Keep it light

One concern many RV'ers have is the weight of the trailer they are hauling. For us that was and is a major consideration in our decision making process. The less weight the less wear and tear on your tow vehicle and for that matter the trailer. Here are just a few of the things we do to keep the weight down. I know not everyone would agree with all of this but they work for us.

Let's start with the kitchen. Our thought process here was simple, we are camping. Every thing needs to be light and if possible, keeping weight in mind, made of plastic. It is much lighter and since we don't have a dishwasher that is not a concern. We are not feeding an army therefore we kept it simple, service for 4. And if we do have more people to feed we get out the good paper plates. The Apex has an outdoor kitchen with a Coleman grill that will come in handy and reduce our need for lots of cookware. So in the kitchen we have two sauce pans and two fry pans all made of aluminum. We are trying to make memories, not gourmet meals.

I am sure there are some guys who will push back on this one. I have read and seen many recommendations about what tools you should carry with you. Some folks have enough to rebuild the trailer from the ground up. I was a Boy Scout and understand " Be Prepared" but there is only so much you can do on the road. I have the basics. A couple screwdrivers, a couple pliers, a hammer and a mallet, WD40, a couple extra hose washers and hose clamps, a small tube of caulk, grease for the hitch and a few other misc tools. Oh and don't forget the duct tape. This is all in a plastic tackle box to control the weight.

There are other things but you get the idea. Now we do not do off the grid camping so things like generators, extra gas, solar panels etc are not on our list of must haves. In fact I try to travel with empty dump tanks and only about 5 or 6 gallons of water. This is the same way we did it for 15 years when we had the Motorhome and survived that just fine.