When it comes to budgeting for the full time and part time RV lifestyle, applying methods that lower the average RV park fees can add up the savings over the course of a year!
Pam and I use multiple methods to cut our average RV park fees, and we would like to share some of those with you. These savings come by searching out RV parks that offer online discounts, using camping clubs, and by boondocking at various locations to save on RV park fees.
$20 Average RV Park Fees for Us!
We spent the first three months of 2016 in Florida. Now, anyone who has spent any time in an RV in Florida, in the winter, knows that RV site fees can be expensive. Why? Supply and demand! Everyone wants to come here to escape the cold in the north.
That means that finding an RV site for a three month period can be nearly impossible if you want to be south of Tampa. When you call an RV park for a February stay, you may get laughed at! Some of you may have experienced this yourself. In fact, Pam has been on the other end of the office phone in several RV parks and had to tell potential RV park visitors the bad news!
So how did we just average $20 per night staying in Florida RV parks in the busiest months of the year?
The first thing is we don’t stay in the same place for months on end. We have in the past, and depending on the park, the nightly rate can wind up averaging more than twenty dollars a night by the time you pay taxes and electric usage!
Since we are so mobile, and it requires little effort to move about, we find that Florida RV parks always keep transient sites available for folks like us. And you know the good thing? They offer deals for those RV spaces!
Since January, most of the places we have stayed offered a $99 a week rate. You can stay for one week and come back the next month and use the discount again. One park told us if we came in the last week of the month, we could stay two weeks at the $99 per week rate.
How did we find these parks you ask? We started the year off at the Tampa RV Supershow. We find that many of the Florida campground owners attend the show as vendors, and they offer specials to get transient visitors to their parks. Pam collected all kinds of information on these places and then researched them online to see if they would suit our needs. Then we use rvparkreviews.com to get the real story on RV Parks and campgrounds.
Now, because I have a monthly engagement at Lazydays to teach an RV inspector class, I do have to be mobile. When we spend a week there, the nightly rate is close to fifty dollars a night! So how do we knock that down to bring our average RV park fees to the twenty dollars range? We boondock! This is the act of parking in approved areas that do not provide RV services: water, sewer, or electric hookups.
There are great free places to stay! You just have to research and find them!
What we found worked great this past three months is that after leaving Lazydays, and we had three weeks before having to return to the next class, we boondocked a total of seven days. We then spent the other two weeks in RV parks that were offering winter deals!
We also use our Passport America discount club card to get fifty percent off nightly RV park fees. Most of the RV parks in Florida that offer these deals are limited in the months of January, February, and March! Deal hunting requires a lot of research at the Passport America website. You have to find what days of the week RV parks are offering discounts and what the black-out dates are.
Some will not even offer the Passport America discount during the Florida winter season! But others will offer unlimited stays using the fifty percent discount.
We stayed at one of these RV parks in February. They offered an RV site for $17.50 per night. It was a nice park, old, but nice. I think the main reason for offering the discount in February is that the park is located right next to railroad tracks, and a double line of them. All day long, and in the early and late hours, trains come through.
We knew this was the case because we read reviews about the RV park and that some people could not tolerate the train traffic. What we did was to ask for a spot in the corner of the park furthest from the train tracks. The owner was able to accommodate our request. We stayed for a week, and the train noise was not too bad!
Being able to save money on your average RV park fees, if that kind of thing matters to you, all boils down to being flexible. If you don’t care too much about your exact location, and you are willing to move about, there is money to be saved and nice places to visit while doing so!
If you want to check in below and leave a comment, please feel free to share your experiences!
Baroo! Welcome to all my furry and non-furry followers. Lindsey here with my latest Bark Report.
This time, I am going to Bark at you all about RV Newbie Tips. Mom and Dad get lots of questions from people who have never had an RV, and I want to help them out because they are so busy trying to help fellow RVers!
Everyone seems to make the same mistakes even when warned by veterans. Dad says sometimes it’s just a learn by doing, but other times you can avoid some expensive mistakes if you take heed of a few of these tips.
RV Newbie Tips
The first thing that is super important is to know you can’t drive your RV like a car. You have to remember that it is a really big thing that is not a sports car. It takes longer to speed up, longer to stop, you have to take corners slower and sometimes wider, and watch the potholes and railroad tracks.
Dad has been surprised by some railroad crossings. I thought I was going to lose my choppers from the tooth-jarring experience. Scared me barkless with the sudden rattling of everything inside.
Hey, watch the driveway aprons when entering parking lots. Some of them can be quite abrupt. It is best to try to take it at an angle to avoid scraping (technical term, bottoming out) the hitch or rear of your RV. It can bend the hitch pin if too severe or damage the undercarriage.
I need to remind you to be kind and not to cut off someone on the road either. It’s just not nice. Gives RVers a bad rap. Not only that but you could cause an accident if you cut them off too close. You’re in an RV for the adventure.
Slow down and take the time to check out the scenery. To be a nice RVer, when traveling on single lane roads, if you can, pull over somewhere to let traffic pass. The locals will think better of you.
The next thing is your stuff. Just because you have lots of storage places doesn’t mean you can fill everything up to max. By manufacture specs, they tell you how much weight you can carry. Don’t exceed it. It can cause tire failure among other things. (See Dad’s cool articles on tire safety.) Been there, done that, not good.
Your RV is not your sticks and bricks. You just can’t take everything with you, be it to live full time or even on vacation in your RV. Pack only what you need for the vacation. Your entire wardrobe or kitchen doesn’t need to come with you on vacation.
I love Dad’s favorite saying. He calls it an “RVR,” Repair Vehicle Regularly. BOL! If you drive it, it’s going to need repair. Even if you just let it sit somewhere, it will require fixing at some point. Mom says it’s like a mini earthquake rolling down the road.
We had things in our Fifth Wheel that just disappeared after one trip, never to be found again. Towables seem to get more of that action going on back there than a motorized. At least with a drive one you can listen to it or see it as it happens.
Next, on the hit parade, I want to bark at is cleaning. You may think that you are uber clean, but I’m here to tell you it’s not enough. No matter how clean you think it is, your RV will still require constant cleaning. A clean RV equals less chance of those disgusting, nasty bugs to find their way in.
Plus, remember you are constantly going in and out in all different places (sand, grass, leaves, water) which will come in on your feet. Mom is constantly sanitizing the kitchen and floor for any bits of food or crumbs that I happen to miss on the floor. She even wipes my puppy paws every time I come in. Gees!
