😲43 RV SETUP MISTAKES YOU SHOULD KNOW (& HOW TO AVOID THEM)

these are RV campsites set up mistakes and how to avoid them I'm Tom with enjoy the journey dot life in this video we're going to show you a bunch of common RV setup mistakes all the way from mistakes that newbies make to what some of us experienced our veers still do today how many of these have you made make sure you stick around till the end and you can find out how you can get a free copy of our RV setup and teardown checklists and be sure to subscribe to our channel that way you can see our entire series on RV mistakes the first mistakes we're going to cover is before you leave on your trip number one is not doing an RV shakedown whether you're new to RV nor you just have a new to you camper you need to do a shakedown and that is taking your RV out on a trip maybe just for a weekend you and your spouse maybe not taking the kids or pets and not playing a lot of fun activities to do but just taking it out maybe a hundred mile trip away where you can get the feel of it on the road back into a campsite and try and test out all of the appliances the slides go through everything because you would be surprised how many people get their RV and race out with everything all other stuff their kids or family guests whatever and expect to have an amazing time only to spend it the whole weekend or trip trying to figure out how stuff works and if something doesn't work right it can be a real irritation so not doing an proper RV shakedown is a big mistake and if you can't go out like for a short weekend you can always do that in your driveway you can plug your RV into your house power and you can test out a lot of different things but we'd prefer you take it to an actual campground to try everything out and make sure that you practice backing your RV up you can place some cones out in a large parking lot and practice you don't want your first time backing up to be in a campground and the second mistake is not checking your tire pressure on all your tires and using a TPMS system there's going to be links to all of the items that we use to our Amazon store below in the description the next mistake is not adding holding tank treatment and water to your black tank before you leave you need to add at least a couple gallons of water that way it keeps your sewer tank ready to go and the next mistake is not turning on your RV refrigerator at least four to six hours or more before you plan to load it actually what we would recommend is to do it the night before because these take a long time to cool off so let's get it fired up and the next mistake is leaving your propane on while you travel this is considered a safety risk by many so better to be safe than sorry turn off your propane before you leave and the next mistake is being in too big of a hurry even for short weekend trips we know you want to get out there and enjoy yourself but it's actually quite comical sometimes Sheree and I will watch people come in for the weekend and just race being stressed out making mistakes because they have just short precious few days to enjoy their weekend but that's when mistakes happen slow down don't drive too fast when you're traveling be especially careful and cautious and slow through the campground or RV park and by doing that and being careful you will insure yourself of having a more enjoyable trip and the next mistake is not bringing the right tools with you now there's a lot of things you can bring but I'm gonna mention I think some of the most important ones the first one right here is not having a 12-volt powered air compressor that's powerful enough to fill up your RV and truck tires that is a must having a headlamp in case you get stuck setting up your RV at night not something you plan but it's helpful to have you want to have fuses for every fuse that you have in your RV because nothing is worse than blowing a fuse out in the middle of nowhere and not having any store nearby for a replacement if you want these they're cheap when you buy them in advance and they can be a real problem if you don't have them you want to have these multi tools with you that you can you know use a screwdriver when you need it a knife you want tape both electrical tape and duct tape you want a combination of different screws because things fall down in RVs and speaking of that we've got wood glue here when you need to fix things a basic level so you can check your level manually even if you have a Lippert automatic leveling system like we do on the momentum it's nice to pull out the level just to double-check it you also want to have a basic socket set with you we've got various bungee cords right here if things break or you need to just tie it down temporarily this helps but also rope will work we've got a tow cable right here in case you get stuck or you need to help out a fellow camper I also have a large light here again we don't plan on showing up at night but just in case you can plug this thing in and can make it a lot easier when parking your RV and another thing that I don't have pictured here is having a saw with you because occasionally there are branches and things that are too low in your campsite and you might have to remove them RVs are dangerous seriously there are a lot of sharp corners and edges and things that you can scratch yourself and cut yourself on so a basic first-aid kit is a must so make sure you have one of these and also when you're out adventuring having fun it's easy to get banged up let's say you've arrived at your campsite before you race in there stop big mistake right here is not scouting out your camps first if you have a big rig like we do you definitely want to scout out the pathway to your campsite it may be quite a waste from the