Since we have been discussing RV/Van life a lot in this forum lately let's talk about what you are taking with you. What is your basic to advance kit? What do you take with you? How do you keep it all organized? Lastly, what have you found indispensable and or useless?
It's not much different than motorcycle camping. Instead of 1 small plate, you'll carry 4 larger ones. Since you have the tent you just need camping items. RV stuff like chocks, hoses, cables you need first. Then outdoor cooking, chairs, under awning carpet. There's no right or wrong here. Carry whatever you want.
Our going camping set up as follows: Kitchen Propain Grill hooks on the side of RV using assory rail 10" skillet 1.5 quart pan 4 place settings (each has one plate, bowl, cup, fork, spoon, and knife) french press coffee maker short chef's knife & cutting board grill tongs fork and spatula Food for 1.5x how long we plan on camping including dry/can food that stays in the camper bottled water for 2x we plan on campingLinens (2 beds) 3 sets of sheets and blankets 3 compact sleeping bags 5 towles 4 pillowsOutdoor living 4 folding chairs (fabric) 1 folding table (fabric) 1 table cloth 1 xl picnic blanket (soft on one side nylon water resistant on other) 1 5x7 outdoor carpet 1 10x10 tarp to use as an awing Shower and potty tentTools and Other stuff Porta potty & tp Generator Tool kit machete broom paper towles TP trash bags duck tape rope We keep everything in clear tubs with lids, kitchen in one, linens in one, and so one. The porta-potty is in its own black tub :). Most of it comes out and gets a full washing, repacking, and stored ready to go. Our secondary reason for buying the trailer is in case of having to evacuate we are ready to go in 20 minutes.
Agree! There's no right or wrong here. Just sharing some ideas, maybe you have the best thing-a-bob I have never knew I needed for my set-up.
Corn Hole game, tons of booze, a kick-ass stereo system and a couple pit bikes. Maybe some of you have camped near me before and admired my set-up.
Well, for about the last 7 years, I’ve been a full-time RV guy... so I pretty much take everything I have with me all the time. In re organization... this is one of my more indispensable items:
The VERY MOST important part of our kit is a phone app called "Addit" that creates shopping lists. We created a "Bug Out List" which is shareable between our devices. Once we have checked everything off the list we can go, then, we reset the list for the next move. On the list is the obvious things like disconnect water hose to the less obvious, lock the fridge door (twice we've emptied the fridge on an on ramp). We can quickly add to our regular shopping list as we use things, create a repair/service list for when we get back home. If I'm at the store she can just add an item to the list and it will pop up on my screen. It has been very useful.
The wrench trays are from Tool Sorter... all of the socket trays are from Hansen... and the pliers-cutters organizer is from MLTOOLS. If you can't find them locally, they're all available on Amazon.
check lists, for packing, leaving, packing up campsite, Leaving campsite. First aid kit We have a tool kit that we had to add square drive because RVs love their square drives Our rig is a 2000 Ford F350 4x4 with a 7.3 diesel engine and a 2000 bigfoot slide in camper. so it needs some TLC at times. That tool kit; Is a mixture of metric and sae wrenches, a couple of multi screwdrivers, a small ball peen hammer, locking pliers, electrical crimpers, small and med sized dykes (the small pair are flush cutters) tool kit, basic off-road recovery equipment, tire patch, real air compressor, flash light, head lamp and other stuff. We also have the trucks manual as a pdf on our tablets and phones and hard copies of the wiring diagram and a haynes truck manual. bunch of misc screws, nuts, bolts and washers. We also carry some fluids Diesel 911, engine oil, coolant, distilled water clutch, brake, transfercase and diff oils We also have an electrical kit, with extra fuses, wiring and connections and a multi meter, because RVs are built and wired for crap and stuff falls apart.Extra water jugs (it is a lot easier to fill four one gallon jugs then it is to find a hose to fill your RV with) Solar shower (This doesn't take up much space and saves a whole bunch of propane in place of using the water heater.) Couple of outdoor area rugs to keep dirt outside Whisk broom to capture the dirt that didn’t. Outdoor chairs (makes hanging out outside the camper much nicer) Back-up camera (Added to the rig, makes backing up much nicer) Solar charging (One 120 watt panel on the roof, fixed) The switch to golf cart batteries (2, 6vdc batteries gives us effectively around 150 usable amphours) switching to all LED lighting (Reduces power consumption tremendously.) Black out curtains (makes stealth camping so, so much easier noise canceling headphones, (we call each other when we are backing up the rig, and it makes it so much easier to understand the driver and the spotter) Maps GPS that is not phone based where we go, cell phone coverage is crap. but we still want to know where we are and where we are headed. App to find free campsites, dump stations and propane fill. Clear black water hose connection The clear hose with the shut off for filling your water tank dealio. Propane fire pit (this thing is great, we've been able to use it when there is a wood fire ban, there's no smoke, no need to gather or buy or haul firewood. What we have found to be useless for us and our way of camping Sewer connections beyond the hose and the clear section above.( we boondock and most dump places don’t have a need to make a connection, you just put the end of the hose down the opening. Water Thief or Water Bandit, little rubber dohicky to put on hose bibs that don’t have threads, we have never found some that would could reach with our rv. Folding plastic stairs (Went through three sets) Deoderizers for black tank ( the ones we’ve found give off a smell that is almost worse then a functioning system) Poorly hard wired 2000 watt inverter (Came with the camper, caught fire, never worked well) Water pressure regulator, we only boondock and never hook the rig up to city water.