1st time Snowbirders - leave home or pack?
First time snowbirders heading to Arizona this winter for 6 months. Since this will be different from week long vacations or weekend camping, what are items you wished you had brought and items you co...
Forum Discussion
Our first winter on the road we had to buy;
- A fan. I know this sounds dumb to head for Florida and leave a fan at home, but we did. Try to find a window fan in Florida around Christmas.
- An electric heater. I had 3 at home. Now I have 4.
- A basin wrench. Needed to change a lav faucet
- A Little Green Machine carpet cleaner. Carpet's gone now but we surely needed this. I didn't want to bring the big rug shampooer due to weight.
Things I'm really glad we brought that I didn't think we'd need
- A large Styrofoam cooler. Waste of space, I grumbled. Stored liquor and bottled water in it. First time we needed to defrost the fridge I was glad I had it.
Stuff that I brought that never got used; I brought a lot of spares. Spare bulbs, fuses, wiper blades, a windshield chip repair kit etc. Still in a flat storage box in the basement. The stuff that broke I didn't have spares for, like the toilet (replaced every part except the bowl). I needed Eternabond roof tape and Dicor for a leak, I had to go buy that. I also brought an old tire unmounted for a spare. Never used that.
I was pretty sure we would be overweight when I started packing the coach for the trip, so I started scrutinizing things that were heavy and probably not necessary. Turns out we were 2000 lbs under max gross so I didn't need to worry.
- A fan. I know this sounds dumb to head for Florida and leave a fan at home, but we did. Try to find a window fan in Florida around Christmas.
- An electric heater. I had 3 at home. Now I have 4.
- A basin wrench. Needed to change a lav faucet
- A Little Green Machine carpet cleaner. Carpet's gone now but we surely needed this. I didn't want to bring the big rug shampooer due to weight.
Things I'm really glad we brought that I didn't think we'd need
- A large Styrofoam cooler. Waste of space, I grumbled. Stored liquor and bottled water in it. First time we needed to defrost the fridge I was glad I had it.
Stuff that I brought that never got used; I brought a lot of spares. Spare bulbs, fuses, wiper blades, a windshield chip repair kit etc. Still in a flat storage box in the basement. The stuff that broke I didn't have spares for, like the toilet (replaced every part except the bowl). I needed Eternabond roof tape and Dicor for a leak, I had to go buy that. I also brought an old tire unmounted for a spare. Never used that.
I was pretty sure we would be overweight when I started packing the coach for the trip, so I started scrutinizing things that were heavy and probably not necessary. Turns out we were 2000 lbs under max gross so I didn't need to worry.
