Learn to RV from the Experts
Getting started with your new RV can be daunting. Like anything else in life, it gets easier with experience.
To give you a head start, we’ve compiled this list of 20 RV tips and tricks that are bound to get you out and safely enjoying RV life, without having to go through the experience part.
20 RV Tips And Tricks Every Camper Should Know
These are hacks that every camper should know, regardless of their experience level.
1. Use an RV departure checklist
There is nothing like getting on the road and finding out that you forgot to unplug your shore power cord. There are a lot of things to remember before you pull out.
A visual checklist, either printed or on your smartphone, will help to ensure you don’t forget anything. Print out this free RV Departure Checklist and keep it somewhere easy to access.
2. Know the height of your rig
Find out how high your rig is. Write the height on a label or piece of masking tape, and put it on your dashboard. Watch for low-hanging branches and take note of the height of overpasses before you proceed. Use an RV-safe GPS to make sure you have a safe route.
3. Level your RV before filling your freshwater tank
Leveling your RV before filling your tank will ensure that you are really getting a full tank.
4. Mount towel bars (and other things) on your walls with exterior grade Gorilla mounting tape
Exterior grade Gorilla mounting tape adheres to RV walls much better than Command strips or anything else we’ve found.
5. Use Command broom holders to hold flashlights or wrenches
3M Command broom holders are great for keeping flashlights and wrenches handy in your basement storage areas or inside the RV.
6. Replace your RV showerhead
This trick will help to conserve water, while still having decent water pressure. The Oxygenics showerhead makes it possible to enjoy longer, better showers in the RV. Read more about replacing your RV showerhead from Do It Yourself RV.
7. Use an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
The Instant Pot pressure cooker will allow you to make almost effortless, delicious meals in a lot less time than traditional cooking methods.
You simply put the ingredients in, set it, and the Instant Pot takes it from there. Bonus: You can vent the Instant Pot outdoors, so cooking won’t add to the humidity levels in your RV.
Get recipe inspiration from Do It Yourself RV
8. Bring a basic tool kit
Be prepared to make minor repairs if you need to by having a basic tool kit with just the essentials. This includes a screwdriver or cordless drill, a few different bits, some screws, an electrical tester, and wrenches like a torque wrench.
9. Pack a hairdryer
A hairdryer can be used for more than just giving you good hair. You can use a hairdryer to thaw frozen pipes or to blow warm air onto cold kindling when lighting a campfire.
10. Pack some pine cones
What? Pine cones?
Yes! Pine cones aren’t just for Christmas decor. Pine cones are also nature’s perfect firestarter and readily burst into enough flames to start kindling when you put a flame to them.
11. Plan an RV-safe route
Use the RV LIFE App and RV LIFE Trip Wizard to plan your route and find amazing camping spots that are perfect for your camping style. Get RV-friendly directions, read reviews, and find important campground information, all in one convenient tool.
12. Turn the propane valve off before you travel
Traveling with your RV’s propane valve open is crazy. Our rolling rigs are subjected to shaking equivalent to an earthquake as we travel. This shaking causes many things to loosen or even come apart, and propane connections and lines can come apart as we travel. This definitely presents a fire hazard in your RV.
13. Pack a first aid kit
Be prepared for emergencies (including the four-legged family members) by packing a first aid kit for both humans and pets.
14. Bring a collapsable storage tote or two
Collapsible storage totes can be used to tote campfire supplies like s’mores ingredients, napkins, glasses, and beverages, and make decent impromptu tables to put campfire essentials on.
15. Bring board games and other activities for family fun
Board games will help your family enjoy time indoors if the weather gets too ugly to play outside. Here are a few great board and card games that you can easily play in the RV.
16. Pack a pizza stone
A pizza stone will help to even out the heat in your RV’s propane oven so you can bake amazing meals. And of course, you can always use it to make pizza! Pizza stones do break, so be sure to protect them by wrapping them for travel.
Find more tips for cooking in your RV oven
17. Repurpose your dishwater
When you are boondocking, your time off-grid and unhooked will be much better if you don’t run out of water. Washing and rinsing dishes uses more water than anything besides your RV toilet, so it makes sense to repurpose your dishwater. Use a basin to wash your dishes, and then use gray water to flush your toilet.
