Have you ever wandered around your RV for at least 30 minutes or more looking for an object? My husband and I joke about how we can lose something in an area that is so much smaller than our brick-and-mortar home.
We are full-time so it is not like we have the excuse that we have not been in the RV for a while. I’m talking about losing items we put away yesterday and said, “Don’t let me forget I’m putting this here!” We complain about losing stuff in the RV but it’s not really the RV’s fault, now is it?
We have not only forgotten where we put things…
Water leak incident
Since we full-time, one of the features we really wanted was a washer and dryer. Within a few months, we installed them and were relieved we didn’t have to tote laundry every week for the rest of our RV lives. Knowing we were getting the set, we let laundry stack up for the special arrival. Unfortunately, we only got three loads done and I found a big leak running across the floor.
Disappointment because, as you know, it is like you get one thing fixed on your RV and then it is two steps back. We try to be DIYers, so we unhooked everything again, pulled out the washer and dryer, got flashlights and looked down the holes.
We couldn’t see anything so we got a Dremel tool and cut into the wall. It was then we had what my husband likes to call an epiphany (noun: (1) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something; (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something). The epiphany was: He did not open the drain outside and the water built up and leaked onto the floor.
So, we forgot to open the gray tank drain handle. But, we did learn a lot. We know what is behind the wall of the washer and what it should always look like. We know the tank can hold at least three loads of laundry before it says “no more.” And we know we can fix a leak, even when there isn’t one.
The air conditioner experience
I remember days of being slightly warmer in the RV. Our air conditioner wasn’t working. We debated each day if we should get on the roof or if we needed to call a mobile tech. And we went with choice number three—how long could we go before we had to deal with it? On the day we were about to break down and call someone (because it had been too windy to crawl on top), my husband had another epiphany.
While we were boondocking the previous months, he had turned off the breaker so we wouldn’t accidentally turn on the A/C’s. He went over, found the breaker, flipped it on, and blessed air conditioning blew out.
More learning. We learned that air conditioning feels a lot better when you haven’t had to pay to fix it. How powerful you feel to flip one switch, and something “broken” is now working again. And sometimes it does pay to delay a little before you make a big decision even if you have to sweat it out.
Sometimes when we think we are taking one step forward and two steps backward, it is really nothing more than a learning experience. Nothing was really ever wrong with the RV, there was just a little something wrong with our memory. It may be the RV, or it might be us, but together we are moving forward to great adventures and new epiphanies!
##RVT1185
Great article, that I can totally relate to! Hope to see more of your work in the future Lucinda!
It’s called CRS.
I agree. Been there and done that!!
I understand the frustration. I once spent a lot of time checking the electrical on an older but new to me conversion van, before noticing that someone (probably me) had bumped the “kill switch” to the house batteries! Lesson learned – always check the disconnect switch first.
Thank you, Lucinda! I had a similarly unexpected stream of water flow from our shower. It, too, was because the washer had over-filled the gray-water tank. I learned to monitor the gray water level closely when doing laundry. 🙂 Happy new year!