How To Reduce Moisture In Your RV

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Anyone who RV’s probably knows, water is the enemy. Every story I’ve ever heard of remodeling involves some sort of water damage. From dry rot (why is it even called that, I mean, it’s wet rot) to mold, too much moisture in an RV can spell disaster.

Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink

Keeping an RV dry is not as easy as in a sticks and bricks house. Living in an RV is living in a metal box. A box that usually has lots of windows and little insulation. And just like in your car when it gets cold outside those windows fog up and a lot of times sweat, and that moisture has to go somewhere. Combine that with cooking, bathing, and just plain living and we end up with water where we don’t want it.

Our very first remodel was an older travel trailer that a friend gave us. We knew it had water damage under a window that leaked and were prepared to replace that. We ended up redoing that entire wall floor to ceiling and part of the floor. Way to get our feet wet with remodeling huh.

So, what do we do to keep our RV’s dry?

1. In the summer, you can easily control moisture in your motorhome by using the air conditioner or increasing ventilation by opening the windows. But in cooler months that’s usually not an ideal solution, if you want to stay warm like I do.
2. Use a fan when you shower and cook. Those fans in your ceiling do more than just circulate air they suck that steamy air up and vent it outside where it belongs. Using lids on your pans will help too.
3. Use the campground shower. When condensation is at its worst during the colder months, they are a great way to keep the moisture down in the RV. Showers, especially the long, steamy ones we like to take when hooked to city water, are a major source of condensation in the RV
4. Wipe those windows down. This may seem like a no-brainer but is often overlooked because we have the shades drawn or added insulation and out of sight = out of mind. Check regularly for moisture and soak it up right away.
5. If it’s not raining, crack a window. Is it going to let in cold air, sure. But it will also let out moist air.
6. Get this mat for under your mattress. In every RV I’ve ever seen, the mattress is sitting on a solid plywood surface. To keep moisture from accumulating between the mattress and wood and causing mold and mildew you need to get some air flowing. It’s good for the mattress and good for your health.
7. Put Damp Rid in the closet, under the sinks, and in the basement storage. We have a ton of these in our rig. In the sticks house we use the refillable ones but for travel, we like these disposable packs instead. They don’t spill.
8. Get a dehumidifier. We have the small dehumidifier below in our RV. It holds 25 pints and we have to empty it every other day or so. When we’re not using the RV we set it on the kitchen counter and run the hose into the sink so we don’t have to empty it. But many RV’ers swear by this one from Eva-Dry. It can run on 12 volts so is great for boondockers. If you’re somewhere particularly damp, we recommended getting a 50 pint unit like this one  They are fairly large though. We have that one in our sticks and bricks in northern California.