What did you buy the first night?

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
Still no word from the dealer as to when our RV will be ready but Eric and I are counting down anyway. Lol

What did you buy the first night or week you got your RV?

We'll be driving about 12 hours to pick it up and it occurred to us that that's pretty much where we wanted to be anyway. So we had the idea to take our stuff in the truck and leave on our first big adventure from there. Is that totally crazy? :)
 

Rickhansen

Well-known member
Not at all. Many dealers have an onsite hookup that you can do a thorough PDI. To plan to spend a few nights near the delivering dealer makes good sense. Be sure the dealer puts water in all systems and try everything before you leave there. That will head off any potential disasters for your first trip.

As far as what to take/buy, I'd take the minimal necessities, you'll very quickly make your list of must-haves and probably a lengthy wish-list too. This gives you opportunity to get to know your new rig, make a thorough list of questions and a warranty list for the dealer, if necessary.

You've already got a big leg up, you've the Owners Forum.

Congratulations and good-luck.
 

Speedy

Well-known member
We drove from MN to IN to pick up our BC; stayed near the dealer for three days to shake everything out. First night we bought $572 of stuff from Walmart just to eat drick and sleep; that was because we moved from a popup to our BC.
 

flamingknitter

Well-known member
Take stuff for cooking. You will want to try out your new stove and microwave. Bedding and towels. If they haven't changed the mattress, you will need a memory foam topper but you might want to spend a couple of nights sleeping on it. If you end up crippled, get the topper!! If your dealer doesn't supply a "welcome kit" you'll need a good hose for fresh water, a flush hose of a different color and hose for draining your holding tanks. And don't forget the tv cable. Gotta have that! Wheel chocks. Pretty much everything else you can get as you go along and determine need.

How exciting to get to set up your new house!! Hope you have many miles of safe travels and memories. Congrats!
 

CliffP

Well-known member
One of our first purchases was lights for the awning. Don't forget the straps for them (we did). These hang down enough so the lights aren't covered by the awning flap.

Great idea to start your first trip from there! Enjoy the new camper!
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
I think the first thing we bought was a set of real tires. Those STs that it came with are helping some farmer spread manure if they haven't blown out yet...Don
 

jjriker

Well-known member
We traveled from NY to TN to pick up our fiver. I googled online for "camping list" and found a couple good ones that I adapted. We had the truck full of bins and containers! And we still had to make a couple Walmart runs. Forgot some important stuff - like coffee filters!! :D
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Get a gate valve and clear flush pro for the sewer connect. Here's a combo unit. The gate valve lets you keep minor sewage accumulation from getting all over your hands when you uncap the sewer line while setting up. The clear passthrough lets you see what's coming out when you empty the black tank. The flush part lets you attach a water hose to push water back into the black tank in the event you have a clog at the outlet that's keeping you from draining the tank.

Get a good water pressure regulator. The $10-20 units sold at Walmart and at most RV Dealers limit pressure but also limit water flow to around 1 gallon per minute. You'll think your shower is broken. A good regulator will cost more but allow 4-5 gpm to come through. It's pricey, but a lot of people use the Watts 263A. A less expensive, non-adjustable regulator that may do the job is from irrigation suppliers. The Senninger 40 PSI Sen Hose Reg (FHxMH) part# PRSG40 is inexpensive. I use it inside the UDC during the winter and it works well. But I haven't tested the water pressure at the faucets to see how much regulating its doing.

Bathroom items, toiletries, hand towels. A gallon or two of bottled water in case you don't care for the taste of what's coming out of the park faucet. You can never have too many flashlights and spare batteries. A small toolkit for inside. Pencils/Pens/Paper. If you have lots of electronics, bring a power strip or octopus. Don't forget cables and chargers for cameras, phones, computers, kindles, etc.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Rubber gloves, for handling the dumping activities! Make sure the hose you buy is a drinking water compatible hose (usually white). A regular garden hose is fine for the sewer cleanout, (make sure it's NOT white, so you don't confuse the two).

