How to Choose and Buy an RV: Content Details
How to Choose and Buy an RV Content Details
- 1. Establishing the essentials
- Selling your home is a financial trap
- RV accessibility - for those less mobile
- How many people may travel in your RV?
- Accommodating more people
- 2. Towed or self-propelled?
- Camper-trailers and conventional caravans
- Caravan safety when towed
- Fifth-wheel caravans
- Campervans and motorhomes
- Travelling patterns
- Easing the buying decision
- Who buys what - and why?
- 3. RV categories
- Tent trailers
- Basic camper-trailers
- Up-market camper-trailers
- Pop-top caravans
- Full height single-axle caravans
- Full height dual-axle caravans
- Toy hauliers
- Off-road caravans
- Fifth-wheel caravans
- Fixed roof campervans
- Pop-top campervans
- Slide-on unit campervans
- Utility conversions (utes)
- Delivery van conversions
- Low profile campervans and motorhomes
- High profile campervans and motorhomes
- A-class motorhomes
- Coach conversions
- 'Off-road' motorhomes
- Expedition vehicles
- Vintage and restored RVs
- Self-built RVs
- Online resources for self-builders
- 4. RV awnings and annexes
- Annexe materials
- When and how to use an annexe
- Awning mats
- 5. RV kitchens
- Kitchen size and location
- No need for an oven
- LP gas cookers
- Diesel-fuelled cooktops
- Sinks
- 6. RV showers and toilets
- Portable showers and toilets
- RV - basic toilet types
- Toilet chemicals are needed
- Bio-stimulant toilet chemicals
- Biciodic toilet chemicals
- Napisan
- Other forms of RV toilets
- Composting toilets
- Incinerating toilets
- Blackwater and dump points
- Self-contained RVs
- RV laundry and washing machines
- Portable washing machines
- Clothes washing alternatives
- 7. Dining and sleeping
- The dining area
- Types of beds
- RV bed sizes
- RV mattresses
- Airing your bed
- 8. RV accessories
- Smoke alarms
- Carbon monoxide (CO) detector
- First aid kit
- Tow ball scales
- Fifteen amp to ten amp supply cable adaptors
- Reversing cameras
- Spirit level
- Wheel chocks and levelling wedges
- Powered caravan-movers
- Odds and ends that every RV may need
- 9. Buying the RV
- Key points to check
- Try before you buy?
- Buying a used RV
- Sales contracts, warranties and insurance
- Deposit
- Balance of payment
- Subsequent Changes
- Cancellations
- Delivery
- Checking Tare Mass
- Current RV compliance
- Instruction manuals
- Registration Certificate
- Gas and Plumbing Certificate
- Electrical Safety Standards Certificate
- RV warranties
- RV insurance
- All-new forthcoming RV regime
- 10. Using your RV
- Safety checks
- Hitching and unhitching
- Levelling the rig
- Tent poles
- Mats for annexes
- RV windows
- Checking energy usage
- Connecting the supply cable
- Fridge usage
- What to store where
- Clothes and shoes
- 11. Useful RV-related books and information
- Wikicamps Australia
- Camps Australia Wide
- Camps 10
- Our books and websites
- 12. About the author
- Appendix 1. Terms and definitions
- Tare Mass (for trailers)
- Aggregate Trailer Mass (abbreviation is ATM)
- Payload (for camper trailers and caravans)
- Tare Mass for powered RVs
- Payload (for campervans and motorhomes)
- Gross Vehicle Mass (for powered vehicles)
- Gross Combination Mass (GCM)
- Maximum tow ball loading (for tow vehicle)
- Caravan mass and speed regulations
- Appendix 2. Australian RV Road Rules Summary
- Which RV road rules apply?
- Maximum trailer dimensions
- Roadworthiness
- Weight limits for the tow vehicle:
- Tow bars
- RV electrics
- RV couplings
- Trailer brakes
- Breakaway brakes
- Safety chains
- Rearview mirrors
- Weight distributing hitches
- Number plates
- Towing speed limits
- learner and provisional drivers towing a trailer
- Long vehicle rules
- Turning left and right
- Appendix 3. Road Vehicle Standards Act of 2018
- The objects of the Road Vehicle Standards Act
- Appendix 4. Checklist for buying a used caravan
- Pre-qualifying questions
- General
- Interior
- Appendix 5. Australian Consumer Warranties
- Statutory Warranties
- Statutory conditions relating to a service contract include
- Voluntary warranties
- Passing on responsibility for a remedy to a manufacturer
- Appendix 6. RV loading and storing checklists
- Loading and departure checks