Making the RV Our Own

After talking to my cousin I realized I should probably post a picture of our 5’er since not everyone we know has seen it.  So here it is!

Everyone makes changes with their RV’s to make it more their own.  We have made a few updates to the 5’er since owning it and we have a list of projects yet to do.  Here is a list of the changes we have actually completed.  You will notice these are functionality changes with the exception of the light switches which were aesthetic only.  The interior design changes will begin some time in the future.
Adding a 2 filter water filtration system plus input/output pressure gauges and an adjustable water pressure regulator.

Changing light switches to better match the décor. The switch on the right is the color used by the manufacturer.  The other 2 switches are the brown ones we bought and installed which look much better.

    

Adding Hatchlift Kits on both basement doors. 

 

Replaced the kitchen faucet, we had to the faucet had stopped working.  Once John opened it up he found little calcium rocks inside.  We think it was from our time in Landfall, MN.

    

Added cut off valves to our hot and cold water lines in the kitchen.  Now we don’t have to shut the water off to the whole trailer just to work on the kitchen faucet.

Replaced the standard pin with a MO/Ryde pin to help reduce chucking while driving down the road.

Slide corner and pin box foam protectors.  Run into either the pin or corners and it will be painful.  With these foam protectors it has reduced head and shoulder injuries.

     

Clear elbow and valve gate for the dump hose.

LED marker lights, LED lighting inside.  LED lighting has no heat output so you can touch a light without getting burned.  It is expensive though so we buy a few here and there as we can afford.  This is the light over our dining table.

Moved the Fantastic fan from bedroom to bathroom.  Linoleum on bed platform to help with making the bed.  The bed platform is just particle board and linens tend to snag on it.

 

Dark tinted bedroom windows then covered them up more with Solar window covering and a Blackout Curtain.

       

Additional gas tank and auto fuel switch on the truck.  The switch allows for filling the main tank from the spare tank while moving down the road.  Works pretty slick too you just need to keep on eye on the gas gauge and not accidentally overfill it.

Buying an RV

This post isn’t on how to buy an RV but on how we bought our RV.  We started our RV education around late 2009.  At that time we had had a pop-up camper for around 4 years but with my back problems it was becoming more difficult to use.  I had surgery in early 2008 and it took a long time before I could tolerate sitting in a car for any length of time.  So we began by going to RV shows and local dealers which were 30 minute drives.  The first trailers we looked at were hybrids, they were interesting but not what I wanted and most had wet baths. 

A hybrid trailer

We then looked at travel trailers which are also nice but John didn’t want the swaying that comes with towing it down the road.  Which put us up to a 5th wheel trailer.  I started the process on the modest size of 30’, those were cute but lacked space and were all split bath.  I prefer the side bath floor plans.  By the winter of 2010 we were driving as far as Duluth to the north and spring 2011 northern Iowa to the south to look at 5th wheel trailers.  The length kept increasing until we ended up at the 40’ category which are Touring or Full-time models.  We were now finding floor plans that we liked with much more storage and counter space in the kitchen.  Finally we had it down to 2 main units that we liked, the Cedar Creek by Forest River and the Big Country by Heartland. 

At RV shows we were now spending hours just sitting in the 2 RVs we were interested in, listening to people’s comments as they came and went.  One time we even sat chatting with another couple in a Big Country for almost 2 hours.  They had been RV’ing for a few years and gave us a lot of information on what to consider when choosing an unit.  What finally sold us on the Big Country over the Cedar Creek was the bathroom.  Heartland has larger showers that are easier to get in and out of.  With the Cedar Creek I had to step up and down 5” to get in and out of the shower and it was the size of a phone booth.  My recommendation is to always check out the RV’s bathroom before you buy it.  Make sure you can fit in the shower (pretend to take a shower) with the door closed plus be able to step in and out of it. 

A wet bath

RV question:  What does the RV industry called the kitchen area?  Answer:  A galley.

RV question:  What is a wet bath?  Answer:  A wet bath is a bathroom where the toilet, and sink are in the shower.   Good luck keeping the toilet paper dry.

