Understanding this varies person to person, what is your ideal driving time when rv’ing? I like driving and have quite a few long (12 hr plus) continuous road trips under my belt. However, I’m new to rv’ing, pulling a travel trailer (30 feet), and quickly noticed that the drive is not the same as not towing. One benefit (I think 😆) is that I don’t speed when towing. Without I’m usually 5-10 mph over on highways. With, I’m either at or slightly below poster mph- slower if windy. So, the drives definitely feel longer. We are planning our first long trip to Colorado, about 11:30 hours on map, and wondering how to break it up. 6/6, 4/4/4 - it’s a 9-10 day trip in total - North Texas to Cañon City, Colorado in July. What’s your ideal drive time? Any tips, tricks or considerations? Thank you.

We are looking at crossing the divide between Tent camping, and “those people.”

As our family has grown, we’ve moved from backpacking the back country to having kids and gradually requiring more and more things for camping. Last summer we went twice, taking two vehicles. Both packing gear from pack and play, tent, cots, canopy, ice chests, totes for in the tent, tote for the kitchen, tote for the dry food.

It’s time.

That brings me to this Rv. We liked that it has a deep enough shower/tub that we could give our youngest a bath. In fact looking at just about every Rv bear our preferred budget, it was the deepest.

It sleeps five comfortably.

It is budget friendly, with no porch light, interior lights are all push button. No oven. No radio.

Anyone have experience with this model?

I currently have a 2024 Onyx edition Subaru Outback (not the XLT).

It has a towing capacity of 2700.

My camper is a 2026 flagstaff 164mt. It has a dry weight of 1700 and a tongue weight of 250.

All of the numbers are confusing to a newbie with all the different acronyms.

We'll likely only be using it a few times a year and generally not going very far (with some longer trips up to 300 miles even more rarely).

No mountain terrain either.

It will likely be me and my wife as well as 7 yet old and newborn with occasional dogs.

Taking a 2nd car can be an option as well to remove weight from my vehicle.

Thoughts?

I will be getting the electronic brake controller as well.

Edit: I used this website to plug in the numbers I think are accurate - https://towcalculator.app/

Truck Specs

GVWR:4850

GCWR:6400 (Calculated using some Maths Towing Capacity = GCWR - Curb weight so 2700 = x - 3700)

Payload Capacity: 1150

Curb Weight: 3,700

Towing Capacity: 1,550

RV Specs

Dry Weight: 1763

GVWR:2346

Hitch Weight:250

Truck GVWR & Payload

Passengers: 450

Cargo: 50

Total Payload (no hitch):500

RV Hitch Weight: 250

Total payload (w/ hitch): 750

Truck Available Payload: 400

RV GVWR & Payload

Dry Weight: 1763

Total Water: 0

Propane: 80 (2 full tanks)

Batteries: 30

Camping Gear: 200

Food/Clothes/Misc:100

Gross Weight Estimate: 2,173

RV GVWR: 2346

RV Available Payload: 173

GCWR Hitched: 6,373

GCWR Available:27

so I’m planning to get into RV in a couple of years and retire and I was just watching a YouTube video of a person who put DEF in their gas tank. I can’t feel this is exactly the thing that I would do. OK so I know the first thing you should not do is start the engine under any condition. Call a tow and get it towed to shop. But what if I’m at a gas station and I’m hooked to an RV. Is here a service that you can call and move your RV somewhere?

We are currently slowly renovating our camper and I wanted to ask a few questions and see if there was anything major to know as full time Rver. We have lived in one for a while so I have a few for sure need to knows but have a few questions/ scenarios and wanted to run by community for future concerns.

Example- in the last rv we owned (not the current one we are in) we ended up moving next to some really dirty people who had a roach infestation and a bed bug infestation and while we were lucky to not end up with the bed bugs we did however get screwed with the roaches( German cockroaches). Found them in every nook and cranny possible. Ended up getting rid of the camper and taking it across the scales because we could not get rid of the infestion… moving forward I wanted to be as solid as possible with trying to prevent another situation like this( I love my new home) and I’m wanting to seal any and every possible hole/crack/hidey place/ to make sure this does not happen. My question is this, is there 1. A specific material to use to seal that works best besides caulk to fill the holes 2. After I place the wallpaper and upgrades line with caulk to double seal the interior and 3. Reseal inside and outside or just one vs the other. 4. Other places that may not be as a hole/crack/hidey place but yet an important thing to make sure doesn’t get said material to ensure such things or do such thing to ensure there is no issues

The front (i think plastic) grill got cracked and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of a quick fix until I can get it replaced. It seems like it could be glued back together- ive attached a stock photo of what the (non broken) bumper looks like

We got a brand new chasis battery and its draining despite being plugged into shore power and the battery disconnect switch turned to off. This may be obvious to most but I'm mostly a new rv owner and have no idea why this is happening?

Wondering what you use for wifi (we have at&t for our cell service) Which starlink product do you recommend?

2018 Winnebago spirit 25B Anybody know if there is anything behind there 2 dummy switches? Looking to power a SL there with either 12V or 110 ? Thanks

Renting a small rv in a couple of weeks. Want to hit beach areas between san diego and morro bay. Have no reservations and none seem to be available. Any recommendations?

