Installing vinyl flooring in your RV can be a great way to save on many levels. Find out below five of the ways we found it helpful and why we installed it in our RV ourselves almost immediately. (more below) Mud And Spills Clean Up Easy The RV life often involves raw and dirty adventuring -- and sometimes kids. Oh yes, and some of those nasty RV only messes that can happen in the restroom...well, we won;t go all the way there. For all those unfortunate messes in your motorhome or camper, vinyl flooring makes cleanup so much easier. Vinyl Flooring Makes A Great Waterproof Barrier When we purchased our RV, we noticed the previous owners just painted straight over the sub-floor. Not a super huge deal. But that made it more vulnerable to going bad faster. So, we decided to cover it up with vinyl flooring almost immediately. This actually has helped create a waterproof barrier and keep the sub-floor sturdy much longer. This way, if our roof ever leaks or we have some nasty spill or accident, it's less likely to ruin the sub-floor. (more below) Get That Clean "Home" Feel At A Low Cost
If you like the look of tiles, but want something more versatile and convenient, vinyl flooring may be the way to go. As you can see in the above pictures taken during our installation of the vinyl tiles, they completely change the look of the entire motorhome. It's Lightweight Many tiles can be heavy and easy to break. This creates multiple problems in a rolling home. Vinyl flooring is lightweight and harder to crack. Even if you do somehow manage to mess up a spot, they are easier and cheaper to fill in. Imagine all the extra weight that would be added to your RV if you used traditional tiles. No thank you. I don't know about you, but ours has enough extra weight added as it is. Vinyl Flooring Is Easy To Install And of course, one of the best reasons to install vinyl flooring is that it's super easy to do. There are so many projects and repairs in an RV if you use it often. Vinyl flooring will allow you to do it yourself inexpensively and quickly without having to hire help and pay an extra cost.
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Most people know that bungee cords of all sizes are handy to have around. But I bet you never thought of these 10 handy uses for bungees in your motorhome or trailer. Get some bungee cords today and put them to use in your RV to see how well they work. 1. Simple Curtain Tie Attach an eye hook to the wall and use it secure the tie when you need your curtain to stay open. Any lightweight bungee will do the trick, unless your curtain is exceptionally heavy. We found the 3-pack from the Dollar Tree works fine for ours. 2. Portable Toilet If you're temporarily using a portable toilet in your RV, you know it may shift when driving. To avoid accidental spillage, secure an eye hook to the wall behind the toilet on both sides. Then, attach a bungee. Be sure to leave space to use your flush handle, if you have one. The thicker, rubber ones are best to use in this instance, as they tend to hold more weight. We spent less than 2 bucks at Home Depot getting one that works for this. Our portable toilet is a Camco 5.3 Gallon. 3. Secure a Room While Driving We used a long, thick bungee that was about two bucks at Home Depot to secure the bathroom area before we fixed it. This helped while driving because it prevented everything from flying around. This is good if your bathroom (or another room) is under construction, like ours was. It also helps if you have any other area where there may be loose furniture or other semi-big items. The bungee held in a portable washing machine, a baby gate that kept the toilet secure, and a few miscellaneous things that were tucked around those items. 4. Prevent Shelves From Losing Items Or Falling Your wall shelves should be secure, ideally. But if you want some extra protection, try using a bungee cord to secure the shelf even further. We often do this if we want to place something on the shelf that might otherwise fall while driving. It could be a book someone is reading here and there or something else fairly lightweight. This isn't a good solution for heavier items. (Pardon the sawdust in the picture. This was taken right after setting up this particular fix.) 5. Prevent Cabinets From Opening While Driving Since we are in an older motorhome, this is a common problem, as we are under construction. This is a good temporary fix if your existing hardware isn't the best or you are missing the latches. In our case, we just needed to fix the latches. We don't need to use this anymore. But it worked to keep items from flying while we awaited delivery of the appropriate hardware. The simple Dollar Tree bungees were fine for this as well. 6. Secure Loose Work Items When we were doing a lot of work on our vintage RV, this one helped a ton. We kept a Homer Bucket from Home Depot full with all kinds of tools and hardware that we were using every day. We didn't want to have to keep putting away and taking out these items every time we had to drive somewhere. So, we kept it secure with a bungee. The Dollar Tree bungees were fine for this as well. But remember that the heavier the item, the stronger the bungee cord should be. 7. Secure a Loose Door While Driving - If your door is loose and you need to secure it while driving to the repair shop or elsewhere, try using a bungee. Fasten it to the latch and/or screen and secure it to the inside to prevent your door from banging back and forth.
