By Chris Dougherty
Certified RV technician
RV maintenance is something many RVers just completely ignore. We want to change that! I was up on the RV the other day cleaning and treating the roof in preparation for resealing the seams and installing some vent covers (the maintenance will be covered in an upcoming video). The neighbor, who happens to be an RVer, sees me, walks over and says, “Now I’ve seen it all!” When I asked why (and I already knew), he continued that he couldn’t believe that I was scrubbing the roof. I explained all the reasons I was doing it, and I could see a light bulb come on.
This is a common attitude among RVers, I’m sad to say. I see these poor blokes with mushrooms growing out of their walls, all distressed, facing thousands of dollars in losses. This could have been avoided if only they had taken care of their investment.
Folks, even if your rig is new, maintain your roof! I found a multitude of sins on my almost-new roof. I had sealants failing in several spots around vents, and the screws holding the slideout box trim on had come loose, or were never tightened, and appeared to be leaking. There were gaps where trim pieces came together that had never been sealed. Since the coach is a year-and-a-half old and was sitting on the dealer lot all that time with no maintenance, it took a lot of abuse. Since we just got the unit, we’re fixing all the little things that needed fixing. I am determined that this coach will look like new for a long time to come! If you can’t do this yourself, that’s OK — just plan ahead to have your RV service provider do the work. Please believe me, it’s worth the investment.
