New To RVing

[Mahakal]

Hello Everyone,

Just bought a new to us 2002 Kountrystar.

Very exited to enjoy it.

This is our first motorhome, so we're looking forward for do and don'ts with the Family and Maintaining.

All comments and opinions welcome.

Thanks in Advance

[hermanmullins]

Mahakal,

Welcome to the Forum.

The Forum is a place where there is never a dumb question. We have all been there, done that and all have the T-Shirt. One thing that will help you get the best answers is to always Tell what kind of coach, model, length, engine size and the mfg. of the item you may have a question about. This way you will always get an answer from someone that has the same as you and may have had the same questions.

Good Luck and Welcome to the RVing Life Style.

[papabill48]

Bought our first motorhome in Nov - traded in a travel trailer. bought a 2012 Ace 29.1 by Thor. Have been having a

great time doing the eastern coast. Looking forward to traveling on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway - anyone have any suggestions about

traveling there and when is the best time?

[karenandcollins]

We bought our first motorhome a little over 2 years ago & hit the road as full-timers. It was scary what we didn't know! Everyday we had a "learning curve". We're learning more everyday & I'm very thankful for the forums & the many other RVers out there who are willing to share their help & knowledge.

We try to help someone else whenever we can to pay it forward. I would also suggest attending Rallies. We have learned so much from them & you meet a lot of really nice people! Enjoy your motorhome & don't let the little things along the way get you down.

[lewisedge]

Last month (May 2012) after renting on and off for several decades, I finally bought my first motor home. It's a like-new 2011 Itasca Model 33C that had 7,000 miles on it. My wife and I plan to spend increasing amounts of time traveling. We have equipped it with virtually everything we need for day-to-day living. To hit the road, all we need to do is grab some clean clothes, which is so much simpler than picking up and fully-equipping a rented coach from scratch; then unpacking it all at the end.

On our first trip, one thing that really annoyed us was the rattling china and glasses that we had packed into our kitchen cabinet. Having previously bought a $10 foam rubber twin bed mattress topper from Walmart, from which I had cut some small pieces for another purpose, I measured and cut a piece of it that exactly fits the bottom of our dish cabinet. Having foam under the dishes and glasses dramatically reduced the amount of vibration that is transmitted from the moving coach, largely solving the china/glass rattling problem. Plastic dishes and cups would be quieter, but we like the luxury of china and glass. Perhaps other motor home owners have other suggestions for keeping the coach quiet while on the road.

[tbutler]

We started out with a trip of about 15 miles. I turned a corner and dumped some dishes out of a cabinet. Go slow on corners! In fact, just go slow. It is what RV's are known for you know. No matter how fast you drive, traffic will speed up to get past you! After our 15 mile trip we stayed parked for a month, just getting to know the motor home and getting used to the utilities and rearranging everything in compartments. When we needed something we were just a few miles from home. If we found things we didn't need we were just a few miles from home. Then we set out on a 2500 mile round trip in a week and a half. After I got used to driving, I put Louise in the drivers seat on some straight four lane little traveled road. I didn't think I would get the wheel back she enjoyed it so much. She still does. We got lost trying to find our first RV park on the road, drove some interesting roads and ended up boonedocking our first night on the road.

Now we use bungees on the cabinets with dishes! We have the campground guide book open to the page with directions as we locate a park that is unfamiliar to us. We know what kind of gas stations we can get into and out of. We look twice before turning down any road. The first several years we occasionally had to stop and unhook the toad so we could turn around. You will live and learn!

[RVerOnTheMove]

We also like china plates. This is our home so I see no reason to eat off of paper or Correle (no disrespect intended). What my wife did was flip over each piece, run a bead of silicone caulk around the base, flip it over onto some waxed paper and let it dry. We now have our own Blue Danube china on-board which we can stack as we please and they don't make a sound and they don't move unless we have to make a life-threatening move/stop. Bungees (as mentioned above) would have prevented our last loss but since this has only happened twice in the last 12 years it's not that high on our priorities list.

[danddferr]

Can kozies around your good wine glasses will keep them from breaking and quiet. Best wishes on your new adventure. Many happy miles and smiles.

Dan

[RVerOnTheMove]

Nice new, clean athletic socks work well to keep your glassware safe as well if you can't find a safe place where they will not bang around.

[hermanmullins]

Every coach carries paper plates. Place one under each plate. Or you can purchase rubberized shelf material and cut pieces to go under plates, saucers and or bowls. For stem ware purchase 1" to 2" foam sheets. Cut it to fit shelf. Press stem ware down on foam and cut circle or square with razor blade remove foam and you have a place to have your stem ware held in place and they wont bang against each other.

[aileencook]

After camping for some time now - we went the whole round - pop up, pull behind, fifth wheel, and now a 35ft Georgetown Motorhome. My husband finds driving the motorhome easier than pulling the fifth wheel. We drove to Stone Mountain GA for our first long trip with the grandkids - we all had a wonderful time. I decided to try my hand at driving the Georgetown - little did I know there was a lot of play in the steering and handed the driving back to him after 30 minutes of white knuckles. My wonderful husband has now ordered a steering stabilizer kit - hopefully that will help me get back in the drivers seat.

[lewisedge]

RVerOnTheMove's suggestion to use athletic socks was brilliant. I found inexpensive tube socks at Walmart, washed and cut them in two and had enough to wrap every glass and cup. They've been completely silenced and my china/glassware cabinet looks much neater.