Big DON’T is dumping food down your sinks. It all ends up in your tank which can cause a whole bunch of problems, foremost messing up tank sensors. It’s hard enough to get them to read accurately without dumping grease and food down there. Go easy on the toilet paper. Count to 10 every time you flush and use septic safe brands.
TP likes to stick to the walls of the black tank or clog it. You could get a nice poo pile in your black tank. Dad adds this new green stuff that got our black tank sensors working again! Check out Dad’s article about a great flush out your black tank!
Mom loves paper towels. She wipes everything down before washing dishes. And easy does it on the dish soap. You waste a lot of water if you have to constantly rinse the sink out to get the “bubble bath” down the drain. Clue. If it bubbles back into the other sink before going down, too much. If Boondocking, all that rinsing is water from your fresh tank.
Next, I want to bark at you about is noise. (Hey, Dad, I get it! He says I bark all the time. Corgi on duty!) Keep it at a reasonable level. RV walls are thin. If you can hear people outside, they can hear you inside.
Which brings up another point. Don’t arrive late. Those big old noisy diesel engines with their beep, beep, beep back up sound does not make for a good neighbor. Plus it’s harder for you to get situated in your site without incident. And you don’t want an incident, especially after dark.
Do you all realize that RVs have something called a Power Booster button? This needs to be on to receive over the air channels. Remember to also choose TV ANT (or Cable) on the box. Scan your TVs at each campground -option typically found on your remote menu button.
Dad loves the Jack antenna they are now using on RVs. It has lights that tell you where the best signal is for your antenna before you scan. We had replaced our batwing one with one of these bad boys when we had our other RV. GRRRR-ate!
Before I bark off, make sure you are level on your site for your RV Refrigerator. If the gunk (that’s a technical term) in the coils can’t flow, it can cause overheating and major problems, if not now, down the road. (Get it, down the road?! I do crack me up sometimes.)
So on that note, time to catch my daily snap. As always, any questions, or if I’ve missed anything, Bark at me below. Until next time,
In parts one and two of the importance of RV tire maintenance, I discussed air pressure based on actual RV loading, regular visual inspections of your RV tires, tire pressure monitor systems, what to do with RV tires that are stored or sit static for months during full time RV living or storage, DOT codes on tires, and a discussion on when to replace RV tires.
In part three of this article, I will address tire dressings, possible causes of abnormal tire wear and selecting replacement tires for your RV.
Applying RV Tire Dressings
There are many opinions about what to apply and what not to when it comes to tire dressings! Most people seem to like to have their RV tires shine. Sure, it looks good but most of the products people apply, including RV dealerships, only appear to attract dust and dirt.
I have done lots of research on this topic! I had Michelin XRV tires on my Freightliner medium-duty truck. I checked with Michelin, and they sold a product that was water-based and contained no petroleum distillates or alcohol. These seem to be the big offending ingredients in tire dressing products!
The product Michelin used to put their name on was 3-in-1 Tire Shine. I bought a few bottles, and it did a good job of keeping the tires black, but not shiny! It was a water-based UV protector. For some reason, they stopped making it.
When I needed more of that product and found out that Michelin no longer sold it, I did get a tire dealer to tell me that 303 Aerospace protectant was a close formulation to the Tire Shine.
I am a believer of applying something to tires to aid in the UV protection. I used the Michelin Tire Shine and then the 303Protectant on my Michelin XRV tires for six years. Those tires had no sidewall checking and looked as good as the day I bought them when I traded the truck. They could probably have been used for a few more years according to the Michelin tire specialists.
When my current Michelin and Chinese trailer tires start to get that brownish color to them, I apply the 303 Protectant, and it brings back the black color to the sidewalls. They do not have a shiny finish to them, just a deep black color! And, it does last for a while. I usually clean and apply this product to my tires once a month. We do move our RV frequently, so that helps out as well.
Abnormal Tire Wear
RV tires, if maintained with the correct tire pressure for the measured load, should normally wear with even tread wear. Of course, tire rotation, if recommended by the RV manufacturer can also help to assure even wear.
If abnormalities start to show up in your RV tires wear pattern it might be necessary to check with the motorhome chassis manufacturer for alignment specs that could assist a certified tire dealership in correcting possible issues.
According to Michelin, a feathered wear pattern on the front tires typical indicates misalignment (toe-in or toe-out) Sometimes a radial tire will not have this wear pattern unless the toe condition is severe. Instead of the feathered edge wear, the tire will be worn on the inside or outside shoulder, which could be confused with camber wear.
On a three-axle RV, a skewed rear axle and tag could cause feathered edge wear on one shoulder of one front tire and feathered edge on the opposite shoulder of the other front tire. To correctly diagnose a tire wear condition, the motorhome should have the alignment checked on all wheel positions.
Michelin also refers to camber wear, also known as edge wear, which wear shows up on the inside or outside shoulders of the tread. Wear on the inside edge of both tires may be due to negative camber or toe-out, a misalignment. If only one tire shows edge wear, check for worn kingpin bushings, bent or worn steering components, or excessive positive camber. For solid beam axles, excessive camber can result from axle overload.
Michelin publishes that if correct pressure and proper alignment are both continually maintained, tire rotation may never be needed. However, in other cases, tire rotation may be needed to help even out wear patterns caused by alignment, underinflation, or free-rolling wear problems.
Selecting Replacement RV Tires
The most important decision an RV owner can make is the replacement of its tires when they are beyond their useful life. The replacement tire decision can be because of the tires age or that the tread is worn off. Remember that I stated earlier that the National Transportation and Safety Board recently stated that tires that are six years old should be replaced.
Of course, it is best to consult a certified tire specialist when it comes to RV tires!
The best way to replace RV tires is to match them with what the RV came with. The original tires were matched with the RV for load rating, tire diameter, speed rating and the width of the tire. A major consideration for dual axles is the tire width. If an incorrect tire is chosen, the dual spacing could cause the tires to kiss during travel. This can weaken the tire sidewall over time.
Also, choosing a tire with a higher load rating and increased tire pressure might sound like a good idea! But, is the rim the tire will be mounted on able to handle the increased pressure? It is best to consult a professional when making changes to the original tires that the RV was designed to be driven with.
In conclusion, please don’t neglect your RV’s tires! A little regular maintenance and checking of tire pressure before travel can assure that you will not be delayed reaching your destination due to tire a related issue!
Here’s wishing you trouble-free RV travels now that you are armed with some tire safety knowledge!
