INTRO

The Complete Guide to Simplify RV Maintenance for newbies through to full-timer. So, any RVer will benefit from this episode. That's what we will talk about: staying on the road today and then enjoying the RV life segment will be a guide to must-have equipment for every RV road trip.

So these two things tie in together perfectly. Then, once again, we're going to go on a road trip at the next stop, and we're going to visit Cody, Wyoming. Then, we're going to wrap up the show with RV Envy. And this segment, we're going to talk about RV sewer host supports. This is Eric Stark with The Smart RVer Podcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. Today's episode is 145, so let's get right into it. And welcome to the show, Alexis.

RV LIFESTYLE

ALEXIS- Thanks for having me today.

ERIC- As always, having our resident expert here for all the places to go in the world is great. Well, expert is an exciting word, but okay, always has a suitcase packed, ready to go.

She also helps us enjoy the RV life. You know, we talk about enjoying the RV life a lot. And, you know, it's not just for full-timers. It's for anybody who has an RV. Yeah, at least that's the way we see it. Some people may be prejudiced and think you have to be a full-timer.

But not here. If you have an RV, man, enjoy the RV lifestyle. Exactly. And there's a lot to do. So today, let's talk about the things you have to have. On the website at TheSmartRVer.com, we'll have this for our article. Alexis will walk us through this guide of must-have equipment for every RV road trip.

Because when you go on this journey in your RV, you want to be prepared. You want to have a good experience, a good one. It's okay even if something goes wrong when you're prepared. You get a laugh about it after you get back on the road and everything's working again. So, Alexis, help us out here.

ALEXIS- Oh, thanks. I will. Um, we were talking before, and, you know, there are obvious things you need to have, like sewer hoses, various washes. If you're going to use your bathroom. But then there are other things like water filtration. You know, we need to think about that kind of thing or RV-specific DPS; these are the things we want to have if we're going somewhere we're not familiar with, which many of our viewers do.

ERIC- So things like this, maybe a generator and having tools, too, are huge. And not just your entire toolbox, but pick the ones that will help you if you have a breakdown or if you just need to make a temporary fix on something, have what you need because you don't want to bring everything either, you know?

So this is a thought process we must go through. Very good. So Alexis brought up one thing about a water filtration system. You probably have one. Maybe many people don't, you know, for what we get in our store. Some people do, some people don't. Yeah, but if you have one, is it good enough?

Can you expand on it and make it better? Does it need improvement? If not, then you're good to go. Yeah. In our last episode, we talked about having first aid kits, so make sure you have a first aid kit of some kind. So it's looking at your readers—the obvious things. But a first aid kit might not be so obvious.

ALEXIS- Having all the right tools might be obscure. You might have tools, but you have the tools that you will need. Yes. Having a set of sockets and wrenches might be great for the car or the truck, but will it be helpful for the RV? So determine that, you know, you can have a lot of stuff.

ERIC- And also, if you look at it, this isn't really what I need: a spare light bulb, spare fuses. And we will talk more about this type of stuff in our next section, staying on the road, because it fits in very well with that. So there are a lot of things that you sometimes overlook, like communication tools. You should have some two-way radios from when you get to the destination.

You can communicate more easily. Yeah, whether they're the family FMR. S-type radios, or GM's racers, are ways to go where you can communicate more easily. Sometimes on cell phones, it's quicker. If your hands are full, you got a phone, you're trying to juggle it, things like that. So it's just looking at the things that make the whole trip more manageable.

And when something goes wrong, you're prepared for it, whether it's you or somebody you're traveling with or maybe somebody in an RV park or a campground. They need some assistance, and you can help them out. What's cool about RV is that everybody helps one another out when they get into these odd situations. One place to go for them is a first aid kit, which we should have mentioned.

Well, we did mention That's right. It's just medical. So they make great first aid kits. And, you know, they're they're built as a kit. Now, if you want to buy bits and pieces, you can do that, too. But you can go to their website, JSMedical.com. In that case, great selection is for everybody, whether you're just doing what you're doing, you're either a paramedic guy, or you know someone in the field. You know they have everything, so you can buy what you need there.

STAYING ON THE ROAD

So, as a reminder, go to JSMedical.com. Now staying on the road today, we will discuss this complete guide to simplify RV maintenance for newbies, full-timers, and everybody in between. But as I said in the intro, it's different from this physical guide. There are so many physical guides out there, right? There is.

That's not what it is. So let me explain this. We will get into this, but let me walk through it here. So your RV is this huge investment that you made, not only financially as an investment but also as a mental investment. Whether we realize that or not. So the financial side of it is very obvious.

You know, everybody realizes that you buy this thing. It costs a lot of money, whether you pay cash to make payments on it, put something down, or buy things to get it off the dealership's lot. You probably bought things to make it more personal. So it's a significant investment. And when this RV falls apart right before your eyes because you weren't maintaining it, you feel bad like, oh boy, what did I do, man?

