Top 10 RV
Must-Haves
By Hannah Heredia
It’s the great debate of 2020—essential versus nonessential things! These are our top ten RV must-haves for nonessential but essential items for life on the open road.
1. A Good Mattress
When constantly traveling and moving throughout the day, having a good mattress with support is important. This is one of the most essential things you will want to upgrade in your RV. Life on the road can be challenging and having a good mattress lets you have an enjoyable night’s sleep.
2. Flashlight
Whether you’re out boondocking (dry camping) or in an RV park, you’re going to be traveling to new places! Having a flashlight helps aid in parking and hooking up your RV at night, or even just taking your dog out for a walk. You have to be flexible when traveling: things do not often go as planned, which can cause you to arrive at your destination after the sun has gone down. We highly recommend getting a good quality, weatherproof flashlight that will last. Don’t forget to bring batteries for backup!
3. Generator
This is extremely essential if you plan to do any boondocking. The batteries that come attached to your RV are not reliable and can run out of energy much quicker than you would expect. Having a backup method to obtain energy such as solar panels, generator or extra batteries can help prevent unforeseen outages, especially when you are miles from the nearest town.
4. Walkie Talkies
Parking and driving an RV can be one of the biggest challenges. Having walkie talkies helps when you need to communicate in areas where there is no cell phone reception. One person can look behind the vehicle while the driver is navigating the front. These have come in handy quite often when parking our RV. We also take them on hikes in case we get separated.
5. Hotspot Extender
Because we both work remotely, having reliable cell phone and internet service are essential for us to maintain our jobs and business. A hotspot extender enhances your signal strength up to 32 times and allows you to maintain service in the most remote areas.
6. Cooler
Having a secondary cooler is so important for us to store fresh fruits, vegetables, and prepared foods. When on the move, taking food out of your RV refrigerator and having a cooler to place it in will help avoid spillage during your travels. We also like to meal prep and have everything pre-packed and ready to go when we boondock. This saves time, energy, and limits unexpected trips to the grocery store.
7. Grill
We’ve always loved grilling our foods. Having a small portable grill is so useful when you’re looking for a warm, home-cooked meal on a cold night of traveling. When traveling by RV, you want to take in as much of the outdoors as possible. Having a grill lets you spend more time outdoors and get the most of evenings with your family.
8. Dual Pressure Cooker/Air Fryer
Whenever the weather is too cold for grilling outdoors, or you need a method of heating up food quickly, a dual pressure cooker/air fryer is so convenient. You can sauté different vegetables, make pasta, boil water, reheat leftovers and more in this portable kitchen gadget. The combination of the two also helps you conserve space and weight in the RV.
9. Extra Water Tank
One of the first things to run out when boondocking is your fresh water. Keeping an extra portable water tank that you can take to the station and fill up is important. There are multiple sizes available, and you can pick a size depending on how long you boondock or how many trips you take. Having a separate drinking tank allows you to conserve fresh water from the RV tank for longer periods.
10. Camera
Last but definitely not least, we recommend purchasing a high-quality camera! Throughout your travels you will want to have pictures to look back on all the extraordinary places you visited. Look for a camera that includes 4K video as well so you can capture your memories in motion along the way.
