7 Things We Wish We Knew BEFORE Starting RV Life FULL-TIME (1 month on the road)

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I think you are missing the real anti-rain solution. We live outside our camper under an awning and screen room. Inside is for sleeping, shower, and restroom. You need a great awning (not necessarily a traditional roll up awning), two nice chairs, and the ability to cook outdoors. You'll thank me.

Welcome to the nomad life newbies. Hope all works out well for you on your journey. As a 17 year full time veteran nomad myself I would like to point out something many never consider. Milage and terrain. Why do I mention these items you may be asking. Well simply put RV's are typically constructed to travel from a flat, level storage area to a flat level RV pad at a park. The materials used to construct the cabinets and walls are not as rugged as you may believe. Running the roads and taking rough dirt or gravel roads can do significant structural damage in areas you cannot see because it is behind a wall or appliance. Think of each travel day as subjecting your house to a magnitude 8.5 earthquake. Everything within your RV shakes and bounces at that level for the entire duration of the journey. Upper storage compartments are particularly susceptible to this type of damage. Put only light objects in overhead bins. To prolong the lifespan of your RV travel on good roads when possible and take rough roads slow and careful. Also drive less, camp more. Sometimes sitting in one place for a couple weeks can help if you find cost of fuel to be an issue. Plan your moves so you can find an area that allows you to stay longer periods then just a few days. Freecampites.net is a good resource. Find it online or in the app store. Go forth and make memories. Be safe, have fun and be good to one another. God Bless. (Edited for spelling)

Full timed it with my ex for 3 years, and have continued for another 2. Biggest item I can't stress enough is get a cheap Chinese diesel heater for your primary heat source, and FORGET the propane one! diesel heat is cheap, and DRY~ it will dry out the RV no matter how much moisture you introduce with cooking or showering~ It's the best tip I can offer! Strap a 5 gallon to the bumper or something for your fuel source, but otherwise diesel heater is the only way to go!

I used to live full-time in an RV and loved every minute of it. I especially liked the rain as I lived the noise of the rain pounding on the RV roof. Yes, if you wanted to go out and explore it’s a bummer, but it didn’t really bother me. I had a 34’ Class A and lived alone, so had plenty of space and enjoy doing nothing but reading, writing, watching movies, learning to play the guitar and just enjoyed sitting and looking outside. I also enjoyed taking naps, but also worked full-time. I understand the RV Life app is a great resource for finding water, dump areas and places to stay. Having a dehumidifier like you have is necessary to avoid the damp and wet interior. It’s amazing how much water can be drawn from the air in a short period of time. Installing water filters and even a UV light filter is a must. It allows you to drink water from almost anywhere. The only thing I didn’t like about full-time living in an RV was when I was parked somewhere for a length if time and had to load up everything to get water, propane and empty my tanks. Doing these things are very easy, it’s just having to leave a campsite to do them sucked, along with going to a laundromat, which I typically only did while driving somewhere, which is when I’d also go grocery shopping. I wish I had solar panels, but they weren’t a thing back when I was living in my RV, so I had a generator. There’s nothing like trying to stealth camp and running a generator! I made it work though. Now generators are pretty quite, not enough to stealth camp, but for all other areas. Well I wish you guys the best. It can be a wonderful life traveling and living full-time in an RV. It’s just far different and you face different problems than you do living in a home. A lot of people adjust to it and love it, but many simply can’t do it and go back to a traditional home. I only gave it up because I loved a gal who didn’t want to live in an RV at all. We enjoyed going out on vacation in it, but she wouldn’t live in it. Now, we are approaching retirement and she’s interested in buying an RV and traveling the US where we live as there is so much to see and do. She still won’t full-time, but she’s willing to go out for one to three months at a time. So our adventure awaits us!

We relied heavily on Facebook RV groups, especially for the type of RV we have. Very welcoming community.

Bleach cleans tanks~. Use a blue hose filter when filling tank. Use a vent fan (put a cover on it so it can be opened while raining). Rain is a thing. Get rain suit and use awnings carefully. Parking is always a problem because you have to move. Join a fraternal organization that has RV parking around the country. Harvest Hosts. Lots out there.

Most RV’s are not designed for winter use. The ones that are have dual pane windows. Good insulation and sealed heated underbelly. Good luck.

Parking.... learn to love it, make it the challenge of the day. I It's all new and exciting at 1st, but there's Alot of down time. Little things become Big things. The Journey I tell Ya, The Journey is usually the best part. Take those back roads, lose Your watch and calander, get lost in the Adveture. I missed so much the first 2 years, by racing to get somewhere and missing all the in- betweens. Ater 7 yrs of Vanlife it was nice to hear complaints about the things I have forgotten about.😂 Best Advice.... Slow Your Roll!!! And Enjoy the Ride. Happy Travels

A couple of good ideas. 1. Hire and RV inspector to look over your RV before you buy it. 2. Make a checklist of stuff to do when getting set to travel/drive. If you want water just remember you can always head south to warmer climate where everything is on and available during the winter. It is 86 degrees and bright sunshine here in Florida today.