RV question:  What is a split bath?  Answer: A split bath has the shower on one side of the coach and a WC (water closet) on the other side of the coach in which you walk in-between to get to the bedroom.  Typically it will also have a sink in the bedroom area and possibly another tiny sink in with the toilet.  The shower is blocked by a curtain from view of the bedroom.

RV question:  What is a side bath?  Answer: A bathroom with the shower, sink and toilet all in 1 room usually to one side of the coach.  Some have 2 doors, 1 from the hall the other from the bedroom.

Alabama in the summer time

When John and I came down here last year to help mom with her house we didn’t really anticipate being here for more than a couple of months.  A year later we are still here and going through our second Alabama summer.  A bit of background, I am from the Midwest and have lived majority of my adult life in the Upper-Midwest.  John has lived his whole life in the Upper-Midwest and this is the first time he has been in another state from more than a couple weeks.  Summer in the Upper-Midwest is hot and humid around the middle of June through August.  When storms roll in the humidity drops after it rains most of the time.  May though the middle of June and September are the best months in my opinion as it is typically in the 70s to low 80 in the day and 60s at night.
In Alabama it gets hot in April and doesn’t cool off until October.  That may be a slight exaggeration but not by much.  The last two years it has been in the 80s to 90s in May and 90s all through June, July and August.  All that heat along with high humidity makes it feel tropical here to me.
When we got our 5’er it only had one air conditioner installed.  Last year we we got the Coleman Mach AC as our second unit installed as our single AC couldn’t keep up.  One AC only drops it 10 degrees from the outside temp so if it is in the 90s outside it would be in the 80s inside which is quite uncomfortable.  With two ACs I can keep it in the mid 70s inside which keeps me happy.  In our location there is a 30% chance of rain every day.  When it does rain it is typically a thunderstorm, the rain comes down in buckets a lot of lightning and then it’s over.  After the storm it is even more humid that before the storm.  Nothing like walking outside and having your glasses fog up immediately.

Coleman Mach AC

Surprisingly even with the heat and humidity we still get together with neighbors and do cookout birthday parties and holidays. We also have campfires on Friday and Saturday nights if it isn’t too hot or too wet from rain.

Our second AC being installed May of 2013.

Things we have found handy to have

There are a few items have have found to be worth the money to purchase for our 5’er.  The first one being a Bed Saver which attaches to the hitch for the express purpose of catching the pin should it not lock into place properly. 
Trailers are quite heavy and do a lot of damage to a truck’s bedrail and the front of the trailer if they accidentally meet.  The Bed Saver has saved us on a couple of occasions where we thought the pin was properly locked in the hitch but when we did a pull test the pin fell out as was it caught the Bed Saver.  Scares the crap out of you when it happens too.  

A picture of our hitch with the Bed Saver attached

Another item going along with the hitch and just as helpful as the Bed Saver is a retriever hook.  When we did a number of trips in 2012 John starting getting a sharp pain in his side.  He finally went to the doctor and diagnosed with bruised ribs.  Long story short the handle you see sticking out on the left of the photo above is a really long reach with a dually.  He was injuring himself every time he reached in to grab the handle and yank on it.  He designed a hook himself and got it made by one of the machinists he used to work with.  We even use it to pull the leveling blocks from under the coach. The hook I have linked here is a nice one I found on Amazon with good reviews.


Next would be the leveler we put on the pin box so John and see how level we are side to side when we back in to a site.





We also use our tire pressure gage before each trip.  John likes the Accutire MS-5515B because it can get the inside dual tires.

And the item that gets the most use on a bi-weekly basis is our Air Compressor.




John told me to include the Camco 5905 Pigtail Propane Hose Connector on my list and we always carry a spare because it fails.  A lot.

So why ducky?

