New to towing

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by JenellJ

Give me some suggestions on what I need to buy to make life easier: water, sewer connections, etc. I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Experience is the best teacher, so I'm sure you'll learn as you go. But perhaps to save you some headaches, here's some of what I have in mine:

1. Water pressure reducer. Some water sources have way too much water pressure for the plumbing in an RV trailer to handle. Here's one with a gauge. Without the gauge is about $10.
Camco RV Water Pressure Regulator w/ Gauge - Brass Camco Plumbing CAM40064

2. A 30-amp extension cord. If you always park in a campground with full hook-ups, you may not need this. But if like me you sometimes park on your kid's driveway and have to run a long extension cord to the nearest available place to plug into electricity, then it's nice to have a 30-amp extension cord with you. The cord on your trailer is probably 20 or 25 or 30 feet long. I haul an additional 20-foot 30-amp extension cord - just in case. Yeah, a 30-amp cord is a heavy rascal, but I won't leave home without it.
Arcon Temporary RV Power Cord Extension - 110V - 30 Amps - 25' Long Arcon Wiring AR14248

2a. I also haul a 50-foot or 100-foot ordinary 15-amp extension cord. You can't run the AC with that, but you can run a fan and maintain the charge in the RV battery if you're parked so far from a 30-amp source that your heavy extension cords won't reach the source.

3. One or two extra 20' or 25' RV water hoses. You can buy these in the RV section of Wal-Mart. Ordinary garden hoses will add odor to your fresh water, so use the special (more expensive) RV water hoses only.
Camco Premium RV Drinking Water Hose - 5/8" Inner Diameter - 25' Long Camco Plumbing CAM22833

4. One or two extra 10' or 20' sewer hoses.
Revolution RV Sewer Hose Extension w/ Swivel Bayonet and Lug Fittings - Brown - 10' Long Camco Plumbing CAM39623

5. Conversion pigtails to plug my 30-amp RV cord into a 50-amp receptacle or a 15-amp receptacle. Plus others to plug my 15-amp extension cord into a 30-amp receptacle.
Arcon RV Power Cord Adapter - 110V - 30 Amp Female to 15 Amp Male - 9" Long Arcon Wiring AR14245

6. A flat on a trailer is bad news. So be a good scout and be prepared. You need a heavy-duty hydraulic jack that can easily lift the trailer. Plus you need a jack base in case you have to change a trailer tire in a muddy ditch. My jack base is usually a 2'x2' or larger piece of plywood, at least 1/2" thick and preferably 5/8th or 19/32nds thick.

6a. Practice changing a trailer tire at home. Jack up the "flat" tire and remove it, mount the "spare" tire, then put the flat tire on the spare carrier. Then be sure the jack, base, lug wrench, and everything you used to change the tire is put into either the tow vehicle or trailer.

7. Toilet (black water) chemicals. Available at Wal-Mart.

8. Wheel chocks. Mine are the kind that fit between the tandem tires. Measure the distance between the tires and order the correct chocks for your setup. Here's mine:
Ultra-Fab Chock and Lock Wheel Stabilizers for Tandem-Axle Trailers and RVs - Qty 2 Ultra-Fab Products Camper Jack UF21-001070

9. Leveling blocks. You must be sure the trailer is level side to side when parked. You can do that with lumber under the low-side tires, but it's much easier to use special blocks made for this job. One set of 10 is sometimes not enough, so I haul two sets of 10.
Ultra-Fab Leveling Blocks for Trailers and RVs - 8-1/4" Wide x 8-1/4" Long - Qty 10 Ultra-Fab Products Camper Jack UF48-979051

Level the trailer side to side first, then use the tongue jack to level it front to rear. Then set the stabilizer jacks.