Baroo! Hello, my human and furry followers. Lindsey here with my Bark Report. Today I want to bark at you about inspecting a used RV. I got to go with mom and dad on an inspection. A real NRVIA, third party unbiased inspection. Ha! And Dad thinks I don’t listen! WRONG! And I’m here to tell you all about it first paw.
Dude, it was so Corgi cool to watch mom and dad at work. I lost a whole day’s worth of sleep trying to see all that they were doing. It was at this huge place that sells all kinds of sizes and shapes of RVs. We got a special place to work in, one of those covered garage spaces. It was noisy for my big ears but so exciting! I kept going from window to window to try to see what was going on outside.
Let me tell you; my dad could be a superhero. He was like Spiderman moving all around it. The RV was all shiny and silver, like a bullet. He examined every inch of that thing. He moved the ladder so many times I lost count on my puppy paws. (I only have four toes on my front paws because my dew claws were removed when I was a baby. Ouch! You try losing a thumb.
Dad tested for all kinds of things. He tested to make sure the new owners won’t get shocked when they touch the door or anything on the RV. He checked the big rubber round things that let the RV move down the road; He checked the big cloth covering thing over the door to be sure it worked, and even inside every hidey-hole on the outside.
He checked all the white sealant stuff on the roof around the things sticking out of the roof, or where seams come together for places where water could get inside. Believe me; you don’t want that. We had that once, and I’m here to tell you I don’t like unexpected showers at three in the morning.
Then Dad checked that the battery things worked and all the electrical stuff was not burned or damaged and working as it should be. He even got to play with the poo valves. I always wondered when Mom and Dad pull on them, does it make the poo flow faster?
Meanwhile, Mom was inside checking all the stuff in there; cabinets, beds, windows, lights, fans, toilets, sinks, those sensor things on the ceiling, the walls, floors, and ceilings for soft spots or damage. She even tested the stove and refrigerator. I was sure we were going to have lunch. Drat. No such luck. She just kept going, like the Energizer Bunny.
After Dad was done outside, he went inside to check on that stinky gas stuff in those tanks used in RVs. He wanted to make sure that it wasn’t leaking. That would be really bad. Mom told me once that if it leaks, it could make people sick or even blow up the RV! That could really ruin your day!
Through my vantage point, I saw him sticking these probe things in the ceiling vents like we have in ours that blow cool air. He told me later he was checking to be sure they were working so the new owners would stay cool in summer. Good idea!
The people that asked Dad to check out this RV are new RVers. They never had one before and wanted to make sure that this one would be a good one for them. Not good just because the salesman told them so. As Dad says, he wants them to have a good experience and know exactly what they are getting by not buying a money pit. Wow! That is so cool! I am so proud of Mom and Dad to be able to help people like them out.
We have people ask Pam and I, “why would you want to live in such a small RV? Are you crazy?”
So, I thought it was time for a small RV living full time update! Since we just celebrated our first year in our second full time RV living RV, and in our eighth year of enjoying the lifestyle, I want to share some thoughts on what it is like to live each day in one hundred and sixty square feet.
As I mentioned earlier, since trading our monster 5th wheel and medium duty truck for something smaller, we have traveled in our class C RV almost eight thousand miles and lived in it for three hundred and eighty days.
We lived and traveled in our 5th wheel for over seven years. We enjoyed the comfort and residential amenities of the 5th wheel, but when it came to moving it, that was sometimes not as much of an enjoyable experience. It was basically like driving a semi-truck!
When it came time to adopt a more mobile lifestyle due to our RV inspection business, we decided that a smaller motorized RV would suit us better. It may sound strange to say, but we felt that our 5th wheel was just too big and that we did not need all that room, except to store our stuff. So, we just got rid of the stuff and went for small RV living!
Small RV Living Full Time
Let’s see if I can give you an idea of what a day in a small RV is like!
Like most RV’s, we have a kitchen, a dinette, two front chairs that spin around to service the main living area, a small bathroom with sink, toilet and shower, and a bedroom with a queen bed. Basically, everything you need to be comfortable no matter where you are!
The RV has two slide-out units that add space in the bedroom and living area, but even when retracted the unit is still comfortable. We don’t always extend them when boondocking at Walmarts. We don’t want to appear like we are staying long-term!
A Typical Day Spent in the RV
If Pam and I are not traveling to do an RV Inspection or teaching a class, we typically spend the day inside working inside the RV. In addition to growing our RV Inspection business, I also administrate this full time RV living website. As it continues to grow it does take work in responding to people’s questions, monitoring the pages and posts on the site, and writing additional content. I enjoy hearing from others looking to adopt the lifestyle and helping out as I have time!
A typical day starts out with Pam getting out of bed first and taking care of Lindsey, our authoring Corgi, and getting the coffee made. I stay out of the way and check the morning communications via my smartphone. I find this works best, so we are not competing for the same space.
Once Lindsey goes out for her morning constitutional, I move from the bedroom to the main living area to do what I need to do. After the morning green drink and some bathroom activities, I head for the coffee pot and then to the laptop to start my day of work. Now, not every day is a full work day. If so there would be no reason to live in an RV! The fun of the lifestyle is to move about and enjoy the sites of many different locations.
My desk is the dinette area. This area is also where we eat and where we sit and watch TV. The TV is mounted on the curbside kitchen wall. It does pivot out so we can sit in the front chairs and watch from there, but we seem to prefer the dinette area. Lindsey has adopted the drivers chair as hers.
When the street-side slideout is extended, there is plenty of room for Pam and me to navigate around each other. We very rarely feel like we are in each others way! With the slides retracted for travel and boondocking, that can be a bit more of a challenge.
We find the bathroom is plenty adequate for us. The shower could be a little bit larger, but for a thirty-foot RV, it is what you get. At first, we felt the bathroom sink was small, but we have had no problem with its use. Our black and gray tanks are thirty-four and thirty-one gallons respectively.
The black tank can last us a week or so, but the gray tank requires dumping every other day or so depending on showering, etc. We can easily boondock for two or three days if we are conservative on the fresh water usage of the forty gallon tank.
Meals are not a problem! We can cook most anything we want and have the space to handle the prep work. We are not making elaborate meals. We enjoy salads, chicken and vegetable meals, and skillet dinners, etc. Dinners could be the most challenging in this type of RV, but our simple meals pose no problem! With the large micro/convection oven, and the 3-burner gas cooktop, cooking is easy!
