FREE StationeryPacking Right Is Everything In An RV!
We’ve owned and used everything from tents, tent trailers and pickup campers to small RV pull campers up to 25 feet. But until you’ve packed for an extended period in a large 5th wheel or motorhome, you’ve not seen everything that can move, shift and fall while you are going down the road.
We found out quickly that things inside an RV don’t just sit quietly while you drive down the road.
In smaller RVs and campers, if things shift a little, it doesn’t have far to go and usually has soft stuff all around. But, in your larger RV’s, there’s lots more open space and most likely hard counters and floors just underneath.
We packed our glass dishes, cups and glasses carefully in the cupboards and clothes in the closets. We filled the tanks, unplugged and stored the power cords and put a few things like BB-Q and lawn chairs in the bins underneath. We did all the typical things we did with all our other RV’s other than the dishes and utensils were just like the ones we used in our house.
On the road we went headed from Spokane to Tacoma WA.
Did you know that inside a motorhome you can hear every little bump and the effect it has on your stuff as you drive down the road?
The roads between Spokane and Seattle are in great shape for the most part, but Kathy and I thought for sure every dish and cup was going to be broken long before we got to our end destination. We needed to learn some new packing techniques and we needed to learn them fast.
When we got in to Tacoma, every cupboard we opened had something fall out, even the fridge. We needed to learn some new packing techniques and fast.
Luckily my mom and dad had been using their 5th wheel for extended periods for some time now. They had a lot to teach us and were happy to pass on their lessons. Here’s what we found out about packing.
Dishes:
Paper Between Glass
Dishes, especially glass or china make a lot of noise and can easily be broken if you hit a large bump in the road or a whole lot of little ones. Take a lesson from the professional movers and put something between each plate and bowl. My mom used the non-slip rubber shelf pad cut in circles. Their neighbors use small square pieces of cardboard. Kathy didn’t want to spend a lot of time cutting and came up with the idea to use paper or Styrofoam plates and bowls. This turned out to be a great solution that was cheap and if one tears or wears out from long trips on the road, you can easily just replace it.
Note: We found that Styrofoam, while not very green, really cut the noise down to nothing and helped keep things from slipping around on winding roads. If you use paper plates between your glass plates, you have to use several, as they are not very thick. Also large paper bowls work better than styrofoam bowls because they are a little bigger and deeper which makes your bowls sit better with less noise.
Cupboards and the fridge:
Canned goods in single layers stay in place pretty well just by their weight. Most pantries in today’s larger RVs allow for stacking. If you do, be sure and use ties, bungees or pressure braces to keep things from coming out when you stop. The same goes for the refrigerator. Use spring or screw type braces to keep things from moving around when the shelves are less than full.
Note: Even when you take lots of precautions, be extra careful when you open overhead cupboards, closets and your fridge. Things, especially heavy ones can and do still come loose from time to time.
General Packing Rules:
Make sure you know the weight limit of your RV and always work at carrying less and lightening the load. Fill your water and fuel tanks and even make sure you have at least half the gray and black water tanks filled. You’ll be amazed at how often you must drive for quite some distance before being able to empty them.
Then pack your RV with all your food, clothes and everything else you plan on taking with you. Now, get your rig weighed. Most truck stops and state scales will be happy to do this for you for little or no cost. If you can, you will want to weigh each axel and even each wheel separately. You can be under your max weight and still be over weight on a single axel or wheel. Be sure and spread the weight out as evenly as possible.
That’s it for now. There are lots of little tips you’ll pick up and find on your own… we’ll even cover more of them as we go. For now though, I’ve been long winded enough and you have enough to keep you from doing any damage to your belongings or your RV.
We were very glad that we took the short shake down road trip. It was much nicer learning the big lessons in a controlled environment than having problems out on the road by ourselves.
That puts us safe and sound in Tacoma with the Christmas holidays fast approaching. You’re going to love our talk next time when we find out how the RV handles freezing weather.
As always, while we work on putting that together, here’s your link to some really cool FREE Scrapbook and or stationery goodies.
Today we have some FREE Photo Greeting Cards for you:
http://www.freescrapbooktraining.com/free_cards/free_cards.htm
Kathy and Wes