We have been camping for many may years and have Never drink the RV water. We carry bottled water to drink . We use the RV water for doing dishes and cooking. You'll learn as you go on all things.

He is immensely gracious and courteous. Don’t interrupt him. The best thing that you can do within RV life is be courteous (in the extreme,) with one another. Courtesy breeds patience. Patience and courtesy grows emotional assets.

Years ago I read an article that said owning a home is like owning a part time job. After owning a used Class A motorhome which I live in full time I have come to the conclusion it is no different. There are always things that break. With that said I have been living in it full time for over 6 months now. The adjustment to what you thought you would need to what you really need is a major difference. Even small things like the amount of clothing to plates and silverware to towels and toiletries. Personally I use less that 25% of what I have in the RV. Now we are just starting to go through the first winter season so I'm sure that percentage will increase slightly but after the seasons are over I will evaluate and get rid of the excess because after all that is what RVing is supposed to be all about. Living with less and enjoying more and not being burdened with materialist stuff. I hope this helps someone.

I watched a video by Josh The RV Nerd and he said to video the walk through so you can watch it later because you will forget things in all of the excitement. I’ve owned two RVs and you definitely forget things until you do it over and over and it becomes natural. I loved the lifestyle and how you have complete control over your own life. It’s awesome! Great video!!

Water,,,,, in your other two vid's that I watched I commented on mistakes i saw but I don't know if yougot the message, Very simple, once the fresh water tank is compromised it has to be sanitized to be used for even dish washing. Compromise can take place with simple mistakes and the one I SAW in one of your vids was you using the same hose to fill your fresh water tank AFTER using the same hose for flushing your black tank and drain hose, brings bad JuJu . Separate hose for fresh water and a filter when filling. But first you're going to have to sanitize your fresh water system including your water heater tank. When RVing north of California don't bother with solar, get the generator, for the small amount of fuel they consume you v=can charge your batteries. Plus you'll slowly develop different living habits, water conservation, quicker showers, preclean dishes before washing by using paper towels to wipe them clean of food & grease into the garbage, keep as much of that out of the gray tank as you can, yeah it's crazy if you're a home dweller learning to live in an RV. Above all don't be shy to ask questions of experienced RV''ers and this is the place to gain that knowledge, ask if they are trying to reach out to you. There are 12volt chargers for laptops and cell phones, You will want to upgrade to lithium house batteries, it's not simple and you can make expensive mistakes to ask before you commit to it. I've got a 300Ah (amp hour) lithium in my class C, it will take a new 110v converter and an in line DC to DC converter from you engine alternator to your house battery, the DC to DC converter acts like a diode and a charge controller so your lithium battery won't kill your engine alternator. Then a 3000 watt inverter to power your 110 outlets in your house. I converted all my inside lights to LED bulbs, that's actually a big one but the easiest, bulbs from Amazon, get the soft white ones, easier on the eyes. If you have questions ASK!!!!!

3:33 yeah when i was just camping i learned the hard way moisture and water ruins everything. It immediately ruins your dryness and insulation abilities, can destroy electronics, and long term causes mold and decays products. Water damage is a big one guys. Good travels :)

Use no-scoot..it keeps things in place. Always...always double check connections of all kinds. Insurance...very important...check those tires...you can't check things too much. Have fun. We were on the road 10 years

You can add bleach to your 2/3 tank of water before driving for a few hours. Then run it out of all the faucets and shower line for a while. Then open the tank valve on the bottom and empty it completely. You might want to fill and flush the water system again without th bleach. That will kill the things that grow in the water system. I still would buy drinking water. Emptying the black and gray tanks isn't too bad, but sometimes its hard to find a place to dump unless you are paying for a campground or pay a dump fee.

Beautiful Girl, Imagine the children that they could be blessed with. But he's probably not into children. I have a beautiful wife with 5 kids with 8 grandchildren SO FAR!! They all have families and live within 5 miles, we keep saying "why did we stop?" All the Christmas's, Easter's and Thanksgiving's what a hoot ! As we get older, they come and help us on everything.. What a Family!

My wife and I were full time RVers for just over 2 1/2 years. We had a Travel Berkey, and we used that to filter all our cooking and drinking water. We had a full size dehumidifier in our RV, and we also used moisture eliminating buckets we purchased at the Dollar store. Our first month as Full Time RVers we got stuck in a Blizzard and 2 snow storms. Most campgrounds will allow you to come in and dump your tanks and fill your water, usually for a small price. If you're going to buy an RV ( New or used) , have it inspected by a professional RV inspector before buying it. There are a lot of junk RV's out there!