Shownotes
Transcripts
INTRO
Tell me about TV wall brackets and flat-screen TVs for my RV. That's what we're going to talk about in staying on the road today. Now in the RV life and join the RV life segment, we're going to talk about RV party planning. Is it possible to do it in an RV on the road? Of course, it is. You can have a party anywhere.
And then once again, we're going to go on a road trip. And this week we're going to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in New Mexico. And that's at the Next Stop. Then we're going to wrap up the show with RV Envy. And in that section, we're going to talk about RV levels and blocks. So physical levels and physical blocks, physical blocks.
RV LIFESTYLE
So, this is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. Today is episode 143. And Alexis, you're here, still recovering. Yes. For two weeks.
All right. So, we have a lot of good things to talk about today. You know, do you remember, well, you don't remember a lot of people remember if they don't, they can ask someone who does, but back in the seventies. Cars were, well, they're coming off the era of the sixties with the muscle cars. Yeah, they're, they're keeping it going in the early seventies a little bit, you know, some cool fast cars back then people were getting kind of tired of it because everything was about speed, you know, sport, there were family cars to speak of, it just shifted gears.
And that's what the car industry has always done. The EPA kicks in and they start laying down all these rules, making it hard for car manufacturers to do this and do that. Especially, you know, the performance cars can have that, you know, so that kicks in, the cars were a little bit bigger. So, they started trying to change the car market and they eventually did, you know, Detroit eventually came to their system, uh, census and listen to the consumers and started making cars like that.
They thought were more practical for what people wanted. Now you get into the eighties, there was a lot of junk there. You know, you go back in time cars, you know, a hundred thousand miles, you got rid of the car in the eighties. They were trying to change that Chrysler came out to K cars, which were decent.
They just weren't that aesthetically pleasing. In other words, they're ugly, but they have changed, and cars have evolved quite a bit today. And car manufacturers still don't always listen. They try to, but they don't quite get it. What consumers want, like electric vehicles, consumers don't want electric vehicles.
They're choking on these things. Now, some, in some cases, they didn't have a choice. It would, the manufacturers were told to make these cars by the government. So now they're choking on it, but sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. Now the RV industry. I don't know if they ever listened to people because what we see today is low-quality RVs being pushed off the assembly lines and dealerships that don't care.
People need to speak up and change their buying patterns. Start looking at used RVs. And I'm going to talk about this more, um, in episode 143, but just keep that in mind. You know, the car manufacturers kind of listen, they do adjust and sometimes they take it too far and they fail, but we see in the RV industry.
They're, they're trying to make more creature comforts, but a less quality RV. And it doesn't work. We need to have quality RVs. So, consider that how you're going to buy your next RV is going to be new. Is it going to be used? So, when he knows by an RV, you're going to talk him into new. You're going to talk him into use.
It's up to you. I don't want to be the guy that brings down the entire RV industry. Yeah, I probably won't. But anyway, just give you something to think about. All right. Let's get into enjoying the RV life because now we're talking about parties. Everybody likes a good party, especially when you get a pony to ride or something.
Every party. Yeah. An RV party. You're probably not going to have a pony. So, Alexis, why do we need a guide to planning a party, a memorable party while RVing?
Alexis- Well, I don't think many people think about it. Like when you go RVing, that's kind of the trip, you know, but how fun would it be to get everybody together with their RVs or maybe not with their RVs, just invite a bunch of people to your RV and have a party, be awesome.
Eric- I mean, for one, it'd be less clean up, you know, nobody's going to be. You know inside it's probably outside and it won't be at your house. Hopefully don't do that. So maybe a big spot or a location Um, where you can kind of spread-out scenic views, maybe have picnic tables, fire pits, all, everything's there for a perfect party.
So, looking for somewhere like that would be nice. Yeah. So that makes me think of the dunes, like in Arizona, Llamas in California, where all the RVers converge on there in the wintertime and they have these big wagon trains or circles, and they have big bonfires and stuff. Yep, exactly. That probably is a little too much.
Cool, but it still gives you the idea. You know, you don't have to have 20 RVs. You don't have to have 10. You could do with two, three, four, five. It's just getting together with more than yourself and having a good time. And, this is on our website, enjoying the RV life. Um, it's about on the road, on the road.
Having a, you know, party or online. I'm not sure what the title of the way I'm looking at it. Yeah, I know it's different. So anyways, it's on the website about having memorable parties in your RV. Yes. Yes. But there are many points here and they're all valid and give you things to think about how to plan and maybe some things that you wouldn't think of that you would normally do also; I don't want to do that.
Alexis- Yeah, exactly.
Eric- You know, finding an RV park, maybe where you can get all the RVs together. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the more, uh, older RV parks or ones in the rural areas where they don't have all the concrete, more grass-type areas sometimes are friendlier to that. Right, exactly. Or an RV park might have an area where they have a big picnic-type area with barbecues and things like that where you could go and cook and have a good time.
Kind of like a park setting. Yeah. But it's a good idea and even here it brings out this point about inviting your neighbors to it as well. So, if you're in the campground and you've got some neighbors that, you know, aren't annoying you, you might want to invite them as well, but maybe you don't like your neighbors at the campground.
So, you want to have a raging party then. Right. Beware. Just kidding. But anyway, so it's just a, uh, a reminder that you know, out on the road, there's a lot of things you can do that sometimes we don't do. Right, exactly. And, you know, generally, if you own an RV, you always have friends that have an RV. And maybe planning a trip together once a year, you know, make it an annual thing, the big whatever, and have the kids there, have the party, you know, for kids, adults, everybody.
nt to build on our growth for:STAYING ON THE ROAD
And we need you to help us with that. We'll keep providing quality content and you keep recommending us and liking us and all that good stuff. Now let's get to stay on the road and we're going to talk about TVs and wall brackets and flat-screen TVs. All that fun stuff that comes with an RV and part of the entertainment world that we must have with us all the time.
Whether it's a TV, a phone, or a tablet. Somehow, we got to have entertainment, but a lot of RVs come with it. Flat screen TVs in them. And so that's the one fixture in an RV that always seems to get my attention whenever I walk into an RV, it doesn't matter how big the flat-screen TV is, where it's located in the RV, or even the quality of the TV.
