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Issue 1029 • January 8, 2019
Welcome to another fabulous edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here, you’ll find helpful RV-related, and small-space living, tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate your readership.
If you shop at Amazon, would you use one of the links below to do your shopping? The link in the blue bar above also works. Thanks.
U.S. shoppers: Shop at Amazon.com
Canadian shoppers: Shop at Amazon.ca
QUICK TIPS
Running on empty
With electricity expert and veteran RVer Mike Sokol
I keep receiving emails from readers who wonder why they wake up one morning and discover their RV house batteries are dead. Perhaps they’ve been running from battery power for days without sufficient recharging, but the simple “fuel gauge” that many RVs use can let you down. If that happens, it’s time to install a digital meter that has a multi-segment fuel gauge that makes it obvious when your batteries are beginning to discharge. Roger Marble, RV Tire Safety, asked me this exact question recently, so you can expect a more detailed report from Roger once he gets one installed. Here is the digital meter on Amazon.com.
BTW: If you want to hear and see Jackson Browne performing “Running on Empty” live, then click HERE. He really is a fabulous performer and writer.
K-Cup storage trick
If you’re one of the multitudes who’s adopted Keurig K-Cup® brews, you may be frustrated in where to put them in the typical RV galley storage space. Here’s an idea squirreled away by Pinterest user inge shirey. Find lengths of the appropriate diameter PVC pipe, cut slots in the pipe as shown, then mount under a shelf or cabinet. Your K-Cups are in easy reach but out of the way.
Need a place for Fido to stay while you’re out of town?
Rover.com is an excellent source of thousands of dog sitters, walkers, doggie-daycares and more available in your area, so Fido can stay at a home (or in someone else’s home) instead of in a kennel. Find trusted (and insured) sitters here. Use code EMILYW72593 for $20 off your first booking. (Yup, staff writer Emily uses Rover all the time for her dog and highly recommends it.)
The “Cramper” is the world’s tiniest camper. It can sit up to four people, and cost about $1,500 to build. Want one for yourself? Click here to read about it.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Avoid blowing your landing gear fuse
“I’ve learned four different ways to blow my fifth wheel landing gear’s protection fuse. Extend the legs too far. Retract the legs too far. Attempt to lift the truck with the landing gear. Extended and set up the rear stabilizer jacks before the front landing gear.” Thanks to loveyourrv.com.
El cheapo funnel
Need a disposable one-time funnel? Cut up a plastic water bottle. They make great cheap funnels. Thanks to Tom Phipps.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Wandering Bird
This award-winning travel blog is sure to inspire you on your travels. Kat and her husband have explored 15 countries and traveled more than 25,000 miles in their RV … in just 12 months. Explore their site for useful articles, tips and inspiration.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
READER POLL
Have you ever damaged a relationship because of an email message or social media post? Tell us here.
Is your RV too hot in the summer? Too cold in the winter? Camco’s highly rated vent insulator and skylight cover features a thick layer of foam which helps stop heat transfer, keeping you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Installation is easy – simply push the fitted foam into your skylight, reflective side up. The insulator is designed to fit standard 14″x14″ RV vents. Learn more or order here.LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
Q: What do you call a deer with no eyes?
A: No eye deer. (*say it out loud)
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com.
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Staff writer: Emily Woodbury. Contributing writers: Russ De Maris, Bob Difley, Gary Bunzer, Roger Marble, Mike Sokol, Greg Illes, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising coordinator: Gail Meyring. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
ADVERTISE on RVtravel.com and/or in this newsletter. Contact Gail Meyring at Gail(at)RVtravel.com .
Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.
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This newsletter is copyright 2019 by RVtravel.com
I posted a sarcastic comment that didn’t “read” as intended to a dear friend. It took a bit of explaining but we survided the misunderstanding.
The link to the digital meter mentioned in Mike Sokol’s tip has been corrected. We apologize for the error. —Diane at RVtravel.com
Avoid blowing your landing gear fuse by replacing it with an appropriately sized, inline, breaker. The breaker will reset itself if you draw too much power. Saves time, money and saves searching for another fuse.
Re: deleterious emails — of course. Probably lost hundreds of friends that way. At least, that presumes I ever had hundreds of friends. OK, I’ve lost some friends and jobs that way, for sure, though. One thing I tend to do is never enter the email address until I’m DONE writing the email, just in case I still have notes-to-self like “Tell this jerk what a stupid idea he had…” Once that’s cleaned up into “Putz, that’s not a good idea, you bozo!”, I go ahead and send it. Also watch what contact nicknames you use — calling someone “Ignoramus at ImportantClient.com” may get sucked into your email header… Not that I’ve ever done that, either, of course.
Re: the meter with a bad link from Sokul — for about $2 you can get a voltmeter with a 10-segment LED from aliexpress.com — just search it, free shipping.
…BUT — no simple voltmeter is worth a darn in this application since load makes the voltage bounce up and down each time you turn on a light or pump or anything else. I use a “smart” meter that compensates for load, analyzes the wear on the battery, and projects remaining runtime based on historical drains… a bit more than a panel voltmeter!
Reader poll: email sent intentionally or not intentionally? Very easy to send a non-intentional email (thanks to email address memory). But poll asks just by ‘sending’ which implies intentional. Two very different things.
Q: What do you call a deer with no eyes?
A: No eye deer. (*say it out loud)
Q: What do you call the same deer with no legs?
A: Still, no eye deer
What do you call a deer with no eyes and legs that lived as a sinner, got caught in a forest fire, and then got hit by a car?
Still no flaming bloody eye deer in hell.
I was interested in the meter Mike Sokol references in his column. The link goes to ebay where the item is out of stock and that’s all it says. Doesn’t list the item nor is the name of the item listed in the article. Therefore, there is no way of finding out what item Mike is referencing.
Hi, Jeffrey, sorry about that. We’ve updated the tip!
–Emily, RVtravel.com
The hot link in your very first TIP is incorrect.
“click here to get one for yourself.”
https://www.ebay.com/i/391879413939?chn=ps
Out of stock without any identification of item.
Hi Dr4Film and Don, sorry about that. We’ve updated the tip!
–Emily, RVtravel.com
Try again!!!!
Sorry Emily, that link goes to an adapter cable not a power meter for me.
Sorry, Jerry — and others. It’s fixed now. Our sincere apologies for the hassle. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com