I am writing this post to let new owners of a Jayco Jayfeather X213 or similar recreational vehicle what they need to bring along with them on their camping trips. The camper comes well equipped from the factory but several items are required to make your vehicle completely usable and enjoyable on a camping trip.
Bare necessities
- Utilitiy Connections
- 30A to 20A Adapter – You might not be able to run everything but you will at least have power if you need it and there isn’t a 30A Socket
- Also handy when you are setting up at home since more often than not you will not have a 30A exterior socket on your home.
- A heavy-duty extension cord would also be good. If using a cable over 25 feet get a 10 Guage one instead.
- Sewer Hose and Clear Elbow – If you are going to make a sewer connection or clean out you black and grey tanks
- The clear elbow makes it easy to tell when your black tank is clean
- You will also need black tank deodorizer. I prefer the Porta-Pak portioned tablets but there are many options out there
- Rapid dissolving toilet tissue is also highly recommended, the last thing you want to do while camping is unclog your sewer line
- A hose support is also good to have to keep sewer moving in the right direction
- Fresh Water Hose – to connect to the city water connection
- Optionally a fresh water filter will remove some of the bad odors that can be found in some campground water
- Sometimes water pressure can be amazingly high at campgrounds and as such can damage some of the plumbing in your camper. This makes a water pressure regulator also good to have and is cheap insurance against over pressure damage.
- If you are dry-camping but have access to a spigot you can fill your freshwater tank with this water bandit.
- Important: Never use your freshwater hose to connect to anything other than city water and never use it near a dump station!
- 30A to 20A Adapter – You might not be able to run everything but you will at least have power if you need it and there isn’t a 30A Socket
- Site Setup
- Wheel chocks such as these light weight ones for lots of travel or these heavy duty X-Chocks when you are going to be around for longer
- I have these One-step chocks and they lock the wheels nearly as well as X-chocks but setup way faster
- Leveling blocks like the Tri-Lynx to level your camper side to side
- You could use wood, however you don’t want to carry wet or insect laden wood between campsites.
- Some campgrounds may prohibit any wood from being used
- Stabilizer Jack Pads – to protect your landing gear from rusting on the ground
- A Tongue Jack Stand or something hard like the stabilizer jack pads for the tongue jack
- A tongue or coupler lock – nothing can shorten a trip like a missing camper
- Wheel chocks such as these light weight ones for lots of travel or these heavy duty X-Chocks when you are going to be around for longer
Once you have the basic supplies for your site setup you can prepare your camper for the road. I always go-through my pre-travel checklist to make sure I am ready to go.
Pre-travel/Season start-up checklist:
- Check function of Propane refrigerator and stove and water heater
- Tanks are adequately full and turned on
- Refrigerator when set to “GAS” mode is able to ignite the burner and cools down
- Refrigerator when set to “AUTO” or “Electric” and plugged in cools down
- NOTE: These are absorption coolers meaning they remove heat from the refrigerator versus a heat pump.
- Plug in your camper a day or two before traveling and start refrigerator an ice cube tray with water in it will help verify its working correctly before departure
- Because it’s an absorption fridge it’s best to put items which are already cold into it.
- Gas range and oven ignite and burn cleanly (blue flame)
- Orange flames are bad an a sign of incomplete combustion and carbon-monoxide release
- Check the status of your battery (if equipped)
- You should have a 12V Deep Cycle battery on your camper (or optionally a pair of 6V Deep Cycle or Golf Cart batteries(
- If you do not have one your ability to dry-camp could be impacted
- Make sure the terminals are clean and free of corrosion
- Make sure the battery voltage is sufficient.
- A fully charged 12V battery carries a voltage of 12.7 volts.
