Issue 959 • August 27, 2018
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QUICK TIPS
Easier backing in – day or night
“It is always best to get to an RV park in the daylight but if you ever need to back into a campsite in the dark it helps to have rope lights on hand. You can quickly plug them in and lay the rope lights on both sides of the parking pad to help illuminate and guide backing in. It is less stressful than trying to follow someone waving a flashlight around. If you are guiding someone backing up in the daylight, it is much easier for the driver to understand if you point in the direction the wheels need to turn. Making large turning circles with your arm and flapping like a chicken are next to impossible to understand! We have found that pointing in the direction the wheels should turn, spreading our hands out to the distance left to back up and slowly bringing them together until at the right distance and putting up two closed fists to indicate stop have helped to eliminate the flapping bird syndrome. It also performs better with the campground that inevitably congregates to watch someone back into a particularly tight spot.” Thanks to Nanci Dixon!
Environmentally friendlier bug killer
“Here is an insect killer that I have been using all of this year. No harmful chemicals. Mix half and half parts dish washing liquid and water together, put it in a sprayer and spray on any kind of insect. Also spray it where they walk around. It kills all of them dead. I use the cheapest dish washing liquid I can find.” Thanks to Curtis McRee
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Found the Perfect RV spot? Keep it!
Found the perfect RV parking spot but too far from an electrical pedestal? Having this 25 ft. hook-up cord with 30 Amp adapter enables you to connect around other vehicles and from several parking spaces away. Never leave home without one! Buy yours here.
Answer to today’s brain teaser: Add the letter G and then it’s gone!
JOIN THE NEW FACEBOOK GROUP: RV Horror Stories (A place to share your story about a new RV you recently bought that is riddled with defects that your dealer or manufacturer can’t or won’t repair.)
MORE QUICK TIPS
How hot are your wheel bearings?
Your axle wheel bearings will need occasional attention. Feel with your hand at the hub to check for one that may be running hotter than the rest. Note: If the bearing is adjusted too tight or is running without grease it can get VERY hot! You must pay immediate attention to a hot bearing. They will either need more grease or adjustment, but replacement may be necessary. This is an excellent application for an infrared thermometer that will indicate the temperature at whatever it is pointed. From “So, you want to be an RVer? And Enjoy the RV Lifestyle? [Revised]” Available here.Â
Maintain that trailer tongue
The tongue of your camper is a critically important component of your camper and must be maintained properly. Here are a couple of tips to maximize the life and usefulness of your trailer tongue. Oil the tongue jack mechanism, the tow-ball latch and the jack foot. Don’t forget to grease the tow ball. This ball receives the full weight of the camper and a lot of friction.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
20% off RoverPass, unlimited booking to over 6,000 campgrounds!
RoverPass Unlimited is the all-access fast pass to booking campgrounds online. It allows you to search and book at over 6,000 campgrounds and RV parks without a platform fee. You’ll also get priority booking and one-on-one access with customer service representatives. Click here to receive 20 percent off an unlimited membership.Â
WEBSITES OF THE DAY
HitchItch
Ever wonder what other RVers are up to? How are they making money? How’d they remodel their rig so it looks that nice? HitchItch lists pages of blogs of fellow RVers so you can stay up to date, get advice, and learn how other RVers are living.Â
Norcold Refrigerators
Time for a new fridge for your RV? Or just curious about what’s available? Check here for the RV refrigerator lineup at Norcold, the most popular maker of RV refrigerators in America.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
Monocular telescope connects to phone, wow!
This is one of the neatest gadgets we’ve seen in a while! This waterproof monocular telescope connects right to your phone, so you can take photos of that bird waaaaaaay over there. You can now photograph anything up to 10x closer than before. Great for birdwatching, concerts or shows, fishing, boating, or any sporting event; you’ll get the best shot and impress everyone! Bring this lightweight, single-hand focusing telescope with you everywhere. We already bought one! Learn more or order.
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LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
Two clocks go out to dinner. After they finish eating, one clock says to his friend, “I’m still hungry!” His friend replies, “So go back four seconds.”
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY.
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.
ADVERTISE on RVtravel.com and/or in this newsletter. Contact Gail Meyring at Gail(at)RVtravel.com .
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re: Today’s poll, I read my email on the largest screen available, because the font is larger, and so is the screen. I’m trying not to put too much strain on these old eyes, I intend to be using them for a long time…..
All the arm flapping can be eliminated day or night by use of a good pair of walkie-talkies, using simple verbal instructions that both parties have discussed and understand. That can also be a relationship saver. No more cussing or muttering under one’s breath. LOL
50/50 dish soap and water in a cereal bowl is a great way to eliminate a wasp nest that has multiple stinging critters attached! They will drop to the ground and then you can step on the little buggers!
