The one thing you can't live without... - RV-Dreams Community Forum

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

The one thing you can't live without...

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

1) At least 20' of sewer hose, since 10' is not always enough
2) At least 50' of water hose, since 25' is not always enough
3) All adapters needed to handle 50AMP, 30AMP or 15/20AMP electric service. Not every 50AMP campsite has a 30AMP plug.
4) A sense of humor.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

5) Credit card with credit limit that can handle the "what's that leaking out the back" question.
6) As many different lengths of bungie cords as you can find.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

7) Your favorite beverage.

LarryW21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

8. If you are planning on much dry/boondocking, an adequate solar system.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

9. A good camera with plenty of space on a memory card.

10. A spouse that tolerates one's idiosyncrasies and loves the lifestyle as well.

Terry

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

If one is talking about daily living - reliable bandwidth. I'm not talking about Netflix or Facebook. Be you a full-timer or on the road for three months - try "doing life" without bandwidth and adequate connectivity to take care of daily life business. It's really hard in this century.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

A sense of humor. biggrin

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

Along with other things already mentioned, leveling blocks

Dave and Denise · RV-Dreams Family Member

Chair for outside

Barb and Frank · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here are a few things that we wouldn‘t be without....

Electrical Management System - we chose the external “plug in to shore pedestal“ version. The EMS protects against voltage fluctuations, power surges and problems with poorly wired shore power, all of which can cause damage to your RV electrical system.

We also have a tire pressure monitoring system for our RV and TV. An alarm will signal if tire pressure or tire temperature fluctuates beyond programmed settings.

A Weber Q grill - ours is the Q2000 series. We use it several times a week for everything from steaks and chicken to pizza and grilled vegetables and fruit. We don’t have an oven in our 5th wheel, so we have used the Weber Q for our grilling/baking needs.

Good luck as you continue your planning.

Russ Ranger · RV-Dreams Family Member

A large stack of money in the reserve fund. It provides a peace of mind and will fix most RV problems. Also helps prevents sleepless nights and second guessing in many situations.

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well it looks like I'm off to a fairly good start, but I'll need some sewer hose and water hose. I think I already have a complete complement of electrical adapters, they came with an Apollo motorhome I owned a few years ago, and I have a sense of humor, offbeat as it may be. I have a credit card(s) with enough of a credit limit to buy a new small car and money in the bank I don't plan to spend on the motorhome. My favorite beverage is water as of a few years ago after my doctor had a heart-to-heart with me about soda pop (but a little Jack or Eagle Rare may sneak in on occasion) and I'm checking into solar systems. The solar may be a little-bit-at-a-time thing, but the coach I'm looking at comes with a 2,000 watt inverter and a surge suppressor. I'll have to check on the surge suppressor to see it is really a EMS but I'm betting it is. If not, I'll replace it. As for the chairs I have a regular chair and a recliner for both my wife and I but these may be need to be upgraded, they're the $8 Kmart ones. As for the leveling blocks I may make some out of plywood as I have lots of scrap from remodeling apartments. I'm not sure about the plastic ones as I haven't had good luck over the years with plastic under pressure for long periods of time, but I would be interested in anyone's experience with them leveling a class a or super c motorhome. The tire pressure monitoring system is a for sure as my old motorhome had evidence of a blown tire and the damage would probably have cost more than the cost of the monitoring system to repair the damage, and this doesn't even address the safety features. As to the Weber grill, I already have a hibachi and a small barrel type grill that will do for now as my wife pretty much insists on charcoal. I would like to thank you all for taking the time to respond and I appreciate all of your input. If anyone has anything to add I'd be grateful.

-- Edited by arcaguy on Friday 18th of May 2018 06:48:38 PM

Gpndavid · RV-Dreams Family Member

We FT in a Class A. For leveling blocks, I cut a 2x12 into six pieces of 24 inch lengths. Cut 3/8 inch plywood the same dimentions and sandwich the 2x12 pieces between plywood. The plywood distributes the load. We tried just the 2x12 pieces and made kindling out of the first set. Add a simple handle on one end to make retrieving easier.
We also bought a 4’x6’ horse stall pad and cut it about the same dimensions. We use these when the wood is too much or just to protect the tires.
Don’t forget a good water filter at the spigot. Don’t care if the coach has a filter. I have both and the one at the spigot gets the big stuff before it gets to my tank.

melody · RV-Dreams Family Member

If they aren't built in to your rig, then have some kind of level, whether small pen size or whatever you have, to check level side-to-side and front to back. And adequate leveling blocks or planks, that one pack of 10 blocks won't help on a bad site. and you can't mix planks and blocks, they will slide off.

