RV Tips

Sharing an RV

Sharing an RV can be cost effective and can build friendships, but it can also create stress if expectations are not clearly communicated. As with most everything else in life, courtesy and consideration will go a long way toward a successful RV roommate experience. Sharing an RV sounds convenient and fun, and can save a lot of money, but there’s also work that has to be shared to ensure that you leave as happy with each other as you arrived. Think about everything you ever wanted in a roommate and BE that person!

Costs 

What does your share include? Define it. Expect it to include rental, clean up fees, gas to and from the playa, fresh water, pump outs, perhaps agree ahead of time on what else it might include such as coffee, liquor, basic breakfast food, munchies?

Sleeping Arrangements

In many RVs, one of the beds may be intended for adults, while the other(s) are for kids and are smaller. If this is the case in your RV, figure out who will get the nicer bed in advance, and how they will compensate the others. Maybe paying more, or taking care of final clean up? Maybe for being the one who rented the RV? Perhaps there is a rotation through the week? Also, the second bed may take away the dining table, getting in the way of daytime naps, or breakfast. Don’t let the sleeping arrangements turn into a big problem. Work them out in advance.

Fresh water

Talk about the size of the tank.  For example, imagine a 60 gallon tank and six people for eight to nine days. If each person uses one-and-half to two gallons each per day, it’s best to count on 18 gallons per person for the week, or 108 total gallons needed for the week. In this example, the organizer should plan to come in with a full tank and replenish fresh water once to ensure close to an adequate supply, or better yet, twice to be on the safe side. Plus plan on bringing a few five gallon cubes that can also be used in the camp showers and for emergencies if a storm prevents the water truck from making a refill on time. Keep in mind this means you yourself will have no more than two gallons/day for everything. So if you’ re a must-shower-and-shampoo-every-day person, you’d better factor that in. If you shower in your RV, it will be hard to judge how much water you are using. Never leave the water running when you wash dishes or yourself. If you turn on a hot water faucet, don’t let the cold water go down the drain while waiting for the hot water to arrive. Try catching the cold water to use for drinking or flushing your toilet.

Group Responsibilities

Decide who meets the water and pumping guys when they come through. Expect to share that task as well as initial set up and final clean up. Have a quick run through to show everyone involved where the ports are for fresh water and for pump outs. Consider setting up a fund to which everyone contributes for a daily ice run.

Dust Control

Work out a plan where people must leave their shoes outside the RV. Have a broom so you can sweep out the RV if needed. Wipe things down and dust off as well as possible before coming into the RV.

Quiet Time

Sanctuary vs. Party Central. An RV is a combination of living and sleeping space. At least once someone will want some downtime and will be in conflict with a gathering either already taking place or that forms after they have gotten settled. No one wants to get snappy, but lack of sleep can bring out the animal in any of us and someone’s afternoon nap time may just be at odds with an impromptu pre-happy hour mai tai party. It’s a good idea to talk it through before, and come to an agreement as a team and it’s good to have a couple alternate chill spots.

General clean up

If there are six of you, you have one-sixth of the space, so be thoughtful of where you leave your stuff, and once or twice a day, take a second to consolidate your belongings into your area. Coming back to a reasonably orderly RV is far preferable and keeps people in a better mood than coming back to somebody else’s clutter, trash, dishes, etc. Which leads to the next ever-popular topic

Getting Laid

Your chances of getting laid in an RV are far greater when you can find the bed and the RV is somewhat picked up. Also work out a signal such as a sock on the door handle so people don’t barge in unexpectedly and know to knock or otherwise give you a signal. You might also set up a satellite bedroom in a tent for privacy.

Sharing The Bathroom

You will all be sharing the same bathroom. At some point you have to pump out the grey (shower and sink) and black (toilet) water. The point when you need to empty those tanks comes sooner with more people using the facilities. Discuss using the porta potties and camp showers at least some of the time to conserve tank space. Discuss whether to allow guests to use the facilities. In general, you will need the same number of pump outs as fresh-water fills. If guests are using the facilities, you may need more water deliveries and pump-outs. To keep things from getting awkward, make sure your guests know how to operate the toilet before they close the door, and that they don’t need to keep the water flowing after their “stuff” is gone. Use only single ply toilet paper marked for RV use in your potty.

Storage

Storing bins of extra stuff, suitcases full of clothes or other essentials can take up a lot of space. Consider bringing a tent or two that can be used for privacy and for storage. Also, most RVs have external storage compartments you can use to store items that aren’t needed daily.

Sharing the Kitchen

Everyone will bring food and expect to use the refrigerator for some of their items so decide how that will work and what people will need to store in coolers. RV refrigerators are different from normal home refrigerators, and the time the door is open must be kept to an absolute minimum. Know what you want before you open the door. Also, there is no circulation fan in an RV refrigerator, so there must be some space for natural convection. It’s the back wall of the refrigerator that gets cold, so packing a freezer solid with ice cream will result in melted ice cream near the door. Plan on needing an ice run each day, and bring a cooler to store it. Someone from the camp will be designated to take ice orders in the morning and they’ll be delivered to the bar a couple of hours later. Decide who does this and how this process will work for your group. Figure out a kitchen clean-up plan – everyone cleans up their own messes, and maybe each resident has a given day to be responsible for other housekeeping chores (dusting, floor cleaning, etc)

Cooking

If the cooks in the group want to each plan a night to do dinner, it can be easier on everyone, but each group needs to decide whether that makes sense given people’s diets and preferences.