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Issue 1041 • January 29, 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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QUICK TIPS
Need an office in your RV? Really cramped for space?
You may find this idea a bit difficult to swallow, but hey, if you’re really, really tight on space, here’s one possibility. Frankly, it’s difficult to imagine how much trouble it would be to set up and tear down every day – or maybe you could just sleep on the dinette at night. Part of the collection on Mark and Karen’s blog, ourfutureinanrv.com.
CFLs are so 2010
With electricity expert and veteran RVer Mike Sokol
This is more for your bricks-and-sticks home than your mobile abode, but unless you’re living full time in your RV, then this quick tip is for you. As I’m sure you all know by now, old-school filament lamps have been removed from the lighting aisles at your big box store, replaced first by CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), and most lately by LED (light emitting diode) lamps. LED bulbs can be great, but you have to be careful as to what you select. First, determine if you have any light dimmers in the circuit. If you do, then you must select an LED lamp (or even CFL) that says it’s “dimmable.” Secondly, both CFL and LED lamps are rated with something called color temperature.
For those inclined to dig a little deeper, color temperature is actually the color spectrum emitted by a black body radiator in degrees Kelvin. So, a 2,700K (degrees Kelvin) bulb has a much more warm, red/yellow light (like the original tungsten bulbs we all grew up with), while a 3,500K bulb is much bluer (like an old-school fluorescent bulb), while task lighting where you need to see a lot of detail is generally 4,000K to 5,500K, and sunlight is really up there around 6,000K. Personally, I like the warm 2,700K lights a lot better than the bluer bulbs since too much lighting in the blue spectrum can make your eyes tired.
Finally, there are a few different ways these LED bulbs are built, and I’ve been installing LED filament “Edison” bulbs for the last few years, as soon as they became available. Instead of a single hot-spot of the very intense LED source, they spread out the light over dozens of tiny LED strings that closely resemble the old filament bulbs we’re replacing. And because LED lamps are way more efficient than tungsten filament lamps, or even CFL lamps, you can use a lot less electricity in your stationary home, as well.
I’ve been using 2-watt and 6-watt filament LEDs in my area and reading lamps, and they look and work great. I find that the 2-watt versions are perfect for low-light areas, while the 6-watt versions put out a lot more lumens, closer to the brightness of a 60-watt tungsten bulb. Here’s what I use in my own home, and they’ve worked perfectly for the last year or more. Get the 2-watt version here or the 6-watt version here.
“Guide to Free Campgrounds” directory updated after 4 years
Any RVer that has been on the road for awhile likely has a dog-eared and ragged copy of Don Wright’s “Guide to Free Campgrounds.” It’s been four years since the latest edition, and much has changed and been added. Read more about it here, and maybe order a copy of the brand-new 832-page guide for yourself or for a gift for your RVing friends.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Control board service tips – part 2 of 3
Reader Dan Kooienga is a service manager with 40+ years experience. Responding to an earlier post on testing “smart boards” on refrigerators and other RV appliances he adds a bit of advice from the field. “RV PC boards can often be exposed to moisture and possibly soap when cleaning the RV or other reasons. PC boards are low-cost items and usually not coated well (or not at all) with varnish to seal them. Moisture creeps into the relays, affects resistance components and corrodes unprotected surfaces. PC boards can be sprayed with a protectant made for this application, such as “Fluid Film” or “Super Lube Teflon spray”. Don’t use solvent based sprays such as WD40. Remember to let the fumes dissipate before using the component and/or closing the enclosure it is in.” You can find this product here. We’ll have another of Dan’s tips in our next edition.
Window and door seals
Always check rubber seals around windows and doors. You want to replace them if they’re looking worn. It can lead to unpleasant water leaks if you don’t stay on top of it.
—From RV Living Full Time: 100+ Amazing Tips, Secrets, Hacks & Resources to Motorhome Living
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Campspace
This is a neat website if you’re into “micro-camping” (camping in small places on private land). You can browse campsites around the world where you’ll find everything from people’s beautiful backyard gardens, to fields near farmhouses, to lush jungle pads. If you don’t RV full-time, you can become a host and rent out your own space for extra income.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
Our friend and fellow RVer, Malia Lane, has published her book! You can read all of Malia’s blog posts here. What would you do if you had no fear? The author had always dreamed of traveling, and in 2001 began her courageous new life in a Winnebago motorhome. This is a story of facing fears and fulfilling dreams. It’s the story of adventure, excitement, and discovery – and triumph over fear – as told in the closing chapter of Malia’s own life. You can find her book here.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
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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.