You know, there are so many brands we're going to, you know, we talked about that last episode, brands, heck that plays right into TVs. There are a lot of low-quality TVs out there. So that TV just gets my attention, and it probably gets a lot of people's attention. Um, for many reasons is there generally they're big.
They kind of command your eyes to zoom in on them. They stand out regardless of where they're at, or how they're mounted. They are just there as a fixture in the room that gets my attention, but you know, it gets my attention even more than a TV mounted to the wall. When you walk into an RV and that flat-screen TV is lying on the floor and it's broken into pieces.
Now that's going to get your attention and you look at it and you go, wow, somehow that fell off the wall. Wow. Bummer. And it probably happened while they were traveling because it's bouncing down the road and that's when things fall apart in an RV. They typically don't fall apart when you're sitting there.
It's when you're going down the road. It's funny, is it ironic? The thing that it's made for is going down the road, but it's not built durable enough to withstand going down the road. Huh? Probably a word for that. Stupidity? No. Anyway, so why would this TV have fallen off the wall? Yeah, there could be several reasons why.
You know, um, not sure what you might be thinking for reasons, but here's what I got. Did the bracket not mount correctly? That could be the issue. So, let's explore that before we go on to the other problem that it could be. So, in my mind, there are only a couple of things that can happen here. You might be looking at a different picture, but that's what I see.
So, the bracket must be mounted to the wall correctly, and generally, it needs to be mounted to the studs. You know, the upright studs that hold the wall together that support the RV, just like a house and a house has two by-fours RV has toothpicks or something a little bit bigger, but it's not a two-by-four.
So, it must be mounted to the studs, or it must be mounted in an area that's designated by the manufacturer of the RV that has been designed to support the weight of the TV. And the bracket, you got the TV and the bracket. Sometimes we just look at the TV as the weight, but the bracket, sometimes they have a little weight to it as well.
And when you're mounting something to an RV wall, weight does matter. So, this must be done correctly. You can't cheat here. You might try, but it just won't work. RV walls are not built like walls in a house. Yeah, they're two by twos. One and a half by one and a half. So, you know, it depends. Sometimes the studs might be aluminum, might be metal, but plan on it being wood for the most part.
And in a house is different. You have two by fours. Um, the house isn't bouncing down the road. You can Mount a TV bracket to the drywall with the proper anchors. It's not going to go anywhere. Cause the house doesn't bounce. Now, if you live in Southern California and there's an earthquake, ah, maybe a different story, this is going to tear the drywall off, but heck that's an earthquake.
You live in Southern California, eh, whatever. It's the way it happens, it's built differently. And so, when the manufacturer is building the RV, if they feel that that's where the TV is going to go, they're going to build it right into the wall, you know, and, usually, they get it right. They don't skimp there.
It's one of the things they do get right. Most of the time. So now this might be obvious to some like, oh yeah, well, no, duh, that's how you'd have to mount it either where they want you to, or it must mount to the studs. But, you know, some people might not realize that that paneling is thin, you know, less than a quarter of an inch and it's just stapled to the wall.
And, you know, if you mounted a TV bracket to it, it might hold it while you're sitting there. It might stay there forever, depending on how you mount it to the paneling. But it's when you go down the road and it starts bouncing around, where now it's going to pull that TV off with the bracket. So, the paneling could just break, or it could pull away from the wall, and pull all the staples out.
And so that can create a lot more damage than just a broken TV. Now you have paneling that can be destroyed that you can't match, and now you have a problem. Now you might think that you can put a TV on that wall and just take it off when you're traveling. That might be the case if the bracket for the TV is light.
You still want to think twice about that though, because once that paneling starts coming apart, you've got a problem. Now suppose you want to add a TV to that special place on the wall. You know, it's just. Where you want the TV, but it might not even be possible to do it. So, keep in mind, you know, at the bare minimum, you'll need to have power there.
So power is a different story in RV. Again, it's not like a house. You can't just make holes in the drywall, run power, and patch it up. And you know, you can never tell RVs aren't like that. So, you must think about that, you know, is power going to be nearby wherever you want this TV, even if the cord's exposed, that's okay.
You know, some things we can look at, you know, cause that's where we want the TV. And you'll also need, um, an HDMI outlet or a cable outlet, something to receive the signal for the TV, unless it's a smart TV and you have internet access with wireless, so then the TV connects over the internet, which is great.
That eliminates all you need is a power outlet. But those are things you must consider, so you can't just slap a TV up anywhere and go, okay, now work TV. Now if it's a smart TV, like I said, it might, if you have internet in your RV, but you might not always have internet. So, you must consider that you know, with smart TVs, you can get Roku boxes and Amazon Fire-sticks.
You know, there's a plethora of things you can just attach that work off the internet to give you everything you need. You can even attach a tablet to a TV or a phone and have your shows already downloaded on it if you want to go that route. And that can even be a dumb TV if it has an HDMI port on it.
So those are options. And having a TV for a lot of people is very important because it's easier to watch. If you like watching TV with your family, it keeps the family together and it makes sense. But where you put it must make sense and how the manufacturer does it. So now let's get to the other side of this.
The other problem that can arise with TVs, even when the TV comes from the factory. It comes with an RV. It's mounted where it's supposed to be on the wall. So, the manufacturer said, this is where the TV goes. And on that assembly line, the guy sets down his beer, takes a needle out of his arm, and he melts the TV while back where it should be.
Okay, so that's done. And so, the TV's on there, and you go to the dealership, oh, that's the RV I want. And you buy it. The TV's mounted there and you take it home. You go on a couple of trips, and finally, that scenario happens. You walk into your RV. And the TV is lying on the floor in pieces. How did that happen?
Everything was where it was supposed to be. The manufacturer could have messed this one up. Could they? Well, they could have, they got the TV bracket in the right place on the wall. It's mounted, it's rock solid. It didn't even come off the wall. It's just the RV lying on the floor and part of the brackets with it or another bracket with it. What the heck is going on here?
