I have said this before but it’s worth repeating. The number of RV hacks out there seems to be limitless. Every time I think I have exhausted the subject, I come across another one to begin the list anew. This, if you are curious, is the fourth post specifically on RV hacks that are fast, easy, low-cost and that anyone can do. Here are the previous ones…

Many of these ideas have come from other RVers. The one thing that proves true again and again is that the RV community is a group of really good people who will go out of their way to help or to share information. I’ve been so lucky with the people I have met in my RV life journey. So, a big thank you to those who contributed ideas to this post.

Let’s get started!

In Really Hot Weather

You might find this silly but I thought myself brilliant for coming up with this one. It was a couple years ago, at the beginning of the COVID lockdown when I ended up extending my monthlong stay in Lake Guntersville, Alabama to three months. That three months took me into June when it starts getting hot beyond what this Alaskan can handle.

My Oliver has an air conditioner so, no worries, I did not wilt and perish.

But one fallout of really hot weather, even with a/c, is that I’d open a can of pop and, what seemed like minutes later, it would no longer be cold. I have one of those koozies that was a freebie giveaway from somewhere (KOA, I think). While it helped, my pop soon lost its coolness.

Then I had an idea.

I keep ice packs in my freezer to keep frozen food cold (along with hot/cold bags) for grocery runs into town as well as for the occasional sore knee. I pulled it out and wrapped it around the can with a rubber band.

Yes, it looks silly as heck but it did the trick. And—bonus—since I have two such cold packs, I could drink the pop slow and simply switch the cold packs out as needed to ensure an icy cold beverage on a hot Alabama summer day.

Diet Coke bottle with a blue gel ice pack wrapped around it.
Looks silly but it works.

Afternote: I got to thinking about koozies as I wrote this. Turns out there are higher end ones that also might keep the pop cold. I like the Yeti coffee cup a reader sent to me and noticed Yeti also has a can cooler in a variety of colors. One of those, I bet, would be a great solution too though at $25 may not be considered low-cost.

RV Hacks for Traveling with a Berkey

I’ve talked several times about my desire for a Berkey water filter system. Lots of RVers rave about the quality of the water that comes from Berkey. At times, I have been ready to make the investment into one (they are not cheap). Then I panic about where the heck it will fit in my small trailer. With very limited counter space that already houses a coffee pot, I start to doubt the wisdom of the purchase. So, I back off on the idea of having one. Then the cycle starts again until I’m very nearly ready to buy it. Usually it happens due to being in a place with icky tasting water.

My friend and fellow Oliver owner sigh the same space issues, Ken, shared his nifty hack to traveling with a Berkey. He secured it to the backside of the passenger seat in his tow vehicle. Like me, he tows his trailer with a van but you could just as easily secure it to a seat in any tow vehicle or the vehicle you are towing if you travel in a Class A or C.

Red crate with a large silver cylindrical water filter system in it. It is secured to the back of a car's seat.
Can you see the spout coming through the crate for easy and continuous access? It’s secured to the seat so it doesn’t fall or move while moving.

Creative Cat Scratcher

I wish I could remember where I got this idea from. I’m sure it was a fellow RV as I don’t think I would’ve come up with this on my own as my cat never used standing cat scratchers. She preferred the cardboard ones that rested flat on the floor called cat scratching pads.

But if your cat likes scratching posts, get a scrap of carpet and secure it around the post of your dining room table. Viola! Instant cat scratching posting.

How clever is that? Best part of all is that it takes up zero additional space.

Creative Tire Cover RV Hacks

When I spent a month in Desert Hot Springs, California, I walked by one particular RV many times. The first times, I thought the tire cover set up they had was ridiculous and stupid. But the more I walked by, the more I appreciated the functionality of their RV hack.

The reason RVers use tire covers is to slow the breakdown of the rubber. When tires sit directly in hot sun, it destroys the rubber at a faster rate than if the tire is shaded. Early on I purchased a set of tire covers. But I often found myself not using them unless the sun hit the tires directly for a good deal of the day.

Let me pause to say two things that might help you. First, don’t buy white tire covers. After the first use they get dirty and they never look crisp and clean again. If I had it to do over, without question, I’d purchase mine in black. Second, even if the covers are clean (which they won’t be), you will get dirty securing them to the tire because the tires are dusty and dirty from the road. Plan accordingly.

Close up of an RV tire where a wooden cutout is propped up against it to protect it from the sun.
Not the prettiest but, still, a pretty creative as RV hacks go.

Now can you start to see how I changed my tune to the tire protection set up I came across? Yes, ugly but think about the ease with which these are set up. The tire is fully covered. And since the wood is flat, finding a place to tuck it during travel should prove pretty simple.

The hardest part would be making them or having someone make them for you. Still, after that you have a simple, long lasting tire cover solution.

Keeping Cabinets Securely Locked

Thanks to my friends Bill and Sharon (who I met when they visited the Sumpter Dredge during my workamping assignment) for this next RV hack. We met up again recently in a Walmart parking lot in Olympia, Washington, and had lunch in their RV.

I was immediately drawn to the creative way they secured their cabinets. But let’s take a step back and answer the obvious question. Don’t RV cabinets secure themselves? Why do you need additional assurance they won’t pop open?

Let me answer that by putting the image in your mind of what happens if they cabinets come open while you are driving. Can you see things scattered everywhere? Can you see finding grains of rice for months to come? And, if you are brave enough to travel with glassware, imagine a set of dishes shattered.

Even though RVs are supposed to be designed with securely locking doors, when they are full and you brake/accelerate hard or turn sharply, all the force and weight of what you have in the cabinet pushes up against them. Often, opening them.

My friends looked around their garage and found a few unused c-clamps and decided those would be the perfect, already-owned, items. The good news is that if you don’t have any laying around, you can pick them up for less than $5 each. I’ve also seen people use bungee cords but I think these would be a lot faster to get in and out of the cabinets than wrapping a bungee cord around the handles multiple times.

Close up of wooden cabinet doors in an RV. A c-clamp threaded through the handles to make sure they don't accidently open.
Fantastic way to keep cabinets closed during travel.

More RV Hacks?

If you have any hacks, please share in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

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