8. Tie Down Luggage - This may seem obvious, but not everyone thinks of it. If you have extra luggage that you don't want stored inside, try securing it to the roof with bungees. Heavy duty bungees should be used for this. 9. Secure an Infant Stroller - If you have a large infant stroller, like our Graco double stroller, you may not want to store it inside your rig all the time. Unless the weather is bad, we prefer to bungee ours to the cargo carrier luggage rack on back. That way, it's easy to grab and then store when going in and out of stores or entertainment facilities. This also works if you want to store the stroller inside because you may not be able to fit it inside a closet. In this case, you can bungee it to keep it from roaming around your RV. 10. Secure a Cooler Full of Groceries - If you just picked up a bunch of groceries and want to wait to put them away until you get to camp, you can throw them all in a large cooler and secure it with a bungee on the roof, in a rooftop cargo box, or in a cargo carrier.
When deciding to live or camp in your RV for the winter, there are many things to consider. The most important factors include keeping the heat inside (and cold air out) and keeping all of your tanks and connections from freezing. Watch the videos below to learn what you can do to properly winterize your RV for winter living and camping. Be sure you don't winterize it for storage, rather than living, as there is more than one type of winterizing. We love the advice from the two experts in the videos below, as they offer practical tips everyone can follow and they both have different things you can apply.
Kansas is one of the many states we passed through on our huge RV road trip this past summer. Here are some beautiful photos of a sunset in the hills over a lake in Dorrance, KS.
When RV’ing with babies, it’s important to choose gear that is versatile, safe, convenient, and functional. Knowing which cribs work best on the road is important. Here’s why we chose the Graco Travel Lite Crib as the best playard or crib for parents traveling or living in a travel trailer or motorhome.
Our Criterion For a Good RV-Friendly Crib When we decided to try out the Graco Travel Lite Crib, we were already familiar with the Graco brand and had a larger Graco travel playard model. While that model does fit in our RV, we wanted something even smaller and less bulky (while the baby is still small) without losing the convenient features. Must Be:
Why Graco Travel Lite Crib Fits the RV Lifestyle Best We didn’t have to hunt much for our Graco Travel Lite Crib, as it showed up at a thrift store just as we decided we needed a smaller bassinet or playard. But they’re actually easy to find. That’s not why we chose it as the best one, however. Why Graco Travel Lite Crib is the Best Playard or Crib For RV’ers:
How Does Our Baby Like the Graco Travel Lite Crib? Of all the various nap and sleep solutions we’ve used, Nova Skye (our baby) has enjoyed the Graco Travel Lite Crib the most. We think it’s the cozy compact design coupled with the extra comfy mattress. She also enjoys the little toys hanging from the mobile on the sunshade. As she grows, she might fit better in the other (bigger) one we have. But for now, we use that one when in bigger spaces or for various other purposes. May as well, since we have it and she enjoys that one, too. You won't believe what this rare 1977 Winnebago looks like inside and out! It's all decked out Denver Broncos style, but still remains true to the 70's. The engine needs a rebuild, but most other things inside are in working order. We're working on getting this vintage beauty into tip-top shape. Take a rare peek at what's going on inside this '77 Minnie Winnie! The dinette that doubles as a bed needed a little work done when we got it as the center piece was missing and one of the benches had a crack in the seat area. I went to Home Depot and got some board for both areas, as well as the necessary hardware, picked up some marine vinyl fabric, and put it together. More about that in a future post. The top bunk is a perfect hideaway and doesn't really need any work done to it. We may eventually replace the mattress there, along with the cushions and mattresses in the other areas. The kitchen doesn't really need much work, as most everything is in working order. I did replace the p-trap in the beginning, as there was a small leak, which is normal in any kitchen, not just RVs. We also will need to replace the water pump. But that's about it. The bathroom doesn't need any help at all. In addition to the toilet and sink pictured, there is a spacious closet with a door, as well as a full tub and shower. When we got the RV, the wood floors came painted blue to match the Broncos theme. However, raw wooden floors are not very livable in an RV. So, we replaced them by installing vinyl tile, which is much easier to clean during adventures. It's also better when you have kids. The picture on the right shows the original floor and the one on the left shows what we did. The picture on the left shows my son on the long bench that is opposite the dinette bench. The picture on the right is the RV refrigerator. It does have an issue staying cold that may or may not be simple. We're working on that too. When we adventure, we do have a system that keeps it cold. So it's not a priority yet. Though, it is on the list of fixes.
