What are your must haves to sleep comfortably in your RV? This list can get exhaustive quickly and it is certainly easy to get lost in the weeds. Once you determine the weight your tow vehicle can handle, it’s time to get to the fun part of RV shopping. We simplified our search by boiling down to the basics and using that as a springboard to shopping the various offerings that met our core needs.
Sleeping Capacity
This one was a big sticking point for us. We currently have a family of four, but, hope to expand that in the future. In the present point of our lives, we wanted to host friends and family in the camper. We decided to look for a rig that could host at least 1 additional family if needed, bringing the desired minimum capacity to 8. This alone allowed us to rule out several RV’s and narrow our search.
The Slide
Because we were looking for a rig that could sleep up to 8, we knew a slide was in order to maximize interior space. Slides are a wonderful feature that transform your RV from a narrow trailer to a home at the push of a button. They are not without drawbacks as any mechanical piece can and will break over time. For us, it was worth the risk and added maintenance. Having a slide would allow us to setup our pack ‘n play away from the path to the bathroom at night and enjoy those rainy days inside.
Bathroom(s)
For some, a bathroom is another item to maintain and not necessary to enjoy camping. Plenty of folks have pop ups and smaller trailers without bathrooms and get by via public restrooms at the park. I’ve also seen some nice pop up porta potty tents. For us, the idea of having our own bathroom was a main driving force into getting a camper in the first place. Our trailer has a single small bathroom with a standup shower and toilet and we manage just fine. When we are at capacity we would benefit from a second toilet but o far no issues..
Tank Capacity
Often overlooked, you will want to look for a rig that can hold enough fresh (drinkable), black (sewage), and gray (shower and sink drain) water to see you through your trip. Our fresh water tank is 58 gallons and will hold us over a 3 day spell if frugal during showers and bring bottled water for drinking. As for the black tank, we found we could go over 4 days days an not come close to filling our 30 gallon limit. The gray tank, however, was a different story. Even with being stingy on water usage, the 30 gallon gray would often fill at day 2! I recommend getting as large a gray as you can find. For our family of 4, a gray tank of 50 gallons would be the minimum I would go with if buying again.
HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) would be another primary reason folks step into an RV from a tent. Most smaller RV’s will come with a single roof top air conditioning unit rated around 13,500 BTU ‘s and can be upgraded to 15,000. Single units can typically run off a standard 30 amp plug in or an inverter generator able to push out 3500 watts or more. Dual AC units will put you in the 50 AMP plug in category and is often reserved for larger rigs and fifth-wheels. A travel trailer under 30 feet can most often stay nice and cool with a single 15,000 BTU unit so long as it is not in the direct southern heat. In our case, we have a hybrid travel trailer with canvas sides. While only about 23 feet, cold air leaks out far more than a similar sized hard sided trailer would. This inspired us to go with the 15,000 BTU which handled itself well aside from unshaded mid day hours in Navarre Florida.
Choosing the Perfect RV – Part 4 – How will you RV
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