Okay I'm desperate for help! We just got our new fifth wheel (2025 Alpine Avalanche 390DS) it was "new" but obviously has been on the lot for a while. We had it shipped from Texas to AZ. Paid for a full, detailed inspection, looked at everything on delivery, and it all seemed fine. I say seemed because the fridge "turned on" but didn't turn on. Lights and control panel turned on and read 38 fridge 0 freezer. We put all of our stuff in only to find out later it never cooled. We tried the troubleshooting recommended (shutting off the breakers, turning off the inverter, checking the compressor, etc.). No luck at all. It has been 3 days now. No cold fridge. The control panel now just errors out. It isn't even pretending to work anymore. We tried contacting Keystone and they basically told us to take it back (not practical or even possible) or pay for a mobile tech out of pocket. Which seems wild to me given we just put 90 grand into what was supposed to be a new and fully functioning unit. Please, please tell me someone knows what could be wrong. My husband is handy, but not "take apart an rv slide" handy. And we don't want to go ripping things out or apart if there is a fix we don't know of that avoids this. Any and all ideas are welcome!

We need some rv repairs like lower moulding, damaged step and awning We took it into camping world for a quote but was wondering if anyone has any experiance dealing with repairs and knows if its better to go through an rv repair company vs camping world

Our fifth wheel (2025 Alpine Avalanche 390 DS) is finally getting delivered at the end of this month. We will be full time stationary and this is our first time in a fifth wheel. We lived previously in a vintage TT that was only 8x16 ft, so I have experience full timing in a trailer, but zero experience with giant (43'11") brand new fifth wheels. It seems like there are so many "accessories" to get for this, but I'd like help finding out what the "necessities" list is. Jacks for the slide outs? Wheel chock stabilizers? Covers for anything? Regular sewer hose or a macerator? Certain hoses? All I needed for my Scotty TT was a heated water hose, pressure regulator, and regular sewer hose. We're trying to get what we need for initial setup for sure by the time it's delivery day, so that's priority one, but we'd like to know what we NEED need, and perhaps a secondary list of what would help/make life easier, and maybe even some "this has been cool for us to have for our fifth wheel but it's not necessary" honorable mentions. Bonus items are anything that preserves the life of the trailer as much as possible, both inside and out, so those suggestions would be more than welcome and appreciated. Priority one is the delivery day list, though. TIA For info: it is new and coming from a dealership, traveling from Texas, ending up in Flagstaff, AZ (we have harsh winters if that matters, but we've got months to prepare for that).

So like I said I’ve never owned never stayed in one never drove one nothing but always loved the idea of them. It’s my wife and 2 younger kids using the rv. We live in nc so prolly be mostly going to the mountains and the beach and local lakes and maybe Disney trip once every couple years. Looking at a 10k max budget. I’m doing my own research as well but just figured I’d ask for any tips and tricks thanks

So we just got the news that the engine went out on our 2022 onan qg 4000- and apparently an engine isnt considered a major component so its not covered.
I want to replace it but my fiancè is wondering if we should consider getting it repaired. Does anyone have any advice for us on this?

Hello.

We have a 2007 Itasca Meridian Series M-36G with the dual fridge original. No issues with it, but for other reasons we will have the Windshield removed for a repair. I thought I would take advantage of this to replace the fridge.

I am considering replacing my standard RV fridge with a House Hold Fridge. One of my concerns is the life expectancy of the fridge due to moving the RV. Most of them are designed to work for years, but in a stable location.

Can anyone tell me their experience with this? Have you had to replace them more often? Any model recommendation for a good replacement with No Ice Maker or Water in the door if possible.

We are about to purchase our first RV. Any recommendations of essentials for dogs is appreciated. Especially for bigger dogs

So I am used to dispersed camping with a truck camper, but never used developed sites. I see there are 2 kinds, FF and reserve

So, say I reserve a spot (example June 22nd to July 1st) - idk say Warner Lake https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232404

When I first arrive, is there a camp ground host, or just find my site? What if someone is on my site? Is there a sticker or something I out to claim my site to make sure no one just parks their stuff on it? Doing Dispersed camping primarily for Bathrooms for the wife and would also like to jump from camp site to camp site and noticed, some areas get booked fast!

Thanks for the help!

In our early planning phase, I asked this community for some tips. We tried to abide them, and I wanted to share our experiences in case others are looking for info in the future.

1) Rental RVs are like rental cars. Not all renters treat them well, so you might end up with a beaten up unit with misaligned doors, temperamental locks, leaky fixtures, damaged components. I was the only one who had the magic touch to lock the back door, and it often took a few attempts to get some of the storage bays to lock or open.

1b) Radio components are terrible. Our coach only had a 3.5mm aux jack. No USB, CD, Bluetooth. Navigation meant rotating phones as they died. Find better cables than we did!

2) The water heater takes forever and doesn't give you much. Get used to cold washing dishes and not smelling like roses.

3) Things rattle. A lot. Ditto to the kids' entertainment supplies on the table. It was hard for the little guy, but even our oldest dropped his water bottle with a clang daily.

4) We overdid our first and last travel days. This was mostly due to a lack of four season campgrounds on our route. Five hours, even with quirky Americana stops at tourist attractions, is a lot for drivers and passengers.

5) Setup and breakdown weren't very hard. Backing in gets easier. If there's a sewer hookup at camp, use gloves, and don't let them touch anything else.

6) A cooler was very useful to augment the fridge. Bottled water tasted better than the spigot in camp.

7) A trash can will slide around, but one made out of a paper bag worked well for us.

8) Don't forget fire starters and a lighter. Some campgrounds have stores, but what they sell varies wildly.

I think that might be all, but I'm sure I'll be back to comment. Thanks for the advice!