Inspiration to fix little, irritating RV problems before winterizing

It’s time—time to fix lingering RV issues before winterizing for the off-season. Our dependable fifth wheel has seen us safely through another year of travel and I’m grateful to have explored the places we visited. I’m thankful, too, for the wonderful people we’ve met along the way and the experiences we’ve shared. I’m a little sad to think we’ll be off the road for a few months, but I’m already looking forward to the future trips we’ve planned. Before we winterize our rig and put it into storage, I’m determined to fix some little irritating RV issues.

Squeaky door

For months, our RV’s refrigerator door hinge has squeaked. It began as an innocent “tweep.” Need milk for the breakfast cereal? “Tweep.” Hungry for a mid-morning snack? “Tweep.” But what began as a cheerful little “tweep” soon devolved into a “screech” and eventually became an irritating, two-syllable “sqree-ank!” I applied a couple drops of olive oil to the hinge, opened and closed the door a few times to get the oil down into the hinge components, and no more “sqree-ank.” In fact, there wasn’t even a cheerful “tweep.” Problem solved.

Loose stair rail

It’s hard to believe that we waited so long to fix a safety issue like our loose stair railing. It’s a testament to the fact that humans are indeed adaptable because it didn’t take very long for both my husband and I to develop alternative ways of maneuvering the steps that lead to our RV’s bedroom sans handrail.

Finally, it was time to fix this irritating RV problem. One handrail screw had pulled through the wallboard. We removed that screw and loosened others that held the rail to the wall. We “filled” the oversized screw hole with toothpicks that had been slathered with glue. When the glue dried, we carefully broke off the excess toothpick lengths and reinserted  the screw. The wooden toothpicks held the screw tight. Problem solved.

Bathroom sliding door

Our RV’s bathroom has a pocket door entry. The door recedes into the wall frame when fully open and slides closed when privacy is needed. Well, it’s supposed to slide closed for privacy. However, somewhere along our most recent RV journey, we lost a screw, because the top rail of the pocket door bowed mid-door. The screw that originally held the “slide” or metal rail was gone. The metal rail pulled away from the top of the door frame and prevented the bathroom door from gliding closed. We needed to fix this irritating RV problem.

We looked and looked for the missing screw. Then I remembered our stash of “travel treasures.” More often than not, after a day of traveling, we’ll open up the RV and find a “travel treasure.” It might be a loose screw, a small washer, or other item on the RV floor. If we can’t immediately locate where the piece belongs, I toss it into a plastic zipper-type bag—the “travel treasures” bag. Sure enough, we found a screw from the bag that worked, and the door now glides like it should. Problem solved.

Why?

It took only a few minutes to fix our little irritating RV problems. When we reopen our RV for the next adventure, we won’t be greeted with these tasks. I’m happy about that! I wonder why we put off applying these simple fixes in the first place. My only excuse is that we enjoyed every minute in every place we visited in our RV. We were very busy with work camping, hiking, sightseeing, and so much more.

Do you have little irritating RV problems, too? Will you fix them before winterizing? Tell us about them in the comments below.

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