New owners requiring storage tips

[Airmech07]

Hello,

We are new owners of a 2018 jay feather 29qb. Does anyone have any storage hacks or ideas that can help us? We pick up our trailer in April; this is our first travel trailer as our previous one was a park model.
Oh and we have 3 kids.. 2,4, and 6

Thanks in advance

[chrismoore701]

You will get a ton of tips on here. make sure you store stuff in a way you can get in and out if you need to. Never, NEVER leave food in the trailer especially dog food. Only canned food can stay. Remove all food over winter. Remove your battery and store inside over winter. Dryer sheets in every nuck and cranny you can find. in all drawers and under all cushions including your mattress. That is all I really do. Figure out how to winterize with air AND antifreeze. You should do both.

[KillerIsMe]

You have quite a bit of storage already. The pantry is big, and if you're taking more food than will fit in there and in the overhead cabinets above the sink you might be overpacking. Same in the bedroom - the wardrobes are fairly deep and you have the overheads in there too. And the storage under the bed. The bunk room has a wardrobe too. The cabinet under the TV is our booze cabinet. We use the slide-out bins under the dinette for towels on one side and dirty laundry on the other. I keep my electric cord and the PI in the outside bay under the dinette along with a few other things. That bay is very handy. You still haven't looked in the pass-through. Your truck will be for bikes, firewood, levelers, chocks - whatever. The two things that bug us are the trash can and the coffee maker - we have to improvise for them.

Only thing is, as has been said, don't leave anything in the trailer when you get home. Mice will move in, but you don't want to make them too comfortable. I winterize in October and I bring in the bunk mattresses, bedding, towels - everything they can tear up, and I put the queen mattress in a big zip-up bag. I've learned to do these things the hard way.

[Johnny Lightning]

Regardless of how you store your battery put it on a regulated battery tender, not just a very low power battery charger. If you have power where you store it you can get a "normal" battery tender for about $40 or so for a pretty good one. If you don't have power there are solar ones for, I think, about $80 that are regulated. Please learn from my experience I have a very low power battery charger, 1 or 2 amps and I once used it to keep a battery charged over the winter. The battery was junk in the spring. Lesson learned. The other thing you might want to do is to inspect the underside of your trailer for any places where mice can enter the trailer, and plug them. Spray in foam works but makes a mess, those curly copper, brass or stainless steel pot scrubbers work too. Lots of folks say to use steel wool but it rusts and will eventually disappear and it makes a mess when it rusts. Another thing I would check into is butyal (sp?) tape. You can buy it generally at the local big box building supply or you might want to check your local automotive paint supplier. The stuff comes is black and white as far as I know and it will stick to pretty much anything. It stays soft for years so you can remove it and reinstall it as needed. Just my thoughts.

[Mustang65]

As mentioned by Johnny Lightning, use the insulating foam sealant EVERYWHERE under your TT. I went through 2 cans of the foam spray, (goggles, mask, gloves, log sleeve shirt) when I did the under-bell foam project. I made 2 trips around the bottom and foamed EVERY opening that I could find, no matter how small it was. I also have the Winter package, so there is a hard plastic under-belly that rested on the frame on each side. I foamed the entire length on both side where the plastic went into the frame mounting. There were a number of small gaps that a little critter could have gotten into the TT. I also did the front and back cross members.

Don't stop there. This is where you need to think like a mouse... On the front cross member there was a 3/4" hole (could see into the under-belly, so I caulked it too. I looked under the TT and there is a spare tire hanging under the trailer, lowered it and found another 3/4" hole where the cable comes out of the under-belly to raise/lower the tire. I used a plastic 4"x4" blank electrical box cover. Drilled a hole in it slightly larger than the cable thickness and cut a slot from the outside end of the cover to the hole and screwed it into the under-belly with the wire in the hole. I then caulked the slot .

There were also small holes where the fridge components are (outside vent area) caulked them also.

I did this in 2012 when we picked up our TT and have been critter free since then. I felt it was better to stop them before they got in, because they can do a lot of damage. DW also does the dryer sheets and 100% peppermint oil defense plan. I also sprinkle the Sevin dust under the TT to keep the ants and other bugs away from the TT.

Wife is happy, then I am happy!!!!

Good Luck
Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Wireman]

I am assuming you have done your homework and have a capable tow vehicle to handle everything that you plan on carrying for a family of 5. It adds up fast.

Weigh your setup when you have everything loaded to make sure you are in spec's capacity wise for your TT & TV.

Good luck. Enjoy hitting the road.

[RogerR]

I agree that the most important thing you can do is to "mouse proof" your RV. It is never really 100% but you can crawl under with a good flashlight and locate every tiny or not so tiny opening and stuff with stainless steel wool or equivalent and then foaming it in place. Not only mice and rats, this should stop some creepy crawlies too!
Lots of past posts on this all over this forum and most others.
Don't forget those other items, freeze proof the water system if it might get cold, protect your battery(s) with solar charging or something like a Battery Tender Junior.