Issue 1534
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
“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Peppermint Patty Day!
Psst: Need some chocolate for your valentine?
On this day in history: 1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
Join Mike Sokol from RVelectricity and Danny Rahner from SoftStartRV™ next Tuesday evening, February 16, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern time (5 p.m. Pacific), for Mike’s next “Ask The Expert” YouTube Live Webcast. Danny is SoftStartRV’s lead help desk installation expert. If you have any questions about how to hook up a SoftStartRV to any RV air conditioner, you’ll be able to text him questions in real time. Here’s a link to Mike’s announcement and the link to set a reminder. To learn about what SoftStartRV can do for you, read these earlier posts: RVelectricity: More on how SoftStartRV works and Use your RV air conditioner in low-power situations.
Tip of the Day
Stop throwing money away on throwaway LP gas canisters
By Bob Difley
Stop buying those expensive LP gas canisters to fire up your gas barbecue. Not only is it a spendy proposition, it’s a major hassle running out halfway through cooking the Easter ham. Here’s an adaption that will save you time and money.
The heart and soul of the matter is an adapter that allows you to tie onto a standard LP cylinder, then route the LP to your barbecue regulator/gas control via a hose. Here are two approaches.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Today’s RV review…
Industry insider Tony Barthel writes, “When I was selling RVs, I think I only once saw what’s referred to as a ‘destination trailer.’ It was interesting because these types of trailers aren’t like what many of us buy. Instead, they’re outfitted to basically stay in one place for long periods of time. In fact, many of them find a home and just never leave. As such, today we’re looking at the Forest River Wildwood Grand Lodge 42DL.” Continue reading Tony’s review here.
Did you read Tony’s review yesterday of the Rustic Trail Teardrop Campers, Kodiak Stealth Travel Trailer? If you missed it, you can read it here.
For previous RV reviews, click here.
Is this your RV?
If it’s yours and you can prove it to us (send a photo for comparison), tell us here by 9 p.m. Pacific Standard time today, Feb. 11, 2021. If it’s yours you’ll win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.
If this isn’t your RV, send us a photo of your RV here (if you haven’t already) for a chance to win in future issues.
Last week one reader claimed their $25 Amazon gift card: Norbert D. of Charlotte, North Carolina.
We’ll have another photo in tomorrow’s RV Daily Tips Newsletter (sign up to receive an email alert so you don’t miss the issue or those that follow). Some of these photos are submitted by readers while others were taken by our editors and writers on their travels around the USA.
How to take all your books in the RV
From Chris Guld, Geeks on Tour: “The hardest thing to leave behind when we became full-time RVers was our bookshelves full of books. I am so glad that with my smartphone and the Kindle app, or the Google Play Books app, I can now carry even more books in my pocket than I had in the house!” Learn how easy it is.
Yesterday’s featured article: The myth of full-time RV life versus the reality
Sta-Bil Rust Stopper stops rust and corrosion
Of the many gremlins that attack your RV, like mold, mildew, leaks and black streaks, rust is the gremlin that will attack your hand tools, spare parts, door hinges and other vulnerable metal surfaces and moving parts over time. STA-BIL® Rust Stopper prevents rust and corrosion by protecting metal surfaces with a long-lasting barrier while lubricating parts and tools to stop squeaks and sticking. Learn more in this article.
Reader poll
Does your RV currently need an important repair?
Please respond here. Thanks!
Quick Tip
Toilet water conservation and cleaning tips
“We have a Thetford Tecma macerating toilet in our class A. It has a large porcelain toilet bowl. The toilet flushes using either the large flush button or the small flush button. The large flush uses a lot of water. Well, I soon found out that I had to dump way more often than when we had a regular RV toilet like in the fivers we had. We decided that we should operate on the ‘when it’s yellow let it mellow, when it’s brown flush it down’ rule. It increased time between dumps by days.
“We also found that usually the small flush works fine even if it is brown. You can keep the urine smell down to a reasonable level by closing both toilet lids. But, we also noticed that the uric acid sitting in the bowl for hours would stain the toilet bowl, and eventually we couldn’t completely remove the stains with whatever product we tried to clean the bowl. Remembering my high school chemistry that baking soda is a good acid neutralizing base, we tried putting in a half tablespoon of baking soda three or four times per bowl fill. No more stains and the bowl looks nice and shiny.” Thanks to Bill Newman!
