The List--the Necessities IMHO

You've bought a new motorhome, fifth wheel, travel trailer, pop-top, truck camper or variation thereof and the folks at the rv dealership threw in a package including a sewer hose, a water hose and some holding tank treatment. You're all set for your first camping experience in your rig, right? Well, let's just say you're off to a good start, but the list of equipment needed to make your rig and rving experience more comfortable and fun is a little more extensive than that. I've listed items that we consider necessary and those we consider helpful but not required for both a motorhome and a fifth wheel as we've owned a couple of each.

Shall we start from the bottom up?

The Necessities

Jack pads Made of polystyrene, polyethylene or a similar type of plastic, these square or round disks provide a wide base for your leveling jacks. This can be especially helpful when you are parked on a campsite that has had a lot of rain recently, or one that is paved with asphalt. We had our set made locally and asked that they drill a hole in the middle of each one so that we could use the hooked end of the awning puller to pull them out from underneath the rig.

Leveling blocks and/or leveling boards Leveling blocks are a set of plastic disks that you can stack at various heights to raise the wheels of your rig to the proper level. Even though you may have automatic hydraulic leveling jacks on your motorhome, there will be times that the jacks actually raise one or more tires off the ground when they level out the rig and this is when the blocks come in handy to support those wheels.

For a fifth wheel or travel trailer you'll find that carrying several lengths of 1" and 2 " thick boards will allow you to easily level out your rig by stacking the lengths to the proper height needed and driving up on them. Or you can carry a couple sets of the leveling blocks.

Water hoses Known as food-grade water hoses, these white plastic hoses are made of a special material that won't leach chemicals into your water. Regular garden hoses are not made for potable (drinkable) water and may contribute an unpleasant odor or flavor to your water. It's wise to carry at least two lengths of water hoses as the distance from your water hook up to your rig will vary from campground to campground and at times the hook ups can be quite far from your rig. We carry three sets.

Sewer hoses Like water connections, sometimes your sewer hook up ise not conveniently located so it is very wise to have an extra length or two of sewer hose. For ease of water/sewage flow, it's also wise to carry a set of “slinkys” or accordian style sewer hose supports. Some handy folks have created a sewer hose support from pieces of gutter or a section of PVC pipe cut in half length wise.

Power cords Your rig will come supplied with a standard length power cord, but like water hook ups, sometimes the electrical box is too far away to reach with one length so carrying an extension is a good idea.

Power Surge Protector This is now on our required list; after losing eight appliances to an electrical problem, we would not be without a power surge protector on our 50 amp power line now. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing a lot of electrical equipment or even the cost of our insurance deductible charge. And when ours malfunctioned after six months (possibly due to a bad power outlet), the company replaced it free of charge.

Power cord adapters Many of the newer rvs now come with 50 amp circuitry due to all the gadgets included these days. Many of the older campgrounds have only 30 amp electrical service so you will need a 50 amp to 30 amp power cord adapter to be able to plug into the electrical box. There are also 30 amp to 50 amp adapters for those with 30 amp service in their rig who may find the rare campground that only provides 50 amp service. If you plan to travel in Canada, it would be wise to also have a 30 amp to 20 amp adapter as many of the campgrounds up north have only 15 to 20 amp electrical service at the sites.

Wheel chocks Even though you have a parking/emergency brake on your motorhome, having a set of wheel chocks is necessary as a back up in case of flat tires or blowouts on your rear braking tires while traveling.

Wheel locks While wheel locks are advertised for fifth wheels and travel trailers to prevent tire movement and to stabilize your rig, we also used one for our motorhome. It is the first thing put in place after we are satisfied with the rig's position when we've backed into/pulled into a site. If you have a set of these, you can forego the wheel chocks. On a fifth wheel or travel trailer these type of wheel locks really do make a difference in keeping movement down when you are walking around inside your rig.

Trailer stabilizer Placed between the tires on the opposite side of the fifth wheel from where we've place the wheel lock, the trailer stabilizer truly minimizes the front-to-back rocking that occurs when you move about in the rig. An alternative to wheel locks. This is the type of trailer stabilizer we currently use as it's quicker and easier to remove from between the tires.

King pin stabilizer Newer version come in a tripod design that seem to add even more stability, but we definitely notice a different in the sway of the rig when we don't put up the king pin stabilizer.

Hoppy level This is my personal favorite. This version of the Hoppy level swings outward so you can not only see the level of the rig from front to back but also side to side. However, the part I like is the round dial with the level on top; when you raise your fifth wheel to unhitch from your truck you set the dial so the bubble is level on the round dial leaving it in that position. You then raise or lower your rig to the proper level, but when you are ready to hitch up again, you return the rig to the height indicated by the round dial's level so there's no need to guess if you've raised the hitch far enough for the truck to back into it Neat, huh? There are many types of levels, including a very large one that many people attach to their king pin box, so what you use will be based on your personal preference. I simply prefer the convenience of having a level that checks both directions for me in one place.

Stepladder Whether you own a motorhome or a fifth wheel, you'll have to wash the exterior windows and you'll need a stepladder for that.

Large cleaning brush with a telescoping handle Many campgrounds have restrictions on washing of rigs and those that do allow you to clean your rig will normally require a brush and bucket for washing (instead of using a spray cleaner device).

Road service coverage There are many companies out there that provide road service coverage. We use Coach Net and have been very pleased with their response, as well as with our former coverage with Allstate Road Service. We only switched to Coach Net when we were given our first year free with our new rig in 2002 and we've used it several times since for flat tires/blow outs. Coach Net also claims to have 24 hour a day RV technicians on staff for advice by telephone when you are having problems but we've not used that part of the service. I think it is much wiser to leave the changing of a flat tire on a triple axle rig parked on the side of a busy highway in sleeting rain (no fun, believe me) to someone else. The $100 per year cost (it will be less your first year) will be worth it.