Hints and Tips

This page will have some ideas we have picked up from other folks and some things we've figured out on our own. Some of the ideas might work for you and some may seem unnecessary but I'm throwing them out there for you to consider. If you are interested in further information or pictures of any of the items/modifications I've mentioned below, please e-mail us.

IN THE KITCHEN
For durable, attractive dishes that are lightweight and can be used in the oven and microwave we use Corelle. We've had our set in our various rigs since 1993 and haven't broken one yet over all sorts of rough roads. Some people put paper towels or "slip stop" between the plates but I've never bothered with this.

We also use crystal wine glasses which are hung from a plastic wine rack inside a cupboard. To protect them I have cut tube socks in half (cutting the ribbed part off the foot section) and pull these sections over the goblets while traveling. I also stretch a small bungee cord across the front of the wine rack to prevent the glasses from bouncing off the rack from the open end.

Buy appliances that you can use for multiple purposes such as a toaster oven, deep fryer, food processer, etc. to save space. This, of course, is assuming you cook :)

Learn to use that convection oven! You will be using the campground's electricity instead of your propane. I've had other campers tell me they've attended convection oven cooking classes at FMCA/Escapee/Samboree gatherings and they now love their ovens.

A good degreaser-all purpose cleanser is Mean Green. You can buy it at Wal*Mart and at Family Dollar Stores and Dollar General Stores. The dollar stores usually carry it in the gallon size which we keep on hand as we use the Mean Green to clean black marks off the rig, bugs off the front cap of the rig and off the truck as well as sap and sticky spots. It's a great spot cleanser for carpets if you make sure to rinse it well afterwards as the cleanser is quite concentrated. It also takes soap scum off your glass shower doors. Try it!  Some people love "Awesome" for the same reasons.  Also sold at the dollar stores.


If your backsplash area behind your stove is wallpapered or simply textured vinyl wall paneling you might consider buying a sheet of plexiglass cut to size from a hardware or home improvement stove and installing it. Holes can be drilled into the corners for fasteners or you can use mirror fasteners to attach it. Cleanup will be much easier now! As a more expensive alternative, you can use mirror tiles which give the impression of a little more space in the rig as well.

To rid your home of fruit flies, pour about 1/2 inch of cider vinegar in a small bowl and add a couple of drops of dish washing liquid, stirring it in. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and then poke several holes in it using a fork. The fruit flies will be attracted to the vinegar, held in by the dishwashing liquid and the plastic wrap. This really works. You may have to refresh the vinegar every couple of days until you get all the flies.

To reheat pizza, use a non-stick skillet on medium low heat and you will have a nice crispy crust and well heated pizza.

A couple of ways to secure your glass coffee carafe in the coffee maker while you are traveling; one, place a small folded up towel underneath the carafe (thanks to Bob and Mary Hatch for that one) two, place velcro tabs on either side of the coffee maker and on the ends of a small nylon belt and run the belt through the handle of the carafe and attach it to the velcro on the side of the coffee maker (this is what we did with our coffee maker that was hung over the counter), or three, simply place some slip-stop rubberized material under the coffee maker and/or the carafe.

INSIDE YOUR RIG
You don't need to buy expensive RV toilet tissue. One way to find a suitable toilet tissue is to put a hand full of toilet tissue in a fruit jar half full of water. Shake the jar and if the tissue breaks up easily, the product is suitable for the black water tank in your RV. I find that Angel Soft works very well in our system.

Do you like those foaming hand cleaners?  When you empty one, buy a SoftSoap or generic pump handsoap, then fill your empty foaming handsoap bottle 1/3 full with the soap and fill it up the rest of the way with water.  Shake and voila'!  Foaming handsoap with enough left in the SoftSoap container for one or two more refills.  Easy money saver.

We use plastic bins in varying sizes for storage of items in our overhead cupboards, in our closet (especially our file-sized bin for our paperwork) and under the bed as well as in the outside storage bins. It keeps the items neater for travel and better organized in general.

There's not a lot of storage room in a fifth wheel when you opt for the stacking washer/dryer combo so we've learned the "if you buy something, get rid of something" rule. It mostly applies to clothing but works for other items as well. Once a year I go through the rig and create a "Goodwill bag" of those items we haven't used in a year or most likely will never use again. Then I have room if I discover a new craft to try!

