Upsize, Downsize, Upsize?

[honda03842]

Ladders,

A significant percentage of travelers carry a ladder. Since we've had a fiberglass trailer we have not. The one step entrance stool is more than enough to wipe down the trailer. Certainly I miss the very top of the roof. When I feel guilty I just borrow one, RV owners do share.

I used to have a brush with the motorhome, particularly for the front window of the motorhome, a virtual bug magnet. Now if I have a persistent spot I use my chamois with a little Dawn or a rough sink sponge. I just don't find a brush necessary to clean the outside surface. A damp chamois is usually enough to clean it.

The question I always have is do 'I really need it?". My first approach is to try to live without 'it', adding it only if I can't live without it. It's sort of a backwards approach from our normal life where we all the time we add things we really don't need, every one has a cellar or attic of stuff that never or rarely see the light of day.

Before our first RV adventure I went thru my dresser to take some T-shirts. I had some ridiculous number, shirts I had not seen in years. Really how many do you need in a trailer?

I think fulltiming in an RV suggests the possibility of a new mind set. It's not that you have to change but you can. The bigger the RV you have, the less likely you are to change your old views and possibly part of the reason I see people needing larger and larger fiberglass trailers.

My niece, a wonderful 3 outfit a day young woman, took a 2 month trip backpacking trip and quickly learned how little clothing she needed. The trip made less necessary, the smaller trailers also make less necessary. Interestingly nothing is really sacrificed.

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by Cathi

Timber Wolf, I wish we could get rid of a house full so quickly. We have spent quite a few years cutting down, a huge amount given away and another huge amount dumped.

What we have found is that downsizing has two distinct parts: getting rid of "stuff" and getting rid of papers. Volumes of papers kept over many years, well, we feel we have to go through just about every one, and that is incredibly time-consuming. So if you want to prepare in advance, cutting down on the papers would be one good way.

You can get rid of it as quickly as you are motivated to do so. As to the papers, Mom made several trips to my house to burn box after box of "classified documents" archived over the years. I would think we were done and she would show up with another load to torch.

I have to tell the following story about my family, or at least my Mom and Grandmother. Years ago I read a bit in a Reader’s Digest about an older woman who had a box in her garage labeled “String too short to use”, filled with of course, really short pieces of string. I shared this story with my Mom and we thought it could have as well described her Mother (my Grandmother). In the course of events Grandmother went on to the better place and Mom went out to clean out her small house and wrap up the affairs. Mom soon called to tell me that she had found, I swear, a small box in Grandmother’s cellar filled with little bitty pieces of string. We had a good laugh about that I assure you.

A few years later I went by Mom’s house to find her pounding nails in the garage. When I asked what she was doing she said she was straightening them for reuse. Now we have nails, I am a Carpenter by trade and I assure you my Mother has never suffered the want of a brand new nail of any size and description. But here this Phd College Professor was spending time attempting to straighten nails enough to use and throwing them in a coffee can. Funny I don’t know what happened to that coffee can in her downsizing…….

[Steve Outlaw]

We store our ladder standing on the floor in the closet under the vent pipe. It absolutely takes none of the usable closet space and it's easy to get to.

[David B.]

Originally Posted by Steve Outlaw

We store our ladder standing on the floor in the closet under the vent pipe. It absolutely takes none of the usable closet space and it's easy to get to.

What brand ladder is that? I don't think I could live without one.
Dave & Paula

[Steve Outlaw]

Originally Posted by David B.

What brand ladder is that? I don't think I could live without one.
Dave & Paula

That is an Extend and Climb. There are a bunch of different lengths and grades. I ordered it from Wal-Mart. They had the best price I could find with free shipping to the store.

extend and climb ladder - Walmart.com

[Ron Merritt]

I gave you a link for it earlier in the thread


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[frank_a]

Boy, Norm & Ginny, I sure wish I could check out your rig and visualize all these storage areas you have verbally relayed here.

We continue to downsize our house. I have got rid of a number of boats, a huge pile of bricks, a wide variety of pressure treated lumber I had stacked up in the back, and a hot tub that had fallen into disrepair and just wasn't used anymore.

I have a well equipped shop that I am hoping to transfer to one (or more) of my boys as they own their own places and have room. Welder, engine hoist, three large rolling tool boxes (overpacked!), 110V and 12V wiring "stuff", plumbing stuff, two table saws, big electric sliding miter saw, extensive nuts, bolts and screws assortment, and all sorts of building materials (including steel) for just that thing that might come up. It's all gonna go.

I just need to bring along one good kilt for Scottish events, and my leather working stuff to have something to do. I'm considering taking up knitting.

We're a few years away from this full timer stuff, but we will have a place to come home to. I like the idea of a garage to pull the rig into with an efficiency apartment!

Frank

[SherryNPaul]

Love the ladders, Ron and Steve. Really light and small. A painter friend taught me a trick to protect freshly painted walls, should work on trailer gel coat. He wraps the ends of the ladder with clean white nonskid shelf liner and tape to keep imbedded dirt in his ladder from marking up the walls. Cheap insurance.
We just got home from our last camping trip of the season, and I've pulled everything out of the trailer to clean it and put it away for a few months. Everything (except the bedding, which is in the laundry) fits in three totes, an IKEA bag, and a couple duffles for clothes. The same clothes, with a few extra pair of shorts, would get us through several months of all-season camping if we did laundry on the road, as we do when on extended trips. I took extra jackets this time, as temps were predicted in the 20s (and got there), but still didn't use them. Layering works well, and I should have left the extras at home. I do know better....
Still, it seems like a lot when I'm packing it up and dragging it back and forth. Going to keep working on whittling it down. Whatever I didn't use this season isn't going back in the camper, is my intent, as usual. And, do I really need to carry six books when I have a kindle? I just love the tactile sense of turning pages, and can't seem to fall in love the same way with turning an electronic tab.
Sherry

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by David B.

What brand ladder is that? I don't think I could live without one.
Dave & Paula

Write down how often you use it and what you use it for. We haven't had one for 7 years and don't miss it.

[accrete]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Write down how often you use it and what you use it for. We haven't had one for 7 years and don't miss it.

: ) I'm just ramblin' as I pass through...

Cari & I use ours nearly every outing. Handy for getting webbing further up a tree trunk when a simple hook-handle doesn't do the trick. Plus cleaning the van's roof.

[honda03842]

Cleaning the van's roof is an admitted issue.

We have a one step folding stool for the doorway that allows me to reach to the center of the Odyssey's roof.

Similarly I can reach most of the Scamp's roof except the raised center section. Occasionally I'll borrow a ladder from one of our 'big boy brethren'. How many ladders does a campground need?

I usually wipe the parts of the Odyssey and Scamp down whenever we get a heavy dew.

[accrete]

; ) our roof keeps getting further off the ground with each tweak...
Lift Kit
Larger Tires
Lifted higher


Funny thing is my wife really luvs this thing and it takes a bit for her 5'2" frame to climb up into the cab.

[floyd]

Just so you won't be disappointed...
We are snug as a bug and happy with what they have.

Fact is, when you find what works best for you, you too will be snug as a bug and happy with what you have, at least until circumstances change.

To use cars as a comparison, I have owned eighty plus cars, some bought with my heart some bought with my mind.

The heart cars in general, brought great satisfaction for a short time. The mind cars were kept longer because they gave me more of what I needed at the expense of what I thought I wanted.

The best ones were bought with my mind and then won my heart.
I hope you find that one trailer which does this for you.

To paraphrase an "old saw"...
Think twice, buy once!

Oddly enough, my Scamp was bought more with my heart and then won my mind with use.