- A fully dis-charged (dead) 12 V battery carries a voltage of 11.9 volts
- Voltage measurements should be made disconnected from Solar Chargers and AC power
- An auto-ranging volt meter will make the job easy and be useful for diagnosing other electrical issues
- Verify your slide-outs slide out while on battery and your electric awning (if so equiped) deploy and retract
- Check all lights and make sure they light up
- The LED lights in the camper should likely not fail over the winter while not being used
- If they do fail it may indicate some other issue like rodents or water infiltration
- Check and maintain water levels in the batteries if they are not maintenance free
- Utilize only distilled water – no link here most grocery stores will carry this for a few dollars a gallon
- Test your water with a Battery Hydrometer
- Add additional water as needed (must cover plates) with a Battery Filler to avoid splashing yourself with acid
- You should have a 12V Deep Cycle battery on your camper (or optionally a pair of 6V Deep Cycle or Golf Cart batteries(
- Check your plumbing and water heater
- Make sure the low-point drain is closed
- Make sure the grey and black water gate valves are closed
- These remain closed until you black and/or grey tank are full
- Connect to city water and prime your system
- Never run the water pump or water heater without water in the system as damage may occur
- Open several faucets (hot and cold) until water runs out
- Ensure the propane is on and turn on the water heater in gas mode
- Wait and listen for the heater to kick on and in 7-15 minutes turn off
- Check for hot water at the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom
- Give the toilet a little flush and make sure water flows
- Check for leaks around any plumbing
- Turn off the gas mode for the water heater and run the water through until it runs cold
- Switch on the water heater in electric mode
- Wait for a 15-30 minutes
- Check hot water at the faucets again and make sure it comes out hot
- Turn off the water heater and city water supply and turn on the water pump
- Optionally fill your fresh water tank from the city water first
- Turn on a faucet briefly to ensure water pump comes on and build back pressure
- Turn back off the water pump
- Disconnect city water and open low point drain
- Drain the black and grey tanks (of their clean/grey water)
- Note this assumes that the tanks were cleaned out well prior to this if they were not you should use a dump station
- Open the black gate valve and drain the black tank once it’s empty close the gate valve
- Open the grey gate valve and drain the grey tank once it’s empty close the gate valve
- Inspect the sealants on the camper for cracks bubbling or poor adhesion
- Address any roofing sealant cracks with a good self leveling sealant such as Dicor 501
- Clean the surfaces first with acetone or denatured alcohol
- Apply within the product temperature ranges specified to a clean dry surface
- If you have left-over roofing sealant use it up going over existing seals on the roof
- On the X213 pay careful attention to the mating strip between the front of the camper and the roof
- Address sealant gaps and cracks on the sides with a non-sagging sealant such as Geocel Crystal Clear RV sealant
- Clean and apply as above
- Address any roofing sealant cracks with a good self leveling sealant such as Dicor 501
- Check the tire pressure of the four wheels and spare (if equipped)
Departure Checklist:
- Mount trailer hitch in receiver and ensure it’s pinned or locked in place.
- Using a lock such as Master Lock Swivel Head Receiver Lock will prevent theft
- Align Truck With Trailer and back under the trailer tongue
- A backup camera or assistant can be helpful when linking up
- An inexpensive set of 2-way radios like Motorola T100 Talkabout Radios will allow easy communication between you and your spotter
- These radios are also great for your kids to call them back or in case of an emergency when they don’t have a cell phone or possible cell coverage
- Lower Tongue onto ball and lock it down
- I like to jack it back off the ball a little and see if it will lift the truck a bit – if it does I know it’s locked on
- Install trailer lock
- Attach chains from the trailer to the truck
- Attach the wiring from the trailer to the truck
- Retract landing Gear and accessories
- Raise the landing gear
- Retract awning and any slide outs
- Make sure your TV antenna is down
- Remove Wheel Chocks
- Pull Off Leveling blocks if used
- Secure and deadbolt all doors
- Latching them isn’t enough sometimes and you wouldn’t want a big bump to pop a door open and dump out whatever is inside.
Setup Checklist:
- Check site for levelness and where you will place trailer
- Back into site or pull-through.
- Utilize a spotter as necessary.
- Determine if leveling blocks will be needed and deploy them if necessary
- Pull camper into final position leveling side-to-side
- Deploy Wheel chocks
- Lower front landing gear and remove from ball
- Level camper front to back
- Deploy remaining landing gear
- Connect Shore power
- Connect Sewer line (if the site is equipped).
- Ensure blade valves are closed before opening
- Be careful of any splash that might happen due to road vibrations
- Make sure faucets are off and connect city water (if equipped)
- Ensure drains are not plugged prior to connecting water
- Fill hot water tank (by opening sink hot water faucet)
- Turn on water pump (if on country water)
- Turn on water heater
- Utilize the campground power if it’s equipped – you are paying for it afterall
- Deploy Beer!