I just threw a ton of money away. So you take care of it. And that's what's important: taking care of it. Don't throw away that money if you sold your family on the idea of buying an RV so you can travel more. You can do things as a family. You want to see the country together. You want to visit family and friends and other places.

Yeah, you got all these weekends you can get away just in the RV. You guys can go to your favorite haunts whenever you want. Now that becomes mental because you sold the family on it. They did invest financially in your idea. They invested mentally so did you. For now, you've got to use the RV. So, maintaining it is imperative.

Your family's counting on you. They're looking to you for this. All this stuff you sold them on. So, it's not a bill of goods. You gaslighted your family because you want an RV. Hopefully, that's not the case. So you can't let your family down. You can't let yourself down. And it can be discouraging if you don't maintain the RV and it does fall apart before your eyes because you didn't think that it would happen or whatever the reason is.

So don't let yourself down, either. Now it’s in an RV, which is much easier than you think it is or have experienced. There's a lot of stuff out there, people talking about things that could be very misleading. You know, like I have a friend who if you tell him, you know, you're going to the hospital, he's going to find it.

He's going to tell you the worst things that could happen in a hospital and, like, you shouldn't go. So, okay, I should die instead. Yeah, he scares you. Or if you're doing certain things, this is how you got to do it. It makes it so complex you don't want to do it. And that's just him.

And there are people like that out there who oversell the overstock things. But, in the past, on one of the episodes, I talked about compartmentalizing your RV mentally so everything in your RV becomes this little box or compartment, a container that holds certain aspects of the RV. And this is mental. So it falls right into you thinking about the more physical involvement we must have in maintaining an RV.

So RV maintenance involves you wanting to keep up on the maintenance yourself or even taking it to a service center. But you're involved in that. You know, you take it to a service center because you can't do the work yourself or you don't have the time for it. And they will maintain it or do the things you want to do and do it right and even at a reasonable cost.

But you should know what the RV needs if you choose to have the work done. I'll take it someplace and let them blindly tell you what it needs. You should have the concept of doing it in your mind so it can get done correctly. You can check that work when you get it back to ensure it was done correctly, and you don't want to get oversold on repairs that do not need to be done.

And this happens quite a bit. You know, recently, I had a friend who took his RV into a dealership for this little minor repair on the roof. And I don't know why he took it to the dealership and didn't come to me, but he did it under warranty. That's what it was. He had some warranty work, stuff done, or wanted it done.

He wanted that fixed. Why it was there? And they told him, well, after looking at this for a week but sitting there for three months, they finally decided to look at it. So it sat through rain and snow for three months with a rough problem. They fired through, asking me for $100 to fix it. And that patch is not even doing what it needs because your RV needs a new rough.

They're overselling them. He just bought it from the same dealership a year ago. So you'll see they can tell you things that aren't real. And it was just a minor repair, a $150 repair. And the roof was in great shape. They didn't need a new rough. So you've got to be careful now, back to where we're heading with this.

See, that's a worst-case. Well, maybe you come in more common today, but if you're if you know about your RV, these things won't happen to you. You're the Smart RVer in that name. So, confidence is the first item you'll need to work on your RV. And the second thing is knowing your limits or skill sets and what you can and can't do.

So now let's go through some of the systems that will rattle these off there. It's all on me on the website, so I'll be able to see it. It's going to be in the description of this podcast, and we're probably going to elaborate on this, build it out, and make it into more of a physical guide, if you will, with tools and parts and things.

We've been piecing in this kind of stuff together, but we will pull it all together and do something very nice here that will be available to you on our website. So, the first thing will be the electrical, fresh water, and sanity action systems. You have your appliances, the ventilation system, the roof itself, the house, the box, the walls that hold everything in place, and the propane system.

And then if it's a motorhome and trailer either or, you're going to have a chassis, a, you know, in bed pick up, pick pickup, the camper will not have a chassis because it's sitting in the back of a pickup truck. But typically, we're talking about motorhomes and travel trailers here. So those things I mentioned, like the electrical system,

See, you can break that down to 12-volts, 110-volts. The converter, if your RV has an inverter, your interior and exterior lights. And now I'm just throwing this stuff together here. So it's not with the most excellent thought because I don't have your RV, you know, it's going to be different from my RV than your RV and how I look at it and how you look at it.

But the electrical system is the basic. If you look at the 12-volt and 110-volt systems in the RV, there are two separate RVs. I've done a podcast on that. Your converter is kind of linked to both of them, but more so to the 110-volt, where the inverter, if you have one, would be more on the 12-volt side.

Your lights are sure to separate from the exterior lights, which are 12 volts. So when you start looking at it that way, if your lights aren't working well, it's more likely your converter; your inverter has nothing to do with it. It's going to be something else you like. The battery now the battery, I didn't mention here, should be under the 12-volt system.

Like I said, I'm putting this together as we go here. So you start breaking it down and maybe get a piece of paper, write this down, pull out a computer, and break down your RV into these systems. You might even decide, