We want you to be prepared when you start your RV Adventure and in order to help with your planning, we’ve come up with this helpful RV Gear Shopping List for New RV Owners.
This list is about products you need as part of actually buying the RV. These aren’t convenience items or nice to haves like some of the items in our previous blog post, but tools and supplies that you simply have to have for the day to day and safe functionality for RV’ing. We’ll prepare a separate shopping list for living items soon.
Updated April 28, 2019. This post contains affiliate links. We receive a commission for any purchases made via these links.
If you RV, you will wash dishes, shower, and use the restroom.
You want to get a good quality sewer hose that is at least 20′ long, and quality nitrile gloves to go with it.
I recommend getting the Sewer Kit below from Camco. The hose swivels at all ends which avoids kinking and twisting stress on the hose. It also has end caps for keeping things sanitary when you disconnect, and an opaque sewer elbow. You want to know things are flowing well, you don’t necessarily want to see what’s actually going down.
And the gloves. I don’t like worrying about what may have splashed on my gloves, so I use a fresh pair every time. You don’t want to risk it, trust me!!
Rather than a run of the mill water hose, make sure to get a purpose made fresh water hose.
Forget that old hose sitting on the back porch, do it right. Minimum, 25′.
In fact, get two.
Yes, two.
You never know what accident could befall your first hose, especially since the fresh water fixtures and black/grey tank drains are typically on the same side of the RV not far from each other.
Yes, your RV comes with a sewer cap, but you may want to consider one that will allow you to connect a water hose.
This will allow you to drain your grey (sink, shower) water.
We have stayed at campgrounds where there was no sewer, but they did provide a “Grey Water Only” drain.
In addition, you may find yourself dry camping on BLM land or someone’s property where it is legal and acceptable to drain your grey water. This type of sewer cap will allow you to drain your grey into the woods or proper receptacle.
Wheel Chocks and Levelers
You’re living life on wheels now so make sure you are living level and staying put when you park!
Don’t forget your wheel chocks, and unless you have a self-leveling rig, some simple levelers to help out!
We find ourselves using ours nearly every time we camp. Even in Florida!!
If you’re towing a Travel Trailer like us, a weight distribution hitch is essential.
When you place a load on your hitch ball, you’re unbalancing your truck/SUV by taking the weight off of the front axle reducing control authority for turning and braking.
A weight distribution hitch leverages weight back to the front of the tow vehicle as the nice Australian in this video explains.
Take a look and then check the Amazon link below.
Also, it pays to add a sway bar.
Our TT is rock solid on the highway, partly due to having a sway control bar.
Continuing with the electric theme you definitely want a 50 Amp to 30 Amp adapter or of course a 30 Amp to 50 Amp adapter.
There’s nothing worse than traveling all day, pulling into an overnight RV park and realizing that there are no 30 Amp sites left for your TT or a 50 Amp site for your Bus.
An electrical adapter takes care of that problem so that you can hook up to any power outlet.
It helped us out when our monthly parking site was occupied by another guest for 5 days a few years ago and we had to park on a grassy spot with 50 amp service.
It was actually a gorgeous unofficial spot that they ran auxiliary power to that we were really sad to leave.
Now you can always find more RV products besides our Shopping List for New RV Owners, but we feel this list can help you cover the essentials for a smooth start to your RV adventure!
Please let us know what you think and if you have any questions for us!
Being a new RV owner can be overwhelming, please let us know how we can help you!!
Ha ha. We kind of like our shower head…it’s simple and lets us turn the water on and off. Did you replace yours?
Guest
ginny noel
Thanks for you tips and advice. We are new to RVing and will be going on a year long adventure starting in the spring. One decision we are struggling with is a car. We have a class A and are a bit nervous about towing a car (adding length etc). We see so many that do – so we feel that it must not be that difficult. We also feel like we would use it all the time. Thoughts? Thanks for all your wisdom!
