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New Full Timer (What to Pack?)


PhotoMike

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In my snowbird van I had to pack the front passenger seat area with tools and canned goods to make up for having no passenger. That corner in any motorhome tends to be a challenge for a solo.

 

IKWYM. Trucks too. My rig is a crew cab so front and back passenger side of my rig is my heavy "tool shop". ;) I hate having it ride in front, but it's about all I can do to keep my TV's axles balanced.

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I recommend that you buy one of those heavy-duty fabric tool bags (zip closure) that Sears sells. That way your tools will not rattle around as they would in metal. I travel with few tools, but wish I had packed my electric drill and socket set, so am picking it up next trip.

 

Other things I really use because I am a very short female is my lightweight (7 pounds) four step step-stool for washing windows on the outside. I also like my air compressor for my bike tires.

 

I might disagree about the amount of clothing, however. I travel to a lot of places where getting into a Laundromat is not easy with my big vehicle, so I make sure I have two week's worth of shorts and shirts to go with them. I keep one "funeral" outfit and a couple of sort-of-dressy outfits in an underneath bin if I have to go somewhere where shorts and t-shirts are not acceptable--like out to dinner at a dressy restaurant with relatives.

 

I am a minimalist, so I do without a lot of kitchen appliances like crockpots and blenders, and still do a lot of cooking and baking.

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I recommend that you buy one of those heavy-duty fabric tool bags (zip closure) that Sears sells. That way your tools will not rattle around as they would in metal. I travel with few tools, but wish I had packed my electric drill and socket set, so am picking it up next trip.

 

 

I have several of those fabric tool bags. One for electrical stuff, one for plumbing, one for socket sets, one for measuring tools (micrometer, etc.) and one for wood working tools. Those bags don't hold much but they're very nice to have.

 

The other good thing about the fabric tool bags is that you can find them in assorted colors; although you might have to visit several different stores.

 

WDR

1993 Foretravel U225 with Pacbrake and 5.9 Cummins with Banks

1999 Jeep Wrangler, 4" lift and 33" tires

Raspberry Pi Coach Computer

Ham Radio

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OK, where did you find a pink tool bag? I want one.

 

I once had a pink laptop--figured no one would steal it!

Walmart near Christmas time. It has very basic tools in it but it's an excellent starter kit.

 

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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  • 4 weeks later...

When we first started full-timing, we brought way too many things. With more experience I am becoming ruthless. It has to serve more than one purpose, be collapsible, lightweight, have it's own place. I also find it's really better if something comes in to the MH something has to go out. I hardly ever "shop" for fun. No place to put things and I really hate moving things around constantly when we relocate. Square containers fit easier. Take most things out of the box they come in because the box takes up way too much room. (In the kitchen I have a container in the cabinet that I line the cereal, brownie mix, etc up in) I have a steamer instead of an iron/ironing board. A headlamp comes in handy. I have an ottoman which I used to store extra things. Command hooks, velcro, packing tape comes in handy. I download books from our local library either to my nook or ipad for free. Small step stool for to inside. It goes on and on. Everyday is a learning experience.

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Everyday is a learning experience.

In many ways that is the best part of RV living. You should know that the lifestyle is one which grows on you more the longer that you stay with it. When that day comes that we must curtail our travels for some reason, long term fulltimers do sometimes find it difficult to fit back into the fixed home society because the lifestyle changes our entire way of thinking. Living smaller has an amazing impact upon the cost of living as we just don't have a place to put many new purchases. We were fortunate to find a community of RV folks where we do fit in after life difficulties forced us to return to the part-time RV travel. Our community is more than 80% those who have lived on the road and most did so from 10 years or longer.

 

The other thing which we consider to have been the best part of our fulltime experience has been the friends that we have made and the people that we have gotten to know along the way. RVing is a much more international community than we had expected. The lifestyle also allows you to spend time in places where society is different from what we grew up with and to experience the things which each one has to offer. Life on the road tends to become more about people and less about things and the changes in us never go away.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Some great ideas and writing. Kirk, as usual, says it well.

 

Think Elaine and I may go over this thread together.Have read several times that one should go over the stuff in the rig, and if you have not used it in the last six months, dump it. You do keep emergency equipment and such as jacks, tools, first aid, as well as backup systems such as water pump. Have to go through the book collection every so often since they just seem to propagate and pileup in the closets and they sure weigh a lot. Elaine has her books on her Kendle.