You're trying to figure this out. It's. So, you look at the TV closer and on the back of it where the four holes are, where the screws are, the threads, see, that's called a visa pattern and all TVs have them all modern TVs that are for wall mount and there are different size visa patterns, but it's standard patterns.
So, whether it's a small, medium, large, or standard size all TV brackets come with everything to accommodate all the different sizes. That's why when you buy a bracket kit, it has like 400 screws in it. 13 pieces of metal with holes in it. So, it fits any TV out there, but the problem is it's not the visa pattern.
It's not the screws and you know, the threads were put in there properly, but where the visa pattern is put, where it's designed to be mounted on the back of the TV. It's mounted on a piece of plastic that is either held onto the back of the TV with tiny little screws or snaps into the back.
And that does not work in an RV. You need to have a TV so that the whole back is one piece. So, it can't break apart like that. And this isn't as uncommon as you might think, because there are so many TVs and brands out there and manufacturers buy whatever will work. If they're looking for a 36-inch TV, they could care less about the quality.
They're going to buy a 36-inch TV. They're going to buy a thousand of them, a hundred of them, whatever. And they're going to slap them puppies up and ship them. It's not their problem. And it's not, because you're just going to go buy another TV and put it up there. And you might go to one of the big stores, Walmart, one of the places, and not take it out of the box, not look at the back of it, and get home and have the exact same problem down the road.
So, if you're going to replace that TV or add one to your RV, make sure not only the bracket is installed in the right place, but also that the TV is, has the right backing on it to support itself going down the road. If your RV is never going to move, it's stationery, you know, it's never going to move, then just buy anything you want and mount it to the wall.
It doesn't matter. As far as the TV goes, you still want to get the bracket up, right? But the TV won't matter. But if that RV is designed to go down the road you certainly want to make sure. That TV is the correct one. And a lot of new RVs don't come with a TV. They don't even come with a bracket on the wall, but it'll be marked on the wall.
You know, TV goes here and that's where the bracket would go. So, you still must. Yeah, it rules out the manufacturer's element of making the mistake and puts it in your hands now. So don't be like the manufacturer. Be the smart RVer and mount the TV properly. So, when you go into your RV after you've been driving down the road for 4 hours, you get into the RV, it's not lying on the floor.
That will ruin a trip if you're counting on having that TV. So, a little bit of advice there, and this is one of those things that kind of slip under the radar sometimes but pay close attention to it. Now, again, I want to ask everybody to share this episode with their friends and families, anybody that owns an RV, we're trying to build up our growth whatever.
NEXT STOP
So, we thank you for sharing it with others and for listening. We appreciate that. We put a lot of work into the show and. Hopefully, it pays off for you. So now we're going to go to the next stop and Alexis, where are you taking us to today?
Alexis- Right, Eric. We're going to New Mexico, Albuquerque specifically to see the balloons.
ent over the U. S. earlier in:Alexis- Yeah. Just like that one. No, we're talking about the big balloon stuff, the hot air balloons, these are spy, not spy balloons. These are friendly balloons. They might have Snoopy on them, so they're cute. Yeah. So those are cool. Yeah. Very easy. So, this is an annual thing, um, that they do in New Mexico, and it is, it's just so cool. There are so many different balloons, so many colors. Um, they have it, I think it's about three days long.
Eric- I kind of investigated this because I want to go. It'd be fun. Um, and they've got everything there to go along with the festival. They've got food vendors like that. Um, things for the kids to do. So, this is very family-friendly. And just beautiful. They fly balloons. It's all in the sky. They kind of do it towards the, you know, dusk.
So, it's this beautiful sunset. All the balloons are in the air. Um, you can ride them yourself or just check them out. And it's, it's just a really good time. If that's something that sounds good to you. So, you mentioned Snoopy and. Yeah, I've seen it like a Mayflower moving truck. Oh, yeah, sorts of stuff.
So, it's not just your typical heat, right?
Alexis- Yeah, these things are creative. Yep. Yep, all different shapes. Yeah, you know What makes this so cool for our viewers is that it's not just a balloon festival. A lot of RVers go there. Yep. Thank you. And the vendors set up RVs. Yes. You know, cater, so it's, it's kind of like going to Courtside or one of these big shows that uh huh kind of, it's for RVs, but they sell housewares and other interests and things there.
Eric- Right. Kind of the same platform. Yeah. It's neat. So, it's worth checking out. Oh yeah. You can buy your tickets online. Yeah. We used to know a guy who used to go there every year to sell stuff and um, yeah, he loved going there. It's so cool. Yeah. I've never been myself, but I'd like to go one of these times.
I would too. I really would. So, it's not just the balloons. The balloons are, you know, part of it, but it's everything else. So again, it's that entire package. Exactly. You get a lot with it. You know, it's family-friendly and it'd just be a great place to have a party. It would be. 20 or 30 of your friends to go and.
How fun would that be? Yeah. Memorable. Very desert and tear it up. Tear it up. Okay. Yeah. So, there's a lot there. New Mexico is a cool place. You know, from Albuquerque or the Balloon Festival, you could do a lot of day trips from there. You can turn this into a trip. Very much so. You know, um, go for a week or two and do a lot of day trips or maybe go to another part of the state.
New Mexico, like I said, it's cool. A lot of It's very cool. Very, very cool. So, I would go there. And, um, and we've talked about it before the problem Alexis and I face is we're always reading this stuff, but our list is only so big, you know, her and her husband, they got their lives. I, mine, Karen, I have our lives, but.
There's not enough time in the world to go do all this stuff. So, it's like trying to pick sometimes, I want to go someplace different. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go here. No, let's go there. Let's go here. Let's go there. Then we probably just end up going to the same old Joe's cab. Exactly. And we're guilty of it too.
Right. But anyway, yeah. So put it on your list and that's what it's doing, put it on your list. Gives you something to look forward to. Maybe you will get there. Maybe a doubt. We'll just see what happens. That's going to bring us to, oh, wait a minute. Don't forget to check out RV Decimations magazine. I know they're going to have something on this.
Oh, they've got it. This is on their radar because those balloons with the sunsets or the sunrises, the colors. I know they're going to have their magazines beyond a shadow of a doubt. So go to RVDestinationsmagazine.com, go to their website, and sign up. It's a subscription that's worth the money.
RV ENVY
And you can also get a physical copy as well. All right. Now that leads us into RV Envy. We're going to talk about RV levels and blocks. Yeah, I've talked about this before and, um, I did a whole episode on it, but it's just a reminder. You know, when you have an RV, you're going to a campground, depending on where you go, the how you level your RV is going to be different motor homes.
A lot of them just have levelers on them. Pretty simple. Some fifth wheels, bigger ones, or higher-end ones have levelers on them. Some people put levels on RVs and I'm talking about automatic levelers. Yeah. Most trailers and fifth wheels come with a scissor-type jack to stabilize them. Not necessarily level it.
You can cheat a little bit with it, but not a lot because of the weight rating, but you generally must carry blocks and levels, things to make your tires, you know, lift them off the ground to level the RV. And there's a lot of them out there, but you know, Camco Volterra, they probably, and, um, I can't believe I can't think of the other one.
Um, they’re orange ones and they were the originator of it. I can't believe I can't think of it. So, the company that makes the orange one, they were the first ones on the block to make these things kind of get it blocking leveling blocks, little pun there. But anyway, so you need these things regardless, you know when you go to campgrounds lists, every campground is perfectly level or almost.
Is it Tri-Links? Tri-Links. That's it. That's the one. The orange blocks. So, Tri-Links was the original one on the scene. The inventor, the creator, the king of the category, as they say. But you know, consider having these sayings. Wood works fine, but it is heavier, splinters, and harder to clean, and wood anymore is so expensive it's almost more than plastic.
So, the blocks just make a great alternative. And stay away from the cheap ones, low-quality ones, because they're just going to break and they're going to leave you upset. Why did I waste my money on these good ones? Don't learn the hard way and all your RV stores typically carry good brand names but check it out.
Leveling blocks, levelers. They're important to have to keep that RV level and they're not as hard as it looks unless you go to these wild campgrounds that like one side of the RVs needs to be raised a foot and you need a whole bunch of wood, you know, because leveling blocks will work, but probably too expensive to do that.
But anyways, just look at your, um, go to your local RV store and see what they have for leveling blocks levelers. If you don't have them, if you're not using them, if you're not sure why you'd ever want them, well, that's why to help you level your RV. If you go to the right campground, you might just have to throw one underneath the tire, two underneath the tire on one side or both tires, and you get out your scissor jacks, you know, you.
You can stabilize it and level it a little bit. You don't want to put all the light on the scissor jack, but you can fudge that a little bit. And remember to keep your bullseye level in the refrigerator. That's what you're leveling the refrigerator. If your refrigerator's level, the RV should be level if it was built correctly.
So, level the refrigerator, not the RV. Unless you've set up levels on the side of the RV that match the refrigerator, a lot of people don't do that. Now as a reminder, check out our YouTube channel. If you type in the smart RVer on the YouTube search bar, we will come up, and watch our videos. They're awesome on how to do things, um, what parts to buy.
It's geared, it's like the podcast, except for the visual version of it. Just trying to explain things to you in a way that helps you make good purchasing decisions or some hacks. Like recently we did, uh, we did a valve or a little hack on the three-inch valve. We got another video that will probably be out by the time you hear this, that about, uh, another hack on three-inch valves to get away from using drain valve lubricant.
So, there's always video videos in the queue and hopefully, they're out when you, you know, we talk about them. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. We're a lot going on here. Pay attention to our YouTube channel, like the videos, and subscribe, be worth it, and share it with your friends.
OUTRO
So, the next episode is going to be 144 and the title of Staying on the Road is I think it's time to go into maintenance mode New RV sales are plummeting along with quality So we're going to dig into this and talk about what's going on with new RV sales So it's been a great show and I want to thank Alexis for coming in today Not feeling so well It's been fun.
It's always fun. This is TheSmartRVer Podcast. That's where the fun starts. All right. So, this is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast. It's been great hanging out with you today. If I don't see it on the road, let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.
Test
Tell me about TV wall brackets and flat screen TVs for my RV. That's what we're going to talk about in staying on the road today. Now in the RV, enjoying the RV life segment, We're going to talk about RV party planning. Is it possible to do in an RV on the road? Of course it is. You know, a party anywhere.
00;00;22;05 - 00;00;40;22
Unknown
And then once again, we're going to go on a road trip. And this week we're going to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in New Mexico. And that's the next stop. Now we're going to wrap up the show with RV Envy and that sanctuary and talked about RV levels and blocks. So physical levels and physical blocks. Physical blocks.
00;00;40;24 - 00;01;11;01
Unknown
So this is Eric Stark with the Smart RV or podcast delivering the Smarts. You need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down today's episode. 143. And Alexis, you're here. We're here recovering, covering the still recovery. Yes. In the midst and the two weeks are up. A lot of effort. All right. So we have a lot of good things to talk about today, you know.
00;01;11;01 - 00;01;32;18
Unknown
Do you remember what you don't remember? A lot of people remember. If they don't, they can have so many does. But back in the seventies, cars were well, they were coming off the era of the sixties with the muscle cars. Yeah, they were. They're keeping it gone in the early seventies a little bit, you know, some pretty cool fast cars back then.
00;01;32;21 - 00;01;55;01
Unknown
But people were getting kind of tired of it because everything was about speed, you know, sport. There were no family cars to speak of. It just shifted gears. And that's what the car industry has always done. The EPA kicks in and they start laying down all these rules, make it harder for car manufacturers to do this and do that, especially, you know, the performance cars all can have that you know.
00;01;55;03 - 00;02;18;27
Unknown
So that kicks in. The cars were a little bit bigger. So they started trying to change the car market and they eventually did. You know, Detroit eventually came to their assistant system senses and listened to the consumers and started making cars that they thought were more practical for what people wanted. Now you get into the eighties. There was a lot of junk there.
00;02;18;28 - 00;02;37;18
Unknown
You know, you go back in time cars, you know, a hundred thousand miles. You get rid of the car in the eighties. They're trying to change that. Chrysler came out the K cars, which were actually decent cars. They just weren't that esthetically pleasing. In other words, they're ugly. But they were changes and cars have evolved quite a bit today.
