If you're a full time RVer and you don't have a permanent place of rest, then most probably every seven or perhaps fourteen days you will find yourself going through the ritual of tearing down, lock stock and barrel, your current situation in preparation for the move to the next. It's a good rule of thumb to have designated areas of action, or the tear down can become quite chaotic and time consuming as each of you squabble back and forth over securing the same areas of your rolling home. It works well if each person living in the motorhome chooses an area they will take responsibility for and when the morning of the move arrives everything will run like a well-oiled machine.
Choose Your Specialty
In the life of a full time RVer we all have our specialty when it comes to tearing down and setting up. For example, in our situation, my husband and I have an unwritten law in this life on the road and it is that he takes care of the outside and I take care of the inside and never the twain shall meet. As soon as he starts preparing the inside for departure or I step foot out the front door, that is when the 'discussions' begin. So the better decision in this case is to not infringe on the other's areas of specialty.
Day of Departure
When the morning arrives that you are scheduled to pull out of one campground and prepare to move to the next stop on your itinerary, wherever it may be, possibly a Walmart RV Park or probably another campground in your repertoire of discount camping clubs that you have accumulated over the years of camping and now full timing; you should rise and shine, lollygag a bit, watch the weather and enjoy your morning coffee. In our case that would be fresh ground from a local beanery and pressed to perfection I might add, by my better half.
Depending on the weather and how far the distance is to your next stop, you may even want to begin the night or even days prior by putting away your zero gravity easy chairs and outdoor rugs and mat into their very own handy water resistant canvas zippered bags and position them underneath the slide-out or awning so they stay dry. Picnic table covers and citronella candles serve no purpose anymore on this particular stay, so they can also be put away the night or days before, especially if rainy weather is looming in the distance.
After the Coffee
Enjoy a peaceful morning and when the brew is done the teardown begins. When you are new to this full time lifestyle this will undoubtedly seem like a daunting task that will take quite some time to establish your own system. Rest assured, after several tear down and set up episodes you will be a pro and implementing your own personal system will take less time with each move.
Outside
The outside tear down consists of disconnecting the fresh water hose from the outside water supply and the electric line from the 50 or 30 amp exterior power supply. You'll need to empty the holding tanks, black water followed by the gray water into the sewer holding tank. If you have full hook ups all three of these amenities will be on site near the rear of your rig. If you only have water and electric on your site the dumping of the tanks will have to take place at a community dump station centrally located within the campground. It is a good idea to have a surge protector for the electric and a pressure regulator for the water on hand. Also worth the investment is to purchase a no-kink water hose.
These are the three main and most important outside chores; most important because many RVrs have been known to drive away from the site taking the electric post and water pipe with them. Check lists are a must unless you have a good memory. Outside chores also include putting away chairs, securing the ladder and bikes, disconnecting and putting away the satellite dish and removing any flags, name plaques and window screens.
Inside
Inside tear down includes anything that needs to be done to secure everything that is not attached.
- Filling the kitchen and bathroom sinks with small appliances, nick knacks, vitamin bottles etc. that will slide off onto the floor while driving.
- Anything displayed on the dash gets put onto the sofa and the curtain across the front window, if you have one, is removed.
- The driver and passenger captains chairs get turned forward,
- Closet and bedroom doors are fastened.
All larger items in general are put in their place or moved to the side until you reach your next stop.
- Any items of furniture not secured get placed on the sofa or bed.
- Plastic bag pillows are placed in cabinets to cushion dishes and glassware and tension rods are placed in the refrigerator to keep everything on the shelves where they belong.
Finally, after all work is done inside and out, the jacks are raised, slides are drawn in and awning retracted.
Set Up
Setting up when you arrive at your destination is quite simple. It is tear down in reverse.
Not all RVrs will have identical chores and not all RVs will have the same amount of stuff inside to secure, so choose your specialty and do whatever you need to do to assure a safe transition to your next stop.
Safe Travels, All 'systems' go!
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