[lewisedge]

Slightly modifying Herman Mullins' suggestion, I put Styrofoam plates between each china plate in my cabinet. Applying the athletic sock suggestion from another blogger, for my glasses and cups, my china/glassware cabinet is now dramatically quieter and neater. Thanks to all for your valuable suggestions.

[robjana]

Hi,

Please let me know how the new stabilizer works out for you. We have the same problem and driving our MH( a 1993 Cobra) is very hard especially in the mountains.

Thanks

[lewisedge]

Bought our first motorhome in Nov - traded in a travel trailer. bought a 2012 Ace 29.1 by Thor. Have been having a

great time doing the eastern coast. Looking forward to traveling on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway - anyone have any suggestions about

traveling there and when is the best time?

My favorite time of the year is in the Fall (October-Mid-November). Temperatures are moderate, enabling you to enjoy the fresh mountain air and the colors are spectacular.

[ScoutsPal]

I, too, am curious about the stabilizer. I was reading that they take out the side to side rocking on gas coaches. Does anyone know if they can be used to reduce/remove a slight lean. Our 2008 Bounder leans slightly to streetside because, they say, of the two slides on that side. I did have someone look at the suspension and they said it looked fine.

[pallikas]

One thing that I found with the cabinets was to buy and install additional snap catches on the doors. Effectively doubling up the holding capacity of the doors. They were $0.98 each at the local home depot, and really keeps the doors tight. Also, got the dish holders from Camping world, which stack the plates and hold them, with a neoprene bottom. Using Correlle dishes, they stack tighter and do not rattle.

[hermanmullins]

Mike, You might check how your coach is loaded. Which side is your water and holding tank on? Go have your coach weighed.(each wheel). You may find too much weight on your street side (left). If you can't find a place to weigh your coach try unloading your coach and empty your tanks. Then check both sides for height. If it sits level then you know it is weigh distribution. If it still has a slight lean try another shop.

Also if you have independent front suspension do you have air bags in the coil springs? If so check pressure in each.

[wolfe10]

I, too, am curious about the stabilizer. I was reading that they take out the side to side rocking on gas coaches. Does anyone know if they can be used to reduce/remove a slight lean. Our 2008 Bounder leans slightly to streetside because, they say, of the two slides on that side. I did have someone look at the suspension and they said it looked fine.

I believe you are talking about SWAY BARS (also called ANTI-SWAY BARS). Your chassis may already have one or two. And yes if you have excessive side to side rocking as you drive they are a good place to start. But, they will do nothing for lean.

The thicker the sway bar the more resistance to sway. Aftermarket sway bars are thicker than most OE bars. But, before investing in a complete new sway bar, verify that the sway bar bushings and end link bushings are in good condition. Most bushings are rubber. Upgrading to polyurethane bushings may be all you need. Yes, if the bushings are in good condition and you have a lot more sway than other vehicles, sway bars may be in your future. Look at large vehicles in front of you as you drive. See if you sway more than they do.

Replacing the bushings is easy with regular hand tools. Be safe and use jack stands when working under any vehicle.

Brett

[aztec7fan]

Hello Everyone,

Just bought a new to us 2002 Kountrystar.

Very exited to enjoy it.

This is our first motorhome, so we're looking forward for do and don'ts with the Family and Maintaining.

All comments and opinions welcome.

Thanks in Advance

My first suggestions to any new motorhome owner is don't drive it like you used to take trips in your car. When you're younger and take family trips in a car you drive as much as you can each day to get to your destination or your next hotel. Not in a motorhome. You will find that many motorhome owners will usually drive 2-3 hours in the morning, stop for lunch, and then 2-3 hours in the afternoon. This will allow you to get to the campground (assuming you are staying in one) while it's still light, allow you to set up and unwind from driving and possibly go into town for some sight seeing, or sit out under your awning and enjoy the rest of the day.

The motorhoming life is a more relaxed lifestyle.

Also, try not to always drive on the interstates. look at the maps, or your GPS and try to drive through some small towns and "red roads". You will be suprized what you find on the backroads of this country (and Canada and Mexico).

[motortote4fun]

We are new RVers as well. Bought a 2012 Thor Windsport (gas).

We are currently on our second RV trip. We Were at Hilton Head for 5 days now off to Smokey Mountains.

Have met so many nice RVers. Just found out from this trip about the FMCA. It really is a must do for new families to RVing.

So many great ideas on here. We are hooked to RVing already and just started. We already know what we want in our next motorhome and Diesel will be top on our priority list.

We dolly a jeep and traveling through the smokeys is a little tough with the gas. Hope you enjoy your motor home as much as we have.

Have Fun!!

[cuda440]

Hello Everyone,

Just signed up today, but have been camping a long time. My name is Randal and my wife is Pam. We have a 39’ 1995 Gulfstream Tourmaster that we affectingly call the "Big, White, Rolling Turd". We want to get some design/stripes on it someday. This is our first RV, unless on count my motorcycle on which I have camped for 20 years. I started camping with Boy Scouts and helped my dad build our family's first pop-up from a kit from the back of a Popular Science magazine. We were looking for a camper to tailgate at football games where our son plays at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. So I guess we went bigger than most for their first RV. I work for a defense contractor in Huntsville, AL and Pam owns an independent Stock Brokerage company. We travel with one to three Labs depending on who is keeping who at the time. We have a Charcoal Lab named Jackson, a Chocolate Lab named Katie and just got a yellow female puppy named Grits. We haven’t been on many vacation type trips yet, except to Yellowstone in 2010. Hope to start meeting many new friends as we begin to attend Rallies with FMCA.