We got our camper!

[Jabbi]

My husband and I have been working toward the goal of buying a camper for a little over four years now. Yesterday, we bought it! We bought a 2018 Prowler Lynx 25LX. We pick it up in a couple of weeks 🙂

I have a couple of questions if anyone wants to answer!

1. Water filtration - what do you do? I would like a filtration system that makes water drinkable rather than buy water. Is a double canister one worth the money if I will be using my RV recreationally, primarily in the summer?

2. Where do I go about finding a screen room for my awning? Can they be installed by us or should I have the dealership install it before I pick it up?

3. What items will make life easier in the camper? I’m used to tent camping.

4. What coffee maker do you use? Lame question but we’re big coffee people and I can’t have a Bunn because the water will get gross when it sits 😞

TIA! I’m just really excited. Our first overnight trip is April 21!

[Vintage465]

When I go old school this is what we use; Pre 1964 Revereware 5 cup stove top percolator. Water to the bottom of the basket, 1/2 cup of ground coffee. Put it on the stove on high heat 'til it make the first perc. then turn it down as low as you can but still perc steadily. Perc for 4 min and take it off the heat. Excellent camping coffee. Smells amazing as it percolates too! That is not the factory bubbler on the top. Original bubblers are just about as rare as a brand new Studebaker.

[Ron3rd]

Lot of good info above. As to coffee, if we have electric, we use our mr. Coffee, same as home. If no electric, we us a Bodum 12 cup French press

[GrandpaKip]

I use GOAL, too, even though I’m not a professional driver. And I didn’t even know it had its own acronym.

[Vintage465]

sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:

Wanderlost wrote:

sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:
why does everyone reccomend to get walkie talkies?

i though everyone had a cell phone these days

You're not always going to have a cell phone signal. Prime example: Yellowstone National Park. It's a wilderness area, and cell phone signals are few and very far between. Walkie talkies will still work and they're cheap.

As for stuff in the RV, suggest you start by using your tent camping equipment wherever possible. Next, look in your house for duplicate items you can use in the RV. Don't spend money outfitting the RV if you already have stuff that will do the job.

As you become comfortable in your RV, you may decide to change out items. When you do, suggest you choose multi-use items and leave the single use items to a minimum. You just don't have the storage space and you don't want to overload it, either.

Enjoy your new camping style.

i will take your advice on items for the TT,thank you

but a far as walkie talkies and having the wife guide me when i back up,nope wont do either of them.

i drive semi truck for a living and can back a 53 foot trailer,90* blind side into a parking stall at a trucks on both sides of me.
plus as a professional drive i use GOAL
GOAL is an acronym for Get Out And Look 😉

My brother showed me these and they work amazing! They extend up above the tailgate and you can see the balls clearly in the rear view mirror. The only difference we do is you put the one on the pickup right on top of the ball. As you're backing up slowly and just as the balls touch the one on the hitch ball falls over, then the hitch ball is right under the coupling.

[sneakygroundbuz]

Wanderlost wrote:

sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:
why does everyone reccomend to get walkie talkies?

i though everyone had a cell phone these days

You're not always going to have a cell phone signal. Prime example: Yellowstone National Park. It's a wilderness area, and cell phone signals are few and very far between. Walkie talkies will still work and they're cheap.

As for stuff in the RV, suggest you start by using your tent camping equipment wherever possible. Next, look in your house for duplicate items you can use in the RV. Don't spend money outfitting the RV if you already have stuff that will do the job.

As you become comfortable in your RV, you may decide to change out items. When you do, suggest you choose multi-use items and leave the single use items to a minimum. You just don't have the storage space and you don't want to overload it, either.

Enjoy your new camping style.

i will take your advice on items for the TT,thank you

but a far as walkie talkies and having the wife guide me when i back up,nope wont do either of them.

i drive semi truck for a living and can back a 53 foot trailer,90* blind side into a parking stall at a trucks on both sides of me.
plus as a professional drive i use GOAL
GOAL is an acronym for Get Out And Look 😉

[DownTheAvenue]

Water filtration: Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a whole house water filter. Buy brass fittings to screw into the inlet and outlet that allow hoe to be screwed onto them. Put the whole house filter in a bucket to hold it upright. You will then filter your water to the same level that your house has. Cheap, easy, and practical.

[Wanderlost]

sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:
why does everyone reccomend to get walkie talkies?

i though everyone had a cell phone these days

You're not always going to have a cell phone signal. Prime example: Yellowstone National Park. It's a wilderness area, and cell phone signals are few and very far between. Walkie talkies will still work and they're cheap.

As for stuff in the RV, suggest you start by using your tent camping equipment wherever possible. Next, look in your house for duplicate items you can use in the RV. Don't spend money outfitting the RV if you already have stuff that will do the job.

As you become comfortable in your RV, you may decide to change out items. When you do, suggest you choose multi-use items and leave the single use items to a minimum. You just don't have the storage space and you don't want to overload it, either.

Enjoy your new camping style.

[xteacher]

For shade and bug protection, check out the Clam Shelter (available on Amazon). You can also purchase wind panels for it separately. Camping friends swear by them. Apparently, they're tricky the first time you put it up, but once you're used to the set up, they are super easy to use.
Clam Shelter

[Vintage465]

For water filtration, I installed a Doulton 2 stage water filter. One filter is scale and the other one is ceramic/carbon. It does an excellent job of getting us bottled water grade product at the tap. The only down side of it is the slow pace that it fills. With the 2 pretty legit filters it takes a bit to fill a coffee pot. I installed a little pressure tank downstream of the filter and this gives me a fast fill for a glass of water. I would like to install a larger pressure tank so I could get enough water at a fast flow rate to fill a coffee pot or kettle. But that size tank will take up valuable space........

Coffee..........Kalita drip for me. Flair espresso maker along with a steamer on the stove to make cappuccinos for my bride. Works great. Whole bean only and we grind with a hand grinder just before each use. And for kicks I keep a pre-1964 Revereware stove top percolator when I want to go old school

[rbpru]

We have neither walkie talkies nor cell phones. My wife stands where I can see her in the mirror and guides me back into the campsite.

[sneakygroundbuz]

why does everyone reccomend to get walkie talkies?

i though everyone had a cell phone these days

[BubbaChris]

Two suggestions for making life easier.

1) Get a pair of walkie-talkies to use while your spotter is helping you position the TT (at campsites, home, gas stations, etc). So much better than arm waving and yelling.

2) Boxes of disposable gloves. We do a lot of dry camping and cutting down on needing to wash our hands is a big plus. We take them into CG bathrooms, use them when dumping tanks, use them for food prep, etc.

Beyond that, it's all personal preference. We keep a second set of linens in the TT and change the sheets and towels on the last morning. Then we clean the TT and prep it for our next trip as soon as we get home. That way we're focused on packing mostly food and clothing when a couple of days away from each trip.

We also have small bins for sundries and pantry items to quickly move them to/from the TT when at home. Our summer heat prevents us from keeping everything inside between trips. We go out twice a month in season and this works for us.

[Lwiddis]

Until 3 p.m. I’m a big coffee fan too. Then I get spiritual.

[TurnThePage]

Sounds like your questions have been answered well.

We use one of these glass percolators. It's ridden around with our pots and pans for years without breaking, and makes great coffee.

I will add that I think the screen room addition to the awning sounds very complicated. Imagine trying to remove it in a hurry so you can retract your awning before unexpected heavy weather (which does happen).