00;02;37;20 - 00;03;01;07
Unknown
And car manufacturers still don't always listen. They try to, but they don't quite get it. What consumers really want, like electric vehicles. Consumers don't want electric vehicles. They're choking on these things. Now, some in some cases didn't have a choice. The the other manufacturers were told to do make these cars by the government. So now they're choking on it.
00;03;01;10 - 00;03;31;18
Unknown
But nonetheless, sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. Now, the RV industry, I don't know if they ever listened to people, because what we see today is low quality RVs being pushed off the assembly lines and dealerships that don't really care. People need to speak up. Change your buying patterns. Start looking at used RVs. And I'm going to talk about this more in episode 143.
00;03;31;20 - 00;03;57;06
Unknown
But just keep that in mind. You know, that the car manufacturers kind of listen, they do make adjustments and sometimes they take it too far and they fail. But we see in the RV industry, they're trying to make more creature comforts but a less quality RV and it doesn't really work. We need to have quality RVs, so consider that how you're going to buy your next RV is going to be new, is going to be used so many of those by an RV, you're going to talk them.
00;03;57;09 - 00;04;21;08
Unknown
The new you're going to talk to use. It's up to you. I don't want to be the guy who brings down the entire RV industry. Then I probably will. But anyway, just give you something to think about. All right, let's get into enjoying the RV life, because now we're talking about parties, right? Yeah. Everybody likes a good party, especially when you get a pony to ride or something.
00;04;21;10 - 00;04;49;00
Unknown
Every party? Yes, an RV party. You right? I can have a pony. So, Alexis, why do we need a guide to planning a party? A memorable party. A memorable party while RV? Well, I don't think many people think about it. Like when you go are being that's kind of the trip, you know. But how fun would it be to get everybody together with their Arby's or maybe not with their RV is just invite a bunch of people to your RV and have a party.
00;04;49;02 - 00;05;12;27
Unknown
Yeah, be awesome. I mean, for one, it'd be less clean up, you know, Nobody's going to be, you know, inside. It's probably outside and it won't be at your house. Hopefully. Don't do that. So maybe a big spot or a location where you can kind of spread out scenic views, maybe have picnic tables, firepits all everything's there for a perfect party.
00;05;12;27 - 00;05;33;09
Unknown
So looking for somewhere like that would be nice. Yeah. So that makes me think of the sand dunes. Like in Arizona. Yeah. Glamis in California, where all the RV ers converge on there in the wintertime and they. And they have these big wagon trains or certain. Oh, yeah, a big bonfire, hours and stuff. Yep, exactly. That probably is a little too much.
00;05;33;12 - 00;05;51;15
Unknown
Cool. But it still gives you the idea, you know, you don't have to have tow RV, you only have to have ten you could do with two, three, four or five is just getting together with. Yeah. More than yourself. Haha. Exactly. And having a good time and and this is on our website enjoying the RV life and about on the road.
00;05;51;17 - 00;06;09;00
Unknown
On the road having you know, a party or online. I'm not sure what the title of or I'm looking at. Yeah I know it's different. So anyways it's on the website about you have a memorable parties in your RV. Yes, yes. But there's many points here and they're all valid and gives you things to think about how to plan.
00;06;09;00 - 00;06;25;04
Unknown
Yeah, maybe some things that you wouldn't think of that you would normally do that also. But I don't want to do that. Yeah, exactly. You know, finding an RV park maybe where you can get all the RV used together. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the more older RV parks are ones in the rural areas where they don't have all the concrete.
00;06;25;04 - 00;06;43;25
Unknown
More grass hybrids sometimes are friendlier to that. Right? Exactly. Or RV Park might have an area where they have a big picnic type area with barbecues and things like that, where you could go and cook and have a good time. Kind of like a park setting. Yeah, but it's a good idea. And even in here it brings out this point about inviting your neighbors to it as well.
00;06;43;28 - 00;07;04;23
Unknown
So if you're in the campground and you got some neighbors that you know are annoying you, you might want to invite them as well. But maybe you don't like your neighbors of the campground. So you want to have a raging party then, right? So you were just kidding. Oh, but anyway, so it's just a reminder that, you know, out on the road, there's a lot of things you can do that sometimes we don't do.
00;07;04;23 - 00;07;26;12
Unknown
Right. Exactly. And, you know, generally, if you're in an RV, I always have friends that have an RV and maybe planning a trip together once a year, you know, make it an annual thing, the big whatever, and have the kids there have the party, you know, for kids, adults, everybody. Yeah. And the kids will sure certainly like it and you will to be fun.
00;07;26;14 - 00;07;47;13
Unknown
nt to build on our growth for:00;07;47;13 - 00;08;12;17
Unknown
We'll keep providing the quality content and you keep recommending us and like emails and all that good stuff. Now let's get to staying on the road and really talk about TVs and wall brackets and flat screen TVs, all that fun stuff that comes with an RV and part of the entertainment world that we have to have with us all the time, whether it's a TV, phone or tablet.
00;08;12;20 - 00;08;32;20
Unknown
Somehow we got to have entertainment. But a lot of our TV's come with flat screen TVs in them. And so that's the one fixture in an RV that always seems to get my attention whenever I walk into an RV. It doesn't matter how big the flat screen TV is, where it's located in the RV, or even the quality of the TV.
00;08;32;20 - 00;08;53;04
Unknown
You know, there are so many brands we're going to you. Yeah, we talked about that last up. So Brands Act that plays right into TV. There's a lot of low quality TVs out there. So that TV, it just gets my attention and it probably gets a lot of people's attention for many reasons as they're generally they're big. They kind of command your eyes to zoom in on them.
00;08;53;12 - 00;09;11;18
Unknown
They stand out regardless of where they're at, how they're mounted. They just are there as a fixture in the room. That gives my attention. But, you know, it gets my attention even more. The TV mounted to the wall when you walk in an RV and that flat screen TV is lying on the floor and it's broken into pieces.
00;09;11;20 - 00;09;29;23
Unknown
Now, that's going to get your attention. And you look at it and you go, Wow, somehow I fell off the wall. Oh, wow. Bummer. And it probably happened while they were traveling because it's bouncing down the road and that's when things fall apart in an RV. They typically don't fall apart when you're sitting there. So when you're going down the road is funny.
