HitchHaven started the way most good ideas do — with a problem nobody felt like solving twice. In 2019, our founder, Mark Delaney, was three weeks into a cross-country trip in a secondhand travel trailer when his brand-new weight distribution hitch failed on a mountain grade outside Flagstaff, Arizona. No one was hurt, but the trailer sway that followed was enough to convince him that the glowing five-star reviews he'd trusted online had never actually been tested on real roads, real grades, or real weather. He pulled off at the next rest stop, looked at his wife Jenna, and said, "Someone needs to actually test this stuff before people's lives depend on it." That someone became HitchHaven.
Who We Are
HitchHaven is run by a small team of RV owners, weekend warriors, and full-time nomads who genuinely live the lifestyle we write about. Mark handles towing equipment and drivetrain-adjacent gear, drawing on more than a decade of experience hauling fifth wheels and travel trailers through every kind of terrain the lower 48 has to offer. Jenna, a former outdoor gear buyer for a regional retail chain, oversees our kitchen, storage, and interior accessory reviews, bringing a sharp eye for build quality and materials. Rounding out the team are two contributing writers, Priya Shah and Tom Ostrowski, who split their year between part-time van life and testing camp kitchen setups, solar kits, and leveling systems in driveways, campgrounds, and borrowed backyards across the country. None of us write about products we haven't put our hands on.
How We Review and Pick Products
Every accessory that appears on HitchHaven goes through the same basic process, regardless of price or brand reputation.
- Hands-on testing first. We buy or borrow the actual product — we do not accept review units with strings attached, and any product sent to us for free is disclosed clearly in the article and tested under the same standards as everything else.
- Real-world conditions. Hitches get towed on grades and in crosswinds. Portable power stations get drained and recharged through actual camp weekends. Awnings get left out in wind and rain, not just unboxed and photographed.
- Comparative scoring. We test similar products side by side whenever possible — three or four leveling blocks, five sewer hose kits, a shelf of surge protectors — so our rankings reflect actual performance differences, not marketing copy.
- Long-term follow-up. Where it matters, like with roof sealants, tire pressure monitors, and battery systems, we revisit our reviews after months of use and update them if a product's performance changes over time.
- Specs plus experience. We verify manufacturer specifications independently, and we combine that data with notes on installation difficulty, customer support responsiveness, and how a product actually feels to use on a Tuesday afternoon at a crowded campground.
Why You Can Trust Us
We make money through affiliate links and, occasionally, through sponsored comparison content — but editorial decisions are made independently of advertising relationships, and no advertiser has ever been allowed to see or influence a review before publication. If a product underperforms, we say so plainly, even if it means a lower commission or a less flattering photo. We also correct our own mistakes: if new information or a product recall changes our assessment, we update the article and note the change openly.
We built HitchHaven because we were tired of buying gear based on reviews written by people who had never actually hooked up a trailer or slept in a rig during a thunderstorm. Every recommendation on this site reflects actual time spent on the road, in campgrounds, and underneath trailers with a torque wrench in hand. That's the standard we hold ourselves to, and it's the reason thousands of RV owners come back to HitchHaven before they make a purchase.
Get in Touch
Have a product you think we should test, a correction to flag, or a question about something we've reviewed? We read every message and respond to as many as we can. Reach out through our contact page — chances are, one of us has already towed, camped with, or cursed at the exact product you're asking about.