I hear about it all the time. RVers neglect to tie something down or latch their storage and they end up losing items that they brought along for vacation. Ever so often I hear of an RV coming unhitched and ending up on the side of the road damaged beyond repair. Pulling a trailer is a tough job, not only for your vehicle, but also for the RV and your stress levels. When you embark on that family outing, it’s good to double check everything inside AND outside to make sure you don’t lose or break anything that you’d like to keep for a another trip.
1. Secure Those Storage Latches
Nowadays, RV manufacturers are putting latches all over the outside of your RV. Outdoor televisions, grills, and multiple storage units are all built with fairly lightweight doors that need to be latched to stay closed. Wind will very easily open an unlatched storage hatch and possibly empty its contents on the highway. If you have a broken latch, get it replaced. You don’t want to lose anything when you hit the highway.
2. Check Your Tires
Checking the tires is something that should be done before any trip you make with your RV. If it has been sitting in your yard or driveway for a couple of months during winter, you could have bald spots or tire rot that could cause a blowout once you get out on the road. Check your RV’s and tow vehicle’s tires to make sure they are properly inflated and free of any damage.
3. Double Check Your Hitch
Your hitch is what carries the weight of your RV and pulls it from site to site, so it’s important to make sure everything is in working order. Let’s start with the ball mount and trailer ball. Your pin and clip may seem like a small detail, but if you misplace your clip, your ball mount could wiggle itself free and then you’d have an RV-sized problem headed down the highway with nothing attached to it. The trailer ball should be tightened with a torque wrench to the specified torque weight to assure that it does not twist off while in transit. Your RV coupler should be securely attached to the trailer ball and the locking mechanism firmly in place.
4. Secure All Moving Parts Inside
Doors, drawers, and loose objects will all move when your are headed down the road if they are not latched or tied down. Make sure the doors are closed, drawers are latched shut and any loose objects are tied down. Otherwise, you may have a mess on your hands when you get to your campsite.
5. Close Those Vent Hoods
Your vent hoods are easy to forget about when you’re getting ready for a big trip. If you leave them open, you run the risk of losing or damaging them. Be sure to close and latch them so you don’t lose them!
6. Lower Your Antenna/Dish
Your antennae and dish are expensive to replace, so be sure to bring them in and secure them inside the RV. It’d be a sad day when you get to a campsite and realize that you lost your $400 satellite dish and you can’t watch the game.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hitting the road, but if you check all of the above, you’ll be minimizing your chances of disaster happening. What’s on your pre-departure check list? Share with us on Google+.
Photo Credit: Aaron Dodson, from The Noun Project [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
