Hey everyone. We're Christine and Kevin from Never Stop Adventuring. And after full-time
RVing for almost four years we have some definite ideas about must-have and nice-to-have RV gear.
We've had a lot of time to try this stuff out ourselves so we wanted to share the things
that we've really enjoyed or that you might just find useful. So if you're an RVer or you
might want to become an RVer in the future and you don't already have something like these,
you might want to consider them. Since we plan to have a couple of other upcoming videos about
the best gifts for RVers and the essential items for new RVers, we're not going to talk about those
sorts of things today. But we have a bunch of other things to recommend. So without further ado,
let's go to item number one. All right. Item number one is a crock pot or an instant pot.
And these are great because of the large meals that I can cook and the ease of preparation. It's
also nice because you can just pick this thing up and go to somebody's campsite if you're going to
a potluck or going over to somebody's house. The other thing with this one, it's an eight quart
Duo Crisp and it has the air fryer functionality. So you just pop this little guy in there and use
the air fryer lid instead. So it has lots of extra features. Item number two is our air purifier. We
originally got this because we were in the path of wildfire smoke when we were out west. And it was
getting into the RV. It was unpleasant. So we got this and it really took the smoke out of the air,
thank goodness. And we've come across wildfire smoke a few times since and it's done great. We
also have a pet and so in the RV especially, the small space, you know, the pet hair and dander
kind of gets all over the place. That helps clear it out. And we'd highly recommend one. Item number
three is a small space heater. These particular ones are about 1500 watts on their high setting.
There's also a low setting. And some of the other features that we really like with these is that
you can set a temperature and most importantly, it has a tip over switch. So if it tips over
it won't burn your house down. What we really like about having these is it saves a lot of propane
and heating in the winter time. There are some campgrounds that will specifically say no space
heaters because it does use a lot of electricity, but we've actually only encountered that once
in all of our travels. Item number four is a dehumidifier. In the wintertime you can have
problems with moisture buildup in your RV. You can get condensation on your windows. It can actually
drip down onto the walls and sometimes it even builds up under your mattress. And so besides
having a possible mold problem, sometimes that can even damage your walls or the wood in your
RV. You really don't want that. Some people go the route of a moisture absorber like DampRid. We went
on the larger side of a dehumidifier. This is a 30 pint model. It's designed for a small room but
because our RV's 400 square feet it really takes care of the moisture problem for the entire place.
It's also nice because it has a pretty large bucket so we can run it all night long and not
have to get up and dump the water out and then re-run it. So we almost always run it at night
and then when we're not using it it just rolls right away behind our chairs.
Item number five is shoe storage. Shoe storage is incredibly important because it's kind of the
bane of every RVer's existence if the shoes are flying around everywhere, which they were for us.
Especially as a family with four people and several pairs of shoes each, there were shoes all
over the place. We bought the Ikea STÄLL shoe cabinet. It comes with four compartments. So
one for each person, approximately. And I say approximately because sometimes Kevin's shoes
fit in here and sometimes I take up more than my fair share. But we like this one because
it kind of looks built in because without the feet it fit right against the wall. We can mount
it to the wall and it's still narrow enough that we can get by. Another good option are the Ikea
TRONES. A lot of RVers use those because they are even more lightweight. And because they come kind
of in one compartment separately you can put as many as you want side by side or vertically on
top of one another depending on what your space looks like. Item number six is a new mattress.
All right, RV mattresses are notoriously awful, and ours was no exception. It was bad. We didn't
even end up spending a single night on it. When we got rid of it, it was still wrapped in the plastic
and we couldn't even give that thing away. Right away we upgraded to a Plush Beds 8 inch Natural
Latex Eco Green mattress. That's a mouthful. That was a lot. This has probably been the most
comfortable bed we have ever owned. It has been awesome. We wanted something that wouldn't have
all the chemical emissions and they were having a really good sale. So we found this one and we've
been so happy with it. But I wish I would have filmed when we brought it in here. It was in this
long cardboard box and we had to angle it just right to get it in through the door and down the
hallway. And then when we opened it, you know, it had a vacuum seal, open that and it goes...
