Our Top 10 Beginner RV Mistakes

RV Beginner Mistakes

We’ve made some serious beginner RV mistakes so we decided to put them together for you and make this video. Our top 10 beginner RV mistakes. So what are we waiting for. Let’s roll that intro and get into it.

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Gas up night beforeKnow exact height of your rig

Come on I gotta show you something in the car. Not knowing the height of your rig is a pretty newbie move so make sure to get out and actually measure your rig once it’s hitched up. That way you’ll know your exact height then when you have that measurement you can go ahead and get an RV or trucker app and plug that measurement into it. This will ensure you don’t go under any bridges that you don’t fit under. Personally we like to use the app Copilot. We’ve put in the height of our rig and our preference for two-lane highways.That keeps us safe on the road. What are you doing? Oh I was getting RV mistake number three ready.

Monitor tire pressures

It’s important to have a tire pressure monitoring system and better yet get an air compressor to go with it. It’s because there’s nothing worse than knowing that you have a flat tire and not being able to do anything about it. Dealing with tire issues is almost inevitable when you live in an RV full-time so it’s best to be prepared. Got some pretty good product placement for my air. Right this isn’t even a sponsored post but fine if you’re watching, come on Hanley take a sponsorship, right. Hey where’d you go? Sorry just getting the property for mistake number four but yeah air sponsorship, wouldn’t be mad about that anyway.

Have an extension cord

Mistake number four is not having an extension cord. Whether you have 30 amp or 50 amp just make sure you have one of these on hand because we learn this mistake the hard way. We arrive at a campground, pulled in, got settled only to realize that the hookups for electrical was all the way in the back. So let me tell you a first-hand experience. It’s not fun hunting down an RV extension cord on a Sunday when all the park places are closed. Man that day was rock. Do you remember that day? Now where did he go?

Have a basic toolkit

Mistake number 5 is not having a basic toolkit. Whether you have a new rig or an old rig you need at least a basic toolkit. You don’t know when you’re gonna need it but trust me when I say you will. While we’re out here let’s go check out mistake number 6.

Don’t Keep both propane tanks open

Mistake number 6 is having both propane tanks open. It is RV law that your propane is going to run out in the middle of the night so would you rather freeze your butt off or just walk outside real quick turn a knob and get cozy back in bed? The next morning you can take your empty tank get it filled back up keep it closed and plug it in until your tank runs out again. That way you’re never stuck cold in your RV. Smells like lunchtime. Oh you’re in here alright.

Pack food for moving days

Well our RV mistake number seven is not packing food on moving days. I can’t tell you how many times in the beginning we thought we’ll just make food when I get to the next campground. It’s a pretty easy drive right? Nope we ended up starving. Normally places with food are in shopping centers and crowded areas so you don’t want to bring a fifth wheel through there. Can you imagine, no you know what don’t even imagine, because it’s a nightmare or you know what the other nightmare situation is driving for what feels like a million miles and not finding any food. So do yourself a solid and pack some lunch.

Run furnace first time with doors, windows open

Mistake number eight. If you purchase a new rig make sure that the first time you run your furnace you’re able to run it with your windows and door open. We learn the hard way that furnaces come with wood chips and dust and oil in them that burns off and creates a really really acrid smoke. We settled in to watch a movie on our shakedown trip and five minutes later the smoke alarm started going off and the whole rig was filled with smoke. About two minutes of panic and 15 minutes of google searching later we found out that it’s very common for this to happen.

It can take 12 to 24 hours of continuously burning your furnace to completely clear out all of the particles in your furnace. If you still have your sticks and bricks we recommend to do this in your driveway. You ready? On to number nine.

Understand your RV electricals

So mistake number nine is not having a basic understanding of the electricals in your rig. You need to do some research and understand the difference between 50 amps and 30 amp and how they affect your specific rig. Normally when you pull too much voltage you’ll just flip the breaker on the electrical pole outside of your rig. But it’s pretty important to know where your fuse box is inside of your coach and you really should know where your GFCI outlets are. Don’t know what a GFCI outlet is? Then you’re already guilty of mistake number nine. Let’s go outside and finish this up via noob all right

Deadbolt your doors

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You guys ready for number ten since its last. It’s the most important, right. No these are no particular order because we’re trying to save you from all ten. So a number ten is making sure that on travel days your door is dead bolted. I mean this is a moving house so don’t you dare think for a second just closing the door is not gonna pop it open when you’re on the road. Thankfully the handrail also doubles as a second luck so I mean I’m not saying it happens but one time it may or may not have been open and if the handrail wasn’t there or a door would have opened I don’t know. I’m not saying that happened but just dead bolt both doors alright.

Those are our top ten beginner RV mistakes. Tell us in the comments below which ones you’ve committed to not making or if you’ve made a couple of these beginner RV mistakes yourself we’d very much like to hear those stories as well. So let us know in the comments those stories too.

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