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Issue 1431
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
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” —Dr. Seuss
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Cheeseburger Day!
On this day in history: 1870 – Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn.
If you are a member of an RV club or are affiliated with an RV-related event would you please let us know if its gatherings, meetings, etc., are cancelled or postponed because of the coronavirus? We’ll pass along the info to our readers. We appreciate any news related to RVing that’s being affected by the virus. Please submit it here. Thank you!
Tip of the Day
RV weight limits can sneak up on you
By Greg Illes
I’ve learned to always drive my RV within its specified weight limits. How I learned this is a long and somewhat sordid tale, but I’ll touch on the highlights.
First of all, know that “stock” motorhomes do not have a reputation as load-haulers. Manufacturers seem to play a minimalist game, buying a chassis (from Ford or whoever) that will just barely hold their coach, its occupants, and a few odds and ends. Add in full water/gas/propane tanks, food and clothing, some tools and toys — it’s way too easy to bust the limits. What are the limits? Greg explains here.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Gardening for RVers? Yup, right on your bumper!
One thing Tiña De Maris missed when on the road was a garden. Sure, you can put a potted flower on the dinette, but it’s just not the same, and vegetables don’t always lend themselves to a little bitty pot. Russ, being the supportive hubby that he is, not to mention fresh fruit and vegetable lover, constructed the ultimate traveling garden: the RV bumper garden. It’s not too difficult, and maybe you can have one too! Learn more.
Yesterday’s featured article: RV Mods: Lock your LP cylinders away from thieves
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- MotorHome, Trailer Life magazines to cease publishing
- Idaho brothers debut campers in a box for pickup trucks
- So did they want a motorhome or a fifth wheel? Don’t try this at home!Â
- “Keep-on-hand” items for RV repair work
Reader poll
Does your RV have a built-in outdoor kitchen?Â
Cook something up then tell us here.
Quick Tip
Don’t crowd food in the fridge
Arrange food in the refrigerator with space between the items to allow for free air circulation. This will ensure that heat is removed efficiently and quickly. Also, don’t over-pack the fridge. When it is full, it takes longer for the temperature to lower. An overcrowded fridge will take longer to make ice and a heavy load may cause defrosting.
Be like Mike, use silicone!
Mike Sokol says: Never use any kind of petroleum-based products on rubber or plastic components in your RV, such as your trailer connector. That includes products such as Vaseline, WD40 or any other type of spray lubricating oil. Doing so will eventually break down the plastic and/or rubber components causing them to swell up and eventually disintegrate. The proper treatment is anything silicone-based. We use a lot of Heavy Duty Silicone in our shop for general connector cleaning and lubrication. It’s also useful on rubberized door sweeps and such. You can get some of your own here.
Website of the day
Work For RVers
Looking for some work while on the road? This website shows current job postings you can do from your RV, or while you’re on the road passing through. Worth checking out!
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: The best website for RVers! Your membership will become your RV-bible.
• 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.
• Escapees. Best Club for RVers: All RVers welcome, no matter what type of RV, make or model.
Trivia
Ever just mean to eat a little bit of something, but then finish the whole thing “accidentally”? Well, there’s a word for that. “Shemomechama” is a Georgian word that means, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.” Next time you do that and someone is upset with you, tell them this piece of trivia. By the time you’re done pronouncing the word, they’ll have forgotten you ate it!
*Which state has the most shoreline? It’s probably not what you think… Find out in yesterday’s trivia section.
Soap and water won’t work!
Easily remove bugs, tar, sap and grease
Tarminator Tar & Sap Remover breaks down the complex molecules found in tar and other sticky materials. The unique MicroActive cleaning technology gives Tarminator unequaled ability to remove even baked-on tar, grease, sap and asphalt. Soap and water just won’t do it! Learn more or order.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Leaving the groomer parlor and headed for sunny Florida in the motorhome.” —Richard Silva
Send us a photo of your pet with a short description. We publish one each weekday in RV Daily Tips and in our Saturday RV Travel newsletter.
Leave here with a laugh
Did you watch that movie about the hot dog? It was an Oscar Wiener.
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
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Editor: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Social media and special projects director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. 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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This newsletter is copyright 2020 by RVtravel.com
Regarding the ad for “Tarminator”, beware that the back of the can says “Tarminator is a powerful product that can harm clear plastics, adhesives, decals, and solvent sensitive materials”. This means if you don’t have paint only (no decals, no fibreglass), you might want to avoid this cleaner.
I find it amusing that you have an article about overloading your RV and then an article about adding a garden.
Thanks for the rv worker link- interesting jobs there.
On “filling the fridge: — I’ve read that once a refrigerator and its contents are cold, then the fuller it is, the less the fridge has to work to keep it cold. Also, if the fridge loses its power source (propane or electricity), the thermal mass of what’s inside will keep it all cooler, longer. Is this correct? And if it is, there’s always the question of how one to chill everything down with the fridge not too full, and then get it full without adding a bunch of stuff that’s at room temperature, all at once.
My experience is that as long as you don’t add anything that’s not cold, you can pack it full. (Allowing space at the top near the cooling fins and I have a fan to circulate air across the fins. The air would mostly flow along the door.)
We never add warm food! When loading up pretrip, we use ice chests to move the food from the home refrigerator and freezer to the RV with it’s overnight pre-chilled refrigerator.
If we resupply on the road, we pre-chill beverages in an ice chest. We also take a lot of homemade frozen foods and let them thaw for a day or two before use in the refrigerator.
We’ve never had a problem. But if you’re adding food that needs to be cooled, you need lots of free space.
This is also NATIONAL POW/MIA DAY. Let us not forget the 53,000 plus who gave all and also all those that gave some during this period of American History.
Thanks Mark! As a Vietnam Veteran, I know they will not be forgotten.
Your article on “crowding the fridge” reminded me of a great YouTube video I came across that solved a problem WE were having. My wife had to almost empty the fridge every other day to remove the ‘ice bar’ and water that would collect at the rear of the fridge. If this wasn’t done often enough, water would drip on everything in the fridge. Nothing in the owner’s manual about it either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1tfgsZR-8&list=PLtRNRlbyEH3Wtf5V6oT9UeHGOES-c-8Pc&index=16&t=12s
It’s a quick and easy fix, and has totally solved our fridge ice problem.