Rv Living [Full time rv'ing with 4 dogs]

Our dogs are basically our fur children so you could imagine prior to going full time in our rv I had LOTS of thoughts and questions going through my mind. Most Rv parks allow 1-2 dogs, so you could imagine my concern when I have 4! There is no way that we would get rid of them or anything of that nature they are our kiddos and bring us so many smiles and happiness. I looked around on the internet about this myself because I had so many thoughts and questions regarding the whole issue. So I have accumulated my own thoughts and want to share it with others and hope in some way it will help you or answer some of your questions.

Lets see here for starters I would hope you have a somewhat well behaved and sociable dog. We have always taken our dogs on road trips with us and they love going for car rides. They are dog friendly and are constantly trying to get the attention from other pets and people we pass. If they are a little rowdy and not as well behaved as you would like them to be it will just be a longer transition. If you want to make the swith to full time rving then you will more than likely be willing to work with your animals if they mean that much to you.

My biggest fear when I thought about full timing is how would i even sneak 4 dogs into the rv park. I thought for sure I would be thrown out, but that wasn't the case at all. At this time we have been full time rving for 6 months and I have yet to have anyone confront me about the number of dogs I have. There are certain steps we take to avoid this from happening. Majority of parks allow 1-2 dogs, which means we only ever take 2 dogs out at a time. Three of our four dogs are black and somewhat resemble each other so I don't think that anyone notices the different dogs. So in a nutshell we are rebels, we are rule breakers and take the chance. 

A very important part of living with 4 dogs in a small space is daily walks and exercise. They need to get outdoors and burn off some of that energy. We try very hard to walk them or take them to the park everyday. We are not perfect some days we are just to darn busy, but they deserve it so we try our hardest. 

We created a video on this topic where we go into more details about rving with dogs. Feel free to check it out! 

RV Remodel Vinyl Plank Wood Ceiling

When we purchased Ol' King he was covered in 1990's wallpaper. This wallpaper was peeling off in several areas, but yet in other areas the wallpaper was staying glued on for dear life. When it came to the ceiling we tried our best to remove it all, but it was being very stubborn. Initially we thought that we were just going to paint the ceiling just a basic white. After some online inspiration I thought why don't we add a dark wood feel to the roof as well as the flooring. Rather opting for real wood we decided to go with a sticky vinyl flooring. We went down to our local Lowes to scope out their selection. We ended up leaving with a beautiful dark colored vinyl that pairs with the flooring perfectly.

Prior to leaving the store we talked with multiple employees to see what would be best for applying the vinyl to make sure it sticks. We were advised to purchase this adhesive to apply to the surface even through the planks themselves were sticky we wanted to make sure they weren’t going anywhere. As we started into this project we soon realized it was going to take some time, but nothing worth having comes easily. This diy project is definitely a two person job. My husband and I make a good team, and we made a system to applying the planks. 

Majority of the time a ladder was needed to place the planks to the ceiling, except in the bedroom where the ceiling is low.  My husband was in charge of measuring and cutting the planks to the correct size. While he was cutting I was on the ladder applying the adhesive to the roof, placing the vinyl and rolling it out once applied.  The adhesive had to be applied about 10-15 minutes prior to placing the vinyl on it so that there was enough time to let it get tacky. Once the adhesive was tacky we would set the strip of vinyl into place, and then I would roll out the piece. This project was time consuming, but worth all those neck cramps while looking up towards the ceiling. 

We are very pleased with our end result and would do it again!

Below are some photo's of the ceiling upgrade using the vinyl wood 

planks.

 Check out that old ceiling. 
The white wall paper had turned yellow 
and falling off.

                             

                                                   Lots of rolling was involved. 

     

Slowly getting there with the back room completed.

Kitchen and living space ceiling completed.

Click on the video below to check it out.

             

 <3 Brit

Caulking and Resealing RV Roof

As we started in on our remodel we did experience some light water damage, which thankfully was nothing we couldn't handle. Taking that water damage into consideration we wanted to take all preventative measures possible to avoid future water or leaking damage. It is inevitable that over time any RV roof will leak so it is important that all RV owners are aware of what measures they can take to prevent that. Below we have the supplies needed as well as the step by step process complete with directions on how to reseal your roof.

Supplies needed are:
Dicor Self Leveling Lap Sealant
Mineral Spirits
Caulking Gun
Paper Towels
 

 

Directions:
 
Step 1: 
Assess your current sealant on your roof what is the current state of the sealant. Are there cracks in the current sealant? Is there areas that are missing sealant? If there are cracks in your current sealant that is an indicator that you will need to reseal that area. It is crucial to know what you are working with prior to diving in to the actual project, as well as being aware to what you are getting yourself into.

Step 2:
Now that you have taken a good look at what needs to be done you can start your preparation. You will need to start cleaning the area you will be resealing with the paper towels and mineral spirits. I recommend applying the cleaner to the paper towel and then wiping the area.  Prior to moving forward make sure the area is dry.

Step 3:
Now that you have thoroughly cleaned the areas you are ready to lay the dicor self leveling lap sealant. Place the dicor into the caulking gun, but before you get to laying it  I would recommend doing a test run. Aim the sealant onto a news paper or even a piece of cardboard just as an indicator on how the flow of sealant will be flowing from the gun. Once you are ready start laying down the sealant. When applying the sealant don't be afraid to be a little generous especially if you are not a fan on water damage. Remember that this sealant is self leveling so it will self level :)

Step 4:
Allow the sealant to dry up and then come back and check up on it within the next couple days. It is important to see how it drying and laying. It also isn't a bad idea to double check your work and make sure you have resealed all the correct areas and have not over looked any. Just like that you will have a sturdy leak free roof on your rv.


We hope that this easy step by step routine will help your rv for all your future trips! Below we have attached a video of our resealing. Hope this information helps you! :)

<3 Brit

 

 

Let the painting begin

The initial thought of painting our 34ft trailer was, "Oh it wont take that long it is a small space.". Yeah right I feel like it has consumed my life, lol. The painting has done so because I didn't use the correct paint. Basically in short never use a paint and primer duo. I have painted many other walls and furniture but for whatever reason I decided to do the duo of paint and primer which was not the best option. I was having to paint the same surface with 4 coats, that should of been a red flag but I decided to keep painting. Then it hit me, "Stop! What are you doing? You are wasting your time." Not only was it extremely time consuming, but my nail could scrape off the paint. The paint wasn't even adhering to the walls correctly. Talk about a total nightmare. I really did not want a glossy finish look on the walls and cabinets but I ended up just putting a polycyclic protective finish sealer over the paint to prevent any future chipping.  The painting was a process that I mainly did myself, because it is something that I could do alone. Meaning that I didn't need the husbands muscle to complete it. I would usually start the day with primer then go do another task and then come back for more coats of primer and so on through out the day until the area I was working on was completed.

 

Kitchen painting is underway!

 

The kitchen is coming along quite nicely.

 

The master is a work in progress here.

 

The garage is currently the cabinet painting center.

 

The slide with a fresh coat! :)

Here is a painting update video. Enjoy :)
          

<3 Brit

Before Renovations

Here she is in all her glory, our 1990 King of the Road 5th wheel.

 

Our model had a rear kitchen which I really like compared to the other models that we looked at.

 

Don't you just love the faded fuchsia color ;)  

 

There were more mirror's in this 5th wheel than we knew what to do with.

 

Along with the mirror's, there was also wall paper EVERYWHERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the before tour video, enjoy!

