We all talk about the RV industry and how we feel many of the decision-makers at RV companies don’t really go RVing at all. There are a lot of reasons I hear this complaint. One of those is the exterior speakers on RVs, which are usually terrible, and the ever-brighter exterior lighting that seems to be proliferating.
There are so many reasons to embark on your next RV adventure, including visiting friends, exploring places you’ve wanted to go to, exploring places you’ve enjoyed before, getting close to activities you enjoy and, of course, getting away from it all.
But there are two consistent complaints I’ve read in a lot of forums, and I think I know why RV builders keep doing this. Keep reading.
Outside speakers
As someone who worked for years in the entertainment world, I really, really love a great sound system. Our house is wired for sound—I can play music (or podcasts!) in every room of the house and outside as well. Oh, yes, every room of the house, including that room.
But when it came time to order our latest RV last year, I specifically worked with the manufacturer to not put speakers on the outside? Why?
Typically, I’ve found these speakers sound terrible. Plus, they’re also a source of leaks.
Any void in the outside wall of an RV is a chance for water to get into the sidewall of the rig and cause water damage.
Plus, have I mentioned that they sound terrible? So why are they there?
I suspect for the same reason outside TVs are there. Sports. People sit outside and watch some sort of sports with the speakers crackling, whatever those sports talking people are talking about while people second-guess the outcome of whatever the referee calls.
But another thing that’s almost universally true is that whatever music someone is playing that isn’t the music you are choosing is annoying. Unless you’re part of their party, their music is annoying. That’s just how humans work.
Though, once I did see someone sitting outside their RV with their TV watching one of the “news” channels. Don’t you camp to get away from that baloney? I guess not.
Then many RV companies put those speakers high up on the sidewall of their RVs such that it’s difficult to maintain the seals around them, which is also troubling. So, whatever they’re listening to is now what you’re listening to because the speakers are high enough to project over whatever’s between your campsite and theirs.
Lighting, too
Another complaint I read quite frequently is about lighting. Many of the newer trailers have really bright lights on the nose cap of the trailer, which is pretty awesome if you’re trying to swap propane tanks in the evening.
But when those nose cap lights are on all night long, that’s when it’s annoying.
Quite honestly, there is no reason to leave exterior lighting on all night long anyway. I can’t imagine anyone willing to do something bad coming across a campsite and seeing lights on and then changing their mind about riding off with your kid’s tricycle.
I’ve now seen lighting on the sides of RVs over branding stickers, as accent lighting and more. And it got me wondering, why this is happening? Who’s requesting more obnoxious lights on the sides and nose caps and undersides of RVs?
Then it hit me…
Local Influencers in Indiana.
When you look at brands that are not made in Indiana like Lance, Outdoors RVs, and the many that are made up in Canada like Escape, Safari Condo, and Leisure Travel Vans, you don’t see any of this. This kind of proliferation seems to be strongest in the Indiana brands, and I have a theory.
Peggy (DW) and I are shopping for a house in Indiana right now, and we’re hoping to use it for short-term rentals. What we were told was that the housing market for this wasn’t bad, but when there are sporting events, specifically Notre Dame football games, the town goes nuts.
Apparently, when those games happen, rents go through the roof and the town is a very different place to be.
My suspicion is that there’s a tailgating culture that happens and, even if RV decision-makers aren’t specifically making their decision after the last game, friends of theirs are requesting all of this.
My parents warned me about being influenced by my friends.
So what’s the solution?
First and foremost, while I am certainly able to observe normal human beings doing normal human being stuff like having kids, going to sports events, and spending $8 on a coffee that you could make at home, I’m not that person. There’s almost nothing that’s normal in my day-to-day life. Heck, I live in the middle of the desert, and my RV adventures are centered around stuff like visiting tourist railroads and oversized statues and that sort of thing.
Yes, I’m saying I’m weird.
But the way things change in Indiana is by manufacturers listening to dealers (who also often don’t go camping). If dealers hear from us that we don’t want outside speakers and bright lights, they’ll relay this to manufacturers. That’s how change happens in the RV space.
Now, a funny story
We go to Indiana with some degree of regularity and have found that, in the campgrounds around us, there are a lot of people spending their first few nights in their brand-new RVs. It’s not uncommon that someone hustles themselves to the Hoosier state so that they can save on shipping an RV and buy there. Heck, that’s what we do, too.
But there was someone a space over who had just bought their RV and was clearly watching something on their TV, unbeknownst to them that they were also broadcasting what they were watching outside to the whole campground.
At first they were watching some sort of action-adventure movie, but then, as the night wore on, it would seem they turned their attention to more adult content. And, yeah, we all could hear what they were watching. I’m pretty sure they had no idea, and I thought it was funny.
MORE LIKE THIS FROM TONY:
- Are EVs bringing an end to free campsite electricity?
- The changes for 2027 RVs that I am seeing and liking
- The customer service lesson the RV industry needs to learn
- What is ‘Dealer Stock Only’ and are those RVs OK to buy?
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