entrance if you don't have a spare car you may want to disconnect and drive your truck through bike it whatever it looks like because there could be sharp turns or things in the way it is a lot better than getting into us sketchy situation that's hard to get out of you also want to check for other RVs that might be in the way some people at their campsite will park their truck or extra vehicle kind of hanging out in the road stuff like that you might need to check with the camp host to say hey can stuff be moved out of the way again before you get yourself in there and you block the whole thing and have to wait when you get to your campsite make a plan of attack look at the different ways that you could pull in or back into it sometimes the most obvious way isn't the best way you may want to even come in going the wrong way possibly just look at it because it can be a hard back in made a lot easier if you just kind of strategize it first when you're at the campsite scout out all of the hookups where is the water where is the sewer where is the electrical bring your surge protector with you you want to check that the power is correct plug it in turn it on make sure it looks good how far away is everything turn on the water make sure the water is actually working there are many people that have taken their RV in set it up and then find out the power is wrong or the water doesn't work and have to pack up and move to another site so make sure you check the location of all of those things before you move your RV in also note the locations of trees that might be in the way are there any deep holes or uneven ground maybe a certain area the campsite you definitely don't want to park in and if again if any of the parts of the campsite that you are really wrong and just they just don't look good you can always check with cam Brown management or the camp host to see if they can get you into another site if it's a busy weekend or a busy time of the year that may not happen but you just never know and it's worth checking now let's get to the campsite and talk about the RV mistakes that happen on the outside of your RV the first one is not using walkie-talkies or your cell phone to maneuver or back into a site sure you can yell but it's a lot easier and more effective to communicate via one of these tools and the next mistake when you're backing in or pulling into your site is getting distracted by bugs and people that want to chat yes it's happened on many occasions that people want to start chatting with you even before you've even parked the camper so whether it's friends family fellow campers you've got to let them know that hey let me get this thing parked and set up and then we will chat as much as you want to once you've got the RV pulled into position don't disconnect yet you want to check all the way around the RV and make sure that there's room for your slides and these can come out a couple of feet so make sure that the trees or bushes or whatever that there's plenty of room for that even with the lippert Auto leveling system right here I still make sure that we are in the most level area that we can get on and I'll show you why even though we're on a concrete pad right here you still want to have blocks of wood like this it makes it really easy to bring your tires up to make them level and we even have some long ones here that was suggestion that we get to get all the tires underneath to get it as level as possible manually and then go ahead and engage the automatic leveling system not being level that's the next mistake even though I just described the things you can do to be level but if you're not level things like slides and how well your refrigerator we'll cool is affected by that but it's also kind of uncomfortable to walk around when the RV is not level Cherie says it feels like a fun house and I'm gonna mention distractions again don't get distracted when you're doing important steps like chalks and forgetting to chopped up your wheels before you disconnect when it's time to turn your propane back on you only want to turn on one of your tanks why because if you turn them all on and then you run out you might be like it might be at night and then you are out of heat or you don't have any propane to cook with so turn on one at a time that way you always have at least one spare so you can go get your propane tank refilled as you're using off of the full one you can also get a simple gauge like this one that we got off of Amazon that shows you how much propane you have in your tank and we will link to that in the Amazon store as well and the next mistake is leaving your awning out all the time especially when you leave because we've seen this before and it's not pretty but the wind can wreak havoc on your awning so by all means take them out if you want some shade and awning also helps to keep your RV cooler but when you leave or at night when you go to bed make sure you bring them in because you never know when a storm is gonna come and catch those awnings and turn them into sales and our next mistake is not opening up the flap to your microwave right up here we actually made that mistake recently you got to make sure that's open when you're actually parked at your campground the next mistake is not realizing that everything shifts when you travel in your RV so be very careful when you open up cabinets because stuff can fall out at you as things have shifted around you can also use little tiny tension rods if you want to we don't do that but we try to remember almost every time to to open these carefully and this is a big one things do shift around in the refrigerator as well so open these very carefully you can have milk and eggs and other things come falling out of here same goes for the medicine cabinet another mistake is not realizing what happens when you change elevation while traveling sill liquids like shampoo and soap and other things like that can be quite a surprise when you try to open them after a change in elevation or even a change in temperature so be prepared for that or you might have a mess on your hands and the next mistake is leaving your vent on all night long or when you leave and having rain come pouring in unless you have what we have is like a vent cover so it keeps it completely protected or some kind of a sensing vent that automatically closes if it senses water and another mistake is not realizing that you left the blind open and even though the window is tinted you can still see in at night and the next mistake inside your RV depending on what kind of stove or oven you have is letting the pilot light go out when your propane is on and your RV filling up with propane not good and the next mistake is not having the proper electrical adapters to connect to the power pedestal whether it's 15 amp 30 amp or 50 amp and knowing how that affects your RV and what appliances you can run how many air conditioning units because you don't want to keep tripping the circuit breakers which can happen so make sure you've got these along speaking of electrical mistakes and having enough electrical cord even though we have a really long main 50 amp cable we still have a 10 foot extension and we have used this on a number of occasions even knowing where the power is sometimes those hookups are a long ways away so you need to have one of these welcome to the business side of the RV's not pretty over here but it certainly is essential we've got our power post right here and the next RV mistake is not having a surge protector this is an old one from progressive industries I've had this for a long time it's been great I do have a new one that's coming because this one is no longer available but we will link to the new one that we have coming in our amazon store but you want to have one of these to protect your appliances because a lot of RV parks and campgrounds can have bad power so definitely get you one of these it's about $100 but well worth the investment and since we're talking about power another big mistake is leaving the circuit breaker on when you connect your power to your RV you definitely want to shut whatever power you're using we've got 30 50 amp we got your standard 15 amp right here we're on a 50 amp you want to shut that off plug in your search protector check the power like we mentioned before but then keep that off when you actually plug it into your RV once it's plugged in then power that up the reason is you can damage your appliances with that as well because there's a spike when you first plug in so make sure you start with this off next we're going to talk about water and water is an important thing and the next mistake is not having a basic water filter like this one these are fairly cheap and we've got one connected right here you can connect them in various spots you can also if you have room in your RV you can have them inside we don't actually drink the water we actually have a bur key inside so but that's the mistake to make sure you have one of these and swap them out like every month or so and the next mistake is not having a water pressure regulator we have a more advanced one coming but this is our basic one right here it's set to a safe water pressure that will not damage any of the RV pipes inside because some RV parks and campgrounds powerful water pressure if you don't use one of those you can definitely damage your RV now I know this is kind of an unusual water setup to be this low being or in Florida you would think they're trying to protect it from freezing normally your water doesn't look like this but make sure you have a fresh water drinking hose like this not a regular garden hose have plenty of these again and your water hookup may be far from your RV so using the wrong hose would be another RV mistake a couple other things you might want to have is to have a Y and a sprayer so you can clean up after yourself you've been out on the beach or out hiking you want to wash off some of the mud or whatever so having a Y and a sprayer as well and again lots of extra hose and the next RV mistake speaking of water where you connect your water to your RV this happens to be the system on the momentum and it's adding this right angle connector right here without this your hose would be going this direction and what it does is it puts unnecessary pressure on this plastic piece right here and this can become damaged with this right angle connector it hangs down naturally that protects this plastic piece right here and this is pretty common on most RVs and our next section is talking about the dreaded sewer the black and the grey tank stuff so it's not that big a deal you just want to make sure you have the right stuff and you don't make these mistakes number one you need to have the disposable blue gloves and after each use you want to throw these away so box of blue gloves you can find those on Amazon as well so next mistake is not having a separate container for all of your hoses like this and it just helps keep all of the nastiness of the gray and black water away from everything else in your RV if you don't have room for something like this you can use these on the ends this little caps that go on the ends of your sewer hose also make sure this is another mistake that you have lots of extra hose like this because these do spring leaks all the time they're not going to last forever so have extra hoses with you and the next RV mistake around sewer is not supporting your hose this is a pretty common one right here and that's what a lot of people do but I'm gonna actually show you another way to support it and keep it off the ground another way to support your sewer hose is to use a large PVC pipe like this just cut in half and like a rock or something to provide that gentle slope coming down from your RV connection like this so this is a little hack you can use if you don't want to go the other route the next RV sewer mistake is leaving the black tank right here the black tank release this is where it is on the momentum but leaving that open our grey tank is open right now the black tank is closed you can see it's pushed in there if you leave your black take open then your toilet paper won't get a chance to dissolve and the solids and things like that won't get a chance to dissolve so you need to leave that closed definitely do not leave that open until you're ready to dump for those of you that think I should have my grey tank closed right now we do that before we're gonna flush the black tank and let a little bit of gray water accumulate in there and then it helps wash everything down the next RV mistake is not using proper toilet paper we use Scott toilet paper the important thing is whatever toilet paper you use it has to be able to break down rather quickly in the water so it all flushes out and a bonus RV mistake that I just did that we didn't catch on camera is hitting your head on the slides right here so I've had this happen I don't know it's probably the most repeated RV mistake that I've done hitting my head on these what's the solution for these is you can get those cheap pool noodles that kids play with you can cut into them and you can stick them on here we prefer not to do it that way but we just try to remember not to hit our head on this now the next mistake is over filling your black-and-gray tanks in your RV it's a pretty common thing for the redoubt to not be very accurate this shows our black tanks both at a hundred percent capacity they are not so we recommend dumping earlier rather than later your black tank will burp or spit at you if it gets too full and if you're seated it'll be an unpleasant experience and the next mistake is not leaving your grey tank open when you're doing close washing I forgot to mention this mistake in our biggest RV mistakes videos but one time in our old rig I was washing clothes and the grey tank was closed and it was too full not a good combination what happened well the grey tank burst and fell through into the underbelly of the RV the washer and dryer was inside the bedroom at the time and water got everywhere on the inside huge repair bill on that one so if you're doing laundry make sure the grey tank is open so many campgrounds do not have a sewer connection so the next RV mistake is not having a blue tote with you now this technically is probably an optional item we think it's a mistake because if you fill up your black tank and gray tanks and you need to go dump in the middle of your trip it's kind of a pain it can take hours to do that so having a blue tote along takes a lot of that away and we will link to the one that we use in our Amazon page and the biggest RV setup mistake is thinking that you can't handle all of this whatever you do if you really want to get out there and enjoy a trip in an RV you can handle it and now that you've seen all of these mistakes you can't repeat them there's a saying that says always make new mistakes so get out there and enjoy yourself Cheers how many of these RV setup mistakes have you made let us know in the comments and if there's any RV setup mistakes that we didn't list let us know as well this video can become a learning resource for others be sure to share the video with your RV friends we will be making more RV mistake videos like this covering different areas so be sure to subscribe ring that little bell that way you'll be notified when we release those new videos and if you want to get a free copy of our RV setup and teardown checklists you can sign up for our newsletter that link is down in the description as well as our link to our amazon store where you can find most of the items that we talked about in the video today thanks so much for watching guys and happy camping here hold my beer you getting me into a jungle in here it's a freaking jungle out here leaf it's a tropical jungle yeah do you need help shuri's hammock that I don't hardly ever get into don't put your shoes in there oh my gosh this thing's off dirty at my hammock this is relaxing well your head is higher up here and I did get to borrow them one when they were actually doing their shakedown trip you get to lend them one you didn't borrow them one ha ha ha so we were able to borrow them one and they were able to get through the weekend oh where is that coming from borrow than one I don't know it just seems natural I've never heard that before I'm sure it's not proper it's not proper you can lend somebody something or I lent that's probably not that big a deal it is what the lizard's like scolding you he wear pants he like ran over and then looked at you and like did his head [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: EnjoyTheJourney.Life

Views: 273,846

Rating: 4.917757 out of 5

Keywords: RV, RV living, RV life, RV living full time, travel trailer, 5th wheel RV, motorhome, RV newbie, how to RV, RVing, rv camping mistakes, rv mistakes, rv mistakes what not to do in an rv, rv mistakes to avoid, rv trailer mistakes, rv newbie mistakes, rv beginner mistakes, rv setup how to, rv campsite setup, rv newbie advice, rv tips, rv tips and tricks, rv travel, Top RV mistakes, biggest rv mistakes, Rvers, top 10 rv mistakes, top 10 RV newbie mistakes, beginner rv mistakes

Id: cpF7oCAYiUw

Length: 28min 4sec (1684 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020