Re: RV rental - what can you share?
We have rented an RV once or twice a year for the past 10 years. Take one from Tampa to Gainesville every year for the Gators Nationals.
Have had good experiences and bad with them. You need to know what to look for.
The admiral has this down to a science. Crates are prepared with all items with checklists.
The key for me was to to weigh the cost of eating out, hotel/motel rooms & sitting in a car/suv for 6 - 8 hours at time. Against the cost of the RV, Gas, taking your own food and having a potty on wheels.
Plan on cleaning it out before hand. Clorox whips or whatever you prefer. Nothing is clean enough for children & you can't trust that anyone cleaned after the last rental.
What is the allowed mileage and what is the cost of going over, per mile. That will run up your cost really quick. They will quote a per day mileage, multiple by days you are renting the RV for.
A class C is ok for 4 people and as someone pointed out, kids get bored really quick. Especially when you make them sit in one place because you do not want them running around the RV while you are driving.
Secure everything prior to leaving, including the storage compartments underneath. Lock them is so equipped. Lost a couple of nice chairs on one trip. Also had to clean up the Bud-Soda bottles after I didn?t properly latch the refrigerator door on one trip. RV smelled really good to me all week, but not everyone shared that opinion.
I now spend at least an hour testing out the RV prior to leaving the lot.
Test the water, stove, oven if you intend to use it. Plan on having to light the pilot on the oven and water heater, get a long handled lighter. Test the tip-outs, check all the lights & turn signals, check the tires, I did actually have one blow out. Fortunately, we had just parked.
Make sure the plate isn?t expired (I know but?). Check the wipers, rain-x is a must here in Florida. Make sure that you have extra chemicals for the waste tank. And check the Electrical Adaptor to plug in at the campsite.
If equipped with levelers and you intend to use the, test them. Had a set go down, but not up. Had to actually use a scissor jack and a 2 x 4 to force them back up. Put me 2 hours behind schedule.
Don?t drive it through Atlanta, been there, got some gray hair to prove it.
Most campgrounds do have electric hookups, and the refrigerator does run on LP when you don?t electric have it. The only reason to run the generator is for the AC when then electric isn?t hooked up and you are parked. As someone else mentioned, cooling one of those down after you let is set for an hour in the sun, is a project.
Make sure they include the sewage drainage hose, with a connector that isn?t cracked so that it doesn?t run out onto your favorite shoes and you have to toss them before you even think about getting back in the RV. A box of latex gloves are a Must for this procedure. Double glove.
Drain it in the AM before you hit the road, you don?t want the weight or the smell if you hit your brakes really hard with a ? full and it actually comes back upward. Ya, I had to clean that one up too.
Navy showers - wet, turn off the water, soap up, turn on & rinse. Repeat as needed.
Know how to manually start the generator and check the oil in it. There will be a monitor for the various levels (waste water, clean water, gray water, lp ?) , make sure it works.
Make sure there is a CO2 detector and that it works properly. Don?t forget to take a variety of batteries with you, including 9 volt for the fire & CO2 alarms. Some of them are double wired into the RV and will make continuous, nasty noises when the 9-volt battery runs out.
Take your own garden hose to attached to the campground water source. I have seen some sites where the water was on the opposite side of the RV than the hookup.
If you plan on using the Awning, test it on the lot before you ever pull out. People really abuse these and you don?t want to have to replace one because someone ripped the thing ? ways off and then got real creative when they rolled it back up.
Other items that we take that you might find useful :
Duct tape, basic tools, leveler (or golf ball) to level out the RV. Batteries, spare hose clamp or two. Zip ties, cheap shower curtains that we use to stake down at the door. Really works to keep the dirt from being tracked in, especially when raining. A couple of cheap rugs, one outside and one on the first step. Tent stakes, close line & close pins.
Hope this helps you. Having the RV makes for a more enjoyable vacation for me, other than actually driving the darn thing. 3 years ago, then didn't have a class C when i went to pick it up. Ended up with a motorcoach & now the admiral won't go back to smaller. I won't drive it more than 6 hours at any one stretch, without some sleep.
Good luck & have fun !
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