 

Will be going through things in the next few weeks and probably dumping a lot into our storage shed in Las Vegas, NM. Currently hanging out at older son's place in the mountains below Hermit's Peak at 7800'.

 

We try to weigh the rig every few months at a CAT scales. We weigh with full fuel tanks (35 gallons plus 50 in Transferflow), 81 gallons in freshwater tank (we boondock primarily) plus 36 gallons of fresh water in Jerrycans and two extra 20# propane canisters in back of pickup. Should like to be able to weigh the individual wheels as Kirk noted to make sure we are not overloaded on one side.

 

The Open Range 337RLS has almost 4000# over dry weight to play with.We are currently about 900# under max for 5'ver axles, 4000# under for tires (Michelins) and 900# under pickup rear dualie axle (6000# under rear axle tires, Michellins) and just about max for pickup front axle (tires are fine).

 

Reed and Elaine

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wine, good cigars, Golf clubs, and this. . .

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-Cordless-Rechargable-Insect-Zapper/dp/B00CO6WBAU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432421812&sr=8-2&keywords=stinger+bug+zapper

 

Everything else can be purchased along the way. Focus on the enjoyment you want to find and everything else will fall into place.

 

Jim

Jim
SKP: 99693
If you think you can, or you think you can't. . . you are probably right (Henry Ford)
2014 Dodge 4WD Dually
1998 Carriage LS-341

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While I'm not a full-timer (yet... we're shopping), I do have some experience with packing light - while still being fully capable. If you think weight matters in an RV, try backpacking, sailing, kayak camping... or doing service work with what you can carry on an airplane.

 

There are two ways to go about this - depending on your time availability and degree of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (I win here): Shoot from the hip and hope for the best, or seriously plan - and purchase to meet the plan. I had a tool kit that went on the plane with me, and it had to have some serious capabilities. The problem was, it also needed to stay under 50 pounds to prevent a surcharge every time I flew, and I still had to bring my computer backpack, travel bag, and suitcase. 4 bags was the limit (at the time) without running into serious surcharges.

 

Anyway... in order to carry 50 pounds of tools that were as capable as possible, every tool in the box (including the box) had to "apply for the job". I'd look at every piece and ask the question "I know you can do xyz - what else can you do? Anything else besides those 2 things? Can you be any lighter?" I found special sockets that the same piece will do SAE and metric. They also have special sockets that can do hex, 12-point, spline, even square - all in one piece.

 

My power drill had to be lithium - not widely available at the time. Gobs of attachments for the drill minimized the number of other tools I would need to carry. Diamond-jawed Channel Locks cover a very wide range of things they will grab, and duties they will perform. There are ratcheting combination wrenches that serve two purposes for only one nut size, but they are inescapably capable. So... I bought a full set (cheaper in a set than buying individually), and "culled out" the sizes that didn't exist on the the equipment I serviced.

 

Taking this mentality in the galley, I have learned that the square Corelle dishes take less space in storage - but you can pile more food on them. Simple math will bear this fact out anyway, but we are conditioned to think of dishes as round.

 

You get the idea - it's a mindset that one has to have when staring at the store counter, the internet sites, or his/her possessions. One must be ruthless... because the weight/space limitations will be as well.

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What I did when we were deciding what to take was to have an area of the house where we put what we used. In the kitchen it was one counter and specific cupboard. As I used an item, I placed it in this area. The rest we either decided to store it in a storage tub in my sister's basement or we got rid of it. Also be careful about just filling storage areas with stuff, because the weight adds up faster than you would expect. When we were bringing stuff out to the fiver in our driveway, we weighed everything and added it to a spreadsheet so we had an idea how much we were adding in pounds.

Jessica and Harry

Fulltimers as of 12/12/12

2011 Chevy Silverado 3500HD

2011 Heartland Landmark Rushmore

www.rikerrvdays.blogspot.com

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I think first you have to think about what kind of RVing you are going to be doing. Boondocking will need a very different set of tools from park camping. Secondly are you a handy guy or are you lost when it comes to tools and fixing stuff. We boondock most times so we have a toaster that sits over a gas grill, we boil water in a kettle for drip coffee, we try not to microwave if we dont have to. If you have access to unlimited power then toaster and coffee maker are OK. I also carry a lot of tools cos I want to be able to fix stuff and not have to pull the trailer into town and spend a mnt at an RV dealer. We have been fulltiming now for 6 months and I know there is stuff we havent used and probably never will. After a year we might go through the trailer and ditch anything we havent bothered with in the last 12 months.

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