18. Make sure your campfire is really out before leaving it
Abandoned campfires are one of the leading causes of forest fires. Not all of these fires were intentionally left smoldering.
Campfires heat the ground underneath them hot enough to reignite anything combustible in your firepit hours later. No one wants to be “that guy/girl” so use lots of water or dirt to thoroughly smother your campfire when you are done with it.
As a rule of thumb, you should be able to put your hand comfortably on the ground in your fireplace before you leave.
19. Make a headlamp into a lantern
Strap a headlamp (light side in) to a 1-gallon jug of water to make a lantern that lights up your campsite. Opaque, white jugs work best for this camping hack.
20. Wash your clothes as you travel
This camping trick from Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck is so simple and effortless we’ll be using it all the time.
Put dirty clothes, water, and laundry soap into a five-gallon bucket with a tight lid. Make sure the lid is on snug because if it isn’t it makes a huge mess. Find a place in your rig where you can make sure the bucket will stay firmly in place. If you have a place to secure it, even better.
Every bump you hit and turn you take will agitate the clothes in the bucket as you drive, just like a washing machine does. After an hour or two of driving, your clothes will be perfectly clean, ready to be rinsed and hung to dry in the fresh air.
Find more RV mods, hacks, tips and tricks
You can find more RV tips and tricks from the community on iRV2 Forums. There are also lots of RV Youtubers and bloggers that share useful tips on the nomadic lifestyle. Check out this video from CrazyLadyCrankyDog on tips for food storage:
Lynne lives, travels, and works full-time in a Forest-River R-Pod 180 with her 2-pointers, Jolene and Annabelle. Lynne has been an enthusiastic RVer for over 35 years. And then one day in 2019, she began full-time RVing as a lifestyle experiment. She quickly fell in love with the convenience, freedom and minimalist lifestyle offered by full-time RV living. Lynne is a professional writer and has been a professional dog trainer since 1995. You can read about her travel adventures on her R-Pod Adventure blog, R-podyssey at: http://www.rpodaventure.com
#10 – DEFINITELY NO! Transporting pine cones &/firewood can cause a horrific amount of damage as they can carry beetles that destroy trees. Most campgrounds will prohibit this to protect their trees.
Departure checklist should include closing all overhead exhaust vents tight.
Very very good idea.
If you turn your propane off that means your refrigerator turns off. Then how do you keep your fridge cold?
We found out that the battery for the refrigerator /freezer, despite everything else, will still run off the battery for our front hydraulic lift that we need the juice for hooking up the camper to our truck. Highest setting in fridge before we left, unhooked electricity, then Shut off refrigerator at departure, didn’t want to drain battery, didn’t open again until our next destination. Acted like a cooler!
Leave the door cold and it will stay cold for several hours!
If you’re planning on travelling on BC Ferries between Vancouver and Vancouver Island or to any of the Gulf Islands or up the coast to other ferry stops, you’ll be asked at the ticket booth when you check in how many propane tanks do you have, including a smaller bbq tank. They will tell you by Marine Law and the Dangerous Goods Act that you must close tightly all valves on propane tanks and place the red warning stickers they give you onto the closed valve per instructions given. Maximum two 30# tanks and one bbq tank per vehicle. If you’re carrying more you must contact Dangerous Goods.
Some good ideas, but like others have said, i disagree with #12. We leave our gas/fridge on while we travel down the road.
Also, Id be laughing at someone who spent the time to run an extension cord out to a fire ring to blow air on kindling to start a fire.
Thank you Chris. We do too and have done so for many years.
Add to your pre-departure check list:
1.Prescriptions and OTC items like aspirin, hearing aid batteries and wax protectors, allergy pills, sunscreen, eye drops ,etc.
2.Adhesives, duct tape, jeweler’s screwdrivers, camera batteries, SD cards, tablet, cell phone and charger.
3. Fire starters, charcoal, propane, portable BBQ grill.
4.Books, magazines, music CD’s, binoculars.
You can get 5 gallon or larger buckets and a threaded lid adaptor, MUCH easier and less messy than trying to replace and remove a press on and pull off lid. Useful for more than just laundry also!
