RV Travel Info

RV Travel -- Saving Fuel

Did you say save fuel! Everyone has a gimmick! Here's ours....SLOW DOWN!

When we got this motorhome, it was really fun to go 75mph and keep up with all the traffic on the highway. Now we keep it under 60 mph and gained 2 mpg. That's huge! We paid over 4 dollars a gallon the other day, and I am sure it will just keep going up. Bummer. I hope it doesn't keep people home this summer.

We also found a fuel additive that seems to be increasing our fuel mileage. Our friends Ken and Paula sell it. It's called Enviromax. Let us know if you want more information. Until later...Keep a light foot on that throttle!

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.Badges-R-Us.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com

RV Travel -- Backing up your RV

Backing a motorhome, travel trailer or fifth wheel is a team sport.

The key to good teamwork is good communication. Good communication begins before you start backing in. I recommend using 2-way radios. Using the radios eliminates yelling and allows much more information to be exchanged between driver and spotter. The driver won’t normally have to say much so the radio can be turned up and set down within reach.

If you don’t want to use radios, develop specific hand signals. To avoid confusion your signals should be distinct and deliberate. Use your whole arm instead of just waving your hand. The basic signals you will need are stop, left, right, straight back and distance. You should agree what left, right and straight mean too. Does the direction refer to which way the RV needs to go or which way the steering wheel needs to turn?

Both the RV driver and the spotter should walk the area before backing in. Discuss where you want the rig to be parked. And, unless you're an expert at backing, seeing the site from a different angle will help you visualize how your backing should proceed.

Remember these rules:
Both of you have a responsibility to watch for potential hazards in the rig's path. Look for overhead lines, tree limbs, ruts, large rocks, posts, etc. Two sets of eyes are better than one.
The spotter should be visible to the driver at all times and stay clear of the vehicle's path. Stop backing immediately if your spotter is not visible. This is a good idea even if you use radios.
The closer you are to disaster the more like your spotter is to forget your prearranged signals and begin waving frantically or speaking incoherently. If you do not understand a hand signal or what is said on your radio, STOP.

Take your time. Get out and look if you're not sure

Dorothy Loll and Susan Cox
Maximizing Your RV Experience

Tips and Information for RVers:
http://www.RVTips4U.com

Find out what we're up to:
http://www.LoCoRVCat.com

Information and Products for RV Travelers:
http://www.RV-Travel-Diet-And-Exercise.com
http://www.TirePressureSafety.com
http://www.RVSafetyExpert.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://www.Propane-Campfire.com
http://www.RockHunterSupply.com

RV Travel -- Buying a Used RV

Buying a used Motorhome or Trailer can be intimidating and scary. There are lots of places to find used RVs. Besides dealers, you can find them online, in the classified, parked in someones yard, or even good ole Uncle Bob. Be careful when you buy used. We found a great book that shows many of the things you should look for. Used RV Buyers Guide will show you some of the things to look for.

We bought our motorhome used, and are very happy with it. It is a 40' diesel pusher with 4 slide outs. We checked it out thoroughly, and tested all the systems. We also drove it about 100 miles. We were very fortunate with our choice. Make an informed decision.

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com

RV Travel -- Dometic Refrigerator Recall

The Dometic Refrigerator Recall is enormous, and it is a true RV Safety issue. You will need the model and serial number of your refrigerator, and go to DometicUSA to see if your RV refrigerator is affected. I have been involved in the RV industry for 30 years, and have worked in service and warranty at both the dealer level, and the manufacturer level.

If you find that you have a refrigerator that falls under this recall, it is important that you find a dealer or qualified RV technician to perform the work. Sadly, the problem that  you may experience is the repair centers do not want to do the work. It seems that Dometic does not allow enough reimbursement to the repair centers. It actually costs the dealer or repair center time and money to take care of a problem that they did not cause. Most dealers are doing the repair because they value the RV owners and their customers in general.

Luckily, our Dometic refrigerator is not part of the recall. If yours is, get it fixed! While you are at the dealership or repair center, do a little more business with them if you can. They are doing the recall because they value you as a customer, and the RV industry as a whole. If you need a new refrigerator, consider a Norcold. They have a proven record of good customer service and accepting responsibility for their problems. If you want to contact Dometic with an opinion:

Dometic
P.O. Box 490
Elkhart, IN 46515
Email:
CustomerSupportCenter@DometicUSA.com

  Stay safe, and feel free to comment on this post.

