Packing up a motorhome or campervan? Undecided what you want or the place to place all of it so issues are protected? Don’t fear, we’re acquired you covered- right here’s all the pieces it is advisable know, in addition to a FREE motorhome packing record so that you can use.
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Packing a motorhome- the issue
One of the frequent questions I get requested (aside from ‘what does motorhome payload mean and how do I check?), is about packing a motorhome, campervan, or RV. As I’m certain you’ve realised, making an attempt to place ALL THE THINGS right into a small house just isn’t all the time 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 around Europe for six weeks, or heading to the native campsite for a weekend, a poorly packed motorhome is at finest noisy/ annoying and at worse harmful to drive.
(Should you’re nonetheless caught on the WHAT you want, right here’s an inventory of essential motorhome accessories we extremely advocate you carry)
Nonetheless, after you have all the pieces you assume you may want/ need piled in your spare bed room or storage, it’s time to begin placing all of it away.
The issue with not doing this correctly is what number of issues there are which may rattle and shake round if not saved accurately. Not solely is it annoying and distracting to hearken to that noise while driving, however issues may break, shake free and even trigger imbalances to the car. Due to this fact, it’s actually necessary to pack your motorhome correctly.
Motorhome Packing Errors
After residing 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 flawed! 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 how to stop rattles in the motorhome, learn how to pack heavy issues low and learn how 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 will see 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. Unhealthy lockers are laborious to entry/ laborious to see inside and enormous sufficient for issues to get thrown in with none thought in any respect, which makes them inconceivable to maintain tidy!
Unhealthy lockers can even have heating duct pipes/ wires/ switches and so forth inside them, which implies it is advisable take into consideration the varieties of objects you set into them.
Begin by figuring out your good/ dangerous lockers, then accumulate your gear and RV package collectively.
Take into consideration once you may want the ‘stuff’ you’re placing away. For instance, you’re unlikely to want a whisk or video games in an emergency, however you may want some instruments, so hold these in a extra accessible locker.
What is going to you want when? If the youngsters are asleep, is there something below their bunks which you may 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…!)
Learn how to pack a motorhome or campervan – the place to begin
One of many hardest issues is figuring out the place to begin.
TOP TIP: Do NOT begin together with your fairly throw cushions or blankets or bedding… you’ll be shifting them out of the best way always while you do all the pieces else.
I like to recommend you begin on the backside and work your means up. By that I imply begin with under-seat lockers and begin with the most important gadgets, which may’t be put wherever else, like a motorhome generator when you’ve got one or instruments/ spares.
- Begin together with your heavy/ awkward package (Turbines, out of doors furnishings, tables, snow chains and so forth) You probably have a storage or outdoor storage box, this is likely to be pretty simple, however for a lot of motorhomes, it requires occupied with your lockers fastidiously
- Attempt to hold related gadgets in the identical place, so you could find issues simply.
- Subsequent, collect all of your kitchenware/ crockery/ utensils/ plates and so forth 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 scorching/ perishable meals subsequent to those pipes, as they are going to 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. (Should you’ve acquired/ are getting a brand new van, or fancy some spring cleansing, you may discover it helpful to look at.)
Within the video, you’ll see me beginning with the issues I’ll want most steadily and placing them someplace simple to get to.
We hope you discovered the video helpful. Should you did, we’d like it if you followed us on Youtube. New movies with ideas for motorhoming and campervanning within the UK and Europe are launched weekly.
Packing Motorhome Ideas- don’t panic!
Okay, once you start placing issues away, there’s a excessive likelihood your camper will probably be utter chaos. Don’t panic- we are going to get via this within the subsequent hour or two and it’ll begin to really feel much more below management.
That is NOT the time to begin shoving stuff into lockers and hiding all of it away- that may solely trigger confusion and frustration in a while and also you’ll discover vanlife a lot tougher. That is once you ship the youngsters, canines (and presumably husband!) out for ice cream or a looooooooooooong stroll.
Then put some music or a podcast on, take your time and picture residing within the campervan for per week/ month/ full time. (These are our favourite road trip songs to sing along to!)
Take into consideration weight distribution
Totally different to payload, it’s necessary 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 aspect as all of your tins.
Speaking of tins, don’t retailer a number of free issues like that in a locker with one thing it is advisable take out steadily, like out of doors chairs or a BBQ. You’ll discover having to take away 50 tins to get issues out a ache within the bottom!
What must you pack in a motorhome kitchen?
Fortunately, a lot of the issues we use within the kitchen within the motorhome are precisely the identical belongings you’d use at residence. As a really temporary 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 dimension are sometimes higher), kitchen roll, frying pan, saucepan, kettle, teaspoons. Different Road trip essentials
These are what I’d take into account fundamentals (although clearly, your record might nicely differ.) We additionally discover the next helpful onboard:
- Poachpods (have I discussed I’m hooked on poached eggs? This stuff are a superb invention and I take advantage of them just about day by day)
- Plastic packing 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 house)
- Tea, espresso, sugar, scorching chocolate and so forth
- Nutritional vitamins or any tablets you require
- Spray oil for frying- private desire but it surely’s simpler to get rid of a bit extra oil than a complete lot!
