Time to Go RVing!

Whether it is time for your first spring outing, or are pulling your RV out of storage, it is time to go RVing!  This checklist will help you prepare for your first outing.

There is nothing worse than being excited about the first camping trip of the season and having things break. Missing important supplies. Being stranded away from home.

Let’s avoid that.

Before leaving on that first trip of the season, there is an easy checklist to prevent all of those not-so-fun events.

• De-winterize your RV if you live in a cold climate
• Fill propane tank
• Stock up on grill and campfire supplies
• Do you have grill parts that need to be replaced? Are your LP lines still in good condition?
• Don’t assume your tires are still fine, check them
• Check slides, leveling system, and all control panel functions
• Make sure your refrigerator and freezer work
• Check furnace and air conditioning systems
• Check faucets, showers, ice-maker, and any other water lines for leaks
• Replace the batteries in the smoke alarm, check your carbon dioxide detector
• Clean the interior before restocking your RV
• Restock your RV, including paper goods, bathroom supplies, batteries, and food – Yeah, don’t forget the food
• Pack up and go!

This post is written for all RV’ers, whether you have a pop-top, travel trailer, 5th Wheel, or motorhome.

If you are preparing a motorhome, this is also the time to complete your vehicle maintenance – check the oil, wiper blades, check fluid levels, and lights, just to name a few.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

First spring outing Time to de-winterize.

In cold climates, RV’ers drain water lines in the fall and likely replace the water with antifreeze. The intent is probably self-explanatory. Protect the water lines and seals from freezing during the winter months.

In a nutshell, everything that was filled with antifreeze during the winter months will now need the antifreeze flushed out and sanitized. We use a diluted bleach solution in the freshwater tank to also sanitize water lines while flushing out the antifreeze.

Make sure your water filters are replaced and run water through all water lines, faucets, and any water outlets until the water runs clear. This includes both indoor and outdoor water lines.

In other words, don’t forget to run water through your kitchen and bathroom faucets, indoor and outdoor showers, and anything that has a water line.

Time to go RVing. Check those propane tanks.

I don’t know about you, but during the cold winter months, we have been known to “borrow” RV propane tanks to grill over the winter. Regardless, whether pulling your RV out of storage or preparing for your first spring outing, there is nothing worse than trying to start the hot water heater and being without propane.

I guess it would be worse to need the furnace and not have propane. That is either snuggle-time or a learning opportunity. You decide.

Stock up on grill and campfire supplies.

Our primary camping cook source is the grill. Whether your grille requires charcoal, a small removable propane tank, or connects to the RV propane system, we almost always need to restock grill supplies each spring.

Restocking campfire supplies is an item that automatically gets added to our checklist each spring. We seldom have fire-starter blocks left over from the previous season. Don’t even think about having a newspaper or similar campfire supplies on hand. That never happens for us.

Also, double-check whatever grill and campfire supplies mean to you. For us, that means making sure the grill brush is in good shape. My “extra” campfire supply is a hatchet to make shavings to start the fire. For DynamicDenise, campfire supplies mean making sure s’more sticks are where they belong.

Next on the checklist. Complete grill and LP maintenance.

Does anyone else have to replace grill burners often? We have recently added grill maintenance into our first spring outing checklist.

Another new item for us is LP maintenance. If you have an RV-mounted LP, inspect your LP lines and connectors. Make sure they are all in good shape.

Outdoor maintenance is extensive.

This is definitely an area where having a checklist will help you successfully prepare for your first outing.

Items that frequently need a spring refresher include tires, generator, lights, slides, roof, seals, leveler system, control panel functions, batteries, and inverters. Your RV may have additional items that require a spring refresher.

For many campers, your RV sits idle for several months while in storage. It is common for RVs in storage to not be connected to power while sitting idle. Battery and generator maintenance is a critical checklist item for RVs being pulled out of storage.

If the RV doesn’t have a battery cutoff switch, the batteries are likely to discharge. Electrical systems need to be energized and used to ensure they stay in working order.

Generators should be run once a month for at least five minutes, the same for motor home engines. Firing up the generator monthly will help to keep everything lubricated. Pay attention to these systems whenever the RV is idle for a month or longer.

