Hi. My partner and I are looking to buy a Motor Home after selling the caravan. Can anyone who has motor home please comment on ant problems associated with the use of a Motor home once you have set up camp and do not have a tow along vehicle. e.g Running out of milk and the closest shop is 3 klms away. Do you use pedal power or an electric bike. What is your solution to these sort of probems. Thnakyou.
We carry milk powder. Often 2 or 3 sweeteners. Greens including freeze dried so we dont really need too !! We walk or ride a bike these days ! But dont exactly do it just for shopping !
We've never run out of milk or food etc. Unless we are nearly home I keep a 4/5 day supply of food always in the motorhome. A lot of this is canned as we don't have a big fridge. This way, if we find a spot and want to stay awhile, no problems. We also carry an extra container of water besides what's in the tanks. We just don't let ourselves run low. Besides a couple of chairs and a little fold up table we don't carry extras that go outside to pack up if we want to go off somewhere. Just need to unplug from the power (if we are in a powered site) and roll up lead. We don't even use the awning much as we tend to just sit on the shady side of the van. You just need to have a bit of a routine and be somewhat organized. Our set up routine. Park - plug in if staying somewhere with power, pull out chairs, thermos mugs that I make up in the morning when doing breakfast and biscuits - sit and watch everyone else setting up for ever so long. Keep it simple and relax.
It's a different way of travelling.We were used to living a way out of town & not having the ability to just 'nip to the shops', so when we began to travel in a motorhome it didn't feel any different to have to plan shopping ahead a bit. We now tow a camper trailer & can spend up to a couple of months between shopping for supplies so again practice what we have always done. We don't really understand why this seems a hassle to some.
Aha just cleaned my home pantry out with dried long life food . Ex date 2009 . I think it time to throw stuff out !! Lol possibly put in there from one of our trips ? We lose or forget its stored !! Could have been added to fresh cooked ? But its cleaned out now !!
Yes, powdered milk, bread mixes, dried peas & instant potato mixes are an essential backup when traveling, don't leave home without them.
If its not used in any calendar year, make sure its used up at the end of that year & then renew it with fresh stock with a long "use by" date. One day its going to come in very handy.
We flat tow a Suzuki behind motor home. That way we can park up and buzz about inthe car. Makes no noticable difference in fuel economy of motor home but saves lots of hassles having to take motorhome everywhere out ofcycling range.
We carry a supply of long life milk,we cango for 6 weeks without civilisation, expept need to dig holes for toilet waste.
Your Qs are okay mate - I/we see similar Qs here each year :)
For us - we've motorhomed for most of the last 20 yrs - and each yr for 2/3 of the yr we are out and about. Storage = weight = all sorts of other things, so it matters not whether you are in a caravan or a motorhome = each sort of vehicle has close-by storage for 4-8 days of food and boot storage for non-perishables ... no-worries-mate
Roughly twice a week we will call in to the town IGA and replenish stuff that needs replacing. Today it was bread-milk-eggs-bacon-fruit-veges ... and collectively we now have a week's supply on board - so it matters not as to where we stay for the next few nights, coz we've got it as needed.
Hope this helps ... but keep asking your Qs :) Phil
Grease around legs and lift wheels off the ground . Or park wheel in water tray ? Wipe everything down with Borax . Keep things CLEAN ! They love crumbs, sweets on the floor !!
Small black ants in RV's are normally a sign of dampness/leaking roof and body joins - eliminate the damp then use ant-rid baits.
One time we parked on an ants nest in a caravan park. The little fellows didn't take long to invade the caravan. We just sprayed surface spray on the jokey wheel, wheels and stabiliser legs. They were not a problem after that.
We have just sold our caravan and bought a 2nd hand motorhome which we are thrilled about. We've had caravans and camping trailers for more than 30 years but as one gets older, towing a van gets more worrying. The other thing we took into consideration that if anything happened to me to prevent me from driving, my wife can drive it on her car license.
When travelling, one must do a bit of forward thinking, such as buying what you are likely to need while in a town. We have always had dehydrated peas, and if you have sufficient flour etc., you can always make a damper if you run out of bread. Keep long life milk on hand. A stock of potatoes and a few cans of salmon an get you out of trouble, not to mention some soups. Plan ahead and hopefully you won't run out of food.
Run out of bread, no problem, make some lovely pumpkin scones. You don't even need pumpkin, just a large can of cream of pumpkin soup and slowly add flour until you have a scone mix Throw them in the camp oven and voila.
I use our ebike that's on the back of our Long Wheel Base High Roof Mercedes Benz Sprinter Campervan. Mate with a caravan uses his expensive e-scooter.
I use a 1970 Honda CT70 (DAX) which I restored. It is 85Kg.. It is carried on the back of our 21' Fifth Wheeler.
I have found also that it is a great "conversation starter" for those around when we are camped. Many "Grey Nomads had them and learnt to ride on them as kids .
We have just sold our caravan and bought a 2nd hand motorhome which we are thrilled about. We've had caravans and camping trailers for more than 30 years but as one gets older, towing a van gets more worrying. The other thing we took into consideration that if anything happened to me to prevent me from driving, my wife can drive it on her car license.
When travelling, one must do a bit of forward thinking, such as buying what you are likely to need while in a town. We have always had dehydrated peas, and if you have sufficient flour etc., you can always make a damper if you run out of bread. Keep long life milk on hand. A stock of potatoes and a few cans of salmon an get you out of trouble, not to mention some soups. Plan ahead and hopefully you won't run out of food.
Run out of bread, no problem, make some lovely pumpkin scones. You don't even need pumpkin, just a large can of cream of pumpkin soup and slowly add flour until you have a scone mix Throw them in the camp oven and voila.
Currently I have no problem with towing a 17' caravan but I also feel that at some stage I may have to replace it with a motorhome.
Hopefully by then, fully electric motorhomes will be available with electric pop up tops and the roof is completely covered with solar panels, the ones that also work at night.
With a little fully enclosed, off road trike on the back for exploring and running around town.
-- Edited by Buzz Lightbulb on Saturday 28th of May 2022 01:04:39 PM
We bought our first RV (Avida Eyre Motorhome) in October 2020. We'd never caravanned or camped or anything like that before and neither of us came from families that did.
I pack a minimum of a weeks worth of groceries inc long life milk, bread etc. I have a large fridge in my vehicle so I'm able to freeze four loaves of bread at a time. We've never run out of food but I also keep an electronic stock list on the lap top which I am conscientious about updating as things get used or replaced. We do put two bicycles on the back of the vehicle in case we need them but we also usually choose caravan parks in easy walking/riding distance of a town/shopping centre. Rarely do we unhook the motorhome once she's set up unless we're moving on of course. But, in all honesty, after you've packed up a few times it becomes a routine that you can do in about 10 minutes, I do the labour intensive stuff inside while hubby does all the easy stuff outside . Ten minutes later we're on our way. Viola!
With regards to ants (if that's not a typo, as has been suggested) we only ever had trouble at Augusta WA and a fellow traveller overheard me complaining about ants in the vehicle and came over with some Ant Rid. He also suggested we never park under a tree which touches our roof and that we routinely spray our hoses, wheels etc with surface spray and, if the problem persists, sprinkle ant dust on any access point. We no longer have any issue with ants and take care to spray, sprinkle and carefully locate the vehicle every time.
We bought our first RV (Avida Eyre Motorhome) in October 2020. We'd never caravanned or camped or anything like that before and neither of us came from families that did.
I pack a minimum of a weeks worth of groceries inc long life milk, bread etc. I have a large fridge in my vehicle so I'm able to freeze four loaves of bread at a time. We've never run out of food but I also keep an electronic stock list on the lap top which I am conscientious about updating as things get used or replaced. We do put two bicycles on the back of the vehicle in case we need them but we also usually choose caravan parks in easy walking/riding distance of a town/shopping centre. Rarely do we unhook the motorhome once she's set up unless we're moving on of course. But, in all honesty, after you've packed up a few times it becomes a routine that you can do in about 10 minutes, I do the labour intensive stuff inside while hubby does all the easy stuff outside . Ten minutes later we're on our way. Viola!
With regards to ants (if that's not a typo, as has been suggested) we only ever had trouble at Augusta WA and a fellow traveller overheard me complaining about ants in the vehicle and came over with some Ant Rid. He also suggested we never park under a tree which touches our roof and that we routinely spray our hoses, wheels etc with surface spray and, if the problem persists, sprinkle ant dust on any access point. We no longer have any issue with ants and take care to spray, sprinkle and carefully locate the vehicle every time.
My experience is similar to above. We are on our second motorhome with 8 years on the road for around 5 months per year over the 12 month period. We generally do not stay in one place for more than 7 nights. We also have a good size frig/freezer and rarely run out of anything (except chocolate!). Our first MH had 2 bikes on the back however we did not bother on the second MH as they were rarely used. We have never run out of milk. If you are organised "running out" is not an issue. The method of travel in a MH is a little different to a caravan. Generally the caravaners park up then travel around in the car. We tend to look at places to and from our night/s stop. both methods are good it is simply what suits your needs.
Us, same as Aus-kiwi, and Cuppa, never have the needed to shop more then once every 14 days, as we live out of town, ourselves anyway, just got use to it. In holiday period we only shop once a month.
