Friday, November 1, 2019
Welcome to another edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related and living tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, tips on our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you. Please tell your friends about us.
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Today’s thought
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Cook-For-Your-Pets Day!
Tip of the Day
Dirty electrical contacts? DeoxIT!
Several readers picked up on a recent discussion about cleaning shore power connectors. This led us to report on a product called DeoxIT that could have a number of uses for RV do-it-yourselfers.
Here are a few words from our electrical specialist, Mike Sokol: “I’ve used DeoxIT for decades on my pro-sound gear. We use it on speaker connectors, power connectors such as cam-lok and twist-lock plugs (just like RV power), volume controls, gold-plated circuit boards (like in RV refrigerator control boards), etc. There are several different versions of DeoxIT depending on if you want built-in lubricant for potentiometers, or gold contact refurbishing or simply oxidation removal.”
Here’s information about the product at Amazon. It should also be available at your local hardware store.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Dunedocking – RVing in the sand!
Sand dunes exist throughout the western states and offer great camping opportunities for boondocking. Many of the inland dunes are administered by the Bureau of Land Management or a similar government agency. The majority of these dunes permit free camping and the use of off-road vehicles. With the off-road crowd being weekend warriors, you will typically have the dunes all to yourself during the week. Read more.
 WAREHOUSE DEALS on RV products on Amazon. New and Used. Click.
You may have missed these stories last week…
- I want this! Have you ever seen an RV so cute?
- Major RV retailer put on bankruptcy danger listÂ
- Generator automatic transfer switches 101
- Your fifth-wheel: Leave it hitched or not?Â
- Lonely Mina, Nevada. Not a ghost town, but close
- 16 surprising ways to use toothpaste
Reader poll
It’s time to clean your CPAP machine!
An RVtravel.com survey revealed that 56% of you who answered (or your partner) use a CPAP machine. Wow! When was the last time your machine was cleaned thoroughly? They get very dirty! This highly rated cleaning kit will get out all those yucky germs and bacteria. The extendable brush will expand to 7 feet, but folds up into a small plastic bag so as to not take up too much room in your RV. If you use a CPAP, you’ll want this.Â
Quick Tip
Plastic ammo cans come in handy
From reader Mark Anderson: “We all have many aerosol cans we use for maintenance and cleaning, etc. I have found the best way to carry them in my motorhome basement is in a plastic ammo can. They are inexpensive and available in many big box stores and Amazon. They stay in one place, are easy to access, and with the lid closed and latched nothing can leak or spray if something falls on them.”Â
Random RV Thought
Unless your motorhome or tow vehicle is “headlights always on,” always switch to your parking lights when driving in a campground after dark. Your neighbors will appreciate it.
Get rid of your RV’s P-trap. Look here.
An honest RV dealer (and one of our sponsors). Click to learn more.
Website of the day
Bounders United
Bounders United is a non-profit international RV club with members of all ages. Since an evening in August 1987, when four Bounder RV owners gathered around a campfire in Pennsylvania and founded the club, Bounders United has been growing by “leaps and bounders.” If you own a Bounder, you may want to join this group.
Clubs and useful organizations
PLEASE NOTE: We may receive an affiliate commission if you join any of these.
• Harvest Hosts: Stay free at farms, wineries and other scenic and peaceful locations for free. Save 15% on membership.
• AllStays. Wow! This might be the most useful online resource for RVers ever created. Check it out to see for yourself.
• Overnight RV parking. Directory of more than 14,000 locations where you can stay for free or nearly free with your RV. Modest membership fee.
• Boondockers Welcome. Stay at homes of RVers who welcome you in their driveways, yards, farmland or other space on their private property. Modest membership fee.
Best-selling vent cover!
Keep rain out and fresh air inside your RV
Few add-ons are more enthusiastically endorsed by RVers as MaxxAir vents. This is the original and best-selling model. Install this over your RV vents, then keep them open in any weather. On rainy days, air from inside your RV can exit without a single drop of rain coming inside. Keep your vents open during storage and while driving. Learn more or order.Â
Trivia
The Seattle Mariners baseball team is dealing with the longest current streak of seasons without a postseason appearance of all four major sports in North America – 18 years and counting. Now, with the Washington Nationals headed to the World Series for the first time, the Mariners stand alone in perpetual failure as the only active organization in Major League Baseball to have never appeared in a World Series.
Leave here with a laugh
Funny bumper sticker: One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
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: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
This website utilizes some advertising services. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Regardless of this potential revenue, unless stated otherwise, we only recommend products or services we believe provide value to our readers.
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
CPAP cleaning: I have a brush like that, but it still can’t clean all the crannies inside the hose. There exists a $600 “SoClean” device the size of a breadmaker that blows some O3 (ozone) through the machine and mask. Exactly the same function, there is a $25 carddeck-size rechargeable O3 generator that you can easily RV travel with, and not even need AC while cleaning. Definitely recommend the last of the three options.
The headlight tip is silly – I’m gonna really resent it when someone runs over my campsite because they were keeping their headlights off in a dark crowded campground. Leave them on as bright as you need to safely and quickly park before shutting them off for good. Next you’ll recommend hitting a tree to save brake squeal?
Ammo cans at Harbor Freight about $2. IMO Just as good as amazon
The Mariners need to hang in there, look how long the Chicago Cubs went before their time came up. 18 years is nothing compared to the Cubs.
At least the cubs had been once before.
Instead of ear plugs, how about sleep masks?
Or toe spacers, hair net, or maybe night light. Some may use a CPAP, white noise or even sleep during the daylight. We need a survey for ALL these things…. Sheeesh
Stay cool
I checked out the Deoxit products. So many choices! To clean ordinary three prong plugs and the trailer electrical hookup, which is the best choice?
If I remember correctly it’s D5 cleaner, the gold version is more of a lubricant/ protectant . I actually have a can of both ( spray) . Works on all sorts of electrical contacts ( cell phone charge ports , usbs ) just don’t spray directly in to your cellphone.
Yes, it’s DeoxIT D5 for general contact cleaning and lubrication. Their F5 is for control faders on a music mixing console, and G5 is for gold contacts on circuit boards. Here’s what I wrote about it last month: https://www.rvtravel.com/rvelectricity-shore-power-maintenance/
I use regular electrical contact cleaner on my 7 prong and 4 prong trailer plugins and keep them covered, dry and clean when not in use and have never had any problems.
Diane,
It’s the red can (spray). Generally accepted as the best cleaner of electrical contacts anywhere.