John thought I should explain why I choose to name my blog As Ducky As It Gets.  It all started years ago when people would ask me how I was and I’d answer back “Just ducky and you?”  I guess I just got tired of using the same line as everyone else “Just fine and you?” So I changed fine to ducky.  Sometimes people don’t hear me correctly as I didn’t give the expected response.  I can tell where their thought pattern is just by how their brain filled in the changed word.  I then get the question “You’re what?” followed by “What do you mean you are ducky?”  in which my reply is always “I quack up a lot”.  Yeah I know lame joke but hey I like being different.  I managed to impress some people and they gave me rubber duckys as gifts for events, such as my wedding. LOL

Living in an RV

Now that I've made a start I'll post about living in a 5th wheel trailer (5'er).  I like it.  Really I do.  Todays RVs are nice, especially if you are looking at the models set up for couples and/or full-timing.  Travel trailers and motorhomes come with furniture, TVs, stereo system, DVD player, microwave, stove/oven, refrigerator and the majority have indoor plumbing, AC and a furnace!  Pretty much move in ready just bring your food, dishes, pots/pans, linens and toiletries. 
Our particular 5'er is a Big Country 3650rl manufacturer by Heartland RVs.  They make a very nice product and have a large range of trailer types.  We are also members of their Owner's club which is quite active.
When we moved into our 5'er we put all our stuff in storage. It equaled about a 3 bedroom house worth of stuff.  Before we hit the road we went through everything we had in storage and got rid of whatever we couldn't take with us.  Condensing down really makes you take a step back as to what is necessary and what is just taking up space and collecting dust.   Now that we are in a smaller living area we have 1 main question before we buy something.  That question being "Where are we going to store it".  Space is a premium in a trailer, we are fortunate to have a lot of cabinets but it is easy to fall back into the same old habit of buying stuff we don't need.  Plus everything needs to have a "home" in order to pack up and leave.  We can leave a few things out on certain counters as our sudden burst of speed (ha, ha) or sudden stops (happens often) won't affect it.  However anything on the sides of the coach is affected including inside our cabinets.  So we had to come up with ways to protect our dishes and glassware. 
Items such as Felt Liners help to protect our dishes as we are going down the road and are also good for separating pots and pans. Also using shelf liners to keep things from sliding around inside the cabinets.  When the RV is in motion it’s is like a moving earthquake inside the trailer, so we have to protect our breakables.  And just in case anyone is wondering our pets ride in the truck with us not in the trailer.

Starting off

Friends keep suggesting that I start a blog, even my own family thinks I should start one.  I will admit English Literature was my best subject in school and I do enjoy writing but what I usually wrote were poems or short stories.  Writing something more general isn't as easy as it sounds and I can't pick just one subject.  I had even thought of doing free-lance writing off and on but always decided not to do it.   So I'll give blogging a shot and see how it goes.  My blog isn't about anything in particular, it will be whatever thought crosses my mind at the time.  Since I need a starting point I should probably start with where I am and how I got here.

Currently I am sitting in the middle of Alabama in a 5th wheel trailer.  My husband (known from here on as John) and I decided to live in our 5'er full time over the summer about 2 years ago to see if we could make a go of it or not.   About four months into our trial period he was laid off from a company he had been with for 24 years.  With the winter months coming up quick and he no longer had a job to tie us there, we decided to pack up and leave town.   I make it sound as if we were in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere but no, we were in a large metropolis in the north.

Our original idea was to travel around the states visiting different areas as we wished.  However my mother had decided she too wanted to hit the road and do all the traveling she hasn't been able to do in the past.  We headed south to help her get her house up for sale.  We are still working on that part, as her house needed to be updated badly.  We are closer to having her house ready, just a few more things to work out.  Then it will be a waiting game.  So for now we are here in the deep South.  John is working at a seasonal job since we still need money to live on and I do whatever it is I do.

John has tried his hand at doing a blog but he hasn't updated it in a long time.  Mostly due to us not going anywhere.  We have had a few small excursions last year and even did a 3 month stint working for Amazon.com's Camperforce.   John really enjoyed working there but financially it didn't really work out for us.  We would have been better off staying put and finding a job here over that same time period.  However we did make new friends while we were there and got to see a part of Kentucky we would not have seen had we stayed here.  I think meeting people and going to new places is the biggest plus of living in a 5'er, you able to go wherever the road leads.  Plus you end up making loads of friends and with the advent of the Internet keeping in touch is easier than it used to be.