Be sure to connect the RV to shore power when checking the generator and motorhome engine. You should be able to see all electrical systems stay online, or have a very brief outage when the transfer switch transitions from shore power to generator and back.

Remember how much fun it was when you first got your RV?

You got to try everything out – played with all the “toys” in your RV. Basically, each spring you get to play with all those toys all over again.

This is time to run everything electrical to see if it still works. Turn on the hot water heater after it’s full of water. Run the slides in and out. Take this time to lube and condition your slide’s tracks and seals.

Inspect the windows, doors, hatches, ceiling, and roof for new ice or water damage. Complete any repairs while you prepare for your first outing. This checklist item can be included in either the indoor or outdoor maintenance and is crucial either way.

The outdoors is ready, now let’s move indoors and make sure all the mechanicals are working correctly inside.

Try out the televisions and inverters.

Make sure the televisions, radios, antennas, and other electronic devices are working correctly. For example, is the antenna working correctly? Are the televisions and radios picking up stations you expect them to?

Do you have any items plugged into an inverter? If so, make sure the inverter is working. If you don’t, plug an item into the inverter and make sure it is working correctly. Again, better to know if these items are working, than to need them and find out they don’t.

Last, if the batteries are charged, run on battery power to test how long the batteries will provide power to the RV.

I had to explain this one to DynamicDenise, but to me, it makes perfect sense. When batteries are in storage and not used, they can lose storage capacity. Testing the batteries like this will indicate if they need to be replaced. The indicator is how long the systems run on the battery. If the batteries don’t run your RV as long as you expected, they likely need to be replaced before your first spring outing.

If you dry camp, this is incredibly important.

Time to check the refrigerator and freezer.

Turn the refrigerator and freezer on. Check the ice maker if you have one. Ice cubes should not be pink. If they are, throw out all ice cubes until the pink antifreeze has cleared from the ice cube line.

We always put fresh baking soda in the refrigerator and the freezer. Baking soda boxes are cheap. They help reduce odors in the refrigerator through the season and need to be replaced every spring.

There is usually a shopping list before our first spring outing, and the refrigerator baking soda boxes are at the top of that list.

Wipe down the interior of both the refrigerator and the freezer. It doesn’t matter if you are pulling your RV out of storage or preparing for your first outing. Some things just need to be freshened up occasionally.

It is almost time to go RVing!

Don’t forget to check your furnace and air conditioner.

Seriously, this is such an easy checklist item, they are often overlooked. True story. One spring while I was going through my checklist, I looked up at our air conditioning unit and saw the cover hanging by 2 of the 4 screws.

Can you imagine driving down the road at 70+ mph and having that thing vibrate overhead? That doesn’t sound like fun to me. Yep, this was fixed before our first spring outing.

This checklist item is really simple. Turn each unit on and make sure it comes on. Listen for anything unusual. Make sure the air conditioner blows cool air, and the furnace blows warm air.

This is so simple, but so often overlooked, and is especially important if you are pulling your RV out of storage.

Is it time to go RVing yet? Almost!

You de-winterized your RV. Now let’s check its water lines.

How often have you pulled something out from under the sink and found a puddle of water? It doesn’t matter how thoroughly you winterized your RV or prepared it for storage, seals go bad, and faucets develop new leaks.

When you are running hot and cold water during the de-winterizing phase of this checklist, take a moment to check under the sink. Make sure there aren’t any drops, no left-over puddles of water from the previous season, or outright leaks.

Don’t forget to load-test the toilet and shower too. They develop slow leaks just like faucets do. The only difference – we can handle being without a faucet. Being without a toilet – not so much.

Things happen. Water lines get stressed. It is better to find small leaks now and get them fixed than to find puddles of water running out of the cabinet while you are driving down the road.

Seriously, this is a “lesson learned” for us. Learn from us as you prepare for your first outing. Use our checklist.

Are you pulling your RV out of storage? Time to replace batteries.