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com

Cold Weather RV Camping

We arrived in central Oregon and found a beautiful spot in Sun River. It is spectacular with the mountains all around. I guess most people wouldn't consider this cold. It is in the 70's during the day, but it drops to the low 30's and even the 20's at night. I had to learn to disconnect my fresh water hose in the evening and make sure the water bay heater was on. The first morning I had to let the faucet drip for a while before it got flow. I am sure that it would not be fun to have any broken pipes in here. Our motorhome is fairly easy to heat. We use a ceramic heater and the propane furnace. I don't know how the people in the tents stay warm!

Later...

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com

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The Adventure Begins -- The Motorhome won't start!

Every day is a learning experience when you own a recreational vehicle. Our motorhome is awesome, and we have been having  a great time with it since December. A quick recap--- we have been in the Mesa, Arizona area for 10 years. We have made the decision to work and travel in the motorhome full time. Our home is leased, and we have moved on from our jobs. The last 5 months have been spent making all these things happen. We have been living in the motorhome and learning all we can about it before we actually got too far from our comfort zone, and all the people we know that can fix what goes wrong.

In March, we had all the chassis maintenance things done at Massey Diesel in Phoenix. Tom did the oil changes on engine and generator, greased and lubed everything, found and changed a broken shock, and generally got our new home ready to hit the road. His extensive checklist is awesome.

Okay, so yesterday was our departure day from the "comfort zone". We got up and left Mesa about 4:30 am., and don't have any plans on returning to Arizona for 6 month or so. We are headed to Oregon first, so we decided to go up I-5 in California, and could be through Los Angeles by 1pm and avoid some of the traffic. Great Plan!! Then came our first real motorhome challenge. We stopped at a rest area just outside of Indio. We walked around a bit to get the kinks out and got ready to leave. THE MOTORHOME WOULDN'T START!!!  Talk about feeling helpless. Now what? Call Tom. Now I get to crawl under the motorhome and tap the starter with a hammer to see if it has a flat spot, and see if power is getting to it.   This is the picture of me under the motorhome pretending I have a clue what to do. We have 12.7 volts to the starter and it still won't start.

Now I am on the phone with Workhorse. The person on the other end of the phone is Donna. She says they will call a tow truck and get it to a service facility. This is my worst nightmare! I have been in the RV repair business for a long time, and there is never a good thing about putting a 40 foot motorhome on the "hook". I suggest that maybe she could put me on the phone with a technician for some trouble shooting. Donna puts me on hold and comes back with a checklist of troubleshooting ideas. We started in the dash area. Of course, she wants me to push buttons that aren't really there. When Workhorse builds a chassis, they send it to the motorhome Manufacturer (Mandalay), and they get to build a house around it. Since no two manufacturer will put the buttons in the same place on the dash, Donna has no idea where the button could be. I do...it doesn't exist. Okay, anyway, we went through the entire process, and ended up in the outside fuse panel. Yahoo! The fuse to the starter relay is blown. The bad news is, we don't have one. It is a great big 40amp blade fuse. I guess this is why we tow a car. Dorothy got in the car and went to find a fuse. Donna called ahead and knew they had them at the next truck stop.

New fuse..We are back on the road. Thanks to Tom at Massey and Donna at Workhorse, and no tow truck for us. We drove through LA at 4:30 with just a few white knuckle moments, and slept soundly at the first Flying J we came to.

Our adventure begins

Until Later...

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com

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RV Travel -- Potty Talk

Nobody really gets down and dirty when they do the recreational vehicle potty talk, yet rv owners seem obsessesed with sewage. Every campground we visit has a different set of rules. The first rule is don't leave your black tank gate valve open while you are in a campground and have a sewer hookup. This will cause a pyramid in your black tank. This happens because when you use your toilet, all the liquids will drain out and the solids will begin building up into a pyramid of toilet paper and human waste. This is BAD. This is also an expensive repair if it gets bad enough. Fortunately, I am not speaking from personal experience!

We are loving our new adventure. We haven't left the desert Southwest yet, but are traveling about 200 miles a week. Our Motorhome is performing beautifully, although not trouble free. When we got to our last stop, we put up our batwing TV antenna, and all the parts fell out in my hand. At least we are never bored!

Until Later...