Our seating arrangements consist of the driver and co-pilot chairs and the dinette seating. I miss the euro chair that I had in the 5th wheel, but then I don’t miss some of the other things I had to deal with in the 5th wheel that I don’t with this RV! If I desire to recline somewhere, I have pillows at the dinette, and I lie across the bench seating and can rest my feet on a folding table if I want to.
The bedroom has plenty of storage for our clothes, and the bed is large enough to work for us. Lindsay makes her way to the bed each evening to keep us safe – attack Corgi on duty! With those ears, she hears everything. Sometimes she hears too much!!
So, working at the dinette area, perhaps an afternoon walk, meals, evening TV viewing while doing a little more computer work, and that’s the day! The commute from the bedroom to the dinette is pretty rough to take some days! LOL Even on the days we are working outside the RV, we take it with us as our mobile office. That’s the beauty of this size RV!
Could you possibly see yourself enjoying small RV living? That really depends on the lifestyle you are used to. Pam and I migrated from a thirty-eight hundred square foot house to a twelve hundred square foot home to a four hundred square foot RV to what we have now.
For us, it was a progression. Could we have jumped from the large house to our current RV? Probably not! Everyone’s journey will be different, but yes you can enjoy full time RV living in a small RV! It just takes planning and the research to know what you are getting into before buying one.
If you think you want to try it, rent one. Small RV’s are easy to rent! This would be an excellent way to test it out!
If you are enjoying full time RV living, or you have more questions about this subject, please feel free to comment below!
One of the most popular posts on my website is the one that talks about the best 5th wheel RV for you. That proves to me that selecting an RV to buy is a difficult choice, especially if the person making the choice has never traveled in an RV before!
There are many determinations to make when selecting an RV to purchase! That decision can be entirely different if the RV is being used for full time RV living or it is just for occasional travel. But, in either case, there is not a more comfortable way to travel! When on the road in an RV you have everything you need! Where ever you are, you are at home because everything you need is with you!
What I want to address in this writing is to give you things to consider when starting your research for an RV you may be considering buying.
It amazes me that 1.3 million Americans live in an RV and are enjoying full-time RV living! The question is, did most of these folks make the right choice when they made their first RV purchase?
My research has led me to answer no to that question! Many people we have met in our eight years on the road have shared how many RV’s they have had since they started the lifestyle. Most people have traded their RV every one to two years.
They also admit that they have made impulsive purchases. They were attracted to mundane features that had no real significance for what they really needed for their RVing lifestyle! They bought in the moment instead of thinking the RV purchase through!
RV dealerships prey on emotions to get you to buy at the moment! Statements like, “Oh look how lovely this fireplace will be on a chilly night! You can enjoy watching your flat screen TV and have a fire too!” What they don’t really know is how you are going to use the RV and what your actual needs may be!
There are some dealerships that will take the time to learn your needs and match them with the appropriate RV. But, when you first start looking you may not know exactly what you will need in an RV purchase.
Selecting an RV!
What should you be looking for? These could be some things to consider:
What amount of engine power will you need?
What class of RV will work best?
Will my choice be easy to drive?
Does paint quality matter to you?
What floorplan will work best?
What about features and technology?
Will you have enough storage space?
Can you carry everything you want with you?
What is cargo carrying capacity?
Should I buy a new or used RV?
Will you need to tow a car or a trailer? How does that affect your RV chassis choice?
If purchasing a towable RV, how much truck will you need to safely pull the RV?
So, those items I listed above are just a few of the considerations you need to make when selecting an RV to purchase. But first, it really does not matter what you may think you want if you can’t afford it, right?
So the first thing is to set a realistic budget. Will you pay cash for your RV or will you be financing a significant portion of the purchase? You must decide so when you go shopping on the internet, or at an RV dealership, you are working within your budget.
Once you have that number, keep it to yourself! A salesman’s first question is “what is your budget?” There are many ways they can make the numbers work! Payments can be spread out over twenty years.
But will you still have that RV in twenty years? If you trade it in after just a few years you will be upside down: owe more than it’s worth. Choose the class of RV that you are considering and share that with them.
For example, when the salesperson asks, “what budget have you set for your RV purchase,” respond with something like, “we are looking for a class A gas powered RV in the thirty-six-foot range.”
It will be best if you choose a class of RV before going to the dealership. This will be part of your pre-visit research. Don’t buy on the first visit! Go home and evaluate what you saw. Take lots of pictures!
If after looking at the RV of your choice you decide that it may not work for you then you have spared yourself from making a mistake! Just re-examine your priorities and try again.
RV’s are a depreciating asset. They are not even an asset! Once you drive it off the lot, especially if it is brand new, if you turn around and come back a week later, it is now a used RV.
That is why it is so important to buy right, the first time, and you can do this by spending a lot of time reading, visiting dealerships, and talking to others who are already on the road.
I want to address some of the items to consider when purchasing an RV that I listed earlier by telling our story and process of how we were able to buy and keep our first RV for almost seven years!
The best thing Pam and I did was to rent RV’s for seven years before deciding to get into the full-time RV lifestyle! We were at the point that a vacation in an RV was far better than other options we had done previously! Once we were out on the road, we learned so much about what we would like in an RV of our own and what we would not.
Once we finally decided to start looking for the class of RV we had decided on, I researched my choice vigorously! I set a budget and decided a used RV that was in the two to the three-year-old category would suit us best.
My determination was mostly based on an RV manufacturer that I thought had great quality. We also based our choice on one that we had rented from this particular RV manufacturer and the feedback of other owners.
I found the one I wanted, and it was only a couple of hundred miles away, so we went to look at it, and with our purchasing budget in mind.
It was just what we were looking for but about twenty-five thousand dollars more than I wanted to spend for it. So we thought perhaps we should go a few years older, but the same make and model, if we could find it.
As chance would have it, a few weeks later the dealership was having a close-out sale and the price of the RV we looked at had dropped twenty-five thousand dollars. The RV price was now right where we wanted it: two years old, it had hardly been used, looked like new, but it had a bad odor inside.
It was not a mold issue, but a black tank odor. It turned out they had never dumped the black tank after receiving it as a trade-in. Once the tank was emptied and the RV interior was cleaned, the odor was no more!
We closed the deal and purchased our “new to us” 2006 Newmar Kountry Aire 5th wheel! We now had our full-time RV living home, and we were delighted!
It was in our budget, it had all the space we required in the kitchen, it had plenty of storage below, it could carry the weight of the items we planned to put in it, the full body paint was stunning, and it appeared it had been well cared for. As it turns out, we should have had a certified RV inspection done on the RV as I missed a few things that cost me money later on!