00;09;29;23 - 00;09;48;22
Unknown
Isn't it ironic? The thing that is made for is going down the road, but yet it's not built durable enough to withstand going down the road, Huh? Probably a word for that stupidity anyway. So why would this TV have fallen off the wall now? There can be several reasons why. You know, I'm not sure what you might be thinking for reasons.
00;09;48;22 - 00;10;13;04
Unknown
But here's what I got that the bracket wasn't mounted correctly, that could be the issue. So let's explore that before we go on to the other problem that that it could be. So in my mind, there's only a couple things that can really happen here. You might be looking at a different picture, but that's what I see. So the bracket has to be mounted to the wall correctly and generally it needs to be mounted to the studs.
00;10;13;04 - 00;10;35;22
Unknown
So, you know, the upright studs that hold the wall together that support the RV, just like a house and house has two by fours, RV has toothpicks or something a little bit bigger, but it's not two by four. So it has to be mounted to the studs or it has to be mounted an area that's designated by the manufacturer of the RV that has been designed to support the weight of the TV and the bracket.
00;10;35;25 - 00;10;53;14
Unknown
You've got the TV and the bracket. Sometimes we do look at the TV as the weight, but the bracket sometimes they have a little weight to them as well. And when you're mounting something to an RV wall, weight does matter. So this has to be done correctly. You can't cheat here. You might try, but it just won't work.
00;10;53;14 - 00;11;13;09
Unknown
RV walls are not built like walls of the house. The other two by twos, one and a half by one and a half. So, you know, it depends. Sometimes the studs might be aluminum, might be metal, but plan on it being wood for the most part. And then the house is different. You have two by fours, the houses are bouncing down the road.
00;11;13;09 - 00;11;35;19
Unknown
You can literally mount a TV bracket to the drywall with the proper anchors. It's not going to go anywhere because the house doesn't bounce. Now, if you live in Southern California and there's an earthquake at maybe different story that's going to tear the drywall off. But heck, that's an earthquake. You live in Southern California. Yeah, whatever the way it happens, it's built differently.
00;11;35;19 - 00;11;53;27
Unknown
And so in the manufacturers building the RV, if they feel that that's where the TV's going to go, they're going to build it right into the wall, you know, And usually they get it right. They don't skimp there. It's one of the things they do get right most of the time. So now this might be pretty obvious to some, like, oh, yeah, well, no duh.
00;11;53;27 - 00;12;10;19
Unknown
That's how you'd have to mount it either where they want you to or it has to mount to the studs. But, you know, some people might not realize that that paneling is really thin. Yeah, less than a quarter of an inch. And it's just stapled to the wall. And, you know, if you mounted a TV bracket to it, it might hold it while you're sitting there.
00;12;10;21 - 00;12;31;08
Unknown
It might stay there forever, depending on how you mounted it to the paneling. But it's when you go down the road and it starts bouncing around where now it's going to pull that TV off with the bracket. So the paneling could literally just break or it could pull away from the wall, pull all the staples out. And so that can create a lot more damage than just a broken TV.
00;12;31;08 - 00;12;52;09
Unknown
Now, you got Paley that can be destroyed that you can't match, and now you've got a problem. Now, you might think that you can put a TV on that wall and just take it off when you're traveling. That might be the case. If the bracket for the TV is fairly light. You still want to think twice about that, though, because once that panel starts coming apart, you've got a problem.
00;12;52;09 - 00;13;10;23
Unknown
Now, suppose you want to add a TV to that special place on the wall. You know, it's just where you want the TV, but it might not even be possible to do it. So keep in mind, you know, at the bare minimum, you'll need to have power there. So power is a different story. And RV, again, is not like a house.
00;13;10;23 - 00;13;29;08
Unknown
You can't just make holes in the drywall, run power and patch it up. And you know, you can never tell. RVs aren't like that. So you have to think about that. You know, is power going to be nearby where you want this TV, even if the cords exposed, That's okay. You know, some things we can look at and, you know, because that's where we want the TV.
00;13;29;11 - 00;13;48;11
Unknown
And you also need an HDMI outlet or a cable outlet, something to receive the signal for the TV, unless it's a smart TV and you have an Internet access with wireless. So then the TV connect or the Internet, which is great, that eliminates that. All you need is a power outlet, but those are things you have to consider.
00;13;48;13 - 00;14;07;26
Unknown
So you can't just slap a TV up anywhere and go, okay, now work TV now for the smart TV like you said it might if you have internet in the RV, but you might not always have internet. So you have to consider that, you know a smart TV, you can get Roku boxes, Amazon fire sticks. You know, there's a plethora of things you can just attach that work off the Internet that give you everything you need.
00;14;07;26 - 00;14;28;00
Unknown
You can even attach a tablet to a TV or a phone and have your shows already downloaded on it if you wanted to go that route. And that could even be a dumb TV of all that has an HDMI port on it. So those are options. And having a TV for a lot of people is very important because it's easier to watch If you like.
00;14;28;00 - 00;14;49;16
Unknown
Watching TV with your family keeps the family together and it makes sense, but where you put it has to make sense and how the manufacturer does it. So now let's get to the other side of this. The other problem that can happen with TVs. Even when the TV comes from the factory, it comes with the RV, it's mounted where it's supposed to be on the wall.
00;14;49;16 - 00;15;05;25
Unknown
So the manufacturers said this is where the TV goes. And on that assembly line, the guy says down his beer, it takes a needle. I was irony mouse the TV wall bracket where it should be. Okay so that's done And so the TV's on there and you go to the dealership, Oh, that's the RV I want. And you buy it.
00;15;05;25 - 00;15;31;14
Unknown
The TV's mounted there and you take it home, you go on a couple of trips and finally that scenario happens. You walk in your RV and the TV's laying on the floor in pieces. How did that happen? Everything was where it's supposed to be. The manufacturer kind of messed this one up. Could they? Well, they could have. They got the TV bracket in the right place on the wall.
