So I’ve never bought a camper just for camping, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s probably a good bit different than choosing a camper to live in.

Choosing an RV for vacations seems like it would be a super fun experience! Like the excitement of taking your cute new non-permanent home on wheels places.

You probably don’t need quite as many features for just traveling a week or two. Coming from a girl who has been (forced to go) backwoods camping, I can make do without a few luxuries for a short amount of time.

Living in this thing however, is a little different.

So if you know our story about why we moved into a camper, you know it was a fairly hasty decision. As much as I don’t like to live on the edge I have a wonderful husband who does.

If I could go back to before purchasing our travel trailer, I would probably have been more systematic about the things we NEEDED in our temporary home on wheels. I had this in my head, but when you head out to the RV dealer and are overwhelmed instantly by thousands of campers, it’s a little harder to keep straight.

Not to mention, I may or may not be extremely easily distracted by shiny things and pretty colored electric fireplaces.

But so after about five months of living in this camper, here are the things I feel like we got right and some things we should have given more thought to. Hopefully, these will help you in your search!

AMPS MATTER

I am no expert on electricity or amps or basically anything to do with how the travel trailer actually works, but let me tell you what I do know. I cannot blow dry my hair AND run the electric fireplace heater at the same time.

It will trip a breaker. You will be colder than before you started. And since your husband works nights and is sound asleep, you will have to figure it out yourself.

Now luckily it only tripped the breaker, so I just cut the fireplace off, flipped the switch, and continued with the blow-drying.

I have to say though, this is actually better than what I was initially told.

During our final walk-through on the day we purchased our 30 amp travel trailer. I was told (after the check had already been given to the finance guy and the dotted line was signed) that I COULD NOT blow dry my hair on 30 amps.

Excuse me sir… what did you say?

My husband, bless him, saw the look of panic on my face and quickly interjected with a solution of running a drop cord from the building adjacent to our camper and in through the bathroom door. He quickly assured me we would work it out.

Said sales guy did not look so convinced. But I composed myself and we went on with the walk-through.

Turns out I CAN blow dry my hair in the camper without a drop cord, but you cannot run anything else at the same time. You can have a light on, but no heater or appliance (other than the fridge) can be running. So I make it work.

My point in the blow dryer fiasco is this, many campers, especially travel trailers or smaller driveable RVs, will be 30 amps. Ask questions going into this, preferably BEFORE you hand over a large check. Make sure that what you are getting is going to meet your usage needs.

FLOORPLANS MATTER

I looked through literally HUNDREDS of camper floor plans online before deciding on one. We have a bit of a unique situation in that we were not only moving ourselves into our camper but two dogs and five (no I’m not kidding) cats with us.

I’m sure even if you don’t have dogs and cats, you know that dogs really like to eat cat poop… I mean and their food, but mostly the poop. Which causes me to be extremely disgusted with my precious four-legged children. So we had to find a solution where everyone could co-exists peacefully, with no poop eating.

In case you are wondering, yes we do let the cats outside, but on really cold nights or while we are gone all day, they stay inside some. Cats don’t enjoy holding their pee all day just like you don’t. You can check out the details on our kitty bunk if you are thinking of moving your cats into your RV with you.

So a big priority for me was a way to keep the cats’ stuff away from the dogs. We also needed a storage area for things we would need in everyday life that you probably wouldn’t need on just a camping trip.

A double bunk solved this for us. We use the top for the cats and the bottom for storage of our stuff. Is it ideal, no. Does it work, absolutely.

Bathroom placement might also be something you should factor in.

Our bathroom is at the back of our travel trailer. This works for us as opposed to having the bathroom connected to the bedroom like some floorplans because we work opposite shifts.

I would probably wake Ethan up every morning trying to get ready if our bathroom was next to our bedroom. Even though I try to be as quiet as a church mouse, since he’s only been asleep like an hour when I wake up, sound can’t really be contained in 80 square feet. It’s just a fact

So the downside to having the bathroom on the back, there is no heat or air vent in our bathroom. We have the ceiling fan, which to my knowledge serves no purpose in the winter other than to make it even more frigid than it was without the fan. But no actual heat vent.

It is freaking cold in that bathroom.

We have a ceramic space heater in the bathroom that provides some warmth. But it just cannot get the temperature in the bathroom to a level you would want.

So check out where your heat and air vents are BEFORE purchasing if you are going to be living in different climates.

Your family may have very different needs than mine.

But figuring them out before starting to RV shop is important. Knowing what you can and can’t sacrifice moving into such a small space will help you get the right camper for you.

Just know that there are tons and tons of floor plans. Be sure you have narrowed down to a few you think would work before you hit the RV sales center. It will help you make your visit shorter and will prevent you from feeling insanely overwhelmed when choosing a camper to live in.

HOT WATER HEATERS MATTER

Also during our final walk-through, we were told they did not make tankless hot water heaters for our travel trailer model. This was an upgrade we had been discussing if it was worth it or not.

Later we did find out that a tankless hot water heater COULD be installed, but it wasn’t recommended.

For resale value (since we are not keeping our travel trailer once our house is built), we decided it was not worth it to attempt to have one installed.

But some RVs do come with slightly larger hot water tanks. Some of the really big, new ones even come with tankless hot water heaters. Our travel trailer came with the fairly standard six-gallon tank.

The man at the RV dealer said the water would heat back up within 6 – 8 minutes. Which is true. BUT it does NOT heat back up to the level of warmth if it has had an hour or so to replenish. It also does not completely fill and warm the whole six gallons in that time.

So needless to say, showers are interesting.

We purchased a new water-saving showerhead for this feature, but also because the standard ones pretty much suck. With most RV shower heads, there is a little button or switch you can cut the water off from running without turning it all the way off.

You will be using this feature unless you want to rinse off in FREEZING cold water.

I CAN wash my hair and body all in one shower without it getting too cold, but it’s pretty tricky. And I am in there with the water NOT running a lot of the time. A normal shower will last maybe six minutes. This is at a moderately warm temperature, with cutting the water off while lathering up.

Can this be done, yes we are doing it. I shower in our camper every morning before work. Is it necessarily a pleasant experience, not really.

Your level of preparedness in this category might make a difference in the RV you choose for the water heater size and style.

I was not prepared. If I could go back, I might still buy our same travel trailer, but I might not. Just to have more hot water.

I haven’t personally done much extensive research on the difference between a six-gallon and a ten-gallon water heater in an RV. So if this is a concern I would definitely look into it further or make sure you bring it up to your salesperson at the least!

A FEW OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

These are certainly not the only factors you would want to consider when choosing a camper to live in. I would suggest you sit down with your entire family who will be living in the RV with you and make a list of what is MOST important to each person. This will help you determine what you should prioritize in your RV purchase. Some other quick things to consider:

Some other things to think about:

• New versus used RVs.
• If you will be traveling with it, weight. Make sure you know how much your vehicle can tow if you will be towing it.
• Height – if you have tall family members. Ethan wishes we would have bought a fifth-wheel for the added ceiling height for him.
• Storage space. Both inside and out.
• Counter space. This is one thing I wish I had of thought about more. We do not have very much actual counter space in our kitchen and it makes prepping and cooking somewhat difficult.

I hope these tips will help you on your journey to camper living. If you have already been through the RV buying process, I would love to hear if you have any more tips to share!