The point here is that because we spent a lot of time researching the RV lifestyle, we traveled thirty-five thousand miles in rented RV’s before buying one, spent the time deciding what would work best for us, talked to other RVers about their experiences, and did not rush into a purchase, we had that RV for almost seven years and it worked out perfectly for us!
And, because we purchased both the truck and the 5th wheel at below market value, we did okay when it came time to trade the RV in!
Why did we trade the RV in you ask? Well, our needs changed in a way that we could not have anticipated when we started the full-time RV lifestyle. And that’s okay! But, since the RV was approaching the ten-year mark, which for us was a good time to trade, and we needed a different class of RV due to our business, we started the process all over again!
But, since the RV was approaching the ten-year mark, which for us was a good time to trade, and we needed a different class of RV due to our business, we started the process all over again!
What Class of RV will Work Best for You?
There are so many things to consider when thinking about purchasing your RV! The first main issue, other than price, is to decide what class of RV will work best for you? Will that be a motorized RV or a towable RV? If you choose a motorized RV, will that be a gas engine or a diesel engine?
Gas powered RV’s are great if you are not going to be moving around that much and staying in places for months on end. However, they certainly don’t have the carrying capacity of their diesel counterparts. Carrying capacity can be a significant issue for full-time RVers! Also, the larger gas powered class A RV’s don’t drive as well as one that is on a diesel powered chassis with airbags that improve handling and ride.
But with that improved handling and ride comes a significant increase in cost! Depending on the make and manufacturer you can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the price tag if choosing a new RV.
As far as fuel consumption, they are about the same as far as gallons consumed, per mile driven. You are going to get seven to ten miles per gallon, at best! I have people tell me they are getting seventeen miles per gallon pulling their forty foot 5th wheel with their one-ton dually truck. Horse pucky!
Listen, this is just my opinion, and it is my website, so I can say what I like. This advice is based on years of experience! If fuel costs are a big deal in your RVing lifestyle, then RVing may not be for you, at least for an RV that you are going to move a lot. If it is something that you will only bring south for the winter, perhaps a park model would be a better fit! Overall they are cheaper, you don’t have the stresses involved in driving them, and park models require much less maintenance than an RV!
If fuel costs are a big deal in your RVing lifestyle, then RVing may not be for you, at least for an RV that you are going to move a lot. If it is something that you will only bring south for the winter, perhaps a park model would be a better fit! Overall they are cheaper, you don’t have the stresses involved in driving them, and park models require much less maintenance than an RV!
If selecting an RV as a choice to get out of a house and it will not be moved very much, indeed a towable unit is a better choice than a motorized one. If at some point you need it moved you can hire an RV moving company to come and relocate it for you. That will probably be cheaper than owning a truck that will never pull the RV regularly.
Carry Capacity When Selecting an RV
What is carry capacity and how can you find this information in an RV? There will be a data plate in the RV, either in the front, on a door, or listed inside a cabinet door. That label will tell you what the RV can carry. Depending on the class of RV we are talking about here, that figure will include the weight of occupants, fresh water in the tank, and items brought onboard the RV.
Take a look at this yellow label describing the carrying capacity of a thirty-four-foot class C diesel puller RV.
This label states that for this RV the combination of the occupants, fresh water and cargo should not exceed 1,233 pounds. That is not much carrying capacity! It would be incredibly easy to overload this vehicle to the point of being unsafe!
This would not be a good choice for a full time RVer who wants to carry all their possessions with them! Even with a cargo trailer, it would be tough! A five hundred pound tongue weight on the hitch pulling a five thousand pound GVWR trailer would knock that carrying capacity down to a little over eight hundred pounds.
Now, add two adults at three to four hundred pounds total and you barely have the carrying capacity for anything else.
Does this change in a class A diesel RV? Sure! Some can carry five thousand pounds or more! Even some of the larger class A gas RV’s have a carrying capacity of three to four thousand pounds.
The reason for going into such detail on this topic is because we know so many RVers who travel in an overloaded situation. When doing so, that puts a strain on all the mechanical components of the RV, as well as the tires that may not be designed to carry the additional weight. What can that lead to? Perhaps a tire blowout during travel. That is not something you want to experience if you can avoid it!
So, when selecting an RV that you want to purchase you can now see that there is so much more than deciding one day to buy one and then go to a dealership to look. That is the best way to get confused and probably get pushed into the wrong purchase! The same is true at RV shows! Yes, there are deals to be had, but only if you know exactly what you want after having done lots of research!
That is the best way to get confused and probably get pushed into the wrong purchase! The same is true at RV shows! Yes, there are deals to be had, but only if you know exactly what you want after having done lots of research!
Please be a smart RV buyer and do your homework! And if it is just impossible for you to know what kind of RV that will work best for you, rent one, or borrow a friend or family members, and try it out. If you have to rent an RV, and it won’t be cheap, it will be the best money you will have spent! It sure was for Pam and me!
Best of luck on your future RV purchase! When you do finally decide and buy your home on wheels, and it is a used RV, please visit our Used Purchase RV page on Facebook and share your experience with us and others! This Facebook Group has been set up to help buyers of used RV’s to find places where they can have good buying experiences.
Please leave a comment below if we can be of assistance to you in this process!
Barooooo! Guess who? It’s me Lindsey back with another new Bark Report. This time, I want to bark at you all about an icky subject, natural home remedies controlling pest insects bugs in and around your RV. (Sorry no significant others will be covered in this report.)
For me, they provide a good, quick protein snack. Catching a fly in the air is a fun game. Snap, snap, snap. Who’s faster? Another favorite of mine is rolling on the crawly kind to see if it can survive a corgi back scratch. Neither are a favorite of Mom, so I will have to give you her words of wisdom keeping our moving house pest free.
First off I got to say, if you find one of them stink bugs, by all means don’t squish it in the house. Mom grabs it with something with a paper towel and puts it outside or in a sealed jar. You can suck them up with a vacuum but be sure to dump it immediately. Warning, if you squish one, it’s a nasty smell for humans. It’s the smell that keeps on giving. Phew! I rolled on one in PA and got a long soapy bath and lots of a Perfect Coat coconut freshening spray. In my mind, the bug smelled better.
