In the last blog, I touched on the fact that we had to buy a lot of extra items for our trailer to get us prepared for full time living. Even today, a month in, we are still finding new items that have made our lives easier.
So what did we need to buy?
- Sewer hose, we bought the RhinoFLEX 20' from Camco (so far, so good). We also added a sewer flush attachment so we can flush out our black tank.
- Sidewinder septic hose support--it helps things flow downwards through the hose easier.
- Bio-paks to keep our black tank fresh, and Happy Camper's for deep cleaning both the grey and black tanks.
- Grey water flush hose.
- Purified drinking water hose.
- Bins to keep all the hoses separate.
- Water purifier attachment (TastePure)
- Lead free water pressure regulator--this is really important as you never know what the water pressure will be like when you set up, and you don't want to ruin your plumbing. This will ensure the pressure stays in a safe range for your RV.
- Power grip dog bone power adapter 30/50. Our trailer is a 30 amp, but not all RV sites have 30 amp hookups. In the event that they only have 50 amp, we can use this adapter to convert us safely.
- Power surge protector--this is extremely important. RV parks and campgrounds don't always have the best power protection, and you don't want a surge to occur and ruin all of your electronics on board, or the main frame of your trailer.
- Box of extra fuses. Fuses can easily be blown in your trailer and it's good to have a box on hand in case you need one.
- Chock blocks to keep your trailer from rolling away.
- Leveling blocks to level your trailer at sites that aren't level (also make sure to buy a leveler so you know whether or not your trailer needs to be adjusted).
- X-chock tire locking chock--you don't need to buy this, but I definitely suggest it. It's helped to greatly reduce the rocking in our trailer, and it will slow down a thief if they try to steal your trailer.
- RV back up camera--this is a must if you plan on taking your trailer on the road. This completely helped us when changing lanes to see completely around our trailer.
- Telescoping ladder, this only applies if your RV didn't come with a ladder. We got a telescoping ladder instead of a regular ladder to save space.
- Propane lock--because shady people steal propane tanks.
- RV lock--this goes on the actual tongue of the trailer so no one tries to hook up their truck to our trailer and drive away with it; I'm sure if someone really wanted to steal it and had a lot of time to work on all the locks, they could, but this will definitely slow them down.
- Hitch lock--this goes on the hitch on the truck so no one tries to steal the hitch. Hitches are quite expensive and are stolen off trucks frequently.
- RV toilet paper (we got scott rapid dissolving rv toilet paper, and so far, so good).
- Heavy duty paper towels and disposable gloves for outdoor work (such as fun septic times!).
- Impact driver for the scissor jacks (this is also great for tightening all the bolts on the rv); you may not need this if your scissor jacks are electric, but I'd say it's good to have just in case they won't come down automatically.
- 4x4 block of wood for under the tongue jack.
- Eternabond--great for when you need to fix small places on the outside of your trailer, such as small leaks.
- Gorilla tape for any other quick fixes
In the end, we probably spent around $1000 just to get the trailer ready for our journey. While this may seem like a lot, if we had waited and bought most of these items at the dealer as places hope you do, then we would have spent around four times as much from what I've researched.
Now what about non-necessities?
A big issue in our trailer was light. I bought a vent insulator to block out the light and heat from the bathroom vent, and reflective cover to cover the sky light in the living room. I also covered the bedroom windows with reflective covers and installed black out curtains. Eventually, I'd like to cover the sky light in the shower as it is the only place still letting in light.
Then there is the toaster oven. I didn't want to have to deal with the propane every time I needed to use the oven so this solves that problem for me as I love to cook and bake. I only wish I could remove the propane oven as it takes up valuable space. The only draw back to the toaster oven is the heat it gives off.
The other major item we bought was a mattress! The "mattress" that came with the trailer was akin to a kindergarten nap time mat. I'm sure it would have been fine for occasional use but not for full time RV living. We bought a mattress in a box from Walmart, and it has worked great. It was easy to get in the trailer since it was in a box, then we just rolled it out onto the frame, and it was good to go!
I hope this helped you in preparing for RV living!
Happy Wandering!