This is just a small glimpse of everything that's on the inside and what we've been doing. Stay tuned to future posts for even more by hitting the subscribe button on the right.
If your RV sink is turned off or broken in some way, there are still several ways to make use of it. Find out which way is right for you, based on how bad your RV sink situation really is.
Method One: Hand-Fill and Drain Later This method is best for those who have a working drain and a grey water tank that is less than ¾ full. If your p-trap is leaking, do not use this method. However, if there are no leaks when your pump is turned off and your grey water drains into the tank properly (and your tank is capped with the release valve closed), you can use this method. Since your RV sink pump will be turned off, you must be either boondocking or you have an issue when the pump is turned on. This means you will need a couple gallons of water. One is for a rinse bucket and the other is for your washing water. You can either buy this water or if you are at an RV park (or other location) with access to water, you can fill up a jug or bucket accordingly. Plug your drain and fill one side of your turned off RV sink with water. Add antibacterial dish soap and swish it around to make it soapy. Add dishes and wash them. Place them in the empty side of the sink and drain the soapy side. If you have a heat source available, you can boil the water first for added disinfecting. Use the rinse jug or bucket to rinse the dishes over the unplugged side of the sink. Again, only do this if your tank can hold both the rinse water, as well as the soapy water. Dry the dishes inside the clean sink, on a dry towel, or in a drying rack. Once you have access to a sewer drain hookup, drain your grey water tank. If you can’t get access to a hookup and you need to drain it, drain it into a bucket, safely handle/store it, and drain the bucket as soon as there is a safe place to do so. Method Two: Hand-Fill and Hand Drain This method is best used if your RV sink drains well, but the tank is full. Follow the same instructions as above, except don’t drain the water into the sink. Both sides should be plugged. When emptying is needed, siphon the water out with a jug and pour it into a bucket. Follow proper safety methods for disposing of the grey water in the bucket. If there is any residue left in the sink that cannot be siphoned, use a towel to soak it up and dry and clean the towel as soon as possible. Method Three: Cover the Drain Hole and Use Bins in the Basins This method is basically the same as method two, except you’re going to use bins to do the washing into so that as little as possible gets into the actual RV sink. This is best for when you either don’t want to siphon out water or don't want to risk getting too much water into the actual sink. Other Possible Options
So, you have a fridge in your RV or camper but you’re boondocking and can’t turn it on or it’s broken. Here’s how to use a turned off or non-working RV refrigerator as a cooler for food, drinks, or both. Materials:
How to Use Your Turned Off or Non-Working RV Fridge as a Cooler
You can use your makeshift RV or camper trailer refrigerator cooler for drinks, refrigerated food, or both. The first step is to place a freezer pack into each storage container. Then, fill them with ice. Place the covers onto the shelves and then place the containers on top of the covers. The containers need to stay open to keep the refrigerator cool enough. Placing them on top of the covers helps eliminate dripping when the ice melts and helps keep them in place when your RV moves. Once the containers and food are in place for each shelf, use the RV refrigerator bars to secure everything so that it doesn’t move too much while driving. These bars are inexpensive and will save you from having food crash against the door and either get smashed, spilled, or cause the refrigerator to open while the camper is moving. Once your shelves are stocked and secure, place a freezer pack in each refrigerator drawer and then fill about halfway with ice. The space left over is where you will place the food that needs to go into the drawers. Freezer bags and storage containers help prevent your food from getting wet, just like in a traditional cooler. Quick Tips:
Welcome to RV’ing Successfully! Whether you’re a full-time RV’er or traveling in it now and then, we have tips, adventures, and no-nos for you. This includes all types of motorhomes, campers, travel trailers, pop-ups, and the like. Let us make the mistakes so you don’t have to!
We’re a little new at this, but studied hard beforehand and are learning so much along the way. Read about our start in “Beginning the RV Life - The BroncoBago” by my fellow writer and life partner, Richard Rowell. That’s just the start of a long journey and we plan to have tons of great resources, advice, projects, fun, adventures, and more for everyone living the RV life to enjoy. Welcome aboard! |
We are a homeschooling family, sometimes roadschooling in an RV. We enjoy spreading the word about how to #RV successfully! We've traveled across the country in a '77 Minnie Winnie decorated Denver Broncos style and dubbed the BroncoBago. We've also had other rigs as well. Follow along as Lyn Lomasi and family share adventures, tips, how-to guides on the RV Life in a #Winnebago, and more! If it's about RVs, homeschooling, roadschooling, camping, and the like, you can bet we'll cover it. Hop in and enjoy the ride!
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