Brand new full timers (what are we getting into)

[MKGypsy]

Hey everyone,
My wife and I just bought our travel trailer, and are picking it up Tuesday. We plan on moving into it, and out of our house within a month or so.

Tips, tricks, advice? I'm sure this has been asked before, so sorry for the redundancy. We are 22 years old, have a 6 month old baby, and a small/medium dog. I'm active duty military (USCG, so I live off base). Tell us everything we need to know.

[450Donn]

Probably cheaper than an apartment in many places. Heat can be the number one problem. Most RVs simple do not have much capacity and burn lots of gas. Hope your in a warm climate? Learn to not flush stuff other than himan waste into the tank. No dirty diapers, wet wipes etc. They simply clog everyrhing up. Use lots of water in the black tank. Protect your water hose from freezing if that is a worry where your at.
How big of a trailer? Even a 30 foot TT can get pretty cramped for a small child. Plan lots of outside time to minimize that.

[tbos1958]

Welcome to the forum from Southern MD. I'm Navy retired. Thanks for your service. I think the biggest thing to remember is have patience and always love those you are living with. The second is your new home will require maintenance, do it. Keep a close eye on all the seals and joints, especially on the roof. 3rd if your trailer comes with trailer king, power king or something similar tires replace them soon. Buy tire covers to protect your new ones from UV rays when parked. 4th have fun!

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi ! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Congrats on the new rig! Keep her between the ditches!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Mr_D]

Well, if done right, you're getting into a wonderful life!

[1bigmess]

If we knew where you are, at least right now since you may not know where you will be sent next for your employer, we could give you some more targeted advice about how to be comfortable in your climate.

[MKGypsy]

Right now. We are south of Houston, on the gulf coast. (Yah, the area that got some crazy bad flooding.)

[jarata]

You do have guts doing it with a baby

[1bigmess]

My brother and his wife are raising a baby in their class A. It's what the baby knows, and it's working.

[marjoa]

Originally Posted by MKGypsy

Tips, tricks, advice? We are 22 years old, have a 6 month old baby, and a small/medium dog. I'm active duty military (USCG, so I live off base). Tell us everything we need to know.

Army Vet here, thank you for stepping up and serving. Should be required by everyone in this country.

Anyway...
Tell us everything we need to know
That's funny. You got a good sense of humor, but hey you're young. But at least you're asking. My son is 25 and thinks he knows it all. Doesn't bother asking anything.

Tips, tricks, advice?
Look, I'll be frank here, there are 100's of 1,000's maybe millions of Tips, tricks, and advice that have taken years to accumulate and refer to on this forum. To condense this down to—Tell us everything we need to know—of course is impossible. You're a young guy, who's now a new dad, serving in the Military and now a new home owner. So you have a big learning curve on many fronts.

The best advice I can give you right now concerning your new trailer is this:
• Put safety first. And to be safe you have to:
• Take out all your manuals that came with your Trailer and read, read, read. Understand how everything works and how to perform maintenance on every item...and then do them. Keep records of what you do every time. This will insure that your trailer will last. It's like anything else in life, take care of it and it will take of you. Neglect it, and you'll pay.

• Understand your weights, the limits of your truck and proper tire air pressure both in the truck & trailer, according to that weight. With a wife and baby and all the stuff that comes with that, it will be real easy to accumulate stuff and then take off—trailer in tow—and be WAY over weight and put the whole Fam and others around you in danger.

• Excercise everything often

• Read this forum as much as time allows. Go to the forum that talks about trailers similar to yours. Just reading what others post, and how some answer, will educate you. You have to pick through the bones to get a little meat but some posters will really educate you with Tips, tricks, advice. Create folders in your browser, and save links to articles & post that you can refer to later if something comes up.

That's enough for now.

[JohnBoyToo]

If you will be stationary and not moving around, then we can eliminate all that portion of the advice and focus on the house portion... so give us some ideas on that...

but in the meantime, if a new trailer, make them go through EVERY item on the rv and show you how it works, do NOT be shy about asking questions or making them go thru things they missed... Video the whole thing on two different devices, turning it off between devices so you can organize them and watch them later we you forget

download ALL your rv's manuals into your pc and organize it by system... easier to search then to read through a hard copy !

Update your signature with your rv and tow vehicle specs so like rv'ers can focus in on your type..

Good luck, be patient and we're jealous you are starting out so early - if you wee closer to DFW we'd be glad to help...

[Fiesta48]

Nothing against TT s. But set up, breakdown time is the most versus fifth wheels and motorhomes. Our DP takes us less than 15 min. 20 if I have a problem, usually hose leaks. If you stay in one place a lot then TT s are good. Move around a lot? 30-45 min in TT starts adding up.

[MKGypsy]

Out of curiosity, what makes a 5th wheel quicker? Isn't it the same concept, just a different towing hook up?