RV NEWBIE: ✅ SETUP CHECKLIST (KYD)

[Music] you excited to be here yeah we've made it back to carefree ginger is going to the dealer to see what's going on with the axle or the bearings and we have some other warranty work that we're happy to share with you everybody's got to go the doctor once in a while so we mentioned in the last episode that we were going we were between seasons where we just go back from Alaska and before secret season six and we wanted to provide some videos on some RV education so this is the first one RV newbies setup checklist we got some good stuff in store for you we're gonna back that into this site and we're gonna go through step by step everything you need to know in order to safely set up in a site I love it you're ready yeah [Music] [Applause] okay right off the bat quick backing up to Liz I've noticed a lot of people do not go far enough forward to give themself room to maneuver and I know why because no one really likes backing up but you put into a site and so you think well I'm gonna do it and it little space is possible go way further forward than you think you need so you can get the right trajectory half of it is just getting the right angle and if I wouldn't have gone as far forward as I did I'd have to make some really sharp turns at the last minute and that's when everything gets wonky okay so now we're gonna go through our step-by-step checklist and the first thing to know or remember is you're not in a hurry can get especially stressful when you feel like everybody's watching you and you might be right everybody might be watching you because it's fun provide some entertainment for them and actually take your time and the go ahead look honey they're taking their time and it'll be amazing no one will believe you nobody is yelling over there and I guess that leads us to disclaimer tip number two use your phones or some walkie-talkies when backing up if possible so good because then the communication is immediate and you don't have to raise your voice in order to get your message across okay so now we have three things to check before you choc follows over there I like it you like that yeah I know I just made that up Wow okay there are three things to check before you chalk and the first one is to make sure you're close enough to your electrical and to make sure you're close enough to your water okay the second thing to check is that there's no obstacles to your slides when the slides come out so you want to be close enough to make enough room but further enough way where you're not going to hit any panel and then the third thing is to make sure you are level left to right now for leveling I have really enjoyed the level mate Pro app I was reluctant to get it at first because I didn't want anything that was like Bluetooth related but I can pull up this app and I can look at it and immediately tell if I'm off by exactly how many inches it'll tell me I'm off point to five on this side or one inch on this side the advantage to this is that I can move around the site to get it level before I even get out so we can go through a pull through and I can look down and I can drive through and I can stop right when it's level so that's a big advantage paired with the Anderson blocks it's about the best system that you can get for a travel trailer fifth wheel okay so we've measured we make sure I've got enough room for the electrical water I have no obstacles on the slide and I've checked to make sure this site is level but just to make sure if you don't have the level mate Pro let me show you this I always keep my handy dandy four-point level and you can put it right here to make sure you're level or you can throw it in well you can throw it in right like that to make sure we're level now we've never had anything stolen at RV park ever in the three years that we've been full timing except I used to have a yellow one of these good chance I left it behind we'll never know let's go to the other side and let's chalk up the tires so we've done the three things to check before you chalk now let's talk about chalking when it comes to chalking I double up I use these X blocks and I'll tell you why and I also throw in these rubber ones what do you want to stay away from and I've been carrying these crappy chocks for eleven thousand two hundred and nineteen miles to Alaska and back because I knew I was gonna do this video and I wanted to show you what not to buy do not buy these because if you put it under your tire because it's chalked and you forget about it and you drive off just drive right over them and then it's just smooshed plastic kind of not the purpose of a chalk this it's not that much more expensive and it's a far better talk so now that I've included this in the video we're gonna throw those away but the best thing is to use these paired with this so let's talk about why okay this is pretty handy site because I have this curve right here so I'm just gonna put that guy right there the reason that I use these Xbox they continue to be effective when you are on your anderson blocks or you're on leveling blocks and see that's the issue is that I have seen this at our bee parks all the time someone will be up on three leveling blocks and they're not chopped because when you're up on blocks you can't you know this this doesn't work anymore and they don't have one of these the issue with that is when your trailer is up on leveling blocks and it's up like this and that rig were to slide off the back the whole trailer would pivot forward and if your tongue Jack was up on a block that was too high and it wasn't stable you would inadvertently drop your entire trailer it's critical to chock your tires when you're up on leveling blocks and this is the best way to do it so once they're in here like this make it tight you don't have to go crazy tight just like that now I still put this right here because of the Hensley hitch when I pull forward or if you have a fifth wheel you want to make sure the rig stays back so I throw this in extra but I'll put this in on both sides okay next step is to detach the trailer from the tow vehicle and I will say at this point there's gonna be a fair amount of pressure from the family to get those slides out and get the water hooked up the proper way to do this process is to make sure your travel trailer or your fifth wheel or even a motor home is completely level before you bring out the slides and to have electrical into the slide so they have full power before you operate them that's the proper way I'm not saying that we don't occasionally do it if people want to get in there and get started that's why you're gonna pressure but this is my opinion the proper steps if you take your time you know what normally happens what normally happens you're usually crawling under to put the trucks in while I'm pushing on the slides over your head don't share that Trish yeah that's not what happens all right so you notice right here what this says this says tongue Jack and X trucks you know why it says this why because we almost dropped the trip we almost dropped the trailer in Seattle don't you need to take the pressure off it with by putting your stand down yeah because I tried to detach the truck without putting the tongue jack down I mean I did that because I was having so much fun with my pal Kenan that I wasn't thinking so that's another quick little tip is that when you're doing this process if you're new or if you're experienced it might be something that you do alone of course I like Kenneth's company so I wouldn't have changed anything and for those of you is saying hey mark did you do that hensley video review and install yet that we've even recorded it no I just have to edit the video so you're in luck that's coming see all the stuff we do between seasons so let's say we've talked the tires we disconnected the tow vehicle now we're going to level the trailer front and back and of course the level mate Pro will tell me exactly how much to go up and back but let's just use our level for this example so I can just put that there of course it's perfectly level because we're doing this video but now that we're level front to back let's go to the next step which is deploy the stabilizers so for this I've got this guy right here because our stabilizer switches are broken which is why one of the reasons that's going in to get some work done come trick you have this little tool right here that you can put right here and the last time I use something like this to bring down the spare tire I think in the last episode there are about 450 - comments about the fact I should get an adapter to my cordless drill and go down I agree that would be a great solution I'm crazy and like the workout put this down some probably need some grease but we're not doing a video on maintenance so this would be a good opportunity to say that I really should have some leveling blocks to put under there in fact there are some RV sites in certain parts of the country that are hot and our asphalt and would require those little blocks to put those down but because I left my nice wood block in Alaska and I'm using my leveling blocks for the tongue Jack and this is dirt don't worry about that that's important to mention and you can see it somehow I check that up somewhere along the path and I don't even know when I did that but it's broken okay let's see here we disconnected the tow vehicle we've leveled the trailer front and back we've deployed the stabilizers and now we're gonna connect to electrical and when we're done I want to talk about those chairs and this pad because we've made some changes in terms of our chairs and pans so I want to talk about that and there's that beautiful Anderson block right there that thing has changed our world it's really nice so this 50 amp board he's a little too heavy for me I'm strongly considering getting that more ride coil thing on the rig because it's big and bulky it's not so bad in Arizona but in Alaska this was really hard to manage because the cold weather wasn't this pliable all right couple things to mention with electrical one is these search pacific these surge protectors right here are essential and by the way this is probably a good time to mention that we on our Amazon page created an RV essentials list so if you're an RV newbie and you're wondering what are the absolute essential things you need you can go to this link and everything was included in on that page so RV essentials one of those things is a surge protector so this particular Park Cave Creek regional the park out in care for Arizona has 50 amp and 30 so I plug it in here like that turn on the 50 amp and I've got the proper light readings so I know I'm good the other thing you might want to have is a 30 to 50 or a 30 to 110 it's a good idea to have all your adapters because who knows if we're gonna be hooking up at someone's house and I'm gonna stop so I'm here like that I guess I should mention that reason this is important is you could be at an RV site that has an electrical issue if you connect your electrical to a panel that has a problem you could send a search to your rig and like blow out the circuit boards and have issues with the air conditioners this is this is essential we've got some where once where there was duct tape holding it together true story and then there was another place where I put the duct tape on like this our being in the summer is nice because that's warm in the wintertime this is so painful this here is the best hose ever and it does not keep and it's a 50 foot hose Trish you have to walk faster my legs don't trip over the electrical legs a little okay okay so don't even waste your time with the 20 foot the 25 foot hose because you'll need an extension too many times just get the 50 foot hose and you can just have one hose man there's a lot I have to share about water have I mentioned this is this is on our Amazon page this has been the best thing ever because like that 50m cord that you're always like managing and coiling up I never have to worry about it with this okay the proper way to connect water and this is important because I see this on Facebook all the time is I usually have a splitter right here and I've got a pressure regulator on this side and I have a pressure regulator on this side then it goes from regulating the pressure to a water filter to the hose the reason why it's important to have your pressure regulator before the filter is because if you have if you're at a park that has really high pressure you don't want all that pressure putting pressure on your water filter or your hose so I see a lot of people they have their pressure regulator before it goes in the RV that's putting stress on the filter and the hose before it gets the RV so this is the proper way the thing I do is once it's connected and by the way it's a good idea to