Regarding Gorilla Tape: be sure to read the label.
Unlike Command Strips, GT is permanent, and the instructions warn that removal may cause surface damage.
Secondly, the GT label says not to use for anything deeper than 0.75″ or the bond will be stressed with an increased chance of failure. Most towel bars are more than double that depth, and have a “levered” weight (wet towels) hanging off of them.
Also, it says to use 2″ per 1 lb. of weight. That is considerably less strong per square inch than Command Strips. A 5 lb CS hook only uses a piece of tape that is about 2″ long. We use CS 5 lb. hooks to hang our towels…
Turning off the propane is a bad idea. The reason that I have an RV refrigerator is so that I can keep things cold while traveling. Turning off the propane turns off the fridge.
These are the best tips I have read! Thank you for sharing.
The Oxy shower head is a big improvement however the pause valve that comes with it doesn’t stop the flow, just slows it they say so you don’t get burnt. But in an RV’s small shower you can’t move away from it. I found another pause valve on Amazon that actually stops the flow.
Also on Amazon are valves that replace the sink aerator to pause the flow while you are brushing teeth or shaving 🙂
Who in the hell needs a torque wrench in a RV?
You would use it to check the torque on your lug nuts and also trailer hitch (if applicable).
I needed one on the first trip in my new tow-behind trailer. Camping World installed the hitch incorrectly and the “stress torque bars” (?) popped off 3 times if I turned more than the incorrect setting allowed. Fortunately the camper in the next site had the exact same hitch with the installation instructions. Using his torque wrench we reinstalled my hitch with the correct settings and I have had no more problems. I bought my own and have used it many times.
To check your wheel lug nuts on the trailer or truck or Rv not to mention anything that need a specific torque to function properly.
Are use a torque wrench for my Anderson hitch. It requires 60 foot pounds of torque that I checked regularly
Most tire shops and RV shops that work on your wheels or brakes will advise re-torquing the lug nuts after travelling a certain distance (e.g. 50 or 100 miles). Having a torque wrench that can prevent over or under torque on the lug nuts is pretty cheap insurance, and provides peace of mind after the apprentice tire dude has torqued the lug nuts while thinking about Friday night’s festivities. I speak from experience !
Lug nuts should be torqued to specs. Bolts on some fifth wheel hitches require torquing.
Great ideas. Thank you.
So I turn off my propane when driving….what happens to frig and freezer food? I may run 6 to 8 hours at times, propane off will not work! (Class C electric or propane frig) JUST SAYIN’
Lin, you must have a million-dollar motorhome. Most RVs don’t have dishwashers. And how are you going to rinse those clothes after you’ve parked.
And I guess you’re talking about the hairdryer when you hooked up to electricity. Because anything that heats draws a huge amount of electricity.
To check your wheel lug nuts on the trailer or truck or Rv not to mention anything that need a specific torque to function properly.
Hi Lynne,
I found your video on RV tips and tricks. It did not have the brands or where you got them of the refrigerator storage hacks! I would LOVE to save some time and solve some storage problems in my frig with these items! Did you have a list somewhere?
Thanks, Sandra
Hello!
I loved your article!
Would it be okay to Pin it to Pinterest and share with other RV enthusiasts?
Thank you
All your tips are handy and some humorous.
Thank you
Ummm how are you supposed to level your rig before filling your fresh tank. If you fill your fresh water that means your site must not have city water so your options are filling before you set up or no water. Unless you have one loooonnnngg hose.
# 20. Great idea. What do you always run out of 1st? Underware.
Lynne,
…good job on your list of hacks
…been RVing since 1958, nothing wrong with a little reminders
Loved this article including the fridge packing video.
How do you keep your refrigerator cold if you turn off the propane while traveling? This makes no sense whatsoever.
some really good advice and tricks of the trade here that we all know already but also at least one or two that were basic and clever simple solutions to rather tricky problems, especially the one regarding having our laundry washed ‘semi-automatically’ in a bucket while driving the car! 🙂
I’ve been reposting this:Leaving on the propane is a death wish. Your fridge works on electricity, right? You are hooked up to your truck’s electricity to run the tail lights of your trailer. So, turn on the fridge’s electricity. If your fridge doesn’t work on electricity, use up all you can before leaving (remember the issue and be cautious about how much you use each day) and then get a bag or two of ice and a cooler. Propane on while driving is just asking to get dead.
