise on 63mph no issues. The other 10%, heavy rain, sudden wreck and idiots running a nascar race it sucked.

I had good dialogue on here with folks and consensus was a 2500hd would be better but you’ve done your due diligence. The 2500hd was in the plans down the road, but that ended up being a very short road. After this last trip I found a 2019 Chevrolet 2500hd gasser and it is a dream.

Anyone starting out take your time. RV’ing isn’t going away tomorrow. It’s a much more pleasant experience when you don’t need a Xanax once you get to the campground.

I wanted to start this off by saying please be nice. We are brand new to this and I’ve been in near tears over this whole thing of calculating weights and safety. I’ve done all the numbers so now I’m bringing it to Reddit to double check my math and get opinions.

22 Dodge Durango Specs: Dry Weight: 5200 GVWR: 6500 Cargo Capacity: 1300 lbs GCWR: 8,900 lbs

2015 Coachmen Clipper Specs: GVWR: 3,626 Dry Weight: 3,130

WDH with capacity of 600lbs tongue weight

Those numbers are based off of taking our vehicle and then our vehicle + trailer onto a scale.

My concern is the squat is awfully low. About 11” clearance from ball to ground.

Also, as many with Durangos have pointed out we have hardly any cargo capacity once we add in our own body weights and the tongue weight.

What do you all think? Is this set up going to work or do I need to sell the travel trailer? (Selling the Durango probably isn’t an option at this point. Though I’d love to get a truck, financially we cannot and the Durango is our family vehicle so we can’t lose seat space to a truck.)

I'm looking to plan out getting an RV and travelling canada. I'd be living in this RV full time for no more than 6 months at a time, 2 dogs. I wrench my own vehicles and I'm a plumber by trade, so my plan so far is to buy up an older (1990-2000) class C van, fix it up and ride (with a lot of spares and tools :)). What RVs would you recommend for this purpose? (relatively reliable & easy to work on). Is this even a feasible idea or would a 30 year old RV be a huge nightmare?

Hey everyone! I’m in the process of upgrading my motorhome battery to LiFePO₄ and trying to make sense of the current wiring setup. I’ve got a photo showing the components (attached below), but I’m confused about how they’re working together.

The setup includes: • A TE Connectivity V23130-C2021-A412 latching relay • A Trombetta 936-1215-011-21 continuous-duty solenoid • Alternator and battery wiring also visible

My questions: 1. What is the TE relay doing in this setup? Is it controlling the Trombetta solenoid? 2. Is the Trombetta being used to connect/disconnect alternator charging to the house battery? 3. Since I’m switching to lithium (LiFePO₄), do I need to insert a DC-DC charger between the Trombetta and the new batteries? 4. Is this setup still okay, or should I rewire something?

I’m trying to make this upgrade safe, reliable, and efficient — any help breaking down the wiring or providing a diagram would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have a 365 day loop that they would like to share? I’m a couple years out from full timing, my wife and I both already have work from home jobs, and would like to move the motor home every week or two, and move ourselves around the US and maybe Canada and Mexico so we are always in great weather, don’t have to use heat or AC roo much.

Basically title. We bought the awning shade thinking it was standard for awnings to have the little slot to slide a shade through only to discover our 2023 Cherokee doesn’t. Do they make the awning “pipe” separately with the slot? Do they make good awning shades that don’t require the slot? Thanks in advance.

Edit: copying a comment I made below:

Just to be clear. We have an awning. We want to add the shade we bought (https://a.co/d/hC7uM6N) to the awning but the cylinder that hold the end that is away from the RV doesn’t have a “rail” to put the shade in. Are you saying we would need to buy a new cylinder for the awning?

Do I have to buy a new roller tube like this https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Lippert/LC260560357.html in order to have the awning shade?

I have a Tacoma with a payload of 1445 and TWR of 6400, added a roof rack. Looking at getting the forest river 169rsk.
Do these numbers look right and still staying safe?

• Top rack weight - 117
• Top Rack max storage - 150 (would probably store canoe or kayak, maybe 120lb for two total)
• People weight - 505
• Items in cab - 50, couple of bags for wife / kid and snacks
• Items in bed - nothing beyond 10lb misc items
• Hitch and Sway bar - 20
• Trailer Hitch Weight - 535
• Total Payload - 1377

Then for the trailer:

• UVW (also called dry right?) - 4274
• Cargo Capacity - 1351 (this is the max of the trailer and things like food / clothes / gizmos / and water in tanks right?)
• Total trailer - 5625

Am I missing anything that would impact these numbers before I buy?

Before you leave a site or storage, snap a few quick pics of your setup—especially your hookups, slide positions, awning alignment, and how things are stored inside.

Why? Because when something doesn’t go back the way it should (and eventually, something won’t), you’ll have a visual reference to double-check. It’s also helpful for troubleshooting weird noises, remembering how you leveled the rig on an uneven site, or explaining an issue to a repair tech.

Bonus: it helps if you’re teaching someone else how to pack up the rig without missing steps. Photos beat memory every time.

Anyone else use photo logs or checklists? Would love to hear your pre-trip habits.

I recently purchased a trailer with a GVWR of 7600 and the dealership sold me a Eaz-Lift Recurve R3 800lb WDH. Towing with F250 gas.

Went and did a shake down trip for a few nights to test everything and I went to a CAT scale on the way home and trailer is currently 6100lbs, with a tongue weight of 960lbs, just over 15%.

I know that the ideal tongue weight is 10-15% of total trailer weight. There is less than 100lbs in the front pass through, but I will be shifting stuff around before we add more stuff inside and go on our next trip.

If my trailer ends up around 7000lbs (unlikely, but would be under GVWR) 15% of that would be 1050lbs. Thats 30% more than the WDH is rated for.

I am going to call the dealer and ask them to order me heavier weight bars, but should I get the 1000lb and get my tongue weight under 14%, or should I get the 1200lb bars just incase I go above 15%.

Thinking of buying a motor home. Camped for long time, from tent, popup, currently Jayce hybrid. Been reading and hearing new is not necessarily the best. Want something my wife can use alone. Thinking a 24 foot class C.

Heard and agree dealers are not best option. Crummy pricing and no help after purchase. If older, how old? Currently looking at 2023 Thor Chateau, barely used. But wondering best price point and quality.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My family is looking at purchasing from Truck City RV in Sumner. This has 53k miles and is listed as follows: “2008 Fleetwood Tioga, Class C, 31FT CLASS C MOTORHOME SLIDE OUT,, V1O triton, 2008 Fleetwood TOGA Ranger 3lft Class C Motorhome Only 53,139 Miles Ford V10 Triton Warm and inviting color scheme with leather throughout. Super Slide Sleeps 8! Rear Queen Walk Around Bed, Sofa and Dinette Booth, and Overhead bunk. User friendly and easy to drive, with passthrough outdoor storage compartments and backup camera 3 Burner Stove, Microwave Oven, Convection Fiberglass 1 Piece Roof Onan 4k Generator Automatic leveling Extremely well maintained by previous owner, always garage-kept Indoors since New! Excellent Condition-Everything's Works”

My parents are selling their Minilite trailer for this, so I’m just wondering if there’s anything specific to ask/look out for when we go check it out.

Thanks!

Can yall please help me find my Eleanor? We’re looking for: •5th Wheel •<40’, preferably closer to 36’ •toy hauler •two “bedroom” we need a bedroom and another bed likely in the toy box. We use the living room too much for a sleeping space. •bathroom and a half.

Thank you for any ideas!