always bring some extra o rings because this is getting a little this is getting a little worn anyway the other thing I do is once it's on is I put it on like this and that way this is going down if I have enough room and then it goes like this I think this is a good setup and then I've got a spare you know sometimes I just want to like wash my hands or something like this and connect the different hoses to do something else I've always got this one with the regulator and I've got an extra one watch this does somebody send in a video ones that these things pink and I have no idea what they're talking about you see this do you see how amazing this is you really like this guy you notice it's 50 feet but it doesn't matter I only need 12 of it but it just doesn't matter having extra this stuff so with the grand design I've got a little cast there it comes up underneath the rig and that way I can close this connect that up to the city water like this and then I can make sure we're on city so city is here here here here and here so it's already set up for it I'll quo it up like so tell me that's not the coolest thing you've ever seen nice and tidy nice and tidy okay let's go back to our list we've leveled stabilizers electrical it's time to deploy the slides but the first thing we need to check before we bring the slides out is to make sure nothing's obstructing them and I'll show you exactly what I'm talking about inside the rig change of plans I'm gonna hold the camera and Trish is gonna record Trish is the one that does all the slide opening spends half an hour centrist is it yes so you know where to look I'm going that's like are we ready yet okay this is our first slide and I always want to poke my head out there and make sure everyone is out of the way and every tree is out of the way and we're good to go but typically what happens is marks crawling under there to put in the X jocks and I'm like are you ready are you ready hit on the trigger we always follow our checklist always always here's a little trick before it goes all the way out I stopped and I poked my head in here and I make sure that there's nothing in the way like maybe one of those cabinet doors have opened and something's dropped out I have before had a cabinet door open a camera has fallen out and I've tried to squeeze it with the slide so hang on we've been under way before and something has opened like this and remember the slide is this way a camera has dropped out fall in here and fallen on the ground and gotten stuck inside here so I kind of give it a once-over and just make sure there's nothing that has possibly gone over the counter and gotten stuck back there or that one of these isn't open yeah sure so the same thing is true even more so for this slide when it goes out because these drawers tend to open and you can get one stuck in between the slide and the wall and it will just break it right off now there's no coincidence why we've hooked up to electrical to holding operated the slides if you have low batteries and you're operating your slides that could be bad for them that's how slides get off track is they don't have enough juice to be operated properly so I try to plug into electrical as much as I can before operating the slides that's kind of a rule now obviously you can't do that at a Walmart if you're dry camping if that's the case then try to leave your truck on so that you've got that 20 amps going back to your RV when you're operating the slides early Oh so that's what you're talking about right there is that did you hear that Bank that's the other thing we're gonna talk to it the dealer yes a little bank anyway so this is what you're talking about right down there that drawer that drawer right there it likes to pop open while we're driving and then this light will just break it right off all right show everybody what you're talking about this yeah so that's out if that comes out and then show it she tries to come in and it just breaks the door right out in fact we'll practice what happened right down there see that right there oh yes so what happened there I don't know you tell me okay Trish what is next on the list the next thing would be the sewer hose ah okay let's go you're probably wondering why I didn't do that when we were doing the electrical and the water and the reason for that is that I know that everybody in the rig is pretty eager to get the slides out and get everything going and there's no reason that that needs to be hooked up right away so the first thing I do is do the electrical and then sometimes I'll do the water if it's needed and then the sewer I'll do last that way I can put my gloves on do the sewer and then wash my hands and be done with this process tres you coming for this now this Park does not have sewer it only has water and electrical but that doesn't mean I don't have things to say about it so we're just gonna pretend that it's available and I keep the sewer hose in this bin right here and I keep love's right here sidebar have one of these I use this tool more than anything to tighten stuff if the sewer hoses if the if the if the threads on the sewer connector are stuck this I use this more than anything that's why it's very handy right here anyhow these are the gloves that I prefer I mentioned gloves in Homer Alaska and Wow are there a lot of people that like the nitrile gloves at Harbor Freight so there's a recommendation if you're near Harbor Freight grab those because they're probably cheap them really great too if you are not near Harbor Freight and you like Amazon like I do then these are the best ones but don't skip down on gloves because you know they would tear and then you'd get exposed I wish we were to park where we could hook up I really do but there's a couple things I want to say one is you know those things that keep the sewer hose up off the ground there are some parks that those are mandatory so I always carry those with me plus it's just kind of a better angle for the sewer hose and then I guess I just put this back on and then these Rhino hoses right here are what I use I kind of like that they're stiff I replace this about every six months because I want it to do this and they lose their elasticity over sometime and then also I use those little clear elbows so that I can actually see what's really going on so kind of gross but it works out pretty well and interest let me show you this and then right here is the actual