00;15;31;16 - 00;15;50;02
Unknown
It's mounted. It's rock solid. In fact, it didn't even come off the wall. It's just the TV's laying on the floor and part of the brackets with it are another brackets with what the heck is going on here? You're trying to figure this out. It's so you look at the TV closer in on the back of it, where the four holes are, where the screws are the threads.
00;15;50;05 - 00;16;14;08
Unknown
So that's called a visa pattern. And all TVs have them all modern TVs are for Wall Mount and there's different size visa patterns, but it's standard pattern. So if it's a small one, medium large or standard sizes and all TV brackets come with everything to accommodate all the different sizes, that's why when you buy a bracket, it has like 400 screws in it, 13 pieces of metal with holes in it.
00;16;14;10 - 00;16;39;22
Unknown
So it fits any TV out there. But the problem is it's not the visa pattern, it's not the screws. And you know that the the threads are put in there properly, but where the visa pattern is put was designed to be mounted on the back of the TV. It's mounted on a piece of plastic that is either held on to the back of the TV with tiny little screws or it snaps into the back.
00;16;39;25 - 00;17;05;04
Unknown
And that does not work in an RV. You need to have a TV that the whole back is one piece so it can't break apart like that. And this isn't as uncommon as you might think because there's so many TVs and brands out there and manufacturers buy whatever will work. If they're looking for a 36 inch TV, they could care less about the quality.
00;17;05;04 - 00;17;26;13
Unknown
They're going to buy a 36 TV. They're going to buy a thousand of them, 100 of them, whatever. They're going to slap them puppies up and ship them. It's not their problem. And it's really not because you're just going to go buy another TV and put it up there and you might go to one of the big stores, Wal Mart, one of the places, and not take it out of the box, not look at the back of it and get home and have the exact same problem down the road.
00;17;26;16 - 00;17;49;14
Unknown
So if you're going to replace that TV or add one to your RV, make sure not only the bracket is installed in the right place, but also that the TV is has the right backing on it to support itself going down the road. If your RV is never going to move, it's stationary, you know it's never going to move, then just buy anything you want.
00;17;49;14 - 00;18;06;25
Unknown
Amounted to the wall. It doesn't really matter as far as the TV goes. You still want to get the bracket up, right, but the TV won't matter. But if that are designed to go down the road and you certainly want to make sure that that TV's the correct one and a lot of new RVs don't come with the TV.
00;18;06;25 - 00;18;28;08
Unknown
They don't even cover the bracket on the wall. But it'll be marked on the wall. Your TV goes here and that's where the bracket would go. So you still have to. Yeah, it rules out the manufacturers element of making the mistake and puts it in your hands. Now. So don't be like the manufacturer, be the smart RV or mount the TV properly.
00;18;28;12 - 00;18;48;01
Unknown
So when you go into your RV after you've been driving down the road for four or five, six, ten, 20 hours, you get into the RV, it's not laying on the floor. That will ruin the trip. If you're counting on having that TV. So a little bit of advice there. And this is one of those things that kind of slips under the radar sometimes, but pay close attention to it.
00;18;48;04 - 00;19;10;05
Unknown
Now, again, I want to ask everybody to share this episode with their friends and families. Anybody who owns an RV, we're trying to build up our growth out there, our listeners, our watches, our whatevers. So we thank you for that and for sharing it with others and for listening. We really appreciate that. We put a lot of work into the show and hopefully it pays off for you.
00;19;10;07 - 00;19;31;28
Unknown
So now we're going to go to the next stop. And Alexis, where are you taking us to today? All right, Eric, we're going to New Mexico, Albuquerque, specifically to see the balloons. Lovell owns this, you know, the little one with helium. So there's this, like this big balloon that went over the U.S. earlier in place lately? Yeah. Yeah, Just like that one.
00;19;32;01 - 00;19;51;28
Unknown
Every guy you want to shoot him down or. No, I mean, that would be actually really fun. You should have that. No, we're talking the big balloons. The the the hot air balloons. These are spy not spy balloons, not spiral laser friendly balloons. Yes, they might have Snoopy on them, so they're pretty cute. Yeah. So those are cool.
00;19;51;28 - 00;20;14;14
Unknown
Yeah, very. So this is an annual thing that they do in New Mexico. And it is. It's just so cool. There's so many different balloons, so many colors. They have it. I think it's about three days long. I kind of looked into this because I want to go, but it'd be really fun. And they got everything in there to go along with the festival.
00;20;14;14 - 00;20;35;11
Unknown
They've got food vendors like that, things for the kids to do. So this is very family friendly and just beautiful. They they fly the balloons. It's all in the sky. They kind of do it towards the, you know, dusk. So it's this beautiful sunset. All the balloons are in the air. You can ride them yourself or just check them out.
00;20;35;11 - 00;20;56;17
Unknown
And it's it's just a really good time, if that's something that sounds good to see. You mentioned like Snoopy and yeah, I'm doing the like Mayflower moving truck. Oh, yeah, all sorts of stuff. Oh, yeah. Just your typical hot, right? Yeah. These things are pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah. All different shapes. Yeah. And you know what makes this so cool for our viewers?
00;20;56;17 - 00;21;18;15
Unknown
It it's not just a a balloon festival. A lot of our viewers go there. Yep. In the vendor set up for RV or. Yes. You know, so it is kind of like going to courtside or one of these big shows. It kind of is for our viewers. But they sell housewares and other interesting things. They're kind of the same platform.
00;21;18;15 - 00;21;36;16
Unknown
Yeah, it's neat. So it's definitely worth checking out. Oh, yeah. You can buy your tickets online. There is no guy. I used to go there every year to sell stuff. And yeah, he loved going there. So. Cool, huh? Yeah, I've never been myself, but I'd like to go one of these time. I would too. I really would. So it's not just the balloons.
00;21;36;16 - 00;21;56;00
Unknown
The balloons are, you know, part of it, but it's everything else. So again, is that entire package. Exactly. You get a lot with that family friendly and at this be a great place to have a party. It would be 23 of your friends to go. And how fun would that be? Yeah. Memorable. Very well. Tear it up. Tear it up.
