Gearing Up for Spring Camping Season

With Spring right around the corner, you may be dreaming of your next RV adventure. For many RVers, winterization and hibernation have been the status quo for months. It might be time to grab a few new decorations for the campsite, refresh the refrigerator and pantry items, and get ready to roll! Before you hit the open road, here are a few tips to gear up for camping season.

Maintenance and De-Winterization

If your RV has been stored in a cold climate, you likely performed steps to keep your utilities safe in low temperatures. Time to start thinking about shaking off the snow and de-winterizing.

• Battery Health - If you disconnected your battery for the winter, it’s time to reinstall and ensure all battery connections are snug. Test power levels after a full charge, and keep in mind that according to RVMA, batteries can discharge 10% charge per month while in storage.
• Tires - Just like your battery, your tires may have been slowly discharging during storage. Check your PSI, fill the air to regulation, and give those tires a thorough examination for anything you might have missed after last season.
• Generator - Just as you give your truck or RV engine a thorough maintenance visit, make sure to give your generator some TLC before your next boondocking adventure. Checking oil levels and the exhaust system now will make sure you don’t get any surprises down the road.
• Water Systems - Here’s the biggie when it comes to de-winterizing. You’ll need to make sure your water lines are sanitized and clear of any antifreeze you used before the winter months.
• Connect a potable water hose to your city water connection and flush fresh water through all your lines to remove any remnants of antifreeze. Run your sinks, shower, outdoor hose lines, washing machine (if you’re lucky enough to carry one on board!) and any other faucet you have in your rig. If you added antifreeze to your fresh water tank directly before winter, you’ll want to make sure you fill the fresh water holding tank, turn on your pump, and keep flushing until your lines run clean. 
• After the antifreeze is cleared, sanitize those lines for a healthy camping season. This means draining the lines and adding small amounts of bleach—here’s what you do. Start by draining the water heater. Remove the drain plug from the water heater (look at the bottom left hand corner). Remove the plug, then open the pressure relief valve on top of the water heater so it can drain easily. It’s common sense, but it is worth repeating: NEVER drain the water heater when it’s pressurized or already heated. Next, you’ll find the low point water line drains—you’ll see one for hot and one for cold, typically red and blue. These drains are under your rig and are the very lowest point in the water system. Open these valves to drain all the water out. Next, find the drain for the fresh water holding tank and drain it until it’s completely empty, and if you turn the water pump on for just a moment, any last amounts of water will be forced out. Congrats—all the water is now out of your system! Now, we need to get those lines clean. You’ll need a half-cup of bleach for every thirty gallons of water that your fresh water tank holds. Make a diluted bleach mixture with water and pour it into your fresh tank, then continue filling your fresh tank with water. Turn on your water pump and turn on/turn off your faucets (both hot and cold). Let it sit in the tank overnight if you can before you drain the entire system like you did before. Lastly, you’ll want to eliminate any signs of bleach from your drinking water, so you’ll fill your fresh tank with clean water, turn on your water pump,  and flush your entire system again. (And again. And again, if necessary.) Once you don’t detect any bleach, you’re ready to roll for a healthy and hydrated camping season!
• Cockpit Updates - Do you use a GPS system specifically geared for RVers? Do you have a TPMS system that is connected to your phone by Bluetooth? Do you have backup cameras that have a monitor on the dashboard? This is the time to make sure you’re updated and ready to go with software, maps, connections, or anything else that may have been collecting dust for the past few months.

Apply for Permits

Your travel plans might include some epic hiking, swimming in a secluded swimming hole, or biking up a mountain pass in one of our National Parks this Spring. Awesome! What would be really NOT awesome? Getting there and realizing you needed permits in advance. Especially since Covid-19 procedural changes, many public and private attractions are requiring advanced reservations and have even instituted lottery systems for permitting. Let’s say for instance you’re planning a trip to Yosemite to hike Half-Dome. Because there is a limit of about 75 hikers per day, you’ll need to pre-arrange your visit by obtaining a permit and paying $10. Maybe you’ve seen gorgeous photos of The Wave in Coyote Buttes North. The hiking landscape is other-worldly, but so is the wait time to visit. To enter a lottery for these hiking permits, you’ll need to apply for dates four months into the future. It’s always fun to be spontaneous, but if you have a must-visit attraction in mind, make sure you’re prepared.

Make Reservations

Once your rig has undergone maintenance and you’ve decided what area you’d like to visit, you’ll need a place to stay. Whether boondocking or staying in the lap of luxury, at some point in your travels you’ll likely need campground reservations. By visiting Spot2Nite or downloading the Spot2Nite mobile app, RV travelers can search available dates and locations to instantly book RV spots without making any phone calls to the park. With more RVs on the road than ever before, it’s never too early to book your spot.

What locations are on your Spring Must-Visit List? Do you have any annual traditions to get you ready for camping season? We’d love to hear from you! Consider hitting the subscribe button in the box below so you never miss Spot2Nite’s RV content!