Love it! Keep on!
Tx
Danny
False. Check with your manufacturer.
Great tips except for turning off propane. Propane refrigerators have been used for years with very few reports of problems. Please back your fear up with facts and I will turn mine off.
Doesn’t there have to plumbing changes to use grey water to flush the toilet? How did you do it?
Any advice is good advice! Looking forward to this new style of life and meeting everyone, be safe!
John, I use a plastic wash basin, then pour that into a gallon plastic jug and leave it by the toilet for flush use. It has really added to my ability to camp longer.
You can safely run propane refrigerator while driving, your points are invalid.
Your Departure checklist leaves out critical info and some of your items are not in logical order… here are a few notes:
-Awnings in _before_ you close doors and unplug. Many new awnings are electric and are controlled from inside. Also, some awnings require a locking mechanism to be applied
-close/latch oven vent
– close windows/ vents
-tables/chairs secured
-bring slides in? Done right after checking for clearance
-they’re called weight distribution bars, not stabilizer bars, and they don’t apply to 5th wheel trailers
-attach sway control if needed and separate from WD bars (assumes this is a TT)
-connect securely to vehicle… including pin locks
-trailer jack up… this is already done when connecting to vehicle
-turn propane off… well, if your fridge is off then ok but most folks leave it on so the fridge runs, yes, even with the safety concerns
-disconnect and store water hoses?
-tv antenna down/rotated and/or cable tv line disconnected and stored?
-Add a final walk-around, and check signals/brake lights
Tip #3… really, unless your rig is at a >10% grade, this isnt worth the effort, IMO.
#12, leaving propane on is a risk, but no, propane lines are not normally going to come apart as we travel. Water heater and fridge kicking on when in a gas station is a real safety concern. Having propane bottles open during an accident increases possible issues.
MR
One can leave propane on for fridge. Just make sure connectors are tight and test for leaks with soapy water. The tanks are secure and have a flexible hose. Also make sure awnings are latched and secure.
I have been RVing for 50 years and never had an issue with leaving the propane on for the refrigerator. Nor have I ever met another traveler that had a problem doing it. Just be sure all your connections are good. I’ve also driven an LP powered vehicle. You wouldn’t get very far if you didn’t have the propane on.
#1 is a must even for experienced rv owners. One time I drove about 25 yards with my awning still out.
Just the other day I was in a hurry to depart, skipped using the list and ripped the 30 Amp power cord right out of it’s junction box. I have been driving our motor home for four years.
“Slow down”.
Please provide factual data supporting turning RV propane off.
I’ve been traveling in RVs of all types for over 50 years and have never seen, or even heard, of any problems with leaving propane on to run refrigerator.
RV safety is one of those areas where personal choice can have very quick and permanent results. Many RV owners’ forums have endless debates about leaving the flame lit or turning it off while travelling with a propane-powered fridge.
My preference is to simply eliminate the risk item and learn how to keep the fridge contents safe while travelling with a fire burning in a special area (boiler and flame guard) in my RV.
Love the container video!!!
oops – should have said WITHOUT travelling down the highway with a flame in the fridge boiler.
Instead of a breakable pizza stone, buy a pizza steel that fits your oven. Be sure to measure before you buy!
Cooks better pizza, and can be removed and used outdoors over coals or a camp stove as a flat griddle too!
Also, DO NOT carry firewood and pine cones as you travel. You are just giving bad bugs a ride to infest new places. In fact, it’s illegal in most states places to do so.
And if you use the Gorilla tape, best be sure you never want to move that item, and it needs to be light.
Command strips work great IF you properly clean the surface you are attaching it to with alcohol. Otherwise it will not make a good bond.
Tips from a guy who lived 5 years on the road and now spends 1/4th of his time there in my 2021 Grand Design 17MKE with 2k of solar panels and 824 Ah of lithium batteries with a 3K inverter.