00;21;56;03 - 00;22;15;12
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. So there's a lot there in New Mexico in itself is a pretty cool place. Yeah. So, you know, from Albuquerque or the balloon festival, you could do a lot of day trips from there. You turn this into a trip. You very much, you know, go for a week or two and a lot of day trips or maybe go to another part of the state.
00;22;15;13 - 00;22;36;26
Unknown
New Mexico, like you said, it's really cool. A lot of very cool. Very, very cool. So I would definitely go there and we've talked about it before. The problem Alexis and I face is we're always reading this stuff. Yeah, but our list is only so big. You know, her and her husband, they got their lives. I mine Karen.
00;22;36;26 - 00;22;56;12
Unknown
I have our lives. But, yeah, there's not enough time in the world to go do all this stuff, so it's like trying to pick. Sometimes I. I go someplace different. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go here now. Let's go there. Let's go here. Let's go there. Then we probably just end up going to the same old Joe's campground. Exactly. Those were, you know, we're guilty of it, too, right?
00;22;56;15 - 00;23;14;05
Unknown
But anyway. Yeah. So pull out your list. And this was done. Just put it out of your list. Gives you some to look forward to. Maybe you get there. Maybe adult psychologist. We'll see what happens. That's going to bring us to. Oh, wait a minute. Don't forget to check out our Destinations magazine. I know they're going to have something on this.
00;23;14;05 - 00;23;37;29
Unknown
Oh, they've got it. This is definitely on their radar because those balloons or the sunsets or the sunrises, the colors I know they're going to have with their magazines with Beyond a Shadow of Doubt. So go to our Read Destinations magazine dot com. Go to their website and sign up this is a subscription that's worth the money and you can also get a physical copy as well.
00;23;38;01 - 00;23;56;26
Unknown
All right. Now that leads us into RV and we're going to talk about RV levels and blogs. Yeah, I've talked about this before and I did a whole episode on it, but it's just a reminder, you know, when you have an RV, you're going to a campground. Depending on where you go, the how you level the RV is going to be different.
00;23;56;26 - 00;24;20;02
Unknown
Motorhomes will just have levelers on them. Pretty simple. Some fifth wheels, bigger ones or higher end ones have levelers on them. Some people put levels. All the reason I'm talking about automatic levelers. Yeah, most trailers and fifth wheels come with a scissor type jack to stabilize it. Not necessary level. You can cheat a little bit with it, but not a lot because of the weight rating.
00;24;20;05 - 00;24;42;09
Unknown
But you generally have to carry blocks and levels, things to make your tires, you know, lift them up off the ground to level the RV. And there's a lot of them out there. But you know Cameco vol Tara they price and I can't believe I can't think of the other one they're orange ones and they were the originator of it.
00;24;42;09 - 00;25;02;12
Unknown
I can't believe I can't think of it. So the company that makes the orange one, they were the first ones on the block to make these things high. Good at block leveling blocks, a little pun there. But anyway, so you need these things regardless. You know when you go to campground lists, every campgrounds perfectly level are almost is it trailing trailing.
00;25;02;15 - 00;25;34;04
Unknown
That's it that's the one the orange block So try links with the original one on the scene. The inventor, the creator, the king of the category, as they say. But you know, consider having these things would works fine but it is heavier splinters, harder to clean and wood anymore is so expensive it's almost more than plastic. So the blocks just make a great alternative and stay away from the cheap ones, low quality ones, because they're just going to break and they're going to leave you upset.
00;25;34;04 - 00;25;58;07
Unknown
Why did I waste my money on these? Buy the good ones. Don't learn the hard way in all your RV stores typically carry the the brand names that are good, but check it out. Leveling blocks levelers they're important to have keep that RV level and they're not as hard as it looks. And they show these really wild campgrounds that like one side of the RV, needs to be raised up a foot and you need a whole bunch of wood.
00;25;58;07 - 00;26;15;11
Unknown
Yeah. Now do leveling blocks of work. Probably too expensive to do that. But anyways, just look at your go to your local RV store, see what they have for leveling blocks, levelers if you don't have them, if you're not using them, if you're not sure why you'd ever want them, well, that's why they help you level your RV.
00;26;15;14 - 00;26;34;17
Unknown
If you go to the right campground, you might just have to throw one underneath the tire too. Underneath the tire or one side or both tires, and you get out your scissor jacks. You know, you you can stabilize it and level it a little bit. You don't want to put all light on a scissor jack, but you can fudge out a little bit and remember to keep your bull's eye level in the refrigerator.
00;26;34;17 - 00;26;54;09
Unknown
That's what you're leveling. The refrigerator if you're if your refrigerator is level, the RV should be leveled off. It was built correctly. So level of refrigerator, not the RV, unless you've set up levels on the side of the RV that matched the refrigerator, which a lot of people don't do that. Now, as a reminder, check out our YouTube channel.
00;26;54;12 - 00;27;22;07
Unknown
If you type in the Smart RV, we're on YouTube. Search bar. We will come up, watch our videos. They're awesome on how to do things. What parts to buy really is geared. It's like the podcast, except a visual version of it. Just trying to explain things to you in a way that helps you make good purchasing decisions. Or some hacks like recently we did a valve or a little hack on the three inch valve.
00;27;22;07 - 00;27;40;02
Unknown
We got another video that will probably be out by the time you hear this that the about another hack on three inch valves to get away from using drain valve lubricant. So there's always video videos in the queue and hopefully they're out when you you know we talk about them sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't worry a lot going on here.
00;27;40;05 - 00;28;07;04
Unknown
Pay attention to our YouTube channel like the videos and subscribe. Definitely be worth it and share it with your friends. So next episode is going to be 144 and the title of Staying on the Road is I think it's Time to go into Maintenance Mode. New RV sales are plummeting along with quality. So we're going to dig into this and really talk about what's going on with new RV sales.
00;28;07;06 - 00;31;03;22
Unknown
So it's been a great show and I want to thank Alexis for coming in today about feeling so well. It's been fun. It's always fun. This is a smart RV or podcast is where fun starts. All right. So this is Eric. Start with the Smart RV. Your podcast has been great hanging out with you today. And if I don't see on the road that's connected the Smart RV intercom.
