Issue 2384
Welcome to RV Travel’s Daily Tips Newsletter, where you’ll find helpful RV-related tips from the pros, travel advice, RV videos, product reviews and more. Please tell your friends about us.
Today’s thought
“Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Barbecue Day!
On this day in history: 1842 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
Tip of the Day
Save your RV’s refrigerator: Leveling tips for overnight stops
By Dave Helgeson
I read this tip on RVtravel.com:
Do you level? That’s a question repeatedly posted on RV forums, regarding leveling an RV when stopping at the end of the day. Here’s a typical response: “I try to get it relatively close unless it’s just for an overnight stop, in which case I don’t bother.” Unless it’s an overnight stop? ALWAYS level your RV. Another comment tells you why: “I’m on my second Dometic 4-door. I level METICULOUSLY every time I stop to camp and I check level every morning. I refuse to go thru all that replacement AGAIN.”
RV refrigerators need to be level to work properly, and to prevent damage. No absorption-type RV refrigerator has ever read the fine print that says, “Don’t count the damage caused by operating off-level if it’s only overnight.” Seriously, damage to an RV cooling unit is CUMULATIVE, and every “only overnight” adds up. Can’t level? Shut off the fridge.
I was rather shocked by people’s thinking that running an absorption refrigerator out of level overnight or for any length of time is an acceptable practice. As mentioned above, the damage is cumulative, adding up each time you operate your refrigerator out of level.
Ask Dave
What sealants do you recommend for the RV and what areas need to be sealed?
By Dave Solberg
Hello Dave,
Love your RV help! I hear so much about inspecting your RV for sealant. Even though ours is under a roof most of the year, I have already had to reseal some of the seams on the roof with self-leveling sealant. I also see some of the caulking down the slide out seals looks like it needs to be redone.
Big question: What sealants do you recommend for each area of the RV? And what are the specific areas to look at? Also, along the edge of the roof, should the trim pieces be removed and resealed? We are pretty handy and don’t mind going on the roof, but we don’t want to do anything that’s unnecessary. Thanks so much in advance. —Pam, 2019 Flagstaff 832IKBS
RV Walk-through
2024 Taylor Coach Lil El 8’ rear door travel trailer—The “Smart car” of RVs
By Cheri Sicard
In [this video], we join Brad Taylor from Taylor Coach, a small Canadian company producing custom-built RVs, for a walk-through tour of the company’s smallest travel trailer, the uber-tiny 2024 Taylor Coach Lil El. To me, its sawed-off look seems like the travel trailer equivalent of a Smart car. This particular trailer was custom-built to a customer’s specifications.
Video of the day
How to find secret boondocking spots in 3 easy steps
By Cheri Sicard
Robin Barrett of Creativity RV (one of the winners of our 2024 RV Video Awards) became one of my personal favorite RV YouTubers because I love the thrifty way she RVs. In [this video] she shares her method to find amazing secret boondocking spots in just three easy steps.
Worth a visit: A house made out of newspaper!
By Gail Marsh
My husband and I have worked on several volunteer building projects since our retirement a few years ago. We’ve mostly worked with typical building materials, so I’ll admit, I was fascinated when I learned that there is a house made from—wait for it—newspapers! Wouldn’t you love to see this? Well, you can! You can tour The Paper House and it’s truly one of a kind!
Reader poll
Were you born in the United States?
A “cool tool” indeed: The Magnetizer/Demagnetizer
This gadget, recommended by Dave Solberg and Dustin Simpson, instantly magnetizes or demagnetizes steel tools and other small parts. You can convert any tool blade to a magnetic retriever of things like screws, nuts, and metallic particles. No batteries or electricity required. Never lose a screw again! Read more about it here, or buy one for yourself here.
Quick Tip
Keep those air conditioner coils clean
Keeping the air conditioner coils clean will prolong the life of your cooling unit. Besides dirt and dust, you may also find the “cotton” from cottonwood trees, or the pollen from various other trees, obstructing the coils. The best way to clean them: (1) Turn the unit off while you’re working on it. (2) Use an air compressor to blow out the debris (carefully—don’t bend the fins). (3) Apply a coil cleaning product (here are some from Amazon) and let it soak for a few minutes or the time recommended on the can. (4) Rinse with low pressure water. (5) Use the air compressor again to blow out remaining water. —Thanks to Deanna
On this day last year…
- Ask Dave: Do my RV’s slide outs need support if RV is permanently parked?
- RV Walk-through: Retro style “glamping” in the 2023 nuCamp Barefoot travel trailer
- Video: Vanspace 3D RV design software lets you create your perfect RV
- Featured article: 7 things to ask yourself before planning an RV remodel
Website of the day
Ultimate Bunker
Okay, even if you’re not planning on building an underground bunker, this website is still totally cool. They build custom bunkers, safe rooms, custom shipping containers and more. You’ll want one of these as your man-cave or she-shed!
