Greetings from a relative RV Newbie

[rogindaup]

Hi there. Just purchased our first-ever "real" RV/camper/trailer, complete with running water, a toilet, shower, stove, fridge, etc... A 1981 13' Sunline, in really nice shape for the age. Oh we've had a couple of other trailers in years past - but nothing with a toilet, shower, etc - "the works," eh? Obviously this is quite a step up for us; even over the little (tiny!) Scamp we had for a few years - that didn't have any of these 'luxuries.' So we're pretty excited, especially in that it seems we got twice as much trailer for about half the money, with the new Sunline... Trouble is though, we/I know next-to-nothing about how to use/work all these 'modern camping conveniences' -- and we're kinda at a loss as to what steps to take first, to git'er up & ready for our first major excursion, planned for late August... I mean, what're the main steps I should take to make sure everything's working as it should? How does one check & flush all the plumbing lines & tanks, for instance? Should the black water tank have about a gallon in it, with a bottle of treatment dumped in too? Somebody's got to have a basic checklist of systems & componants to go through/over, to see that everything's squared away...? Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated! Hate to sound so clueless about all this stuff, but honestly, it's only been a few years since we even had out first camper; we've pretty much always been pretty traditional tent campers - until about 5-6 years ago -- and then the couple trailers we tried out over the past 4-5 years were real basic, without all the frills... So we're pretty much late-comers to the RV camping world. But would sure appreciate any words of advice, guidance, or wisdom... Thanks so much!

 

[pwb01]

First I'll say welcome. You've come to the right place. The answer is yes to your question on the black water tank. You should use the search feature on this site and look around the maintenance section. Use key words like flush, winterize, sanitize, etc. All of your questions have been asked and answered many times. I think you'll find most of the procedures and manuals you're looking for. Then with the collective knowledge of almost 3000 members any specific questions you have will be answered I'm sure.