If you're an RV camping newbie the truth is you don't know what you don't know. Trust me because
I know. Four years ago I bought my Little Guy Max trailer and I was clueless. So don't be like me
and make these needless RV rookie mistakes! Let's get you prepared and help you master RV camping
101. But first, if you're new here I'm Randi and every Thursday I help you make big memories in
small campers and say it with me because weekends are just too short. Guys all of these mistakes can
easily be avoided and I'm going to tell you how but the last one, oh yeah, the last one this one's
the granddaddy of them all. It'll help you prevent making mistakes on your very first camping trip
and for many, many, many years to come. So you have to stay tuned for this one. Mistake number
one is not knowing with 100 certainties that your tow vehicle can safely tow your new RV. This is
very important because it's dangerous to drive an RV down the road when the weight of the RV
exceeds the towing capacity. Mistake number two is not knowing your tow vehicle's payload capacity.
Equally important to knowing your vehicle's towing capacity is knowing how much cargo
you can carry safely in your tow vehicle because there is a limit to what your vehicle can safely
carry. Now I know I'm getting a little technical here but this is a mistake that most RV newbies
make because they don't even know that there's a weight limit to what the vehicle can safely carry.
I know I didn't know what I should bring with me on my first camping trip so I loaded everything
including the kitchen sink and put it in my vehicle. Yep talking from experience here because
I had no clue about payload capacity. Problem is if you exceed your tow vehicle's payload capacity
this could cause expensive transmission problems and you're going to have less control over your
vehicle. And this is the perfect segway into mistake number three and that's not buying your
essential RV gear ahead of time. There's a certain amount of RV camping gear and gear for your RV
that you're gonna have to buy before your first camping trip and you're gonna be frustrated if you
don't have this stuff. I'm talking about things like a sewer hose to empty your black tank and
gloves so that you don't have to touch that sewer hose or the things at the dump station. Of course,
listing all these things right now and this video will take too much time away from the other
important things I need to share with you but no worries I did a previous video that will tell you
exactly what you need along with a handy checklist that you can download. And I'll leave information
for that video in the video description below. Oh my gosh, we're already up to mistake number four
and that is don't bring the kitchen sink with you because less is always more especially on your
first RV camping trip. The mistake I made and it's gonna be tempting for you to make the same mistake
and that's watching a bunch of other youtube videos telling you about the other things that
you're gonna need to bring and when you do this you're gonna end up with a bunch of things you're
never gonna use. Yup, I'm talking from experience. Here's the thing. Every RV has different things
that that specific RV will need to make it more comfortable and we all have our different special
things that we'd love to bring with us. So there's no way for someone else to give you the perfect
nice-to-have stuff list. After just one or two camping trips you can make your own nice to have
list and by doing it this way you're gonna save yourself a lot of money. Mistake number five
is a mistake that I don't want you to make but first real quick if you have any questions or any
comments about anything that we're talking about today or anything else that's on your mind let
me know in the comments section below. Anything goes because we can all learn from each other
and I always love reading your comments. Mistake number five is spending your first RV camping
night at a crowded campground. I know you're gonna be super excited to take your first camping trip.
I know I still get really excited when I go camping and I've been camping for over four
years. But I'm gonna strongly suggest that your first RV camping night is spent in your driveway
or a nearby camping spot that's not crowded and congested with other RVs and people. And this way
you're just not going to be distracted and you can focus and spend 100 of your time
getting acquainted with your new RV. This is called a shakedown
and you're going to be really glad you did it and it's gonna save you a lot of frustration.
Mistake and number six is not picking the right campground and the right campsite for your first
camping adventure. But the first thing you need to know is every campground's different and a
big rookie mistake is to assume that you're gonna have full hookups at every campground. RV parks
typically have all hookups water, electric, and sewer. But if you're gonna be camping at a State
Park more than likely they're only going to have electric hookups. Now typically I don't really
care if I have hookups or not but as a first-time RV camper having electric hookups is probably
going to be important to you because you don't want to worry about things like your RV battery
levels. And this leads me to the next important thing you need to think about when you're making
your first campsite reservation and that is that most campsites are back in which means you're
gonna have to back your RV into it. But there are some campgrounds that offer pull-through campsites
which means just that. You pull your RV into the campsite and you don't have to back it up.
