Dinner Any Time

Archives

FTC Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

More RV Tips

Got some great tips I thought I would pass on.

1. Use the sides of the overhead microwave and the overhead stove vent if available to hang things like measuring spoons on stick-on hooks. The little plastic sticky hooks by 3M and others work very well on those, the items will be within easy reach when needed, and will generally stay in place while traveling.

2. Anyone who has cooked in a small RV propane oven knows how the food tends to burn on the bottom. Buy 4 six-inch unglazed ceramic tiles and put them on the solid metal shelf just above the burner to evenly distribute the heat throughout the oven. They must be unglazed and be able to handle high temps so you likely won’t find them at Home Depot type stores. Look for tile dealers.

3. If your rear RV bumper has rusted or does not have enough room for all your sewer hoses, you can buy plastic hose containers from Camping World or you can make your own! I bought one 10 foot white plastic sewer pipe at Lowes hardware store along with additional caps, etc. and made 2 of these for less than the price of one pre-fabbed. Mine don’t have mounting feet but I can still strap them under my trailer, on the rear bumper, or in my case, to the rear ladder. They were very easy to make with just a regular saw needed to cut the pipe and a knife to trim the burrs.

hose_tube.jpg hose_tube2.jpg

If you have the room in one of your storage bays, coiling sewer hoses and cords up in Tupperware was also suggested to me

4. Wifi is a great thing but can be difficult to get a good signal in a trailer through metal covered walls or around the huge motorhome in front of you. There are good choices in USB network cards which can also boost the signal as I spoke about in another post. Another good, possibly better, option is to install an external antenna. I finally found them at a California company called Radiolabs . They offer all manner for RVers, truckers, and boaters. See my post on wifi for additional details.

5. One thing I really hated in my kitchen at home was the loss of space to my strainer. A strainer is not something you use a lot but is very nice to have when needed for spaghetti, lettuce washing, etc. They now make a folding strainer for the As Seen On TV group that is much easier to store in an RV or anywhere. I bought one in one of their outlets in Minnesota and love it. They are also available online at http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/flat_fold_colander.html?gid=KITCHEN

Flat Fold Colander

7. To save space on the kitchen counter and get additional cooking options, instead of using a toaster in your RV, use a small toaster oven instead. The toaster oven can do so much more than just toast, does come in small sizes to fit any kitchen, and does still make great toast.

8. Latches on RV screen doors are not designed to be solid such that you must push the handle to open them. If you push on an RV screen door, they will open. To keep your pet or child inside, add a common hook and eye latch inside which can be found at any hardware store.

9. My cat is very shy around strangers so she hides under the couch in my slideout when they visit. She also likes to drop down behind the couch when she is bugged at me or I’m busy and stomping around the place. She was constantly getting trapped behind the couch which has no way out with the face on so I have had to remove the face which covers up the storage area underneath. I really hate looking at all that stuff underneath. I am now in the process of cutting an opening in the face (cutting it shorter) and creating an open area underneath that will just be hers alone to enjoy but still allow me to cover up the rest of the storage area. If done right, I will be able to retain the cutout piece with the upholstery intact to add it back when I sell the trailer eventually. It will only require another hook added to the back of it to go over the rail underneath the couch.

I considered making a new shorter front but there is no way that I could match the upholstery due to the age of my trailer. Creating a block along the top of the couch to stop her from dropping behind it would also not be feasible since she is a clever cat and I would still worry while I was away or sleeping. Besides, I like her out of the way when I am busy. 😉

10. Need a quick, cheap way to light your campfire or barbecue safely? See http://www.rvtravel.com/blog/rvnow/2007/12/safe-fire-starter-for-rvers.html For 47 cents you can’t go wrong! Available at Walmart.

11. Tired of campground showers with no hooks for your coat and clothes? Bring your own hooks! Hooks in plastic and metal that hang over doors, stall walls, and shower curtain rods are available everywhere and easy to carry in your shower bag.

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>