Use a spray of 2 cups water to 10 drops mint oil to keep those bugs away! Mild dish soapy water kills them. Garlic repels them. ( Not just for vampires!) Mix 2 cups water and four tsp garlic powder. The little stinkers come in through vents or small holes. I sometimes get lucky and find them when Mom brings in the slide rooms. Try rubbing your door, windows and vent screens with a strong smelling dryer sheet daily until the problem is fixed.
Next one to bark about is ants. You know those teenie, weenie, tiny little things that build mounds and make it look like the earth is moving? Well, a cool way is to sprinkle grits (yes you heard me right. The stuff all good Southerners eat for breakfast.) around all the ant mounds. They take it back to the impress their queen, eat it and POOF! Exploding ants! It expands when they eat it. The industrious ones that survive will move the colony but you just keep sprinkling, and they continue until all gone.
Sprinkle garlic between any decking or bricks to keep them off your patio. You don’t want to step on those guys cuz they get mad and bite.
Oh, I did forget to mention if you get ants inside your moving house, bay leaves help discourage them. Rabbit trail. We had someone time because the mints were left on a window ledge. The teeny tiny little buggers came right in between the slide-out room like a small army invasion with a trail right into that little tin. Mom put some whole bay leaves around the seals and ledge where they were coming in. Got rid of our tin of ant covered mints too. (Cucumber peel works too,) You can use in cabinets or tuck around slide room rubber seals. It will last about a month. They get crusty and dry when it’s time to change them.
Yo, check it out. Put a line of cayenne, or spray soapy water around entrance points. Ants won’t cross it. I guess they don’t want to be clean and don’t like spicy food. Go figure!
Okay, so all you Harry Potter fans remember Ron Weasley and his fear of spiders? Dude, he just needed a mixture of peppermint oil and water. Spray it around inside and it keeps the spiders out. Just a drop or two and some water in a small spray bottle. Spray around slides, crevices or wherever the little creepy, crawlies comes in. It makes your RV smell good too. Remember to spray where their food source is too. Outside lights attract flies; thus, Spidey shows up.
Mud Daubers, those weird looking waspy things with long legs that like to hang around all your vent areas of your RV. Prevention is best on these bad boys. Good news is they eat spiders. Remove the webs and spiders. Buh-bye. Don’t be cheap. Spend the money and get the dauber screens to put on your outside refrigerator, water heater and furnace vents. If they get in there, you can find a whole nest, and that’s not good. It can impact on your appliance operations.
Now we come to a really nasty bug, roaches. For you northerners, there are two kinds. One is called a German cockroach, and the other is called a palmetto bug. (Palmetto bug is a cockroach on steroids.) They like food and wet areas. Rule number one, clean and clean often and then clean again. Get rid of garbage daily and seal up all food. They don’t like bay leaves, garlic or cucumber slices. Put it in areas where they like to hang out, high places above refrigerator or cabinets.
The best way to keep roaches out is don’t let them in. Duh! If you have lots of pine straw around, roaches like to live in it. It’s common to see in Florida because it helps kill weeds. It’s toxic to kids and furkids, but boric acid, also known commercially as Borax laundry detergent will keep them out. You can sprinkle around your site outside, or above cabinets, slides, refrigerator inside. They’re stupid like ants and take it back to the nest to eat. Clean but dead roaches.
So a few other things roaches don’t like. Catnip. If you’re handy, make little pouches of catnip and put around your RV where you may find them. Your cat could be euphoric if it gets into these! Barooo! Sometimes I just crack me up! Or if you want to forgo that beer, soak 1 or 2 pieces of bread in a coffee can soaked in beer. They no like.
Or there is my favorite, death by dish soap. You have to be quick but spray that bugger with dish soap. Kills them dead.
You know those annoying buzzers that bite you called mosquitoes? Well, they do not like lavender or citronella. Rub some on and it will help keep them off you. A concoction that Paul Harvey says works is to buy a big blue bottle of cheap mouthwash and mix it with 3 cups Epsom Salts and three stale, cheap beer until dissolved. Spray around your site. It will last about 80 days. Mosquitoes and bugs hate it. Of course, I know a lot of humans who hate stale beer and cheap mouthwash too. Also, avoid the scented shampoos, laundry detergent, and fabric softener. Those little buzzers like scents as well as lights.
Got moths? They are a fun game to try to catch. Mom found that dried lemon peel is a natural deterrent for them. You can put some in a cheesecloth and toss or hang in your closet. Aromatic cedar oil(juniper) soaked on a cloth works too.
We need to talk flies. Boy, do they set me to buzzing by dive bombing my head and landing on me when I’m trying to catch some ZZZs. How rude! If they buzz you too, try putting crushed mint or eucalyptus oil on an absorbent cloth around the moving house. It helps deter them. We never leave my food or any people food open, but if you do, an open container of sweet basil and clover nearby will help discourage them.
Lastly, I hear you asking about mice. Hmm, I’m not a cat, but Mom did say that a couple drops of peppermint oil on a cotton ball and placed where ever mice may enter will deter them. ( Is it my imagination or is peppermint a major pest deterrent?) Food for thought for another day. One of Dad’s students even said he heard putting moth balls in your bays or engine area will keep them out.
“Get that camera out if my face! I am trying to take a nap on Mom and Dad’s bed!”
Okay, I’m done. Time to check out the inside of my eyelids. If you want to bark at me below, please do. Until next time,
Since our Fall Update, Pam and I have been back in Florida. We spent time in the panhandle of Florida from mid-November to early January 2016. Pam and I enjoy the Destin area of Florida because of the beautiful white sand beaches and gorgeous sunsets! It was a warm Thanksgiving and early December!
In early January, we headed to the Tampa area to spend a week at Lazydays in Seffner, FL. We were teaching an NRVIA 5-Day Learn by Doing Advanced RV inspector training class. We had six eager students who were perfecting their RV inspection skills!
This year we decided not to stay in any one place for very long as we have done in past years during the winter season. When visiting Florida in the winter, in an RV while enjoying full-time RV living lifestyle, it can be difficult to find an RV spot in February! It is much easier to do so if you are willing to move around a bit. And, there are deals to be had! Some of our camping club memberships give us discounts even during the winter in Florida. That is awesome!!
Once we left Lazydays, we headed to the Tampa RV Supershow. This event is held every year at the Tampa Fairgrounds facility that is located near I-4 and I-75. This year had a mixture of warms days and some cooler, and we had several days of rain during the event. The weather had an effect on the visitor numbers as they did not break last year’s attendance record, but they only missed it by a few hundred attendees.
