Here's a question nobody asks until their first night boondocking in the dark: how safe is an RV, really? The honest answer is that an RV is a house with thin walls and big windows, parked somewhere new every week. After a few too many nights of hearing noises outside our Brinkley Model Z 3515 and not being able to see a thing through the window (while feeling like everyone outside could see in), we decided to stop wondering and put cameras on the rig.
Why we went with Blink
We picked a Blink outdoor camera system, mostly for reasons specific to RV life. The cameras are wireless and battery powered, so there's no wiring to run through walls we don't want to drill. They talk to our existing internet setup, and they send motion alerts to our phones, which is the entire point: if anyone (or anything, this is often wildlife) is moving around the rig at 2 am, we want to know before it reaches the door. We mounted them with heavy-duty adhesive strips instead of screws, because putting holes in an RV exterior is how you earn a leak.
Camera placement on a fifth wheel
Placement took more thought than expected. A 40-foot fifth wheel has real blind spots: the door side, the off-door side, the hitch area up front, and the back. We walked the rig figuring out which angles actually cover an approach and which just film the neighbor's picnic table. The new telescoping ladder we unboxed this week earned its keep immediately, since half the good mounting spots are above arm's reach. By the end we had eyes on every side, a full 360 view of whatever is happening outside.
The small jobs: bug screens and X-Chocks
While the ladder was out, we knocked down two more items from the list. First, bug screens over the furnace vents, because wasps consider RV furnace openings luxury real estate, and a nest in there is an expensive problem. Second, X-Chocks between the tandem tires, which clamp the wheels and cut down the rocking motion every time someone walks across the rig. Neither job takes more than a few minutes, and both are the kind of cheap prevention that full-timers eventually learn to love.
The ant war
And then there were the ants. A trail of them found a way in, and Fabiola declared total war. We traced entry points, treated the lines they were following, and put down a pet-safe barrier around anything touching the ground. Ants treat your leveling jacks, hoses, and cords as highways, so the fix is making every one of those paths unfriendly. It took persistence more than genius, and as of filming, we are winning.
So, are RVs safe?
Our take after this week: about as safe as you make them. Most campgrounds are full of retirees who wave at you twice a day, and the scariest thing we've filmed outside our rig is a raccoon. But being able to check a camera instead of lying awake listening to noises is worth every penny we spent. We sleep better, and that alone made this the best upgrade we've done so far.
Watch the installs and the ant battle on YouTube. We also send a short weekly newsletter about where we are and what broke this week. The signup form is on our newsletter page.