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During our journey on the road, we have continued to learn the realities of living in an RV. Here are five facts that you wouldn’t think to ask about but may come in handy on the road.
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RVs are like fishbowls
How is an RV like a fishbowl? Well, when it is dark outside and your shades are open, everyone can see into your RV. Walking around the campground, we can often observe our neighbors cooking, watching TV or even fighting.
The solution? Once the sun sets, it is time to close your curtains. Ideally, RV campers will have blackout shades installed for privacy and to prevent morning light from waking them up.
You can only use one water source at a time
If my husband uses the kitchen sink while I am showering, the water flow slows to a drizzle and then shoots cold water on me for a few seconds.
Coordinate shower and kitchen time to avoid this unpleasant experience. After years of yelling from the shower, my husband is finally starting to learn this one.
You have to be careful when washing your RV
When we first moved into our RV, it was a while before we washed it for this first time as many campgrounds prohibit washing because they don’t want to pay the water bills. We finally found a laid-back campsite where washing was permitted.
About 10 minutes in to the process, our refrigerator shut off and starting beeping. Turns out water can enter your fridge from outside and doing so will set off an emergency alert that shuts it down. We were able to fix the fridge with YouTube and a magnet, but we now cover this area when washing.
We have too much storage
One of biggest concerns about moving into an RV was fitting our clothes, kitchen tools, books, and all of our other stuff into the RV. After many years on the road, we still have empty cabinets and have to stop ourselves from filling those spaces with more junk.
Full-time RVers with smaller rigs or bigger families may not share this opinion, but we found that down-sizing wasn’t nearly as hard as it was cracked up to be.
Also, if we filled all of our cabinets, our RV would likely be overweight. When moving into an RV always make sure you do not put in more stuff than the carrying capacity allows.
Not all RVers are outdoor people
One of the strangest things we’ve noticed about RV parks is that a large portion of people are inside all of the time. Walking around many RV parks, we are always shocked that 90% of the people are hanging out inside even when the weather is beautiful.
While we tend to avoid the big resort-like family friendly parks because of noise during my work day, every once in a while its nice to be surrounded by kids running around and enjoying the campground.
Thanks for reading about the unexpected quirks of living in an RV. If you want more practical advice on RV life, check out our RV life preparation checklist.
Happy Camping!
Christina Pate is a seasoned full-time RVer who, along with her husband Justin, has journeyed across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Drawing from her extensive travels, RV repairs and RV renovations, she founded Travels with Ted to guide and inspire fellow RV enthusiasts. Christina is also the co-author of The Owner’s Guide to RV Maintenance and the creator of My RV Log Book.