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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 checked “music on an app” because that was closest to what I actually use. I have an iPod that I have loaded with almost 2,000 songs that I like (I have fairly wide tastes). I listen to that except when I am driving around home, where I have a favorite radio station.
I use premium spotify on my Iphone or Ipad while driving. I have almost 2300 single cuts and albums downloaded plus there is a feature where I can select an artist and follow them and it automatically puts together a playlist for me of that artists and artists whose music is similiar. Works for me, I get news when I dock, and weather updates on my SO’s Iphone while i’m driving. Has anyone noticed how the tempo of the music can affect your speed or is that just me?
I haven’t noticed that, Rory. But I have noticed that I turn the volume down when trying to find an address — like that’s going to help me! 😮 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Who’d believe 2 Canadians RVing almost 20,000 miles per Snowbird season listen to Sirius CNN, MSNBC, FOX and occasionally music, hours each day. Sick?.
My answer of “radio” is Sirius 50s or 60s music.
Again, whoever constructs these surveys fails to include a category. Ever hear of CDs?
Me too!?
I highly recommend the “Guide To Free Camping” book – We just got one & although we haven’t actually visited a park listed, the book is concise, to the point, and most importantly (at least to ME), is alphabetized by state, then by city. It also lists at the very front of each state, which states allow overnight stays at their rest stops. A good book to keep in the RV!
We listen music stored on our ipod in our truck when we are traveling. We have about 1300 songs on the ipod which give us about 60 hours of music. We occasionally add or remove some music on it.
I took a look at Campspace and it appears to be a fairly new system. It doesn’t appear to me that it’s ready for prime time in the USA since all the daily rent shown is in Euros, I’m guessing that’s because it was started in Norway. Surely there is a similar system out there for the U.S., although I couldn’t find one.
boondockerswelcome.com
On your survey today, you didn’t list either comedy or talk radio. Also many RVers listen to satellite radio such as XM which has many different genres. We usually start out with light jazz in the morning, then 60’s on 6 and finally various comedy channels. I also listen to baseball games during the season.
I don’t recall now which of these new fangled bulbs it is or was – but you aren’t supposed to use them with a timer – as some of us do when leaving home for awhile. I presume the reason is like the one I had at my reading recliner – it blew a hole thru the side of the base – like a bullet hole. Fire risk? I don’t know but probably the reason for timer caution.
A timer is just an automated on/off switch. It causes no problems.
John: Unfortunately, when I use a timer – I am not at home, nor is anyone else! So, if it catches fire, shorts the wiring and the shade burns then what? Not just an on/off switch. It is an on-off switch without a human monitor present!
Re the driving poll:
There should be a separate listing for satellite as you listed podcasts and apps separately.
It’s hard to find LEDs in equivalency to 100 to 150 watt, which is what my old eyes need to be comfortable reading.
We usually start out listening to music on the radio until we start losing the signal. Then we just turn the radio off and actually talk to each other as we’re driving.
We download audiobooks on our phones. Surprised percentage is so low. The miles just melt away while engrossed in a good story, especially with a good reader.
I only listen to satellite radio when I travel. That way I never have to search for a new radio station every hundred miles. Country classics rule.
The listening choices does not include stored music and that is what we have always done. We can’t use anything that requires continues web access as we don’t usually run interstates.
“Brekkie” should be “below”. Stupid spell check!
Why is “Join the discussion” ABOVE the discussion? It should be brekkie because I don’t always know whether or not I want to join the discussion. If I find I do, I have to backtrack to get to where I can.
I marked “Nothing” because I like to hear what my truck and trailer are “saying”. I also talk/listen to my S.O.
NPR! You can drive coast to coast and because most public stations have some overlap, you can usually just have continuous programming. Lineups may change when you cross into different states, but I like the continuity and not constantly having to search for new stations that are worth listening to.
There wasn’t an option for listening to my wife’s!