I'll disagree about the extra length hoses, that really depends on whether you have a large rig. Never needed more than 25' of water hose or 15' of sewer, in fact lately a super-short sewer hose would be handy at many sites. You might be happy to have a heavy duty extension cord though if you ever need to pull power at a friend or relatives driveway.

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well I guess my take on the sewer hose is better too much than not enough, but maybe a couple of 25 footers and a 10 footer may be the trick, or some varying lengths and can connect together,we'll see. As to the extension cord I have an old 50 amp cable that's about 20 feet long that I can put the correct end on for whatever rig I buy. That and adapters should probably see me through. As for the homemade leveling blocks I have a friend that has a portable saw mill and I can likely get any size of oak I need along with plywood etc. Me thinks this will be just fine, maybe a little heavy but tough as oak, or maybe I can get some hickory which is really hard to split. We'll see. As for the levels I have at least 2 6" levels and 5 longer ones up to 4", but those are probably too long. But I'm pretty sure that whatever rig I buy will come with automatic levelers since I'm looking at a super C. Once again, thanks for all of the input it's really helping me plan.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

On sewer and water hoses you just have to have your spares with you and use them to add length when needed. Sewer and water hoses do break or get damaged and it really sucks when that happens. Mostly I can get away with a 10' Rhinoflex sewer hose, that will shorten to about 4', but about 1/3rd of the time I have to add another 10' piece and sometimes I need another 25' due to bizarre sewer placement. On water hose, 25' is enough most of the time, but I also have 4', 10', some spare 25' and a 50' for those other cases. Driveway, rallies and repair facilities are where we have had to run over 50' to fill water.

I also use a water pressure reducer, since there are plenty of campgrounds with water pressure in the 90 to 130psi range, and that can vary during the day. (Alabama is where we have encountered this the most.)

We have destroyed many a plastic or homemade wood leveling block over the years, since they don't last. I finally bought 8 of these about 5 years ago, http://www.campersfriend.com/product_details.php?ID=4, and they are all still working. We are using 4 of these as I type this. We have automatic levelers, but they are not always enough.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Monday 21st of May 2018 10:13:31 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'll follow up with Bill Joyce's comment on a water pressure reducer or regulator. In the RV park where we are camp hosts, the pressure here is over 100#. With just about every person that comes into the park, we ask if they have a regulator. Once in a while we encounter someone that doesn't, and in those cases, we have a few pressure reducers that other campers forgot when they left. But, don't count on an RV park having loaners.

Terry

ChefMom · RV-Dreams Family Member

That one special thing would be my other half.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Actually solar panels are not exspenise anymore. $1 or less per watt.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Glenn West wrote:
Actually solar panels are not exspenise anymore. $1 or less per watt.

Actually this is a bit misleading... yeah the actual panels can be had for less than a dollar per watt, no argument there.... but to do solar, you also need the solar charge controller, the wiring, fusing, combiner box, the mounting brackets all of which are getting more expensive as time goes by, even solar will reach commodity pricing soon enough and no further reductions in pricing will occur even with improved efficiency... All of that assumes you already have the inverter, and the battery bank to accommodate them as well, otherwise you'll have to add those as well.

JHMO

-- Edited by BiggarView on Saturday 26th of May 2018 05:08:10 PM

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Op posted has a 2000 watt inverter already. That large part of expense. I very aware of pricing. Planning a system now. He stated buying solar panels one at a time. That why I posted my reply. No way stating solar power is cheap. Just panels came way down in price.

