Packing up a motorhome or campervan? Unsure what you want or the place to place all of it so issues are protected? Don’t fear, we’re bought you covered- right here’s all the things you must know, in addition to a FREE motorhome packing checklist so that you can use.
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Packing a motorhome- the issue
Probably the most frequent questions I get requested (other than ‘what does motorhome payload imply and the way do I examine?), is about packing a motorhome, campervan, or RV. As I’m positive you’ve realised, attempting to place ALL THE THINGS right into a small area isn’t at all times simple! Not solely do you need to work out what to pack in your camper, however you additionally have to be taught HOW to pack it.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re going touring round Europe for six weeks, or heading to the native campsite for a weekend, a poorly packed motorhome is at greatest noisy/ annoying and at worse harmful to drive.
(In case you’re nonetheless caught on the WHAT you want, right here’s a listing of important motorhome equipment we extremely suggest you carry)
Nonetheless, upon getting all the things you suppose you would possibly want/ need piled in your spare bed room or storage, it’s time to start out placing all of it away.
The issue with not doing this correctly is what number of issues there are which might rattle and shake round if not saved appropriately. Not solely is it annoying and distracting to take heed to that noise while driving, however issues might break, shake unfastened and even trigger imbalances to the car. Due to this fact, it’s actually vital to pack your motorhome correctly.
Motorhome Packing Errors
After dwelling and touring in our motorhome for a number of years, we’ve learnt some nice ideas and methods to pack a motorhome, and we’re sharing all of them beneath. Once we purchased our first camper, we knew nothing. Completely nothing. We packed our first van utterly incorrect! Boy did we all know it once we set off on our first trip- there have been creaks, bangs and noises EVERYWHERE!
We needed to be taught easy methods to cease rattles within the motorhome, easy methods to pack heavy issues low and easy methods to organize lockers so we didn’t need to empty them simply to get one thing within the again!
How do you load a motorhome? Assess your storage
You can find that you’ve got ‘good lockers’ and ‘dangerous lockers’ inside your camper. Good lockers are simple to entry, simple to see inside and straightforward to maintain organised. Dangerous lockers are arduous to entry/ arduous to see inside and enormous sufficient for issues to get thrown in with none thought by any means, which makes them not possible to maintain tidy!
Dangerous lockers also can have heating duct pipes/ wires/ switches and many others inside them, which suggests you must take into consideration the sorts of objects you place into them.
Begin by figuring out your good/ dangerous lockers, then gather your gear and RV equipment collectively.
Take into consideration while you would possibly want the ‘stuff’ you’re placing away. For instance, you’re unlikely to want a whisk or video games in an emergency, however you would possibly want some instruments, so maintain these in a extra accessible locker.
What is going to you want when? If the children are asleep, is there something beneath their bunks which you would possibly want within the night/ morning? What if one among you will get up early (me!) and the opposite likes a lie-in (whereas ready for his bacon butty…!)
Methods to pack a motorhome or campervan – the place to start out
One of many hardest issues is understanding the place to start out.
TOP TIP: Do NOT begin along with your fairly throw cushions or blankets or bedding… you’ll be shifting them out of the way in which continuously while you do all the things else.
I like to recommend you begin on the backside and work your approach up. By that I imply begin with under-seat lockers and begin with the biggest gadgets, which might’t be put anyplace else, like a motorhome generator when you have one or instruments/ spares.
- Begin along with your heavy/ awkward equipment (Mills, outside furnishings, tables, snow chains and many others) You probably have a storage or outside storage field, this is likely to be pretty simple, however for a lot of motorhomes, it requires enthusiastic about your lockers fastidiously
- Attempt to maintain related gadgets in the identical place, so you could find issues simply.
- Subsequent, collect all of your kitchenware/ crockery/ utensils/ plates and many others collectively. Attempt to put them in locations which make sense, however retains issues safe.
- Shield your heating ducts. You don’t need to retailer any sizzling/ perishable meals subsequent to those pipes, as they may get extremely popular. You additionally don’t need heavy gadgets to fall inside a cabinet or locker and squish the duct- that may be an costly restore.
Watch us packing a motorhome…
Some time in the past I filmed me packing our motorhome utterly from scratch. (In case you’ve bought/ are getting a brand new van, or fancy some spring cleansing, you would possibly discover it helpful to observe.)
Within the video, you’ll see me beginning with the issues I’ll want most regularly and placing them someplace simple to get to.
We hope you discovered the video helpful. In case you did, we’d like it if you adopted us on Youtube. New movies with ideas for motorhoming and campervanning within the UK and Europe are launched weekly.
Packing Motorhome Suggestions- don’t panic!
Okay, while you start placing issues away, there’s a excessive probability your camper can be utter chaos. Don’t panic- we are going to get by way of this within the subsequent hour or two and it’ll begin to really feel much more beneath management.