- Chopping boards
- Sharp knives, together with steak knives should you’re keen on pink meat
- Soup spoons (should you eat (drink?) soup!)
RV Packing Ideas for beginners- the kitchen/ meals
As soon as the annoying and heavy stuff is stowed away safely, and the kitchen pans and utensils have largely acquired properties, I begin taking a look at meals. We don’t do plenty of detailed cooking in our motorhome, however we prefer to hold the fundamentals like flour/ sugar and so forth in hermetic sealed packing containers like these. We discover it makes them last more and stops any little bugs getting in.
Try to hold 1-2 rolls of paper towels simply accessible, however retailer the remainder in lockers below 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.
Make certain sharp knives and different kitchen instruments are safely stowed. We used to retailer ours in a drawer, wrapped in tender cloths to allow them to’t by chance lower anybody, however now now we have a magnetic strip on the wall which works MUCH higher than I believed it could!
Probably not meals associated (though it sort of is- sorry!), however don’t neglect bathroom chemical substances. We use a product referred to as Solbio organic toilet fluid, which is pure and doesn’t comprise dangerous chemical substances. It’s additionally protected to be disposed of in septic tanks or fosse, which means now we have extra choices to get rid of 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 tv, they’re designed to face up to extra vibration than a ‘regular’ TV, however they’re nonetheless vulnerable to wreck 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.
Learn how to pack a motorhome- garments
By now, a lot of the lockers will probably be filling up, particularly those below the motorhome seats. It’s time to consider garments. Attempt to break up your garments into belongings you’ll need day by day (underwear, socks, t-shirts and so forth) and belongings you won’t use each week (snow gear, mountaineering boots, bikini and so forth) Clearly, it will rely completely on the place you’re street tripping and what you get pleasure from doing there!
We are inclined to retailer shoes and boots for outdoor and water activities 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 it is advisable be fairly ruthless. If you’re solely travelling in your camper for per week, then pack based on the climate (though ALWAYS carry a jacket/ heat jumper, even when the forecast is ideal. You’d be amazed what number of occasions we’ve been caught out!
This primary record goes to range wildly from individual to individual and likewise due to the realm you’re visiting. However to get you began, here’s a checklist for clothes to carry in your camper.
What must you pack in a motorhome- the ‘bits’
When you’ve organised all the pieces 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!) We’ve got 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, try to hold belongings you assume you’ll want steadily simply accessible, and put different issues in 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 youngsters on street journeys (try these road trip children’s 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 vital, however we attempt to keep away from this. Annoyingly, I’ve simply upgraded to a Macbook Professional, which is wonderful however my 12v charger for my previous laptop computer doesn’t match! I’ll have to attend for them to launch one for mine.
- Placemats/ desk fabric if you want. We don’t use these indoors, however we do use a desk fabric if we’re establishing a desk exterior.
- Motorhome Cleaning gear- we hold 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 so forth. We’ve got 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 may have to sacrifice a locker to retailer yours in.
Different issues we attempt to not neglect when packing our camper:
- Huge digicam and lenses
- SD playing cards
- Drone
- Tripod
- Mini tripod & microphone for vlogging (watch our travel videos here)
- Laptop computer/ iPads/ telephones
- Wifi dongle
- Medical box- primary requirements like plasters, nurofen, diarrhoea tablets, water purification tablets and so forth. (Don’t drink faucet water in Europe- purchase bottled.)
- Laundry stuff. Should you wash your laundry while travelling, most laundrettes throughout Europe require you to supply your personal detergent and so forth. We carry 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 all the time want them!
- Fuel bottles- we supply two 6kg ones. Beware the problems with getting gas in Europe.
- Hose pipe for filling recent water.
Motorhome packing- extra ideas and methods
Listed below 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 belongings you don’t use very often (like snowchains) within the locations that are annoying to get to (behind lockers, below mattress, in center of storage and so forth.
- Try to put heavy gadgets over the axles as a lot as attainable, and take a look at to not put ALL the heavy gadgets in direction of the again/ entrance. You need the motorhome weight unfold over every axle as evenly as attainable
- Retailer tins/ heavy issues which may roll as little as attainable, and put them in luggage or packing containers to cease them rolling
- Strive to not carry many extras for plates/ mugs/ glasses, and put the extras in safe packing containers to allow them to’t rattle round.
- Should you’re making an attempt van life with kids, be sure they study packing securely so issues don’t get damaged in lockers.
You’ll be able to try extra storage concepts right here:
Cease the noise! Learn how 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 submit on HOW to stop rattles in your motorhome, campervan or RV, stuffed with ideas that will help you have a extra peaceable, calmer journey.
Don’t forget- rattles come final. There’s no level losing plenty of time stopping rattles in your motorhome, when an hour later you resolve to maneuver all the pieces round anyway!
So, these are our finest ideas and methods for learn how to pack a motorhome. I hope you’ve discovered them helpful. Most of all, don’t panic. So long as you have got the proper paperwork, your keys and a credit score/ debit card, just about all the pieces else may be purchased en route if it is advisable.
Until you’re going someplace actually off-grid. By which case, perhaps panic – and please ship me pictures so I can get pleasure from your street journey adventures!!!
Different posts you may discover helpful:
Final replace on 2024-10-29 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Pictures from Amazon Product Promoting API
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