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yep, I've been pricing out solar too and it seems as if the batteries are at least the same price as the panels, and that is for flooded or AGM. The lithium ion get really pricey. My question is, from a purely financial standpoint, since the rig I'm looking at will have an 8,000 watt generator how much solar and batteries do I need if I can run the gen when power gets down. It seems to me that I can buy a lot of fuel for the price of a large solar setup. Since the purchase is a ways off yet I'll have to see what the market in the next couple of years. It seems to me that solar is one of those technologies where there are two types of equipment, prototype and obsolete. Time and finances will tell.

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Main reason for solar is freedom to go where no resorts are. Peace and quiet. Priceless.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

arcaguy wrote:
.. It seems to me that solar is one of those technologies where there are two types of equipment, prototype and obsolete. Time and finances will tell.

I have followed the solar space since a few years before we decided to start planning an RV Dream. In that time, the biggest advances have been in the solar panels themselves, more juice per square foot. As for Charge controllers and inverters... not so much. The latest tech seems to be hybrid inverters. Charge controllers have seen some improvement in efficiency and the advent of MPPT but is has more or less leveled off in the past few years. The tech in batteries namely lithium (LiFePO) over other last century tech (AGM, traditional lead acid etc) is impressive but the price is astronomical. If you can manage the upfront cost it may be a good idea, personally I don't see it (a choice). A complete system is not going to be cheap, even a small one. Everybody has their own needs and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. An 8K genny is not cheap either and will be expensive to operate. A compromise is smaller portable genny and a moderate solar setup... sorta gives the best of both worlds. Again, a choice. YMMV as they say. Glenn West makes a good point, more solar allows less noisy genny time, something you make come to appreciate. Your neighbors certainly will... unless they are running a genny too. confuse

JMHO

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

BiggarView wrote:
An 8K genny is not cheap either and will be expensive to operate. A compromise is smaller portable genny and a moderate solar setup... sorta gives the best of both worlds. Again, a choice. YMMV as they say. Glenn West makes a good point, more solar allows less noisy genny time, something you make come to appreciate. Your neighbors certainly will... unless they are running a genny too.

JMHO

Brian: In your planning, keep in mind that with a "larger" battery bank, such as might be required with the desirable, for many, residential fridge and a smaller generator, the generator, even one capable of 15 amps, may not have enough power to fully charge the battery bank in a relatively short amount of time allowing the solar to finish up the task. Especially with a residential fridge the generator may not have the current to supply all the power the battery charger might like to have to complete the bulk / absorption charge of the batteries before the solar completes the charge in one day. I've seen this many times. Naturally, it depends on the math.

I just point this out for your long term planning as pertains to boondocking, solar and all that. Just a big difference in charge time between a 2,000 watt generator's capability and a say a 4,000+. Not arguing either-way, its just the way things are. "It depends"

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill and Linda wrote:
BiggarView wrote:
An 8K genny is not cheap either and will be expensive to operate. A compromise is smaller portable genny and a moderate solar setup... sorta gives the best of both worlds. Again, a choice. YMMV as they say. Glenn West makes a good point, more solar allows less noisy genny time, something you make come to appreciate. Your neighbors certainly will... unless they are running a genny too.

JMHO
Brian: In your planning, keep in mind that with a "larger" battery bank, such as might be required with the desirable, for many, residential fridge and a smaller generator, the generator, even one capable of 15 amps, may not have enough power to fully charge the battery bank in a relatively short amount of time allowing the solar to finish up the task. Especially with a residential fridge the generator may not have the current to supply all the power the battery charger might like to have to complete the bulk / absorption charge of the batteries before the solar completes the charge in one day. I've seen this many times. Naturally, it depends on the math.
I just point this out for your long term planning as pertains to boondocking, solar and all that. Just a big difference in charge time between a 2,000 watt generator's capability and a say a 4,000+. Not arguing either-way, its just the way things are. "It depends"

Yep math is important, and I was only offering an alternative to an 8K genny. Natch, everybody is different. As you know we are planning something more robust than I offered as a suggestion, and yes we will be going with the residential fridge for our application. As for our solar and genny specs... we still have to still flesh them out. As you say.... "it depends". smile