As soon as you can, look into a surge protector for the rig. Either the kind you plug in at the pedestal, or one you add inside the basement. RV Park power is not a consistent as you would hope, and this is very valuable insurance to protect your from too much or too little electric current, which could damage your rig and cost thousands.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Since we transferred a lot of necessities from the TT to the BH, I think the one thing we picked up for our first trial use was a bottle of booze to christen it with. No, we didn't smash it on the nose, either.
 

PeternLiane

Well-known member
I agree with the other posts. You have to have a good water regulator, wheels chucks, leveling blocks, White water hose (for drinking water), gray water hose (for gray and black tanks) and sewer hose w/coupler. Then you will need plates, cups and other kitchen stuff. You will need black tank chemicals (I use it some others don't, but I don't like the stink), trailer toilet paper and other bathroom stuff. Don't forget the food, spices, oils, utensils, pots and pans. Then you will need to make a list during the first night and run to walmart or another store.
 

Wharton

Well-known member
Take a notebook, clipboard and several pens/pencils so you can right everything down you need for your multiple trips to the store. Why the clipboard? Clip the notebook to the clipboard and then you won't lose it.
 

recumbent615

Founding MA Chapter Leader-retired
You are getting list over load here for sure - but I agree with everything that has been outlined but would add as a minimum an inline filter to protect your plumbing.

Kevin
 

2psnapod1

Texas-South Chapter Leader-Retired
We traveled from Montgomery to Tampa to pick up our coach. We traded in a 29 ft TT so we had pretty much everything we needed already and just transferred everything from one to the other. We stayed 5 nights in their pick up lot testing things out and having things tweaked that needed tweaking.

However, when we ordered our coach a few months earlier at that Tampa show we bought a name placard for outside.
Campsite Sign.jpg
 

ILH

Well-known member
A few years ago on our maiden trip with our new 34' TT we ended up spending close to $2K in supplies - from mats to chairs to kitchen supplies. Looking back, it was probably a bit of overkill - but we were pretty empty heading on vacation.

Next weekend we're heading off on to our 'shake down' trip in our new Road Warrior 305 - and for the most part we already have everything. I'm still figuring out the storage situation and sewage hose storage - but I'll work it out in time.

One suggestion that everybody seems to have overlooked is a corkscrew! Can't be without that!
 

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
Take stuff for cooking. You will want to try out your new stove and microwave. Bedding and towels. If they haven't changed the mattress, you will need a memory foam topper but you might want to spend a couple of nights sleeping on it. If you end up crippled, get the topper!! If your dealer doesn't supply a "welcome kit" you'll need a good hose for fresh water, a flush hose of a different color and hose for draining your holding tanks. And don't forget the tv cable. Gotta have that! Wheel chocks. Pretty much everything else you can get as you go along and determine need.

How exciting to get to set up your new house!! Hope you have many miles of safe travels and memories. Congrats!

Oh. that reminded me of a question. Recommended wheel chocks? Ones to stay away from?

It comes with a welcome kit. An electrical adaptor. I'm assuming that's just to downgrade 50 amps to 30, etc?

We will need to pack the TV cable. Good thinking.

Thanks! A little nervous about the idea of setting up house so many miles away. LOL

~Alice
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
If you don't have the level up system, I suggest the Roto chock/X-chocks. They go between the tires and help stop "spring" shake from the suspension quite a bit. Camping World and most bigger RV stores sell them. A little pricey, but worth it.
 

ericandalice

Senior Question Asker
One of our first purchases was lights for the awning. Don't forget the straps for them (we did). These hang down enough so the lights aren't covered by the awning flap.

Great idea to start your first trip from there! Enjoy the new camper!

Awning lights huh? Any recommended ones or ones to stay away from? I hadn't really considered that other than "oh those are pretty." But I guess they're good for nighttime safety, huh? We'll need to check the heights, especially if we add straps. Eric is 6'4" and hits his head on all sorts of things. :(

Thanks for the feedback.
 
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