Here are some RV and camping gear we use and recommend. All Amazon links are affiliate links.
Outdoor Movie Theater
This is a fun cheap setup that works well at night. I spent about $110 on Amazon.
Projector – $82
100 inch Fabric screen – $19.99
suction cups to mount on RV -$8.99
Boondocking Essentials
Mosquitoes and other flying insects are the bane of campers. We have a couple of Thermacells and they work great by hiding your scent from the bugs. The backpacker version (top one in photo) is our favorite because you can get 90 hrs out of the cheap stove canisters (less $6 at places like Walmart).
Garmin InReach Explorer+: Getting off-grid and away from everything is great but it’s good to know help is available worldwide through this two-way satellite communicator and GPS. We did a detailed review for WinnebagoLife.
Our Mr. Heater Big Buddy propane heater is great for boondocking when you don’t want to run the battery sucking big furnace on your RV.
If you use the small one pound propane tanks the cost can add up. This handy adapter lets you refill for a fraction of the cost. Just invert the large tank and use bent forceps on the pressure relief valve for best results (here’s a video on the method).
Water jugs: When boondocking and trying to stretch our water tank, or even in a city where the water isn’t drinkable, these jugs save us money and time. We have 2, usually fill them together and then bring gallon jugs into the house for drinking, cooking, and coffee. In Mexico, we bought great filtered water for less than $1 each fill.
Solar Shower: When you’re alone in the wilderness, there is nothing better than a hot outdoor shower. We’ve had this solar shower for about 10 years and it’s served us well. It holds 5 gallons of water and heats up pretty quickly. The water pressure isn’t going to change your life, but it’s refreshing and enough to rinse the soap off – a win when you’re trying to save the tanks.
The Oxygenics shower head is a must have for every RV. Toss your stock shower head and say hello to better pressure and water savings. I speak about this shower head with almost evangelical fever because it’s that good.
LED Lantern: This collapsible lantern replaced an older Coleman gas mobile. Great light and uses very little juice from the batteries. A great deal under $9.
Cooking
Weber Q1000 BBQ: This a great little propane BBQ. Seems to be very popular in the RV community. No problems with flare-ups unlike some cheaps ones I have had in the past.
Instant Pot: We picked up our Instant Pot at the 2016 Amazon Prime Day sale. I resisted the Instant Pot when Scott first started talking about it. Did we really need to add a giant appliance to our tiny kitchen? The answer is an emphatic Yes! I love this thing and wish we’d had it while I was working. It’s great for so many things – frozen chicken parts, carnitas, baby back ribs, sweet potatoes, hard boiled eggs, mashed cauliflower, even poached eggs.
Egg Poachers: Perfect poached eggs with a 2-minute steam setting and immediate release in the Instant Pot. Also great for making ice spheres!
Induction Cooktop: This cooktop lets me feel like I’m gaming the system – using a power source (electricity) that is not my own (propane). It heats up fast, holds a consistent temperature and doesn’t take up a ton of counter space. It does require magnetic bottom pots and pans like cast iron, cast iron enamel, and stainless steel, but all of those are probably better choices to be cooking with than peely non-stick. We’ve had it for a year and it’s working great.
Collapsible Tub: Great for washing dishes or a dirty dog, soaking clothes, rinsing off sandy feet, cleaning produce. Collapses down to a couple inches tall. Super useful.
Collapsible Salad Spinner: Another RV powerhouse. Heads of lettuce are much less expensive than salad bags. A salad spinner makes cleaning lettuce so much easier. A collapsible one is the only way to go in a tiny kitchen. In addition to spinning greens, we use the rack part as a colander and the bowl for so many things – salad bowl, tub for soaking produce, washtub, fruit bowl.
Miscellaneous
Getting Mail on The Road
As full time travelers for the past four years, we’ve pretty much gone paperless and conduct most of our business and transactions online. Still entities like the Federal government and DMV have not completely embraced the digital age, so we occasionally need to receive paper mail, aka snail mail, at a physical address. For the first couple of years on the road, we used relatives’ addresses. While we rarely got anything important and not junk mail, there were still a few items like checks and notices that required their time to sort, handle, save or send to us.
After doing some research and talking with fellow nomads we, opted to use a mail forwarding service and chose Traveling Mailbox. We selected their lowest-cost plan at $15 per month and opted to get an Oregon address. There is a little bit of a lag as mail gets forwarded from Portland to North Carolina where’s it processed, cut it’s not long. When we receive mail, Traveling Mailbox sends us an email alert and asks us what we would like to do. We can choose to have it forwarded to any address in the world, including a hotel, coffee shop, or vacation spot, have them scan the mail so that we may view it online, or we can instruct them to shred it. The scans are processed quickly and we rarely need to get the physical mail. We recently received some healthcare reimbursement checks and were able to electronically deposit them through our banking app using hard copies of the scans. It’s been two years now and is working well.
Let us know if you have any questions. This is our Traveling Mailbox affiliate link and we receive a small commission if you sign up for the service.
We love our inflatable SUPs from Isle. They roll up and fit into our storage bin. Inflating can be a workout on its own so I bought an adapter for our onboard air compressor that works great.
Hammock: Scott’s favorite reading spot. Under $20. Very lightweight and packs to almost nothing. Beer, girl, and dog not included.
Every RV needs a blog right? Bluehost makes it easy to setup a WordPress blog like this one. Sign up with my affiliate link and I will provide free consulting help to get you set up.
Digital Tire Pressure Gauge: Makes it easy and accurate to check your tires pressure.
Unique Toilet Bowl Cleaner: It’s a dirty job…cleans well, gentle on the tank.
Camera and Video Gear
My main camera is a Canon 6D DSLR with 18-105mm lens.
My smaller camera is a very capable Sony A6000.
For video:
Crosby’s Dog Stuff
Hiking Boots: Little furry feet need protecting too, especially from thorny things in the desert. These stay on, are water resistant and non-skid. The best part is that he doesn’t seem to mind them and we spend much less time digging things out of his paws.
Outdoor Pet Bed: We call it his Camp Cot. It keeps him out of the dirt (a little) and stays a little cleaner! Folds up pretty small and comes with a carrying case.
Cloud Star Buddy Wash: We’ve used the lavender peppermint on our dogs for years. The shampoo + conditioner is great for saving water. It’s gentle on the skin, coconut based, rinses easily and who doesn’t love a clean, girly smelling dog?!