10. 4' carpenter's level. Use a 4' carpenter's level to level the floor of the trailer side to side and front to rear. Shorter levels are not as accurate. I keep my 4' level in the basement of the trailer and use it every time we park the trailer. Eyeballs don't work nearly as well as a good ole carpenter's level. Cheap but functional levels are available for $10 for so, but I like nice tools so this is mine:
48 in. Aluminum Box Level-981-41-48H - The Home Depot

[1bigmess]

Originally Posted by SmokeyWren

10. 4' carpenter's level. Use a 4' carpenter's level to level the floor of the trailer side to side and front to rear. Shorter levels are not as accurate.

This is not bad advice, I will simply say that since the fridge needs to be level to run the best when it is running on propane because you don't have electricity hooked up, I level the trailer based on a level placed on the floor of the freezer. The fridge was (hopefully!) installed square or square enough with the rest of the trailer that leveling the fridge will level the trailer, too.

If you spend much time away from electrical hookups, this might be important to keep your food in the fridge cold or frozen.

Just something to think about. I hope you have a great time with your new RV!

[JenellJ]

Originally Posted by 1bigmess

Conga rats! How about you start by telling us what you already have for the trailer?

Hitch?
What is the Tow Vehicle (TV)?
What kind of traveling do you plan on doing?

Good point. I have nothing but an invoice. I do have a truck to pull it: 2016 Ford F 150 Lariat with tow package. I am getting a EqualizerStay Control Hitch installed.

[SmokeyWren]

I forgot to mention the toolbox. A self-contained RV trailer has numerous systems that require maintenance and sometimes repair. I hate going to an RV shop to get something done, so I usually DIY. My toolbox contains a full set of metric and SAE sockets, ratchets, breaker bar, etc. Plus a set of screwdrivers, including one that will fit the square-head screws that are all over my trailer, three sizes of adjustable (Cresant) wrenches, a couple of pipe (Stilson) wrenches, various plyers and dykes, wire cutters, and an electrician's wire-stripping tool. I hope I don't need those tools very often, but if I need them, I need them now. Also a 20-volt and an 18-volt power screwdriver, along with an adapter to allow me to use a 3/4" socket to screw up or down my stabilizer jacks and WD jacks. (My WD hitch uses a screw jack instead of lift-up brackets to tighten the spring bars.)

And something that may not apply to you. We don't watch TV, other than maybe to check the weather report. But we both read a lot at night. Our TT did not include decent reading lights, so I installed one over the headboard of the bed where I read, and one over the dinette where DW reads. Simple 120-volt under-cabinet florescent lights that plug into 120-volt outlets in the trailer. Like this one:
GE Slim Line 14 in. Fluorescent Light Fixture-10168 - The Home Depot

[1bigmess]

Originally Posted by JenellJ

Good point. I have nothing but an invoice. I do have a truck to pull it: 2016 Ford F 150 Lariat with tow package. I am getting a EqualizerStay Control Hitch installed.

Is this the trailer you bought?
Flagstaff Super Lite Travel Trailers by Forest River RV

1300 pounds dry hitch weight. I think you gotta start from right there. Add a couple of hundred pounds for safety, and go here:

RV Tow Check 2.0 | Salesperson Fact Checker

Read, learn, and use the calculator. Can you tow that trailer safely? Seems like you might be able to with a properly equipped pickup. If you don't know what your pickup weighs now, it wouldn't hurt at all to fill the gas tank, put the people and pets in there, and go weight it at a truck stop scale.
I have an Equal-I-Zer 4 way sway control hitch, and it works well, despite some noise. Get a tube of white grease for the hitch to use where the owners manual says to to help keep noise down.

[rebelkitty]

Our RV is in for repair for a few weeks, so while we were there, I decided to take the plunge and have the EAZ lift WD hitch swapped out for a new Equal-I-Zer with 4 point sway control. Interestingly, they also showed us a Reese that mirrored the setup of the Equalizer and is supposed to be much quieter. It ran around $100 cheaper as well. Since we hadn't looked into any reviews on it, we stuck with the Equalizer. As for the Winnie, they told me that since it's still under warranty and Winnebago is running with a skeleton crew over the holidays so we shouldn't expect it for a few more weeks. Since we've camped in it only twice, I am anxious to get out there and get some use out of it!