Hi Ginny!! A lot of people have a tow vehicle and use it a lot. There are others that do not. How big is your Class A? Would you be comfortable taking it to the grocery store or other locations? Do you think you would be able to walk or bike to tourism locations or other places you would like to visit? People bring the tow along to be able to get around without having to take their entire RV. If we had a large Class A, we would probably want a small tow vehicle for getting around town and… Read more »
Guest
Gregg
I guess it depends what you tow or maybe you have a motorhome and wouldn’t need a few of these items however I would add toilet chemicals (to maintain fresh air smell and help to break down solids in your black water holding tank)( did I mention less smelly air!!!) toilet paper 1 or 2 ply you can get at camping world but your local Walmart caries it also. we also used bottled water for drinking and the coffee maker and icemaker. we use the trailer / faucet water for cooking and cleaning. small box of common tools for simple… Read more »
OMG – the sledgehammer!! I nearly spit out my gum…
None of the must haves list are exhaustive and definitely reflect our needs and things we have purchased ourselves. 🙂
Thanks for the suggestions!!!
Guest
Chrissy
Thank you do much! This is a great list for first time RVer’s!
Hello. Thank you for the list of start up items. I need to get the surge protector. So many on the market I have to review all to see what would be the correct one for me and my dog Littleman. Bye now.
Hi Les, you aren’t the first person to drag their feet on the surge protector. Thanks for mentioning the fuses!! That’s a good suggestion!!
Guest
Sarah
With the sway hitch: I HIGHLY recommend making sure the hitch CAN be used WITH the sway bars attached when it’s moderately high windy (obviously super high winds are still dangerous with a high centered vehicle), on winding switchback type roads, and while backing up…..basically the times when you need that sway bar the MOST. Otherwise you’ll have spent $600-$800 on a very expensive paperweight, and will likely go buy the more expensive one within 6mon (if you travel regularly). Also: I LOVE my electric hitch. The dealership had me crank the original mechanical one to show me how to… Read more »
Free Checklist: 48 Things to Do Before Breaking Camp
This 6-page checklist will help you break camp. You can download it to your phone and always have it handy…and if you have adobe on your phone, you can check it off right from your phone. It even has some extra places where you can add your own items.
Your list is great. However one of the very first things I would tell any new RVer is upgrade your shower head!!!
Ha ha. We kind of like our shower head…it’s simple and lets us turn the water on and off. Did you replace yours?
Thanks for you tips and advice. We are new to RVing and will be going on a year long adventure starting in the spring. One decision we are struggling with is a car. We have a class A and are a bit nervous about towing a car (adding length etc). We see so many that do – so we feel that it must not be that difficult. We also feel like we would use it all the time. Thoughts? Thanks for all your wisdom!
Hi Ginny!! A lot of people have a tow vehicle and use it a lot. There are others that do not. How big is your Class A? Would you be comfortable taking it to the grocery store or other locations? Do you think you would be able to walk or bike to tourism locations or other places you would like to visit? People bring the tow along to be able to get around without having to take their entire RV. If we had a large Class A, we would probably want a small tow vehicle for getting around town and… Read more »
I guess it depends what you tow or maybe you have a motorhome and wouldn’t need a few of these items however I would add toilet chemicals (to maintain fresh air smell and help to break down solids in your black water holding tank)( did I mention less smelly air!!!) toilet paper 1 or 2 ply you can get at camping world but your local Walmart caries it also. we also used bottled water for drinking and the coffee maker and icemaker. we use the trailer / faucet water for cooking and cleaning. small box of common tools for simple… Read more »
OMG – the sledgehammer!! I nearly spit out my gum…
None of the must haves list are exhaustive and definitely reflect our needs and things we have purchased ourselves. 🙂
Thanks for the suggestions!!!
Thank you do much! This is a great list for first time RVer’s!
So glad you found it helpful!!
Hello. Thank you for the list of start up items. I need to get the surge protector. So many on the market I have to review all to see what would be the correct one for me and my dog Littleman. Bye now.
Hi Daniel!! Glad you found the list helpful!! Let us know which surge protector you decide on!!
I’m dragging my feet on a surge protector sooo expensive, with out it could damage could be expensive.
something to consider for your list (fuses)
Hi Les, you aren’t the first person to drag their feet on the surge protector. Thanks for mentioning the fuses!! That’s a good suggestion!!
With the sway hitch: I HIGHLY recommend making sure the hitch CAN be used WITH the sway bars attached when it’s moderately high windy (obviously super high winds are still dangerous with a high centered vehicle), on winding switchback type roads, and while backing up…..basically the times when you need that sway bar the MOST. Otherwise you’ll have spent $600-$800 on a very expensive paperweight, and will likely go buy the more expensive one within 6mon (if you travel regularly). Also: I LOVE my electric hitch. The dealership had me crank the original mechanical one to show me how to… Read more »