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com

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RV Travel -- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Be safe in your RV.

We wrote about a deadly carbon monoxide incident back in August, 2006. It seems that with the harshness of this winter in some areas that this artcle bears repeating. Please let your non RVing friends know of the dangers of this silent killer.

Recently, a family of six died in Washington State from Carbon Monoxide poisoning while sleeping in their RV. This is the gas emitted from your engine exhaust. It is also emitted from your generator exhaust.  Please be safe. Check your exhausts for leaks and make sure your tail pipe is in good condition. Also make sure you are exhausting away from camping areas. Carbon Monoxide is colorless and odorless. If you are sleeping, and overcome with carbon monoxide, you will probably not wake up. Turn off your generator at night if at all possible. If you must run it, make sure your system is in good repair. Here are the symptoms of carbon monoxide:

Dizziness, Vomitting, Nausea, Muscular Twitching, Intense Headache, Throbbing in the Temples, Weakness and Sleepiness, Inability to Think Coherently.

If you or anyone in your party experiences any of these symptoms get to fresh air immediately. If the symptoms persist get medical attention. Shut the generator down and do not operate until it has been inspected and repaired by a professional.

RV travel should be safe and fun. Do not use a generator in an enclosed area!

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.TirePressureSafety.com
http://www.RVSafetyExpert.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://locorvcat.com
http://www.RVPartMart.com

Moving into Our Motorhome

This is Tough!

We have been getting ready to move into the motorhome for about 6 months. We rented a storage unit for the memorabilia, moved every thing out of every closet in the house and sorted it out, went through every tool in the garage, and had 3 garage sales. Now that we have the motor home, we realize that we didn't have a clue about what to save, or what we needed in it. Back to the drawing board.

Fortunately, the Presidio has almost every thing we need. We have a small wish list that is almost done. We added 2 electical outlets in the living room for convenience and  the central vacuum goes in today. In selecting a spot for the vacuum, we discovered why the living room is so cold in the morning. There are just 2 ducts off the furnace. One goes into the living room with one small round duct, and the other goes into the little bath area with the toilet and then on to the bedroom. To operate efficiently, this furnace should have 4 ducts. We are adding 2 more today. One will go in the kitchen area, and the other will go into the living room. If we need more than that, we will travel south until we find warmer weather!

Our other big project is to have a fully automatic DataStorm Internet dish. We are having that installed on January 10th, so until then we are roughing it as far as internet goes. We still have the cable at the house, but we spend less and less time there.

I don't know how to decide what to take with us on this journey. This is hardly roughing it, and we are going to continue our internet websites.

Until later,

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.TirePressureSafety.com
http://www.RVSafetyExpert.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com/
http://www.RVPartMart.com

We Bought the New Motorhome

2005 Mandalay Presidio

Yep. We bought it. After several years of wishing and planning, we found our dream motorhome. I won't go into lots of details on the coach, but it is 39 1/2 feet long, has 4 slideouts, about 13,500 miles on it, and a Cummins 330. Those are the most frequently asked questions. Now let's get to the nitty gritty. This is an exciting time for us.

I have been in the RV service industry for 30 years. I have worked in dealerships, service centers, and even for manufacturers, and I really had no idea how overwhelming it would be to drive a diesel motorhome, and have all the questions of a newbie. Suddenly I am on the other end of the process. It started when I pulled into the truck stop to get fuel. We had done all the calculations, and have budgeted for this, but when the pump read $200.00 for 1 fill up, the reality was shocking. That triggered all the other questions. What do I really need to do to get organized to maintain as much of this as I can, and what will I need to take into a service center. We have publised some checklists in the past, and they were quite complete, but we will be developing a real life checklist now and a maintenance schedule to stick to.

There is so much to remember. I have been in literally hundreds of motorhomes. I know there is a lot to  remember when you get one, but it is so much easier to tell people what to do than to have it parked in your driveway. Now I will see if I can practice what I have been preaching. We did a thorough cleaning today, and tomorrow the real fun begins. We will let you know how all this goes...even the disasters.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE

Susan Cox and Dorothy Loll

RV Maintenance and Travel Safety
Maximizing Your RV Experience

http://www.TirePressureSafety.com
http://www.LoCoRVCat.com
http://www.RVTips4U.com
http://www.RVPressurePro.com
http://rvtravel.nicheinfocenter.com/
http://www.RVPartMart.com