[Ed]

Bill,

My wife doesn’t read the forum on this site so I can say the following with little fear of punishment.

We haul too much. All of us. Every coach drags around hundreds, if not thousands of pounds of stuff we never use. I’m guilty. My wife is guilty. So is every other owner. This advice is worth every cent you pay for it: Pack the minimum amount. Don’t take anything you don’t know for sure you absolutely need. Consider only taking what you would pack if you were traveling by car or plane.

My wife does not understand that no matter where we go we can get anything we need at a Walmart or a grocery store so it is not necessary for us to pack enough to stock the average K-Mart. The opinion is if there is space it needs to be filled. Not true. We can buy food almost anywhere. If we didn’t bring a certain type of clothing (like a wedding gown or tuxedo) we don’t have to worry because we could probably buy one or rent one.

It is not necessary to bring a coffee maker, and then a second one in case the first one breaks. We have dragged around one hundred DVDs for years, yet in all of our travels I think we watched 2. I’m equally guilty although I am getting better. I used to bring enough parts to rebuild the whole coach. Now we don’t even carry a spare. I still carry some replacement parts (like the valve for the holding tank actuator) but even my list of spares has dimished.

So in short, limit what you load to 35 pounds per person. I’m kind of kidding but not quite. Tell your family the weight limit is XXX per person. You will thank me. Nobody will disagree with me because all the older owners agree.

Throw away the totes. They just play into the family’s desire to pack everything you own.

[Peter]

AMEN! Weight is your enemy. Keep it down as low as you can. The less your coach weighs, the better the fuel mileage and the shorter the stopping distance.

I also haul too much, but am working on reducing it every trip. I find one or two things I can take out, and I have yet to miss them when travelling.

[Archived]

I agree with everyone else about the issue of weight.

I will add to that, in as much as you take, you need to mind and
chase after. Your objective is to see what you can see. The more stuff
you take, the more time you will spend seeing your stuff. Also, the
more stufff you take, the greater the chance that you will have a big
job in the event of a spill or a leak of some kind.

Is it possible to break down your trip into logical segments or
seasonal reequirements. Pack and load for the earliest 2 or 3
segments. then place the items for specific segments into a box (or
two) and leave these with someone who can ship it to you when needed.
(Note: make lists of the contents of each box and take those with
you.) You say Alaska , MAYBE. Well, if there are things like special
clothing you will need there, why take them with you when you could
have those shipped to you.

3 children and 2 adults. Each day is 5 sets of clothes minimum. How
often do you plan on down time for chores. if you need five days of
clothes, that’s 25 sets, plus alternates because of changes in
weather. You will not keep up with that using an on-board washer
dryer. Think about it, space for 25+ sets of clothes and then space for
25+ sets of dirty clothes.

Although our coaches are LARGE Vehicles, they are extremely small
homes. There is the reality based joke about life in a coach,
“Cocktails for 6, diner for 4, sleeping for 2”.

I have many packing and outfitting “checklists” and would be happy to send them to you.

[Georges]

Last summer I removed EVERYTHING from the bus. Then the new rule was, if I didn”t use it in the last 3 years (excluding emergency items and tools) it didn”t go back on board. Its amazing how much crap I was carrying and so far I haven’t missed a thing.

[Archived]

Concentrate on things like medicines, prescription paperwork, importent papers, phone numbers, address list, things that if you leave them at home will create problems on the road. Next would be any food or drinks that are needed for special needs like alleregies that may be hard to find in a hurry in a strange city.

Next would be comfort items for the kids, something that connects them with home and makes them forget a bad day. Then whatever you need for home schooling if you are doing that. Then i would pack just enough clothes to get by and buy extra once you see a real need for something.

Pack enough food to last the first week and then buy what you need as you go. EXCEPT for toilet paper!!! If you don’t want a rebellion on you hands, NEVER run out of TP.

Almost any thing you will need on the road is available on any city or town that has Wall Mart / Target / Publix and or a reguler mall type enviroment. Try to think of things that you and the family needs that is hard to find or replace and pack that first.

You can get by with A LOT less then you think. It may take 3 or 4 weeks to settle into a long trip, but it gets easier as you go. They less you leave home with the easier it is to find what you are looking for.

The last thing we always say as we start the bus and leave home is ” if we forgot something we will just have to buy it on the road.” Always works for us. You will forget things that you think you need, but you can always get by with out it or buy it on the road.
We have also had real good luck with buying from Amazon while on the road. It is amazing how much “stuff” Amazon sells.

Good luck.

[Peter]

Good for you Bill, glad so see you will
be using the bus and your kids will never forget the adventure. All
great points from everyone on packing, just remember to check the bus
weight. You have all those big bays with the H and there are limits
to how much stuff you can pack and still be within the weight limits.
Remember to weigh with full fuel and water and go from there.

We’ll be looking forward to your travel adventure posts, keep us
in the loop.

[AL]

all the above is great advise but my recommendation would be to get Jon’s platinum American Express and Loc’s GSA gas card and then you could ignore all the previous advice and keep the petal to the metal and just throw away the dirty clothes and by new stuff when you need to. NO DOWN TIME.

Sounds like a real expedition, good luck and enjoy.

[Liam]

When I get duffle bag full of dirty clothes I UPS it home ,what I don’t have I buy I Travel 8 months of year leave home 1st of April come home end of November it works for me .I will be up the Alaska hwy about mile marker 225 for one week near upper half way that’s the river doing a clinic and all over Canada east to west good luck email me if u have problems up there I own some shops up there

[Liam]

Thanks guys for all the advice great stuff….

Couple more things…where can I confirm what the axel weight limits are? Also I have never scaled out a Bus or coach with a tag axel…

is there any trick to doing that on a truck scale or do you have to scale it out seperately?

I was thinking about taking it with full fuel and water and the family with nothing else it it which is how it is right now and seeing what I have to work with weight wise…

Thanks again

Bill

[Paul]

I have used the scales at a couple of truck stops and you can get each axel on a different scale at the same time. Your right, full fuel, full fresh water and I guse you might get caught some time with some thing in one of the holding tanks but you might get by with the weight of the tank contents.

[Peter]

I have scaled all my coaches and each one would set on a CAT scale with an axle on separate sections.

You are correct in weighing it with full fuel and water.

The weights for each axle should be located on a data plate usually located to the left of the driver’s seat and it will give you the limits for each axle in addition to gross weight and gross combination weight. The data plate will also have the coach VIN.

The weights on each axle (when you are fully loaded) are important because the tires need to be inflated to pressures stipulated on inflation pressure charts for your size tires.

[Buzz]

Simple rule of thumb…

Take half as much stuff, and twice as much money, as you had planned to.

We full-timed in our coach for just under 10 years. You would be surprized at how little you really need to take.

Have a great trip!

[Peter]

Paul: Excellent Advise