That is NOT the time to start out shoving stuff into lockers and hiding all of it away- that can solely trigger confusion and frustration afterward and also you’ll discover vanlife a lot harder. That is while you ship the children, canine (and probably husband!) out for ice cream or a looooooooooooong stroll.
Then put some music or a podcast on, take your time and picture dwelling within the campervan for every week/ month/ full time. (These are our favorite highway journey songs to sing alongside to!)
Take into consideration weight distribution
Completely different to payload, it’s vital to think about stability while packing.
You probably have a generator or one thing actually heavy, don’t retailer it in the identical locker and even on the identical facet as all of your tins.
Speaking of tins, don’t retailer a number of unfastened issues like that in a locker with one thing you must take out regularly, like outside chairs or a BBQ. You’ll discover having to take away 50 tins to get issues out a ache within the bottom!
What do you have to pack in a motorhome kitchen?
Fortunately, many of the issues we use within the kitchen within the motorhome are precisely the identical stuff you’d use at residence. As a really transient information, you want:
Plates, bowls, mugs, glasses, cutlery, condiments, utensils, TIN OPENER, BOTTLE OPENER, tea towels, washing up stuff, bin luggage (doesn’t need to be the large black ones- we discover the smaller pedal bin measurement are sometimes higher), kitchen roll, frying pan, saucepan, kettle, teaspoons. Different Street journey necessities
These are what I’d contemplate fundamentals (although clearly, your checklist could nicely differ.) We additionally discover the next helpful onboard:
- Poachpods (have I discussed I’m hooked on poached eggs? These items are a superb invention and I exploit them just about each day)
- Plastic containers within the fridge to carry issues in place
- Bottle bag (one of many wine carrying ones from a supermarket- these maintain bottles and cease them clinking)
- Tongs
- Oven mitt
- Dishdrying matt (we don’t use a rack- takes up an excessive amount of area)
- Tea, espresso, sugar, sizzling chocolate and many others
- Nutritional vitamins or any tablets you require
- Spray oil for frying- private choice but it surely’s simpler to eliminate a bit extra oil than a complete lot!
- Chopping boards
- Sharp knives, together with steak knives should you’re keen on purple meat
- Soup spoons (should you eat (drink?) soup!)
RV Packing Suggestions for beginners- the kitchen/ meals
As soon as the annoying and heavy stuff is stowed away safely, and the kitchen pans and utensils have principally bought houses, I begin taking a look at meals. We don’t do lots of detailed cooking in our motorhome, however we wish to maintain the fundamentals like flour/ sugar and many others in hermetic sealed containers like these. We discover it makes them last more and stops any little bugs getting in.
Try to maintain 1-2 rolls of paper towels simply accessible, however retailer the remaining in lockers beneath the seats. You don’t need to take up all the great lockers with issues like paper towels or bathroom rolls, which you solely want entry to each few days.
Be sure sharp knives and different kitchen instruments are safely stowed. We used to retailer ours in a drawer, wrapped in delicate cloths to allow them to’t unintentionally lower anybody, however now now we have a magnetic strip on the wall which works MUCH higher than I assumed it could!
Probably not meals associated (though it sort of is- sorry!), however don’t neglect bathroom chemical compounds. We use a product referred to as Solbio natural bathroom fluid, which is pure and doesn’t include dangerous chemical compounds. It’s additionally protected to be disposed of in septic tanks or fosse, which means now we have extra choices to eliminate our bathroom responsibly.
Preserve issues protected whereas travelling
There are some issues in a van that are designed to be rugged and durable.
And others which aren’t.
You probably have a motorhome television, they’re designed to resist extra vibration than a ‘regular’ TV, however they’re nonetheless vulnerable to break if banged and knocked round. Guarantee that issues that are ‘fragile’ are saved securely and might’t break while travelling. Both wrap them correctly or pack them in between different issues.
Methods to pack a motorhome- garments
By now, many of the lockers can be filling up, particularly those beneath the motorhome seats. It’s time to consider garments. Attempt to break up your garments into stuff you’ll need each day (underwear, socks, t-shirts and many others) and stuff you may not use each week (snow gear, climbing boots, bikini and many others) Clearly, this may rely completely on the place you’re highway tripping and what you get pleasure from doing there!
We are likely to retailer sneakers and boots for outside and water actions in a separate locker or within the wardrobe, and garments within the wardrobe and now we have one small cabinet every.
It’s REALLY simple to overpack your garments, particularly for women, however that is one place the place you must be fairly ruthless. In case you are solely travelling in your camper for every week, then pack in accordance with the climate (though ALWAYS deliver a jacket/ heat jumper, even when the forecast is ideal. You’d be amazed what number of instances we’ve been caught out!
