5 Must-Haves to Test Before You Buy Your RV

If you’re thinking of buying an RV, or even upgrading, you’ve probably created a list of must-haves and must-have-nots. We’ve had our current RV for about one year, but I still distinctly remember spending hours every weekend searching for the “perfect” RV (granted, we still love to look and explore different models, but we are no longer in the search phase). For us, there were some things we must have: room for dogs, air conditioner/heat, an actual shower and toilet, auto-leveling, and an oven. There were also some things we new we absolutely did not want, such as bunk beds (it’s just us, you know?) anything smaller than a queen to sleep on, or a used rig.

For the most part, our rig has everything we did and did not want. One of our must-haves, auto-leveling, is a little less automatic than we would like… or that we were shown during demo. That’s something though that a little more research and general knowledge about RV’s (we were still RV babies then!) would have helped. Our RV has a lot more room in it than others of it’s size, which is amazing for the dogs! My point is that the big items were pretty much solved as we looked at RVs. But what about the smaller things you don’t realize you need until you’re actually RVing? And that’s where this list begins.

1. Mimic Your Morning Routine

Some people are go-with-the-flow morning folks. Marty and I are NOT one of them. Marty is a lounge in bed for half n’hour and then meander into the living room sort of person. I am a get up, make coffee, and drink said coffee (2 mugs, to be exact) while reading or watching TV. Neither one of us are enjoyable people unless we’ve had about 30 minutes to adjust to the world.

Testing your morning routine, though, is less about the routine than the space. In other words, Marty’s morning “space” needs a comfortable bed with an outlet nearby so that he can relax. My morning space requires easy access to coffee and a place to sit while being able to rest my coffee and book nearby. Both of our spaces require separation so we don’t disturb the other.

Fortunately, our rig meets both of our needs, but we got lucky. We certainly did not test this when buying and it would have caused serious problems as we went full time.

2. And Now Mimic Your Evening Routine

Again, you don’t know what you need until you try it. When we bought Aussie (the RV) we were concerned about the TV placement. However, we told ourselves that we shouldn’t be concerned since we aren’t RVing to watch TV. In fact, I think my exact words were “I’ll be surprised if we even watch TV while RVing.” Fast-forward one year, a house renovation, and sweltering east coast humidity: we. watch. TV.

Fortunately, the TV placement isn’t actually the problem, rather it’s the seating arrangement we aren’t crazy about. When we bought Aussie we made sure we could turn the TV towards the recliner chairs since the TV technically faces the dining booth. In our assessment, the TV turned great. Yey! Yet, when we actually started staying in the RV, we realized pretty quickly there was no place to set anything near us while sitting in our recliners. This means, any drinks, food, work items, etc. either have to go on the floor (we have dogs, y’all, this is not an option) or back to the dining table. While a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of must haves, the lack of end table or nook where we relax in the evening is, well, not relaxing.

3. Actually TEST the shower

This one is tough since most RVs are not hooked up to water when on the selling lot. However, it is 100% worth it to actually try the shower. If you have checked off every other box on your soon-to-be rig, then make your sales consultant hook that bad boy up to water.

Marty and I read seemingly every article on how to pick an RV and things to check. We both hopped in and did our pretend wash and dry – both fit great in the bathroom space. Even when we actually showered for the first time, I was pretty impressed with the amount of space and ease (minus the bottle constantly falling on me) of our shower. However, it wasn’t until we were out that we realized the water pools to the bottom right of the shower. This is problematic for a couple reasons. One, it makes shaving my legs in the shower impossible because there is no way to drain it properly. Secondly, it makes cleaning the shower difficult because there is always a pool of water at the bottom. And finally, bugs really seem to love pooled shower water. Needless to say, I highly recommend turning on the shower and seeing how it drains before buying. Fortunately, our rig does drain – just not the best.

4. (Re)Consider Clothing Needs

This advice probably breaks against tradition, and I’m sure someone out there will show this tid-bit to their spouse and say “See!! See!!, but you probably don’t need as much clothing space as you think you do (big gasp here!)

Now I’m not saying you don’t need clothing space, but a little goes much farther than you might think. When we first started looking at rigs, I was insistent that we have a full closet (with a washer/dryer, of course). Instead, Aussie has a small closet, with 2 small drawers, 2 big drawers, and a medium sized cabinet. The closet is so small that it actually doesn’t fit regular size hangers by about a couple of inches – a major design flaw in my opinion. Despite the hanger issue, it’s actually plenty of space because I simply don’t need all the clothing that I have at home.

Since living in our RV during the home renovation, I noticed my clothing needs go from a massive closet to a week or two worth of outfits. Whether you’re full-time RVing or a weekend adventurer, you most likely don’t need all of your work clothes, fashion jackets, or a bunch of flip flops. I have spent all summer with 4 pairs of shoes: relaxed sandals, nicer sandals, flip flops, and tennis. If we were hiking, I would add hiking boots – but that’s it! I’m using about one dress, 2 jackets (a sweatshirt and a nicer jacket), 2 swimsuits, 3 shorts, 4 yoga pants, and the same 7-12 shirts over and over. That’s about 24 pieces of clothing… hardly enough to warrant a large wardrobe. Will the winter require some bigger, bulkier pieces? Yes – but not so much to miss out on a fantastic RV that meets every other need and budget!

5. Eat at Your Table

We picked up this tip somewhere and I am so thankful we did it! Marty and I were pretty set on a table and chairs when we first started. We really wanted a Grand Design and that was the trademark set up in their products. In our mind, the chairs could function inside or outside, eliminating the need to bring chairs, and we could store a kennel or two under the table when needed (again, the chairs were going to be outside with us because RVers don’t stay inside. Inside is for quitters!)

We were wrong and the table/chairs option was not the best for our family. We soon realized this when we decided to sit down at a set (Mind you, we had been looking at RVs for months now and only taking serious those with table/chairs) We had just read an article about trying out all the features, so we decided to play “host.” Folks, we did not fit. At that point we were in far better shape than now (Marty was still in the military) and we still could not fit at that table. Squeezing between the window and table was unconformable, and we had no space between us without someone (aka, me) on the end. What if we had guests? What if those guests were bigger? There was no way this table for “four” was going to fit four adults. We chuckled at the size, but the real laugh came when we got up and the chair broke. I’ve vowed upon my life not to say whose chair broke, but just know I took every advantage to mock him the rest of the evening. That broken chair, though, made us realize these chairs were not going to be dual purpose and they certainly were not going to work for us.

And let me tell you, we LOVE our dinette seating. The dogs love it. Guests love it. All 6’3″ of Marty loves it. My laptop, coffee mugs, seasonal candle, and bills love it. We were so convinced we would hate a booth, but it is single-handedly my favorite feature of our RV. And we would have no known without trying something and seeing how much it failed!

This list isn’t all encompassing, but these five things would have been or were worth the extra time when RV shopping. RV are big investments. Whether you are buying used, vintage, brand new, Class-A to pop-up, RV needs are more than just specs and numbers – they must compliment your routine and day.