The Key to Quick, Easy and Stress Free Travel Trailer Setup and Pack-up

When exploring the countryside with a travel trailer, setup and take down can play a big part in the success of your trip. Quick setup and take down of the RV makes for the most stress free and enjoyable vacations.

It's a shame to spend hours on travel trailer setup while your campsite neighbour is kicking back, enjoying a beverage! Likewise, at the other end of the trip, you don’t want to wreck your relaxed vacation vibe with a stressful, time consuming pack up.

So here’s some expert RVezy tips to help minimize the time and stress involved with travel trailer setup and pack-up. These tips are most useful for temporary travel trailer vacations, because setting up a travel trailer permanently is a different beast altogether!

Travel Trailer Set Up Checklist

The following tips will help to make for the easiest, most effective and stress free travel trailer setups!

1) Focus on Organization Before You Disembark

The more organized all of your RV camping gear is, the easier it will be to set up once you reach the destination. An organized packing system will result in much less hair pulling! So spend a few extra minutes getting everything in line before you leave for the trip.

2) Practice Makes Perfect

Whether you’ve just purchased a new RV, or you’re taking advantage of RVezy’s stress free travel trailer rental system, you should always practice setting up a travel trailer before you leave home. This way, you won't be doing it for the first time after a long day of driving, in front of inquisitive campsite onlookers!

Of course, not everyone renting one or trying RVing for the first time will have access to an RV to practice with. When you rent from RVezy, we give you and the host that you're renting from a checklist that they'll use to show you how everything works; setup, take down, and even take on you on a test drive to make sure you're comfortable before leaving for your trip.

3) Find the Right Parking Spot

Some campsites can be bumpy and uneven, so it’s really important to spend a few minutes positioning your travel trailer in the right spot. While you're doing so, you can use leveling blocks to make your travel trailer setup on point! Remember to use a second person to stand in view of your mirrors, and help you reverse into the perfect position (just sort out what hand signals you agree on before confusing “stop!” With, “keep coming!”

Once you're positioned correctly, and the travel trailer is snug and not going anywhere, you can unhitch and enter the final travel trailer setup phase - the fold-out / slide-out / pop-up part.

4) Don’t Rush the Final Travel Trailer Setup Process

When it comes to the actual travel trailer setup step, make sure everything is done properly, poles fully extended, any ropes nicely pegged to the ground, and so on. Everything should be nice and firm, but not super tight! Once home base is established, you can spread out the rest of your RV camping gear, and test out some of your favourite RV campsite decorating ideas.

Travel Trailer Pack Up Checklist

For the smoothest, most stress free travel trailer pack downs, use our following tips.

1) Pack and Order All Camping Gear First

Make sure all your RV camping gear is nicely organized before starting travel trailer packup. Because if it starts to rain, or the wind picks up, you may still want the awning shelter or inside space to pack and organize your gear.

2) Sweep Out all Dust and Debris

Now is the best time to clean out the travel trailer, rather than when you get home. You can quickly and easily sweep all dust and dirt straight out the door!

3) Fold-in / Slide-in / Pop-down

After packing up your RV camping gear and sweeping out the travel trailer, now’s the best time to do the trailer packup part. With some travel trailers, you will need to pack away all the gear you organized before folding in the trailer, while with other models, you can pack gear away afterwards (i.e. with some tent style travel trailers which open through the tail gate at the rear, you can slide everything in after the travel trailer is packed up).

4) Hitch Up, and Hit the Road!

Use another person as a ‘spotter’ to help you reverse directly over the trailer hitch (or under the hitch for fifth wheel travel trailers). Once again, agree on hand signals with your spotter before doing so. Re-hitch the travel trailer, drive off any leveling blocks, pack them away and hit the road!

Our Final Travel Trailer Tip

There are many different types of travel trailers, and just as many different fold-out / slide-out / pop-up mechanisms that come with them. So when using a new travel trailer, or renting one through RVezy, do a little research on the model you have to discover tips and tricks specific to it. Ask the host (if you’re renting) for any extra info they can provide about travel trailer setup and pack-up, and you’re well on your way to a very successful, enjoyable RV camping vacation!

Or, to get an idea about which travel trailer rentals are available near you, have a look at RVezy's comprehensive list of travel trailer options!