This fundamental checklist goes to differ wildly from individual to individual and in addition due to the world you’re visiting. However to get you began, here’s a guidelines for garments to hold in your camper.
What do you have to pack in a motorhome- the ‘bits’
When you’ve organised all the things else, it’s time for the ‘bits’. All of us have these- the issues that go in that particular drawer in your kitchen in a home. It’s uncommon you’ll be capable of discover a drawer for this objective (fortunate you should you do!) Now we have a ‘bits field’, which sits inside one among our cabinets and holds batteries, tape, string, playing cards, pens, notepad and 1,000,000 extra issues.
Once more, attempt to maintain stuff you suppose you’ll want regularly simply accessible, and put different issues in the direction of the underside/ again. Some ‘bits’ to recollect are:
- Video games/ playing cards or no matter you select to do to calm down
- Issues to do for the children on highway journeys (try these highway journey youngsters’s video games)
- Chargers for telephones/ laptops/ ipads/ wifi/ bike headsets/ moveable radios… you get the thought! We use a mix of 12v chargers (to be used whereas we’re driving) and different chargers which we use on an inverter if mandatory, however we attempt to keep away from this. Annoyingly, I’ve simply upgraded to a Macbook Professional, which is superb however my 12v charger for my outdated laptop computer doesn’t match! I’ll have to attend for them to launch one for mine.
- Placemats/ desk material if you want. We don’t use these indoors, however we do use a desk material if we’re organising a desk outdoors.
- Motorhome Cleansing gear- we maintain cloths, duster, moist wipes and vanish spray all simply accessible. We additionally carry an iron and an ironing board as Mr WB is terrified that he is likely to be referred to as into an pressing assembly and have to get on a aircraft right away… it’s not occurred but however I simply know if I take it off the van we’ll want it! So it’s staying (for now).
While I give it some thought, don’t neglect van bedding! Pillows, quilt, bedsheets and many others. Now we have correct bedsheets- we’re not a fan of sleeping luggage. We’re fortunate sufficient to have a drop-down mattress to retailer the bedding on, however you would possibly have to sacrifice a locker to retailer yours in.
Different issues we attempt to not neglect when packing our camper:
- Large digital camera and lenses
- SD playing cards
- Drone
- Tripod
- Mini tripod & microphone for vlogging (watch our journey movies right here)
- Laptop computer/ iPads/ telephones
- Wifi dongle
- Medical box- fundamental requirements like plasters, nurofen, diarrhoea tablets, water purification tablets and many others. (Don’t drink faucet water in Europe- purchase bottled.)
- Laundry stuff. In case you wash your laundry whereas travelling, most laundrettes throughout Europe require you to supply your personal detergent and many others. We deliver a small quantity of ours so it’s prepared if we want it.
- COINS within the native foreign money. For parking, ideas, tolls- you’ll at all times want them!
- Gasoline bottles- we feature two 6kg ones. Beware the problems with getting gasoline in Europe.
- Hose pipe for filling contemporary water.
Motorhome packing- extra ideas and methods
Listed here are some extra of our greatest ideas and methods that will help you pack your RV or motorhome.
- Put heavy gadgets as little as attainable
- Attempt to place stuff you don’t use very commonly (like snowchains) within the locations that are annoying to get to (behind lockers, beneath mattress, in center of storage and many others.
- Try to put heavy gadgets over the axles as a lot as attainable, and check out to not put ALL the heavy gadgets in the direction of the again/ entrance. You need the motorhome weight unfold over every axle as evenly as attainable
- Retailer tins/ heavy issues which might roll as little as attainable, and put them in luggage or containers to cease them rolling
- Strive to not carry many extras for plates/ mugs/ glasses, and put the extras in safe containers to allow them to’t rattle round.
- In case you’re attempting van life with children, make certain they study packing securely so issues don’t get damaged in lockers.
You possibly can try extra storage concepts right here:
Cease the noise! Methods to cease rattles in your motorhome
I HATE rattles, bangs and noise within the van. I’ve been identified to cease 5 minutes right into a journey and repack.
It’s so dangerous, I’ve written a complete put up on HOW to cease rattles in your motorhome, campervan or RV, filled with ideas that will help you have a extra peaceable, calmer journey.
Don’t forget- rattles come final. There’s no level losing lots of time stopping rattles in your motorhome, when an hour later you determine to maneuver all the things round anyway!
So, these are our greatest ideas and methods for easy methods to pack a motorhome. I hope you’ve discovered them helpful. Most of all, don’t panic. So long as you’ve got the appropriate paperwork, your keys and a credit score/ debit card, just about all the things else may be purchased en route if you must.
Until you’re going someplace actually off-grid. By which case, perhaps panic – and please ship me photographs so I can get pleasure from your highway journey adventures!!!
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