By Randall Brink
Most motorhome owners view their RV as a route to adventure—the open road—free to roam where and when they please. Some take a more practical view and see their RV as a full-time home, whether roaming or stationary. Likely few of us may have considered that our motorhomes are also an asset in the event of a major unforeseen event, such as a natural emergency or other unexpected forms of chaos and uncertainty. The pandemic changed a lot of thinking about preparation for the unexpected. Is your RV ready for an emergency?
Food
It is a good idea to keep the dry goods part of your RV pantry well-stocked year-round. While it may not always be advisable or possible to operate the refrigerator continuously while the RV is parked or in storage, dry food can be stored onboard, with some caveats.
I do not recommend going overboard with food storage—you only have so much storage space in even the largest RV. Still, with a few containers of dry, long-lasting foodstuffs, you can feel confident of having enough to last a month or two if necessary.
I do not recommend keeping large quantities of items such as flour in onboard storage. Even though you can safeguard the stash from rodents and some insects by adequately sealing the stored food, flour is different. It has a relatively short storage life of about one year. Use food-grade containers for all dry food storage and thoroughly seal the lids.
Water
It’s a good idea to keep at least a small supply of potable water onboard. Just remember that it weighs 8.3 lb. per gallon, plus the weight of the storage container. I keep ten gallons stored in BPA-free potable water containers and rotate the stored supply not less frequently than monthly. Even in a large Class A coach, there is not enough space to carry more than a minimal emergency supply that will sustain you until you can get to a fresh water source.
Batteries
Keep house and chassis batteries charged. In most cases, if plugged into shore power this will occur automatically. But if stored, seasonally dormant, or boondocking, it is a good idea to plug into a power source or run your generator periodically to keep storage batteries topped. Solar power charging will also fill this need.
Also, for added help in an emergency and in the event that start batteries become discharged, I carry a compact emergency jump starter like this one sufficient to enable an engine start.
Fire
I recommend maintaining at least one or two days’ supply of firewood onboard to avoid having to scavenge for wood at a destination in an emergency.
Propane
Propane is vital to the RV that operates its cook range, oven, refrigerator, and furnace on LPG. So be sure to fill when the propane gauge drops below 1/2 – 3/4 full. Maintaining your supply at close to full capacity is not only a good idea for emergency considerations, but don’t forget—in 2021, we had a propane shortage scare that did not fully materialize but nevertheless gave cause for concern for ready supply on the road. I also keep a half-dozen bottles of camp cook stove propane on hand, as well.
Tires
Keep an eye on tire condition and pressure, especially during the dormant off-season months, boondocking, or during any extended period of idleness. A significant emergency would not be a good time to need tire service, replacement, or roadside service. For camper vans Class B and C operators, it goes without saying that you will probably carry a spare tire. This issue is more complex for the Class A motorist who does not have the room to haul around a 200+ lb. spare tire, nor the ability to remove a flat tire, mount a spare while on the road on the rim, etc. My experience and observation are that most Class A coach owners do not carry a spare. But this can be a significant hindrance to travel in an emergency that may shutter tire shops and curtail roadside service organizations.
In the increasingly uncertain world in which we live, it is a good idea to remember the Boy Scout motto and keep your RV ready to aid in dealing with an emergency.
##RVDT2367
I would be careful about carrying firewood from state to state or country to country; many do not allow firewood from other places.
Secondly, I believe in Texas such storage in the RV at summer temperatures often into the 100+ is not desirable. We keep our “go kit” for emergencies ready and packed together in the house.
Propane, tire condition and batteries – yes. There is no way I’m keeping any food or water aboard while the rig is stored in the hot sun. As it is, I’ll sanitize the water tank after any extended storage period and that involves running all the water out anyway after the process.
Storing water in summer is possible, but not in the winter where we are. It’ll freeze in a heartbeat.
I will concur with other posters about storing emergency items in unoccupied RVs-
#1- transporting firewood is a bad idea. In many parts of the U.S. it is illegal – for good reason. It unfortunately is far too easy to transport disease or pests and decimate otherwise healthy forests.
#2- In high temp areas, more than flour will degrade.
#3- In low temp areas, water (and other) items may be damaged by freeze. And could potentially break their storage containers.
Our RV lives under cover behind the garage. We remove all food when not using it. Even the toaster. No rodent problems. Fuels are always full. We can load it up in a few hours. We have a well and a generator so we can get water. I think we can deal with most emergencies. We live within 20 miles of the Bangor(WA) sub base, if it gets nuked, we’ll be incinerated. Can’t prepare for that…
We can’t keep a “go Rv” on standby with -25 to -35 f temps. I do keep a days supply of firewood in a plastic container for emergency use. When leisure traveling, I take out the firewood and buy it locally to prevent disease migration. Tire pressure is another cold xthr problem. I buy peanuts in square plastic food grade containers – perfect for on-season use for flour etc, etc.. We are in a rural area and have field mice to contend with as well. Happy travels and lets hope we do NOT need to respond in an emergency of any kind!