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
Now THIS is fun! This would be a perfect rainy-day activity for a summer activity. Wait, what? Oh, just click here and you’ll see.
And the Survey Says…
We’ve polled RVtravel.com readers more than 2,500 times in recent years. Here are a few things we’ve learned about them:
• 45 percent say it is very important for them to be able to spend some time alone.
• If given the snacking choice between cheese or a piece of candy, 64 percent would choose cheese.
• If given the choice of being admired either for being handsome/beautiful or for having a great mind, 91 percent said they’d rather be admired for having a great mind.
Recent poll: Did you hire an RV technician or inspector to check your RV before you bought it?
Recipe of the Day
BBQ Pulled Chicken Puffs
by Karen Sills from Harrisville, MS
These pulled chicken puffs are fantastic. Using store-bought pulled chicken and sheets of puff pastry means you can make them super fast. It’s almost like a pulled chicken sloppy joe inside flaky puff pastry. These make a great meal or cut the puff pastry into smaller circles for a party appetizer. Yum!
Trivia
Loyola, California, is the richest neighborhood in America in 2024. The average household income in Loyola is $367,000. The median home listing price is $3,945,000. Loyola, in the Bay Area, also borders Los Altos Hills, which is one of the richest towns in America.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Rosco is a 3-year-old Poodle/Shih Tzu rescue. Loves to snuggle, but also wants to play constantly, especially with squeaker toys. He’s a great camping dog, as he loves everyone he meets.” —Deborah Beck
Send us a photo of your pet with a short description. We publish one each weekday in RV Daily Tips and in our Sunday RV Travel newsletter. No blurry photos, please! Please do not submit your photo more than once. Thanks!
• RVing with Dogs group on Facebook. You’ll love it.
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Starting a chain discussion – (Emily, does one of the regular authors want to pick this up?):
Auto-leveling systems and slide rooms- We know an RV needs to be reasonably level before extending slide rooms, so that is a base assumption. But for final leveling, do you do it before extending slides, after extending slides, or do you do the whole process twice?
My thought is to get the slides out before activating the auto-leveling system. I suspect the RV’s suspension is going to ‘twist’ some when one side of the RV is sticking out farther than the other and prefer to let the auto-leveling system compensate for that.
Always level before slide outs go out. Otherwise you will have problems with the slide outs coming off track, losing sync, or getting jammed. Most all manufacturers recommend this for this reason. Why risk this?!
Follow your manufactures instructions. On my Monaco you extend slides out when you are at ride height, dump the air, then level
I had a 08′ Safari Simba dp that also had the same instructions. I think it had more to do with Monaco’s 3-point leveling system.
we try to get as level as possible before opening the slides. I mounted fore/aft and left/right bubble levels in our rig so I can tell if the unit stays level.
A slide is a hollow box in a hollow box.
To prevent damage and achieve the least resistance to movement, you want the openings as square as possible with the least possible distortion. Now think about how you can set your rig with the least distortion prior to slide movement. Level is the only right answer. Anything else is just to sell parts.
Jim,
At Winnebago we tested several slide mechanisms including Power Gear and HWH for over 3 years and 10,000 extensions and retractions before introducing the Suncruiser in 1996. During the testing, we used the test track that had sine waves, cobblestones, and unlevel surfaces to test drive and conduct static testing of what happens to the chassis, outriggers, and sidewall during extension and retraction. I can tell you we tore up every leveling mechanism available. I have also worked with engineers from every slide mechanism company over the past 20+ years and they all recommend leveling/stabilizing the rig before extending and retracting.
I think the Suncruiser/Adventurer was the nicest looking of all the gas coaches they built. We would have loved to buy one but when we shopped in ’08 the Sightseer had the only class A bunk model.- We still have it and it’s held up very well.
Hit the limit of words on my first post! You will find some manufacturers such as Entegra that recommend extending the slides while the unit is in a floating stage and then the jacks. The comment from my Power Gear engineer was: “We have had this discussion for years and some engineers think they know more than anyone else.” He also stated that they have more warranty claims percentage wise than any other mfg!
We owned a bumper pull and later our first 5th wheel for years (!!). Neither had an auto level system. We just did the best we could at all sorts of camps. Never had an issue with the absorption fridges. We also towed with the gas/flame on. Our second 5th wheel (3rd RV) had auto level and we thought we were in tall cotton. No absorption fridge problems with that one either. Lucky, or is the leveling issue a little bit of hype? How close to level is close enough? Our new motor home has auto level and the 12vdc compressor type fridge. My opinion…..After over 30 years of RVing the 12vdc fridge is the only way to go. Love to read these types of articles, keep them coming.
You can’t see inside the coils to see the damage. The damage was passed on to the next owner.
Not really interested in a bunker as described in the article, but I would sure like a tornado shelter for the house!
Thank you, Emily and Diane! 🙂 Have a great day! Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
No Thank You on the Bunker idea. I’m in no hurry for my “underground time”.
This world would be a much better place if people would focus more on progressing to the next life, and less on preserving this one.