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Guys, we're getting a little off topic here, but that's OK, power is important. What I'm trying to figure out is where is the sweet spot with the solar to save on operating cost vs. capital cost of installing the solar. I'm thinking that I can buy quite a bit of fuel for the cost of a large solar system. From my preliminary computation I need about 1200 watt/hrs of battery capacity to provide the 600 watt hours of usable energy I need. This is for what I would consider "normal"usage. For my "cloudy day" usage I'm eliminating the refrigerator (turning it to propane), 1 TV the toaster and the microwave oven. This would get my usage down to 160 watt/hrs per day times 3 days give me 480 watt/hrs of needed capacity. I'm thinking that this would put me in the range of needing 200 watts of solar generating power which should give me a 100% more than my usage to allow for inefficiencies and non-optimum angles. My backup plan is to run the generator if I need more power. I'm also a little concerned about burning up cargo carrying capacity hauling around batteries. Do my ideas sound reasonable to you guys?

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

One more item to consider with solar. Lithium ion batteries. They charge different. Where long time float comes in with traditional batteries, lithium gets a fast high rate charge. Less charge time. Very desired. Also voltage doesn't drop. My plans are Chevy volt battery.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Full Hook Ups ...

LarryW21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fresh OJ and vodka?

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

LarryW21 wrote:
Fresh OJ and vodka?

😎

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well for me it would probably be a bottle of Gentleman Jack and for my wife a bottle of ta-kill-ya and some margarita mix. But I get the idea, and no it won't be left out.

BART · RV-Dreams Community Member

-GPS or maps to guide you. Several to choose from. There is a program called CoPilot that works offline on a phone or tablet. We like to keep an atlas as well as it's nice to have a big picture when planning a route.
-A nice all season wardrobe. You don't need much of any one season, but you will need something to cover every season.
-Tire TPMS system especially if you're towing a 5th'er or Travel trailer, or a toad behind a motorhome.
-An extra collapsible hose. Good for washing toads, cleaning windshields, etc.

A sense of humor and a SLOW pace. I've seen so many rush the first year or 2 and burn out or outspend their funds trying to see it all to0 fast.

Someday · RV-Dreams Family Member

Agree with all the above, especially pressure reducer, power surge protection and city water filter before hitting your water tank, but here's some other items on food for thought:

Personally still mainly a laptop user but ........ Various Apps that can assist when on the fly looking for a campground/boondock location/overnight space, emptying tanks if not regularly hooked up, best gas prices (in Laughlin today $3.49 other side of river in Bullhead City $2.76!). Some apps we've found useful and we're not heavy into apps but ....... gas buddy, sanidump, free campsites, ultimate campgrounds, weather (many mentioned by RVers), google maps, farmers markets, Of Interest to you personally when in an area apps.

Some memberships that might appeal - Passport America (first time joined this year for a biggish trip with family flying in from Europe to meet us, and it's already paying for itself after 2 nights), normally we boondock or dry camp 95% of the time so had no need prior. Some make great use of other memberships such as Boondockers Welcome, Harvest Hosts, Thousand Trails (but look into thoroughly and assess before investment as to your personal use) etc.

Miscellaneous items we are glad to have: Brush, Dual head squeegee/scrubber on extendable handles for cleaning MH windscreen, windows and general RV exterior. Two different size buckets, washing up bowl (various reasons used but mainly when saving grey tank space), Velcro double sided, Museum putty to secure items, Eternabond for sealing seams from water penetration. Fishing Rods, Kayaks are our toys we use a lot. We also carry an air inflation tank with us for various things inc Tires! Various tools and replacement bulbs, fuses that cover all items sized for your RV.

Most important of all: A GREAT ATTITUDE, cos at times if things can go wrong believe us they most certainly will when you are on the road and not in familiar territory = every trip we deal with something - this one was engine No 3 for our 15 year old rig when only 5 hours from base, then the hot water heater died (connections cleaned and working now), air conditioners failed and needed resetting at test control panel deeply hidden behind two other panels, jacks stopped working (think pump needs replacing at quoted a $1000ish), forgetting to switch the bypass off when connected to city water and having someone knock at your door to tell ya and effects of clean up afterwards. There will always be something, so attitude is latitude for sure.

Last but not least for us is a system for documenting all the wonderful memories you'll be creating to enjoy in years to come.

-- Edited by Someday on Friday 1st of June 2018 02:38:51 AM