Congrats, you did it, you are buying your first RV and now you are ready to hit the open road. Hello freedom, hello wind in your hair, the mountains are your backyard, and nothing can stop you now! Oh no, wait, you are still in the dealership and the salesperson was just explaining something about unhitching. You know you just heard the words “very important” but what was so important? Maybe you should have waited a few minutes longer to picture yourself grilling lunch on a beach somewhere. No worries, we have all been there. Many of us have run to the internet right before that first trip when we too realized we retained nothing from that 4-minute speed lesson at the lot.
To try and help, here is a simple checklist of the most important steps when setting up your site. Use this to get started, then add your own steps based on your experience!
Know where your connections are
When you are either backing in or pulling into your site know where your connections are. Knowing where your water, sewer, and electricity are will be a good indication of which way your RV should be facing and where in the space you should be parked. You don’t want to set everything else up to then get to those connections and realize your hose and power cable don’t reach.
Check clearance around your RV
Most importantly here is making sure your slide-out(s) have room to fully extend. For some reason, I somehow always seem to forget about the slide-out when I first pull into a site. I hop out of my truck, look at the side of my trailer, and whip right back around to get back in and reposition for the slide-out. It also pays to check where your door opens/stairs come down. Having the slide-out perfect won’t be as nice if you are walking out of your door into a bush every day.
Level your RV
Before you go any further, especially if you are towing a trailer, check if you are level side-to-side. The height you will work out after but if you disconnect a hitch and then realize you need to get out the leveling blocks, you will have to reset and start all over. If you’ve been driving all day repeating your whole setup from the beginning when half-way through will get old quickly. Slow down, take the necessary steps the first time and you’ll save yourself a lot of unnecessary crankiness.
Chock/Stabilize your wheels (and disconnect from tow vehicle if necessary)
Whether you use a chock under the tires or a stabilizer between them, it’s a good idea to go ahead and take care of it at this point.
Put down Stabilizers
Deploy your automatic or manual stabilizers. We recommend using pads under the stabilizers, especially on loose ground. The pads will help distribute weight and keep you from sinking.
Connect Electric
Turn the breaker off if you can before you connect anything. Hopefully, you also have a surge protector, and you are connecting that to the shore power first. Once connected at both ends turn the breaker back on.
Connect Water
Connect your water line at both ends. Do not forget your water pressure regulator and filter! You never know what the pressure is going to be so there is no sense risking water damage when you can use a small, inexpensive regulator as you connect your water hose.
Connect Sewer
Here’s an important first step, put on gloves. Put down any hose support you may use and connect at both ends. I have heard a lot of people say to leave the gray tank open and black closed until ready to empty. Personally, I don’t see how leaving the gray tank valve open all the time while the sewer hose is connected is a good thing and don’t recommend it. It really does not take that long to go pull a lever every once in a while. Remember to dump the black tank first and then gray after to flush the hose.
Put out slide-out(s)
Make sure there is nothing in the way of the slide-out(s) inside your RV. Sometimes things can get knocked around in transit, always check. Once you have checked around the slide-outs inside your RV, deploy them. It’s not a bad idea to also have someone outside watching for any possible obstructions while they are coming out.