Paperback books take up a lot less room and weigh less than hard-backed books. Most campgrounds have small libraries or book exchanges so trade yours in for new reading material. If you still receive magazines through the mail, leave them for others to enjoy. I leave our old Trailer Life campground guides and road atlases and even VHS movies too. Edited 11/17/11: I used credit card points to buy myself a Kindle and have stocked it with free books from Amazon.com and the Guggenheim web site. Amazon.com also has special deals for inexpensive book downloads quite often and even provides a book trading service with other Kindle owners. I was hesitant to go with the Kindle but love it now.

Want to display some snapshots but don't have the wall space or counter room? Lakeside Collections occasionally sells acrylic photo holders with magnetic strips on the back. Since our refrigerator has wood panels the magnets don't stick, so I removed the magnets and attached velcro to the backs of the photo frames and then on the wood panels. Voila'. Lots of room for pictures! Edited 11/17/11: Even better? A digital photo frame—simply load up a smart card with your favorite photos and load up your frame. Love that technology!

Our heavy glass dining room lampshade came loose and fell onto our table one day during our travels. While the shade didn't break, the wood of the table was badly dented. From that point on I made sure to check the screws on all the glass lampshades on all the fixtures in the rig as a safety precaution. The movements of travel can jar them loose. Once the dining room shade worked itself loose it continued to do so; we finally bought a tube of Loctite and applied it which helped.
For a quick lick-and-a-promise cleanup in the bathroom, try using antibacterial wipes on the bathroom vinyl flooring as well as on your countertops and toilet bowl seat & rim.

OUTSIDE
Denny loves his Sewer Solution, which is a water powered device that breaks up the sewage from your black water tank and passes it out through a standard sized garden hose instead of the 3 inch sewer line. Denny has taken that a step further and has replaced the garden hose with varying lengths of PVC pipe which he stores in a large section of PVC pipe that he attached to the undercarriage of the rig with metal straps.

None of us love black tanks and cleaning them but here's a tip we received from a man who cleans black tanks as a business.  When you are getting ready to travel to your next location and have dumped your black water tank, dump about a cup of powdered detergent like Tide into your toilet and add a few gallons of water.  We all know the chemical reaction you get when you mix Tide with water (Denny and I used to clean our paint brushes this way) so you get that same chemical reaction in your tank as it's sloshing around while driving down the road.  Flush and dump when you arrive at the next campground and you'll have a cleaner tank.

Denny also uses a five-way hose connector that we found at Wal*Mart which allows him to have his water hose, Sewer Solution lead hose and a separate hose to the black water back flush all connected at the same time, also leaving him extra connections for a garden hose to wash the rig.
We carry a pancake style air compressor for filling our tires quickly and efficiently, plus an impact wrench for emergency tire changes if needed. This also allowed him at one time to use a grease gun, but he's turned that duty over to the oil change places now.

We've discovered that the Mr. Clean Auto Dry cleaning system does work in areas of high mineral content to prevent water spots on the truck and the rig. Check with your campground to see if using this device is allowed as it does use more water than the bucket method. Denny also uses a six inch hand-held electric buffer he picked up at Wal*Mart for waxing our vehicles which really makes the task faster and easier.

If you want to avoid black streaks on your rig, buy or create an extension for your rig's roof gutters. Denny bought a short piece of clear, wide tubing which he then split in half and screwed a piece to each of the gutter ends which has eliminated most of our black streak problems. Mean Green cleans what little is left.

We carried chairs, bicycles and a step-ladder at one time and didn't have room for all of them, so Denny created an under-the-rig bracket out of aluminum angle iron (hmm, is there such a thing?) and bolted it to the undercarriage. He drilled a hole in the end of the bracket and one in the leg of the step-ladder and slides a padlock on for travel.

Slideout edges can be sharp and dangerous-cut a swim noodle into six to twelve inch segments and then cut a slice lenthwise in each segment and slide them over the bottom and lower side edges of your bedroom slide and any other slide that may cause a problem. Some people also have sliced a tennis ball to insert over the corners of the slideout which is effective also.