This is a biggie because on your first camping trip. You're gonna be really excited and you're
gonna have a lot on your mind so maybe finding a pull-through campsite might be best for you so you
don't have the additional worries of backing up. Just use your best judgment. Mistake number seven
is not watching someone show you how to set up and tear down your campsite. When you bought your RV
hopefully someone walked you through this process. But as a first-timer, there's so much information
that's being thrown at you so don't make the mistake of thinking that you're gonna remember
everything. I'm talking about things like how to properly level your RV and how to dump your black
tank for the first time. Another really important part of this process is hitching and unhitching
your RV because doing this wrong could be a disastrous mistake. Even though someone's told
you how to do this you need to watch a video or two of someone actually showing you the process.
Watching someone else do it once or twice it's gonna make the world of difference in helping you
avoid making common mistakes. There's hundreds of videos on youtube that you can watch. Yay youtube.
Mistake number seven is a really common mistake that newbies make and seasoned RVers make and it's
one that you're probably gonna make even after you know better and that is before you unhitch your RV
it's really important to make sure that any cords or hoses that you are going to use can actually
reach the outlet and the hookup. And when you don't do this and your cords and hoses can't reach
this can be very frustrating. Imagine this you're getting your campsite all set up. You've unhitched
your RV and you go to plug your electric cord into the electric hookup and you're like hmm it doesn't
reach. You may be just one or two inches away from reaching it. So now you have to start the
whole process again by hitching your RV back up to your tow vehicle, back your RV back up again
but this time making sure it's one or two inches closer to the hookup, and then on hitching your RV
all over again. Yeah, this can be really annoying and frustrating when it happens. Mistake number
nine is being afraid to ask for help. Over the course of probably over a hundred camping trips.
yeah, I'm an obsessed camper, I've learned that RV campers are the nicest people in the world.
And 99 of them are willing to help you out if you have a question or you just need help with
something. So never be afraid to ask for help. Ooh, mistake number 10, and I was really guilty
of this one for quite some time and that's not knowing the unwritten campground etiquette rules.
Yep, there's campground etiquette that's not written everywhere that every seasoned RVes knows
and that you need to know too. And the biggest one of these that most RV newbies are clueless about
is not walking through other people's campsites. It may be a shortcut to get somewhere but just
don't do it because people they really don't like it when you do this. I just laugh at myself
because it was several months before I knew about this unwritten rule. But it does explain some of
those funny crazy looks I got. You're gonna thank me when I tell you how to avoid mistake number
11, 11, yeah this mistake is not making your campground reservations now. Today more than
ever campgrounds are packed so you'll be making a big mistake if you don't make all your upcoming
season camping reservations right now. Yes right now. Yes, right now or I guess what I'm trying
to say is as soon as you're done watching these youtube videos. Trust me on this one. Every day
that goes by and every minute that goes by means that there's less and less campsites
that are going to be available. Oh, it's so important that you don't make mistake number 12
and that's not having the right rv checklist. And more specifically I'm talking about having a setup
and a teardown checklist. Because there's so many moving parts this is the best way for
you to avoid unnecessary damage and issues on down the road. And having a checklist it just
takes the guesswork out of wondering hmm did I forget something. so now that you're an official
rv camper you need the right checklist and I know just the perfect one for you. Not only is it the
ultimate rv setup and tear-down checklist but drum roll please it's customizable,
it's printable, and you can access it on your phone. Yep, you're really gonna want this. And
this video right up here is gonna tell you all about it. So go ahead and click on this video
right up here right now or if you don't see it up here I'll leave a link to this
video in the video description below. So I'll see you over in that video next.