I in all my years of backing trailers and motorhomes, I have learned to n-e-v-e-r have someone else guide me into a spot by telling me which way to turn wheels, either the steering wheel or front wheels. If I need help, they are instructed to point which way the back end should go, and alert me to proximity of obstacles. Period.
I totally agree! ! Unless, of course, they want to get into the truck and do it themselves! Always should be “where do you want the rear of the trailer/fiver/mh to go?”
Yep, agreed !
Also, what works for my wife and I, is to have the person outside call the person backing up the trailer on their cell phone. Ours phones connect to the vehicle and we can talk to each other very easily. Easy to say which way to push the trailer and also, you don’t have to worry if you lose sight of the backer.
Thanks for the idea. Love it.
There seems to be a lot of discussion about which way to turn and what to do but I don’t recall ever seeing someone mentioning “looking up”. Always check for overhead obstructions like low hanging branches. Rip your rubber roof or damage you Air Conditioner and you’ll be in for a big expense.
If you are going to use an infrared thermometer or just hand touch the hub, don’t do that after using the brakes as the brake shoes will heat up the drum and give you a false reading. Somewhere where you have lots of room, like a highway pull-off or rest area, pull in slowly after downshifting and pretty much let the RV come to a stop with much of a brake application. Then you will get a more accurate reading.
“SMART ADVICE”..George….as I have changed hundreds over the years as we owned a garage that offered RV service..
Please help the newbies among us. How hot is too hot? And exactly where do we focus the themometer?
And how hot is too hot for tires?
Regarding rope lights, interesting idea, but I think you would need several of them to work very well, especially after you run them over repeatedly. Instead I use tight beam flashlights and/or laser pointers if I need to mark a landing zone. Running over/through the projected line doesnt hurt the projector. I also have a magnetic laser I can stick to the trailer if I need to track exactly where it’s headed on the blind side.
Regarding “Flapping Bird syndrome”, I use the exact same standard hand signals, except I wouldn’t have my assistant tell me which way to turn the wheel or otherwise drive for me… My assistant only tells me where the trailer needs to go and how far. If I spotted for my wife to back in, I’d do the reverse (like you), so the important thing is to agree what the given directions mean.
99% of the time, I park without an assistant. If I understand where I want it and where it is now, i can land it. I’ve advised this before, but as soon as you get a new rig, take it to an open parking lot and drive around in reverse for a while, until you have no hesitation doing so. Practice hitting certain parking spots while there is nothing else to hit. Once steering a long trailer becomes instinctive, next time you pull into a site you’ll wonder why you ever had trouble. I frequently park my 35′ trailer within six inches of trees not as an accident but to maximize tiny campgrounds. Similarly, when it doesn’t intrude on the next site, I will put the pedestal *between* my 2 “super slides” to gain another 5′ or so.
In “most” campgrounds, your sites boundaries are pedestal to pedestal. Extend slides past your pedestal and you in the next camp site.
For thirty years my wife directed me into a campsite by pointing which way the back of the trailer should go. I know which way to turn the steering wheel to get the back end of the trailer to move in the direction she’s pointing. Hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. Turn the bottom to the left to get the back of the RV to the left; bottom of the steering wheel to the right and the back of the RV goes to the right. She doesn’t have to figure out which way I need to turn the steering wheel and just points where back of the RV should go.
Check the ratings on the mononocular telescope. None of them are from verified purchasers. I checked several of the others, and only one rating was from a purchaser. Do you really think you can get photo quality lenses for $20-$30?
This add doesn’t meet your stated ad quality objectives. In the past your ads met realistic quality standards. Please, relook at all your ads. I’ve contributed at a much higher rate to you than I’ve paid for subscriptions to magazines simply because of your higher standards of you using or being something worth spending money for. If your standards drop to what the camping World magazines use, I will reevaluate.
Can’t emphasize enough about an infrared thermometer.One saved my six a few times after I caught a bearing getting hot.And it works for checking tire temps quite well also.To add..it works very good for checking your AC output in your RV too.
You can find frozen pipes also , check your refrigerator/freezer
My son, a baking teacher and candy maker, uses an infrared thermometer for tempering chocolate. And as I noted in my RV Electricity Newsletter on Sunday, they can also show you if a campground pedestal outlet is getting hot. Really handy device.
Thanks! Good advice–but please tell us newbies what is “hot.” Should it read only as high as the ambient temperature? And how do we know we are reading the outlet’s temperature, and not the air?
We are a bunch of RV’s, why not just flush number one to get rid of it???
Johnny “G” that’s a good idea.
I agree!