Want to save $20 for ten minutes time? Buy a grommet set and an outdoor porch mat. Cut the porch mat into three segments (if you have a fifth wheel with three entrance steps), punch grommets in all four corners, place the carpet segment on your step and secure it with cable ties. An individual step mat costs at least $9.99 at Camping World and you can buy the grommet set and a mat for about that price.

GENERAL TIPS
Whether you're new to RVing or have been camping for years, it's always helpful to have a list of the things that need to be done to pack up/prepare the rig for leaving/breaking camp. You can find lists on several RVers websites such as Mark's Fulltiming, RV Netters, the RV Club or create your own and then refer to it frequently. While you probably won't need a list of supplies once you're a fulltimer, you will need a good hook-up and unhitch routine.

Due to the fact we are often sightseeing away from the rig in a new area, I created a "campground ID" slip that I tuck in my billfold. Loosely it reads as follows: "We are the Brauns, driving a white 2000 Ford F450 pick up truck with Ohio license XXXXXXX. We own a 2002 National RV Palisades fifth wheel, Ohio license XXXXXX located at the _(name of RV Park)_________________ in __(name of city and state)__ at site __. In case of emergency please notify __(my emergency contact info is preprinted in this area)__. There is a cat named Patches inside." I created a page of several of these notices and print off several pages and cut them into individual strips for my wallet.

Next up: the app I call the marriage saver.  Called the Dish Pointer, this app for iPhones and Android phones allows you to type in the satellites you use for your DISH TV, Direct TV, Starband or Hughes.net systems (or any satellite system) and then when you hold your smart phone up it will show you the line of satellites on your phone screen through the camera so you can see if trees are blocking the satellites from your site.  Again--the marriage saver because trees are the bain of my existence when it comes to them blocking the signal for Denny's beloved TV.  Find it here.  As a matter of fact, there are a ton of great apps out there for traveling; Trip Advisor for restaurant and campground reviews, GasBuddy for the cheapest gas in the area, grocery store apps to have coupons downloaded to your phone to use when you go shopping and one I like called State Lines, created for RVers.  It has state laws about passing school buses, liquor laws, gun laws, speed laws, sales tax information, motorcycle laws, seatbelt laws, right turn on red laws, time zone information and all kinds of handy stuff for just a couple of bucks.  A very handy little app.

Do you have slideouts? Have you backed into a site only to find you are too close to a tree/electrical box/bush to open your slide? Try this tip; take your awning pull rod and measure the distance between the side of your rig and the slideout when it is extended and mark that distance on your awning rod with electrical tape. Do this on the slide that extends out the farthest on the street side and also on your curb side slide. Then when you are unsure of the clearance distance in a new spot you can take out your awning rod, put it against the side of the rig and note by the electrical tape where the slide would be when extended so you know if you have enough room or if you need to reposition your rig.

The source of most yelling in a RVing relationship? Backing into a campsite. It gets ugly for the couple doing it, but provides great entertainment to those watching. Want to avoid providing a show? Use walkie-talkies (2-way radios) and/or hand signals that the two of you have worked out in advance. Note that last statement. Use hand signals that you both have agreed upon in advance so you understand each other. They should be as simple as possible; such as both hands up and palms out for stop, pointing to one side or the other for "the rear end needs to move that-a-way", holding your two hands apart and then moving them closer together to show how much farther the driver can back up until he needs to stop (at which point the navigator's hands touch together). No one-fingered waving allowed here. The person guiding the driver should be aware of low hanging branches, concrete patios on the far side, the distance from the electrical box and/or water and sewer hook ups to be able to guide the driver to the ideal spot on the site. Good luck! Edited 11/17/11: Many couples each have cell phones these days, so you can use your cell phones to call the other phone and set it on speaker phone to use in place of a walkie-talkie.

Check your brake lights and turn signals on your rig and towed vehicle after hooking up and before leaving your site. This is something Denny and I do faithfully to protect our rig and the drivers behind us. And we rarely see other RVers do it. The navigator stands to the rear of the rig or towed vehicle and the driver turns on the left signal (the navigator raises her/his left hand to signal that the light is working), then the right signal (right hand up for the navigator) and then presses the brake pedal (navigator lifts both hands in the air). See? Easy and it only takes a few seconds.

