Here are five great gift ideas, for Christmas or otherwise, that can make RV travels easier, safer, and more fun! We have and love them all.
For the sake of ease, we are listing these from least to most expensive.
3-Chamber Soap and Shower Dispenser (about $20)
Driving in an RV is like putting your house through an earthquake. Everything that’s loose is going to fly—and there are plenty of loose things in a bathroom! What’s more, most RV showers are quite small, with little or no safe storage space for bottles of shampoo, conditioner, or soap. Our solution is this 3-chamber soap and shower dispenser securely mounted to the shower wall with command strips (included). Just like that we have three fewer things to put away before hitting the road, plus we avoid those unsightly bottles and dirty soap bars littering the shower floor.
Better Living Products 76354 Euro Series TRIO 3-Chamber Soap and Shower Dispenser, http://amzn.to/2zP77VC
Propane Tee Hookup Kit (about $75)
One of the great benefits of traveling in an RV is enjoying the great outdoors, and one of our favorite ways to do that is by grilling and eating outside. Most RVers don’t carry charcoal grills because they are bulky, messy, and even dangerous if the coals aren’t completely extinguished. Portable gas grills are the way to go, but they typically use expensive little canisters that always seem to run out at the worst moments.
There is a better way!
Most RVs have a built-in propane tank for running the stove, heat, and refrigerator. You can hook right into the RV’s propane with this Camco Propane Brass Tee, which is T-shaped and easily screws on between your RV propane tank and your grill regulator—no special tools required. Now you can use the propane supply you’re already carrying to power your grill.
But wait. There’s more!
Imagine you are camping and run out of propane. (It happens!) You could break camp, batten down everything in the motorhome, and drive somewhere to refill the built-in tank. But instead, picture just attaching your “emergency” 20-pound tank of propane (the kind you use for your grill at home) to the Tee fitting and powering your rig with that spare propane until you can get the RV’s propane tank refilled.
A popular brand of this propane adapter is called Stay-a-While, but we found one made by Camco that’s less expensive and works just as well.
Propane Tank “Tee” Hookup Kit with two hoses—http://amzn.to/2z3fN75
NuWave Induction Cooktop and Skillet (about $90)
Let’s face it, cooking on an RV gas range can be a challenge. The flames can be difficult to regulate, there’s not much room, and you’re consuming your valuable propane. Whenever we have electric hookups, we keep the gas range covered to give us more counter space and cook with our NuWave induction cooktop. We haven’t yet but could easily run an extension cord and use it outside, too. Induction cooking is faster and more even than cooking with propane, and since you’re already paying for electricity at your campsite, why not use it!
You may have heard that induction cooktops require special pans, and that’s true, but it’s not a big deal. An induction cooktop heats your pan with a magnetic field, and this means that the bottom of your cookware must be iron or steel. If a magnet sticks to it, it will work. The skillet that comes with this cooktop is well-made, versatile, nonstick, and easy to clean. We use the NuWave skillet plus a saucepan from home.
We like the NuWave for several reasons:
- You can set the cooktop to a specific temperature. It’s easy to make small adjustments until the heat is just right for what you are cooking.
- You can easily adjust the amount of power it uses, which is especially helpful when you’re running other appliances in the RV and don’t want to flip a breaker.
- It is light, more compact than many others, and easy to store, plus there’s a carrying case available if you want one.
NuWave 30242 PIC Gold Precision Induction Cooktop with 10.5″ Fry Pan – http://amzn.to/2z3HNYp
Deik 2 in 1 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner (about $110)
Listen, there’s nothing particularly romantic about vacuum cleaners, but a good one can make your camping experience much more pleasant, which is why we think this is a great item for your gift list.
We like the Deik 2 in 1 Cordless Vacuum for several reasons:
- It’s light—significantly lighter than similar vacuums we tested—and compact.
- It’s battery-powered (and rechargeable) so you aren’t dragging a cord around with you when you vacuum.
- It has plenty of suction power and does a great job with pet hair—particularly important to us since we travel with three dogs and a cat.
- It has a HEPA filter, so it won’t spread allergens around the RV.
- It can be used either as a stick or hand-held vacuum, and comes with three attachments.
- The battery is strong enough to clean our entire 37-foot RV.
- It’s less than half the price of the famous brand you see advertised on TV.
Deik 2 in 1 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner—http://amzn.to/2zjjC94
EEZTire Tire Pressure Monitoring System ($270 and up, depending on how many tires you want to monitor)
It might sound a little crazy to pay hundreds of dollars for a tire-pressure monitoring system, but this RV accessory is all about safety and more than paid for itself the very first time we used it.
Getting a flat tire in a motorhome is no joke.
Literally days after we installed the EEZTire system on our motorhome and tow vehicle, we were driving across Pennsylvania Jersey when the monitor started sounding an audible alarm. A quick check of the monitor mounted on our dashboard showed that the right front tire on our RV was losing air. By the time we found a place to pull over, the tire had gone from 85 to 25 pounds of pressure—yet it still felt just fine while driving. It turned out that the valve stem on that tire had failed, and if we had kept driving, we could have experienced a catastrophic blowout at highway speeds! We thank God that didn’t happen, and Jeff is glad that Kathy convinced him to install the tire pressure monitoring system sooner rather than later.
Our RV has six tires, and we mounted monitors on the two front tires and the two rear outside tires. We also decided to put monitors on our four car tires so we can make sure they’re okay while towing. The monitoring screen can be moved to your car for day trips if you’d like. Better safe than sorry.
EEZTire Tire Pressure Monitoring System—http://amzn.to/2z4qjLq
Would you like to know more about any of these gifts? Do you have other gift ideas you’d like to add? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below.