tank right got the grey water in a black water so I'm missing the little lever to the black the other thing I want to take care of this week but one thing I'd like to add is an additional pole right here because what will happen is if you're super full and you're at a place where you can't dump and you drive there'll be a little bit of nastiness that comes down and sits right here and when you open that up it's going to come out so it would be better to add an additional lever right here and that way that stays closed you can open it connect your sewer hose and then go for the glory and then my last sewer tip is now that it's connected theoretically then I'm going to open the gray and I'm gonna leave the gray open in the black closed so that so that well there's four of us that's why because showers and whatnot I'd be coming out here and emptying this all the time but the day before we leave I have a little note where I'm going to close the gray and I'm gonna let the shower water and doing the dishes I'm gonna let that fill up the gray tank and that's what I'm gonna use to flush out the black so that's kind of how I handle that but we're gonna talk about that in a separate teardown and get ready to go video where's my list if you see my list didn't died inside inside we go oh my gosh I think we're done so that's the advantage of doing the sewer last is that you can wash your hands and then focus on mats and chairs so I promised mats and chairs let's just get the awning out a little bit with that out constantly be like whoa fancy it's kind of getting dark that's what happens when you install your own awning okay okay so we've done a big change of how we feel about these mats we got this at Lowe's Tricia's and thrilled with the pattern but it's kind of a it's kind of a woven fabric and watch that Sarah Trish can come over there you're gonna do a magic precious look at this so what ended up happening is we we used to have this man it was like huge and the problem with things that are big when you RV a lot is that you don't want to put them out because they're pain to take away so this is really nice because it's just where we need it it's good for working out doing squats and then let me show you this here Trish when we first started season one we were in love with our zero-gravity chairs it was so much fun over time those got a little cumbersome too so we picked these up in Alaska at OMERS and I love them because I've got this little guy right here they sell them at Costco from time to time - they do and I did find him on Amazon but they're just it's just nice got a little table it's just nice to have like you put your phone here and a cup of coffee and after a while what you'll find is that you want things that are just simple and easy that store way easy and light and tight light and tight is there anything else in there trash that we have so here's here's this one can you see my love that we have this table very easy table to set up really good to accompany a barbecue and Patricia's phone always important oh wow that's fantastic that is gonna be amazing tonight with all the clouds good turn or oh my gosh is the GoPro still have battery let's change the bearing the GoPro in this time-lapse that sunset okay that's it if you're an RV newbie that is our setup checklist and if you're interested in downloading that checklist you can just go to keep your daydream calm forward slash up and you can rearrange some things so that the important thing about a checklist is that you do the important things in order not chocking your tires before you disconnect is a really big mistake it could be detrimental we're not fooling around and so a checklist is important to remember those things I was online I was looking at different checklists and there were some checklists that were so expensive it's like the practical application of using a checklist that was like connecting the cable antenna TV it's like that's not a critical item so we just want to make sure that we're doing some of the steps before you chalk and then the hot spots when you look in where your slides are going just make sure your eyes go that's that that's that that's that just to make sure you don't break anything smooth is fast and fast is broken because we have done it before we have broken plenty of things and we want you to have the most successful trip possible there is really nothing more time-consuming than being in a hurry yeah and so and ask us how we know okay so it's just a reminder to just take your time and have fun with it because I will tell you that even doing chores and the set up if you take your time is more enjoyable than feeling like you're in a hurry you know a lot times you're in a hurry and then you set up you're like Who am I gonna do now it's part of the fun but get out there have some fun make some memories and don't be scared because it doesn't matter if someone's watching you it doesn't matter if you feel the pressure and it really doesn't matter if something goes wrong because you'll fix it in the end and it's really about getting out there with your friends and your family and the people that are important to you and making some memories so this is our RV newbie video for setting up we have some other videos we want to share with you before season 6 starts and if you're new around here we release a new video every Sunday at 7:00 central I'm doing that and we're going to do our six seasons so if you want to see what it's like to go to Mexico or around the states or national parks canada whistler alaska i'm gonna include some playlists and there's some playlists down below and we'll have secret season six outs it's gonna be so amazing we're very excited alright that is it for this video hope it was helpful if you thought so give it a thumbs up and we will catch you on the next one see you later [Music] [Music]

Channel: Keep Your Daydream

Views: 249,598

Rating: 4.9607844 out of 5

Keywords: rv newbie, rv, rv 101, rv tips, rv setup, rv america, rv basics, how to rv, travel trailer, kyd, keep your daydream, kyd how to videos, rv hook up, rv education, grand design, rv essentials for the new owner, rv checklist, rv living, rv life, rv newbies, grand design travel trailer, rv education videos, rv education classes, how to basic, 5th wheel, 5th wheel setup, how to hook 101

Id: 4-JQ7rnj7kM

Length: 26min 39sec (1599 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 02 2018