Actually, we check the smoke alarm batteries each year before our first spring outing. We don’t do a good job restocking our battery supply for television remotes and other items that require batteries. Adding them to your checklist as you prepare for your first outing is a good idea.

It is also a good idea to check your carbon monoxide detector.

True story. In our bios, DynamicDenise shared that she has been camping for over 40 years. Here is a glimpse into her camping as a teenager. Her favorite great-aunt and uncle decided to pull their travel trailer to a local campground one crisp fall weekend. Remember of, course, this was before carbon monoxide detectors…

The evening turned cool. They turned on the furnace and went to bed. And never woke up.

Check the carbon monoxide detector. Please.

Everything works. Now let’s clean up that lonely-not-used unit.

Just like a house that has been closed up for a season, your RV needs a good wipe-down when pulling it out of storage or preparing for the first spring outing.

We don’t have the luxury of easily opening up our RV slides at home. This checklist item is usually completed on our test trip. Regardless of when you check it, there is usually a layer of disuse-grime on all of the surfaces. This is a good time to wipe those down.

Sweep out the sand from the New Year’s trip to the beach. Oops – sorry, that may just be us…

Put out fresh sheets and towels. If you left the sheets on, double-check to make sure they don’t need to be freshened up. If you are pulling your RV out of storage, you know what I am talking about. No mouse turds, or dead bugs… You get the idea.

I consider this a major step before it is time to go RVing.

Really, second, only to the smell of fresh air, it is also the best way to brighten up your RV’s interior. I love the smell of fresh air, but nothing beats the smell of a clean house. Or a clean RV.

Stock this bugger up for the season!

This is the fun part!

I have bags of stuff everywhere in our house during the winter months. RV bathroom supplies are stuffed in a hall closet. Refrigerator supplies get shoved on the bottom shelf of our house refrigerator. Pool supplies end up stored wherever I can find an open space for them.

This is the time to pull all of those stored items out of your home and load up the RV! While you are doing that, look through the outside storage bins for any unwanted tenants that may have found a warmer place to spend the winter.

It is exciting to move into a new home. Each spring as we prepare for our first spring outing it is like moving into a new RV.

We get out the Keurig, freshen up the spice cabinet, and stock up the clothes closet. Being foodies, we enjoy the process of lining refrigerator condiments up in pretty rows on the refrigerator doors and restocking necessary items.

Restocking the RV is always the trigger that it is time to go RVing.

We always stock up on bottled water, soda, and perishables each spring before heading out on our first spring outing. There is nothing that says time to go RVing like a fully stocked RV!

Check your own checklist before it is time to go RVing.

Maybe you have an RV that always needs something fixed every year. Like, I don’t know, maybe your pictures fall off the walls and need to be re-mounted each spring.

For us, it is making sure we have enough outdoor seating. It never fails. Every spring we find a set of chairs that didn’t make it through the winter or were moved to the garage for whatever reason. We entertain in the RV often. Having enough seating room is a big deal for us.

Whatever that thing is that you always need to do, make sure it is done as you prepare for your first outing. This is a good time to finish up those RV projects you had planned before getting your RV out to play.

Test your RV. Time to go RVing!

That is our last thing to do. I highly recommend a test trip, regardless if you are planning your first spring outing or pulling your RV out of storage. Our final step in the checklist is to take the RV on a short weekend to a destination close to home.

There is almost always something we find during that test trip. A smoke detector that didn’t get batteries replaced, a commonly-used condiment we are out of, or not stocking our favorite set of Florida cups. Or a hose for the outdoor shower (true story).

Taking a test trip as you prepare for your first outing gives you the opportunity to fix those items that are minor while you are still close to home. So much better to do it there than have the potential for a major problem on an extended road trip.

Going on a test camping trip is also the perfect way to check all of your charging cords and cables. We all know those buggers go bad periodically. And they always go bad when we need them the most!

Just spend a minute plugging them in – really, it is worth the hassle.

Have you have tested each of the items on our checklist, and completed your test run? Did you fully prepare for your first outing? If so, it is time to go RVing!

Enjoy your RV season!

This post was written collaboratively by Papa Joe and DynamicDenise. We hope you found the checklist and recommendations helpful.