Pam and I enjoyed visiting with vendors and manufacturers to learn about their new products for 2016! There certainly are some creative innovations being used in RV’s coming off the line. We saw some 5th wheel RV manufacturers that are using some creative thinking by putting the kitchens up front, raised living rooms in the rear with storage bays underneath, TV’s behind mirrors in bedrooms, and large slide-in-slide units.
And of course, who can resist looking at the multi-million dollar units on display! Some are set up to view from the outside only! You can’t go inside unless you make an appointment, have a credit check run on you, prove your net worth, and give up your first born! LOL
While everyone else was checking out the interiors of the more expensive units, I was outside checking out all the storage bays with all the equipment installed that controls plumbing, heating, electronics, electrical functions, etc. I look at RV’s differently than most! I try to determine how you get to things if service is needed and how things work? As an RV inspector/trainer, I am always evaluating what the RV manufacturers are doing!
While looking at some of the class A gas toy hauler units, I was intrigued by something I have never seen in a factory installed appliance. I have seen RV owners install window AC units in their RV’s, but now one particular manufacturer has come up with a way to do that to eliminate the added height of a rooftop AC unit.
They took a small window type AC unit and installed it in a cabinet. They placed an oversized vent on the exterior wall of the RV. To vent the heat, they used a rooftop refrigerator vent that you would typically see in a Dometic or Norcold installation. To make this work the small AC unit was mounted near the interior ceiling. I was not able to test its operation, but I was intrigued by the ingenuity!
While at the show we were able to stay in the vendor camping area. After a long day of walking around the Fairgrounds, it was nice not to have to deal with the rush hour traffic while trying to depart from the show. Staying right at the Fairgrounds was very convenient and enjoyable!
Since leaving the Tampa RV Supershow, we have been staying north of the Tampa area and visiting RV parks that were offering deals at the show. So far so good! We have been able to get an RV spot in campgrounds that were offering specials. Sometimes you get a decent place, other times you don’t!
Last week we were parked in a campground RV site right at the entrance gate and the mail delivery area. Use your imagination as to our thoughts there. However, for nine nights the average cost was $15.83! So, we could not complain too much I guess! It is winter in Florida, and the snowbirds are here!
The following week we were in another RV park, and we were located right up front near a busy two-lane state road. The office told us that this was all they had. For the price paid, I guess we can’t complain here either! We were able to get a week’s stay for $99.
So, we left that park and headed to Walmart for some shopping and decided to stay the night. While there we decided on our next location. We found another RV park in the area offering a $99 for a week special. Awesome!!
We are now in a quiet little campground that is located out of the city busyness. It is an older park with an eclectic mix of older RV’s and park models, but again, for the price it is just fine!
From here we are headed back to Lazydays for another Learn by Doing 5-day Advanced Inspector Training class. We will be there till the end of February.
Where will we be after that? Right now we don’t know! But that is the fun of full time RV living! It does not matter. If we can’t find a spot, there is always a Walmart parking lot we can hang out at for a few days. Some of the Walmarts north of the Tampa area are pretty nice!
Are you out traveling in your RV this winter, or not? Share what you are up to in the comment area below!
Baroo! Hello, my furry and non-furry followers. Lindsey here with my Bark Report. I’m here to bark at you about RVing in Florida in the Winter. Mom’s computer machine quit, so my puppy paws had to hold back on my topic. Since we’ve been RVing for the past 53 dog years (that’s seven plus human years), I thought this would be a good topic, especially since we spend most of our time in Florida.
Tip #1: Dude, check out the RV shows. Deals to be had! Mom collected them at the Tampa RV Supershow like they were giving away money. Many exclude the busy months of January, February and March but lots don’t. They just want to get you to stay at their park. But you have to be flexible. Be an RVer. My motto, if you don’t want to move, get a dog house!
Tip #2: Long term rates are the best IF you can find them. Once someone comes, they book year after year as fast as they can. And the parks like that so they give them preferential treatment for doing that. It’s like Network Marketing. They tell their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends. Seems that’s the one way to get a long term spot. So make a friend. BOL!
Tip #3: RV Parks always have something called Transient sites. That’s not “homeless” transient but short term sites. What that means is if you are flexible you can find a week or two. Move and move often. The park we are in right now just happened to have a cancelation AND had a week or two-week internet special.
Tip #4: Join a club like FMCA, Escapees, Passport America, Thousand Trails, Good Sam. Can you say Discounts? Most will do at least 10% off and may have some restrictions on how long or when you can stay. We use Passport America, so we get 50% off stays. That spells more bones for me!!!
Tip #5: State, County and City parks. If you are over 65, they give you 50% off. They have to keep some transient sites open for up to 14 days. Too bad they don’t count dog years. I would surely qualify for that discount.
Tip #6: Check out northern Florida. Their busy season is in the summer. You can find some excellent off-season rates and less traffic. Even close to or on the beach. Yea yea I know. You’re telling me it’s too cold. Compared to what? Where you live? At least, you won’t be shoveling snow if you get my drift. (Get it? Snow? drift?. Sometimes I just crack me up!)
Tip #7: Fill ‘er up before you cross the state line. Gas is cheaper in neighboring states. Dad says they have lower taxes. There’s a site online you can check out gas prices. It’s called gasbuddy.com.
Tip #8: Ever think about Workamping? You ask, what is workamping? You exchange hours worked for a campsite. If you want to be in Florida in the winter, think about it. You can save a ton of money doing a seasonal job for a campsite. Some even pay for extra hours worked. Volunteer as a camp host at an Army Corp of Engineer or State Park. Most offer a site for minimum hours worked.
Tip #9: Look for smaller, family owned campgrounds that are farther inland. Mom says the price goes up per mile the closer you get to the beach.
So, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Did I miss anything? Questions? If so, Bark at me below, and I’ll get back to you. Time for my puppy “snap”.(Short nap)
In part one of this article I talked about the importance of setting the correct cold tire pressure based on the loaded weight of an RV. I also discussed inspecting the RV’s tires before each trip and when is the best time to replace those tires.
In part two of this article, I would like to address tire pressure monitoring systems, what to do with RV tires that are stored or sit static for months during full time RV living, DOT codes on tires, and a little more discussion on when to replace RV tires.
Tire Pressure Monitor Systems
More and more RV’s and cars now come with tire pressure monitor systems installed. They are mounted inside the rim where the tire valve stem is located. These sensors feed current tire pressure readings to an inside source where the vehicle driver can monitor these values. Not only do they give current tire pressure readings but some also give internal temperature readings.