5th Wheel Shopping

The purchase of our 5th wheel was quite an ordeal. Unlike the purchase of our Ford diesel, where we pulled into the dealer and was already turned on and ready for my husband to test drive it. Ok, maybe I'm over exaggerating a bit to much. The purchase itself was not an "ordeal" let me correct myself it was more of a longer process if you will. One of the reasons why I think my husband went along with the "master plan" was due to the fact that it meant he got a truck. He use to have one and we ended up having to sell it (I will talk more about that later).
We purchased the truck first, which my husband Beto was all about. Constantly looking trucks up, sending me links, wanting to go take a look at them. Needless to say he was in control of the truck purchase. After we purchased our truck I was gung ho about finding a 5th wheel. I'm not going to lie it became a bit of an obsession. If anyone knows me I become easily obsessed with something I'm "into", my mother and sister also suffer from this syndrome. I feel like it needs a name, "the fixated frenzy". We become extremely fixated on that one ideal, we research it and then research it again. We want to learn everything there is to know about it, and become an expert. Granted at times this can be a down fall, and you will never fully know all that there is to know about it. Eventually you have to just dive head in and figure out as you go. One of my teachers called it analysis paralysis. I though that was a fitting term as well. With the help of google just a click away it is just to easy. I know we can't be the only ones out there with this "syndrome", someone else must be able to relate.
I looked into all different trailers, but I was drawn to the 5th wheel for multiple reasons which I will go into in a future post. I was torn weather to purchase a new or older model 5th wheel. We had already established the "must haves" for our rig, which was a rear kitchen setup, separate bathroom quarters, and a washer dryer preferred. We came across a dealer that would buy up the trade in trailers from the big dealers. These trailers were priced very well compared to other prices we had looked at. However due to our financial past the bank simply would not approve a loan amount that large. At the time we were pretty bummed about it, but thinking back to that moment I'm now relieved that we ended up purchasing a rig a bit older and for less money. One sure can get carried away in the glam of it all, but at the end of the day I wanted a rig that was structurally sound and functioned well. Our goal is to be debt free and have that sense of freedom. By having purchased a newer 5th wheel would have just put us into more debt, which is the total opposite of our goals at the moment. Instead we opted to purchase an older model that is in great condition and vamp it up.

I searched high and low, again let's be real it consumed me. I tease my husband, Beto that he had no part in the trailer searching due to the fact that he already got his truck and was happy as a clam with it and was just thoroughly enjoying it. You got to give them a hard time sometimes :) After the excitement of our truck purchase settled we set out to find "the one", and boy let me tell you it is hard to find a well taken camper in our area that isn't gonna cost you.  For myself it was a roller coaster of emotions I would get super excited and then be let down by different rigs that we looked at, but I remained positive because I knew eventually the right one would pop up. Having the patience paid off, and we stumbled across our little gem.

Making a plan for your Dreams

Hello and welcome to our blog! Thank you for taking time to read about our crazy, fascinating, and unpredictable life. This blog will be about a husband and wife's journey to go against the grain and live a bit "differently" some would say. For us this way of life fits into our dreams and goals, and we are totally content. We keep in mind that this isn't for everyone, and keep an open mind in that regard. To each their own I always say. We are opened minded individuals that are in no way trying to pressure this way of life onto anyone else. We just want to share our story and our adventure :)

Welp, I feel like I can talk about this topic for days if I could and give a lengthy back story(which I will probably do in a future blog). We have decided to purchase a 5th wheel trailer as well as a big beefy Ford 250 Diesel truck and live out of the 5th wheel (also referred to as being a "full-timer"). An interesting concept to say the least, but it fits our needs and will allow us to be debt free and have the freedom to travel where we choose.

My husbands initial reaction to my hair brain ideas are usually "No way!" Which in this scenario was his exact reaction, but I asked him to keep an open mind. I asked my husband if he had ever even stepped into a trailer or an rv of any sorts, which he had when he was like 8 years old. Considering it had been 20 years since he had been inside a trailer I asked him if we could just go take a look. Clearly for size purposes :) Thankfully he was open to the idea of "looking".

A few weeks later we went to our local used trailer dealer just to take a look around, and surprisingly my husband thought they were "pretty roomy". Which means a lot coming from him, and gave me hope seeing as my idea wasn't completely shot down. Then about a week later out of no where he tells me, " I want to do it babe! I want to sell all our crap and move and travel."

Where was this coming from? It was truly music to my hears. I honestly thought I was going to have to do a little work on my end you know convince him to jump on board with me. However that was not the case at all. I simply planted a seed, and he really went with it. Needless to say we started truck shopping and 5th wheel shopping and it progressed from there.

Today we are proud owners of a 1990 King of the Road 5th wheel.  We purchased it from the sweetest older couple and hope we make them proud. We have began to remodel the 5th wheel and slowly have started to pare down(basically sale or get rid of all your crap that you don't use). We are extremely excited about this new journey in our lives and appreciate that you are apart of it as well. So sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride with us!

- Britnee  <3