Walk-arounds. You're hitched up and ready to go. You've checked the lights and you're ready to hop in your truck/motorhome right? Nope. First do a walk-around. Simply walk around the four sides of your rig and tow(ed) vehicle, checking that the bins are closed and locked, the TV antenna is down, the jacks are up, chairs or bikes that are hanging on racks are secured, steps are retracted/folded in, windows are shut and all the power cords and hoses have been stowed . Now look around the campsite itself. Tablecloth off the picnic table? No chairs left out, no flower pots, no pet dishes, no trash? Great! You're good to go.

Have you ever thought about what would happen to your rig if you were in a bad accident/medical emergency and the rig needed to be moved? There are a couple of ways to deal with this problem. Some RVing organizations, such as FMCA (Family Motor Coach Assoc.) provides a service where they will send a driver to your rig's location and move it to another location for you. This service is also provided by emergency air flight medical services such as MASA and Skymed which fly you home or to your preferred hospital if you suffer a medical emergency while traveling. For those of you who don't have either of these options I suggest creating a detailed list of how to pack up and hitch up your rig and tow(ed) vehicle and then either send it to a family member/emergency contact or tell them where to find the list in your rig. Neither of our sons has every driven or operated our rig and truck so I tried to be as precise as possible in listing every step necessary to successfully move the rig by creating a list of everything that I do to prepare the fifth wheel for moving both inside and out and also a list of the steps to be taken to hitch the truck to the rig. I also explained that the best thing for them to do would be to ask any other fifth-wheel owner nearby for assistance with the whole process, for as we all know, RVers are always willing to help.

Don't assume the electric power boxes at all campgrounds are properly grounded and wired. You would be wise to have a voltage meter/tester that you use before plugging into any campground power box. To prevent any accidental tripping of the circuit breaker it's also smart to turn of the circuit breaker on the box before plugging in your power cord, then flip the switch back on. To further assist with power fluctuations, we use a Hughes Autoformer which has helped in those campgrounds whose power supply is a bit erratic. Edited 11/17/11: Our Autoformer was fried due to a wiring problem in our rig, so we now use a 50 amp power cord surge protector instead.

If your plastic grid for your exterior refrigerator vent is yellowed, spray it with Mean Green and allow the spray to sit a minute, and then wipe it off and rinse it with clear water. That yellowed plastic will now look as good as new!

Denny logs information about his truck maintenance into a computer program called Vehicle Record System which I found as shareware years ago. The free version allows you to track up to three vehicles without needing to buy the upgraded version. One of the handiest sections is the travel log. Denny loads the name of the campground we're staying at, the beginning mileage from when we left the previous campground and the mileage on the odometer when we arrived. This not only gives us a record of which campground we stayed at and when, it shows the actual mileage driven on the trailer tires so he knows when it's time to rotate them or to consider buying new ones.

Tires can be the bane of your existence if not properly maintained. A blowout can cause physical damage to your rig as well as a being time consuming and very dangerous. We've had tread separation of our tires on one fifth wheel (replaced by the manufacturer) and a blowout on the second one. This has been in spite of careful attention to air pressure and weight limitations. Our rig has triple axles which means there's a lot of pressure on that rear axle when tight turns are necessary to back into a camp site. The rear wheels will cant, causing a lot of pressure on the outer walls of the tires. After our last blowout a tire technician suggested special trailer tires to replace our special truck tires which came standard on the rig. The trailer tires are manufactured with firmer side walls for trailers that are basically being towed straight. This gives a lot more strength to the tire when you do make those turns creating additional pressure on the sidewalls. We have a lot more confidence in our tires now. The best part? They are cheaper than the light truck tires previously mounted on the rig.

Moving your recreational vehicle every few days or weeks and traveling over rough roads creates a lot of stress on fasteners, joints, welds, screw on handles, etc. We've had the handles of both our gray water and black water tanks actually come off because they have gradually unscrewed themselves with the movement of the fifth wheel. Set aside a day once a month or so to tighten exterior handles, check obvious screws, bolts and latches. While you're at it, check the water in your coach batteries and in those in your tow(ed) vehicle.

You know ultra violet rays from the sun can damage your tires, but do you ever think about your slideout rubber moldings? There are products to spray on the molding strips to keep the rubber soft and protect them from UV damage; find them at Camping World and Wal*mart.