Issue 1036 • January 21, 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.
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RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury will spend one hour this evening on the phone with radio show host Alan Warren, which you can watch taped live on Facebook and YouTube from 6-7 p.m., Pacific time. Please join him during this open line segment by calling during the show or leaving a recorded message anytime before. The number is 855-296-7469 (and then press 3).
QUICK TIPS
Alternative sewer hose caddy
Plenty of us stuff our sewer hose in the convenient rear bumper. Trouble is, according to rvroadtrip.us, the bumper will eventually rust, leaving your hose with nasty little pin-prick leaks. They bought a six-foot PVC fence post at a big box lumber store along with two end caps. Using plumber’s hanging tape, the new carrier was tied to the RV frame, close to the dump port. See more here.
Keep the outdoor dog food dish from tipping
Does Rover roll-over his water or food dish when parked outside? Here’s a tip from the vspotblog: “We usually camp in the mountains and Corsa’s ‘spot’ is often on a slope.” Corsa’s folks put down two bundt pans, with a stake driven through the center. “The stakes keep her dishes from sliding away and from getting tipped over. If you don’t have extra stakes, even a stick will do. Check out your local thrift shops or yard sales to pick up a couple of old pans.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Crickets can tell you the outside temperature. It’s true! In 1897 physicist Amos Dolbear claimed that the outdoor temperature determined the number of cricket “chirps” one would hear, but a few years later, that theory was flip-flopped; the number of cricket “chirps” would identify the temperature. To convert cricket chirps to degrees Fahrenheit, count number of chirps in 14 seconds then add 40 to get the temperature. Example: 30 chirps + 40 = 70° F. It’s been proven, try it yourself!
MORE QUICK TIPS
Don’t let moisture add to your daily [seasoning] grind
For those of us who love fresh ground pepper and fresh ground sea salt on our food but worry about moisture getting in while RVing, I found some great grinders that really do the job! They have stainless steel lids on top that keep moisture out, plus the grinding mechanisms are on the top as well, so no more messes all over your table. They have fully adjustable grinds (from fine to coarse), and even come with a cute little stand – I highly recommend. Less than $20 for the set, on Amazon. Thanks to Erinn MayerÂ
Inverter information for newbies
Inverters are nice to have at times when you are dry camping and/or when you don’t have access to 120 volts AC. Batteries produce power in Direct Current (DC) that run at low voltages. Power companies and AC generators produce sine wave Alternating Current (AC), which is used to operate 120-volt appliances and electronic equipment. An inverter takes 12-volt DC power from your RV batteries and electronically changes it to 120-volt AC. Some RVers use an inverter just to watch TV or for their personal computer. Tip from Mark Polk, RV Education 101.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Hometalk
Forget hiring someone, do it yourself! Hometalk is an excellent DIY (do-it-yourself) website with thousands of project ideas – most of them are perfect for the RV too. Additionally, there’s a great section where you can ask questions like, “How do I make my skinny and deep pantry more efficient?” where other DIYers can answer.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
LOVE TO FISH?
These items will lure you in:
- This hilarious shirt will make everyone on the pier laugh
- Keep this useful fishing multitool in your pocket (it makes a great gift too)
- You’ll definitely want this to hang in the RV
- You’ll want to show off these socks
- These fishing-by-state map books will do all the hard work for you (besides the actual fishing part, of course)
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
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Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY.
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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.
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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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I add a300watt inverter above my power box and remove a 12 volt 15 amp fuse, Re install in series with my inverter to fuze box and I can run low wattage appliances while bondocking or traveling or overnight Walmart stopps
I drill 3/4 inch holes in rear bumper and insert a 6 in 3/4 boltthis keeps sewer Hose from getting out dragging or losing it by adding sewer caps no odder or contaminants enters rear bumper
While the efficiency of power inverters has dramatically improved in recent years, it’s still more efficient to have a 12 volt flatscreen and some laptops computers also run on 12 volts. (It’s not enough to recharge the battery) My 13 inch TV draws just over one amp. Be sure to disconnect the TV when it’s not going to be used for a while as they do pull a little power even when they’re not turned on.
Very true. It’s always best to run what you brung, if possible. So if you have 120-volts AC to begin with, then 120-volts will generally be the most efficient. And if you have 12-volts DC available, then 12-volts will probably be the most efficient method. That is, unless you have to move that 12 volts DC a long distance (more than a few feet), and with lots of amperage (more than 5 or 10 amperes). In that case, it’s far better to invert (step it up) it to 120-volts AC, move it 30 or 40 feet, then step it back down to 12-volts DC. If not, then you’ll be running starter motor sized cables all over the place. Thomas Edison found this out the hard way when he lost his grip on DC power distribution.
Thanks for that info.
Other than writing a comment how do you check in to vote for a comment.
Congratulations! You’re the 10,000th person to ask that question. You’ve won: a free subscription to the free newsletter! SMH
If i had to guess, i’d think it got disabled to avoid the popularity contest affect. Editors?
As you see you got an upvote from me. Click on RV Forums above on this page. On the right side log in to the forum. First you have to registered. Then click on CATEGORIES at the top of the page. Then click on Daily Tips Newsletter. Pick the Newsletter you want to vote on.
It would be nice if they included this in a cookie or something so you did not need to login every time.
What a inefficient non user friendly way of implementing that. The new system just plain sucks.
Our 2008 Ram 2500 diesel truck is still going strong after 160,000 miles, hauling a 34-foot HitchHiker fiver for two years and a heavier 36-foot Carriage Cameo the last nine years all over N. America (including two summers in Alaska). We’ll do what we can to keep her goin’ as long as we have the Cameo. Jim does most of the maintenance himself on all of our vehicles. He kept a 2002 Honda Odyssey running smoothly for 160,000 miles, too; we replaced it with an SUV last year primarily for more safety features.
The photo is of a grass hopper not a cricket
ha-ha-ha…..
I thought that, but didn’t want to say it. Now, the picture of the “inverter” which is actually a refrigerator…
You looked, didn’t you? 🙂
Nope, it’s a cricket. Google “crickets” and look at the pictures of crickets to confirm.
It was updated. Thanks, Mark, and everyone who commented. —Diane at RVtravel.com
I bought a length of plastic rain gutter and slid it into our trailer bumper. The hose slides in nicely, and slides out just as nicely. No rust.
that’s not a cricket
C’mon you guys. Lighten up. Though I already knew about the cricket temperature thing, it’s still an interesting fact. Not a lot of crickets here in the Nevada desert but when we’re anywhere where crickets reside, we try to remember to see how accurate the little fellas are.
Why do you have to be so negative. If you don’t like what you read quit reading it but don’t leave negative remarks on here please.
Aah Grasshoppah!