Remember that? I do yeah. I wonder, if we had to,
if we could even get this thing out of here. I think it would be a bit of a squeeze, but
it would go. So meet us outside for a few outdoor items next. Let's go.
So we're going to continue with our list of items now outside. It is another day because the
light got away from us the other day. You might hear the roar of the ocean a little bit as well
because it is right there. On to item number seven. A sewer hose support. This is the Camco
20-foot sidewinder and it's nice because it keeps the sewer pipe up off the ground
and gives it a little bit of slope to get better drainage which makes it so you never have to lift
it to get all that gross stuff moving along. Item number eight is a 42 gallon waste tote by Barker.
We originally bought this just for boondocking but we found ourselves in a bunch of campgrounds
this year that didn't actually have a sewer hookup and this has been tremendously useful.
It's really nice to be able to empty your own wastewater without having to move the RV
because it takes a lot of the stress out of water usage when you know you don't have an easy
sewer hookup. Item number nine is an inexpensive voltage tester or multimeter. Just for a few bucks
more you can get a clamp meter. They all come with leads so that you can check voltage on an
outlet or at the campground pedestal. The nice thing about the clamp meter is that you can
actually put this around a wire to see how much current is running through it without having to
get to the exposed wire to test it with the leads. Something like this will help you troubleshoot any
kind of RV electrical problem that you might run into. Item number 10 is an RV rated bike
rack. The hitch on an RV is almost always further away from the rear wheels than it is on a car.
So when you're going down the road you're going to get a lot more up and down travel back here
and that is really famous for breaking bike racks when you're traveling down the road.
So we've been really happy with this Swagman Escapee bike rack. Not only is it RV rated but
it's also e-bike rated so it can hold two bikes at 60 pounds a piece. Four years on, this thing
has held up really well and it's even survived being backed into by another RV. Item number 11,
folding outdoor camp tables. Now depending on your needs you might want small ones like these,
kind of side tables, kid tables. We use this for just putting extra things on, staging area
when we're cooking outside, grilling. You might also need a larger, taller table. And you might
think, "Why do I need one of those when campsites often have picnic tables?" Well you'd be surprised
how often you won't find a picnic table at a campsite and then especially if you do quite a
bit of boondocking, unless you bring your own you won't have one. The larger one is on our wish list
right now as well. Next up are camping chairs. We have the Timber Ridge Folding Director's Chairs
and we love these. We love how supportive they are, how sturdy, especially in the seat and the
back. And we really love the side tables so you can put your drink in here in the cup holders.
They even have a slot for your phone, a surface here. These have been really great. Next item
is an outdoor carpet. So this one is an 8 by 16 polypropylene outdoor rug from Camping World. They
say it's fade resistant, mold resistant, mildew resistant, which is really important. But outdoor
rugs are just so important because they create nice space for you to set up your outdoor stuff,
especially like in this campground where it's kind of dirty and muddy and debris everywhere,
you have a clean area. I would go as far as to say that it doesn't feel like we're set up outdoors
until the rug is out. Item number 14 is a propane fire pit. We love this thing because there's no
smoke and just the convenience of being able to turn it on and off at will. If we get back and we
want to have a campfire but we've only got 20 minutes before we need to put the kids to bed
we can just shut it off, take care of them, and then we can come back out and enjoy it again
later. You can almost always use them even if there's a fire ban and another really nice thing
is that not every campsite always has a fire ring so you have your own. Number 15 and last
and final item is outdoor lighting for ambiance, to help create the ambiance and set the stage for
relaxed enjoyment of your camping space. We just use some strands of Christmas lights. We put a few
strands together and hang them however it seems to work. If we have our awning out we loop it over
the awning. We have a couple of clear Command Hooks on a couple spots on our RV where we can
loop the lights and stake them out. But it's just really nice. We've seen other light strands with
larger bulbs or some in different colors. So find whatever lights you like,
set them up, and enjoy. Those are our lists of must-have and nice to have RV gear items.
If you think there's something missing from the list check out the associated blog post where
we've listed all of this stuff out and more. Subscribe so you don't miss the next videos on
best gifts for RVers and essentials for new RVers. We hope to see you then. Bye! Bye!