These devices allow the driver to know when preset values increase above a percentage of what is normal. The sensors will also indicate a loss of pressure whether sudden or slow; that might create a situation where the change in pressure could create a serious issue while traveling.
Pam and I have used these devices for years and have been alerted to serious issues that allowed us to pull off the road before significant damage was done to the RV! When pulling a trailer, a 5th wheel RV, or when towing a car or trailer behind a motorized RV, these devices are especially important because sometimes you can’t tell when a problem may be occurring!
I travel with added piece of mind during both day and night travel with a tire pressure monitor system installed! In the dark, while traveling with our big fifth wheel, with dual tandems, and the big Freightliner truck, I would not even feel the loss of one if it’s eight tires. The truck would not care! It would just keep on trucking along! Have you ever had a semi-truck pass you on the highway and you noticed one of its tires is shredded or missing? They don’t realize it either.
While traveling I-75 in Florida one hot August day, with the outside temperature recording 97 degrees, we had a catastrophic failure of one of our tires on the rear axle of the street side outside tire. Now, in this case, we heard it because it sounded like a shotgun! Before the blowout, the tire pressure indicators did show a normal increase in tire pressure as expected for the hot day we were traveling.
The sensors immediately set off an alarm to which we responded to by pulling off the highway. When the noise was first heard we did not know what it was, but when the tire pressure monitor system alarm sounded, I knew a tire had failed. Because we were notified very quickly, I was able to get off the road and minimize the damage to the RV, which luckily there was very little. That was because I did not continue to drive on a damaged tire that would have continued to deteriorate even further, unravel and beat up the underside of the RV.
While holding some seminars at Lazydays RV Rally Park last year, I was able to overhear another seminar being held by an RV manufacturer talking about the cost a rear tire failure can have on a class A RV. He stated that the average cost to repair the damage by a tire that fails at highway speeds averages about fifty-two thousand dollars. Wow!!
If you don’t currently have this technology in use on your RV, how can an externally installed tire pressure monitoring system help you? It can by allowing you to address slow increases or decreases in tire pressure, out of range temperature readings of the tires, and even the sudden loss of tire pressure if the driver is unable to sense the change.
If your RV does not have this sort of system installed as a factory option, it is well worth the investment to have them placed on every tire valve stem involved in your RV setup. They simply screw onto the threads where the valve cap is located. If a class A RV has six tires and pulls a car behind, it can be equipped with ten sensors for the RV and the tow vehicle. The same can be said for trucks and towable units.
Anyone who travels in an RV should have tire pressure monitors installed! Prices start at a few hundred dollars and go up from there depending on the unit you choose and the number of sensors you require. In the past few years, the systems have improved even more! I like that they now offer lighter weight sensors and that you can change the sensor batteries yourself instead of sealed units that you have to send back to the manufacturer to replace.
RV Tires That Sit For Months Without Being Moved
RV tires that sit for long periods of time have more of a challenge than those that are driven more often. Such a case might be when an RV is used only a few weeks out of the year and stored the rest, or for a full time RVer, who lives in the RV but does not move it much because they stay in one area.
What RV owners may not know is that tires age in a different manner when they are not driven. They actually may age faster. Without the tire being able to rotate, heat up, and the entire tire allowed to flex under load, the tire is not given the chance for the protective agents in the tire to be able to do their job.
If an RV is being stored, more thought needs to be given to the needs of the tires. The recommendations from the major tire manufacturers are to store the RV in a cool, dry and weather protected unit. The best place to set the RV tires is on a smooth non-petroleum based surface with a barrier between the tire and its parking surface.
Most people forget to think about reducing the load in the RV while it is placed in storage. For those that are living full time in their RV, they may be able to use the leveling system to not only level the RV but to take some of the load off their tires.
What are some other things an RV owner can do to protect their tires, whether for a full-timer or not? It is best to keep the RV tires clean by using a mild soap and water. Also, if they are going to be exposed to sunlight and ultraviolet rays, keep them covered. If possible, it is also a good idea to keep them out of a high ozone area. I will discuss the application of tire dressings in part three of this series!
And of course, the tires should always be inflated to the recommended pressure indicated by the RV manufacturer! But, please keep in mind the best thing you can do for your tires is to use them!
The Expected Life of an RV Tire
The various materials and rubber compounds that make up an RV tire are there to be sure the tire functions as it should. How long the tire will last certainly depends on many factors. These can be factors of how the tire is used during its life, how it is stored and maintained, and the weather conditions the tire has endured.
How can you know how old your tires are and if they should just be replaced? Can the Department of Transportation code indicate that they are past their useful life? The DOT code placed on all tires is there to help you know the date that the tire was manufactured. It is stamped on one side of the tire. You have a fifty percent chance of being able to spot it on your tires. Some RV manufacturers like to mount the tires, so the DOT codes are facing inward to protect them from being scuffed off when tires are scrubbed against curbs and other roadway hazards.
This four digit date of birth code for late model tires tells you the week and year a tire was made. If the date code shows 0304, that means the tire was made in the third week of 2004. How is this information helpful to you?
As of late, the major tire manufacturers and the National Transportation and Safety Board have stated that tires should be replaced after six years. Michelin states that tires that are ten years old are recommended for replacement, and that includes spare tires as well! I have seen recent updates that after five years from the DOT code the tires be checked by a certified tire specialist each year after that five-year mark.
Certainly it is better to air on the side of caution than to try and save money by not replacing the tires on an RV when age is in question. Of course, if the tires start to show age-related cracks and gouges at any age, replacement should be considered. Cracks in the tire sidewalls that are between 1/32″ and 2/32″ should be examined by a tire specialist at a tire dealer.
As Michelin once stated, “so much is riding on your tires!” Why would you want to take a chance! When it comes to the stresses that an RV places on its tires, it is imperative not to take their maintenance seriously!
If the recommended age limit has been reached, or they appear to be deteriorating beyond normal, replace them for the safety of all involved – not only for those traveling with the RV but for the other drivers on the road who may be put in harms way when an RV tire fails!
Stay tuned for part three of this article where I will address rv tire maintenance, possible causes of abnormal tire wear and selecting replacement tires for your RV. Until then Pam and I wish you blessed travels in your RV! We hope you are lucky enough to be out on the road this time of year!
Dad tested for all kinds of things. He tested to make sure the new owners won’t get shocked when they touch the door or anything on the RV. He checked the big rubber round things that let the RV move down the road; He checked the big cloth covering thing over the door to be sure it worked, and even inside every hidey-hole on the outside.
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