Website of the day
Patatap
Turn up your computer’s volume and make some music! On your keyboard, that is… Patatap is way too fun. Simply press any button on your computer’s keyboard and see what noise they make. Put a rhythm together and you’ve got a song!
?????? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??????
OK, now this is actually REALLY cool and yes, we wish we had one. Mmmm….
And the Survey Says…
We’ve polled RVtravel.com readers more than 1,500 times in recent years. Here are a few things we’ve learned about them:
• When paying for groceries, 54 percent of readers pay with a credit card. Only 2 percent pay by check.
• 53 percent are either smokers or ex-smokers
• For those who play Solitaire, 11 percent play with a physical deck of cards (as opposed to the 86 percent who play on some sort of device)
Recent poll: Do you run your RV’s propane fridge while traveling?
Trivia
Bears do not urinate while they hibernate. Instead, their bodies convert urine into protein and use it as food.
*What part of the human body produces enough energy to power a lightbulb? Yesterday’s trivia answers that.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“This is Daphne, our 54 mph couch potato, rescue greyhound. She loves to travel and has her special place in the RV. She is the reason we traded our 25′ class C motorhome for our 36′ 5th wheel.” —Randy Myerson
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.
An easy way to tell if your RV is level
Reader Dale Lage says: I have mounted small adhesive levels on the dash and another either on the driver’s or passenger window (or both). This allows me to easily see how level I am from the driver’s seat when pulling in. If not level, it allows me to easily determine where to put my leveling blocks. Another plus, it gives me an indication of the road grade and lets me anticipate what gear I should be in before the transmission automatically shifts.” You can find some of those levels here.
Leave here with a laugh
Why do bees stay inside their hives all winter?
‘swarm
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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 2021 by RVtravel.com
The more liquid you have in the black tank the better it drains.
Use caution if you plan on using a bubble (spirit) level to determine if you are climbing a grade. Spirit levels don’t react very quickly to small changes. The most accurate means to see a change in inclination is with the altimeter function of my Garmin GPS unit.
I think the bee jokes was DOA.
I have one (actually 2) of those mystery products & its a SNOOPY head waffle maker, I haven’t used it for a while. Thanks for the reminder as it makes the greatest waffles & the grandkids just love the SNOOPY design it makes!
Snoopy
Daphne is beautiful! My wife and I were involved in greyhound rescue for years. They are the sweetest dogs! But, be careful they are like potato chips. It’s hard to get just one.
It seems that watching bubble levels to tell if you are going up a hill would be dangerous. I prefer looking through the windshield and using my brain to determine if I’m going up a hill. I don’t know what vehicle he is driving but all the ones I have had when the cruise control senses a 1 mph drop it automatically downshifts the transmission much sooner than I would by watching a bubble level to decide if I was going uphill. Duh!
Install a vacuum gauge Bob. Then shift as needed. You get instant notice of engine/transmission strain and also fuel mileage wake-up!
Well, Bob, I thought my brain was pretty sharp, when I was younger anyway. One year decades ago we were going thru Arizona on back gravel roads in our ’68 VW Westfalia. We were going down hill and the engine started working harder and harder and the van was slowing down. I was afraid of what mechanical problem I was having out in the middle of nowhere. I stopped in the middle of the road, took it out of gear and foot off the brake – AND- we started rolling backward. We had this happen one other time in either TN or KY. Don’t believe everything you see. After the fear of breakdown had left, it was kind of funny. “68 VW – no cruise control or auto trans. Back in the good old days when one had to actually drive a vehicle.
Those bubble levels are ugly. I just use the bathroom door and fridge door to get level. If they both stay put and don’t swing on their own, we are level.
I have a bubble level app on the phone and just set it on the floor as I am adjusting the hwh system. works great.
You bet’cha Thom. This is how we level our travel trailer as well. Works perfectly!
I do the same thing. Then check fridge level. It usually confirms level
Thanks for Kindle app info – how does one erase old read books from ur Amazon Kindle? Got stuff there since 2017!
On Amazon.com, go to Manage Content and Devices. There you can list your books, check each one for action, and then delete the checked ones.
On the HOME page, long press on the book title. When the menu comes up, select REMOVE FROM DEVICE. This removes the book from your Kindle. You still have access to the book.
what is the link to watch Mike Sokol on Feb 16?
You should be able to set a reminder here: https://youtu.be/LYVNradG2gs