Your RV provides you with months of adventure and travel for hundreds of miles, so it is smart to take care of it all year long. So when you are ready to store your RV until the weather warms up again, you need to follow some smart rules in its maintenance. Here are some tips to help you successfully and safely store your RV.

Prepare the Interior 

The inside of your RV will likely be full of food stored, clothing, and other items you have kept in it during use. Be sure you remove any food items, especially those packaged in paper or plastic. Canned foods are likely to freeze or bulge from an increased temperature inside your RV during storage. Unless your RV is kept in a climate-controlled environment, glass and metal cans can still become damaged from extreme temperature changes. Food left inside your RV over winter is also going to attract rodents, mice, and other pests into your RV, which are likely to chew the interior, electrical, and other components in your RV and cause damage. 

Clean out the fridge, wiping down any crumbs or spills to prevent mold growth. Then, when you shut off the power to your fridge and RV, prop open the door so the fridge interior air gets ventilated to keep it from smelling bad. You can wedge the door open with a small object, such as a tennis ball or a piece of wood, which you can tape in place.

Manage the Exterior Components

The outside of your RV will consist of its windows, slide-outs, batteries, and tires, and they all need to be kept up in good condition while it is in storage so you protect the RV from specific types of damage. Over its period of storage, be sure your slide-outs are slid into the RV to provide it the optimal protection. 

When the slide-outs are in their extended position, the rubber seals around the slide-outs can become weatherworn from the sun and from the cold temperatures. The tiny opening cracks around the rubber seals are also the perfect opening for mice and other pests to find their way into your RV, so be sure to close up the slide-outs while it is stored. And when the slide-outs are extended out, they can collect leaves, snow, and other debris upon them while stored.

Another step to take in your RV's protection during storage is to unplug or disconnect the batteries from the RV. Then, you should remove them from your RV and store them in a warm location. When your RV batteries slowly discharge without use, they lose sulfuric acid which leaves water behind. And you know what happens to water when it freezes, which you don't want occurring inside your RV battery.

For more information about RV storage, contact a local facility, like Drydock Depot RV Boat Storage.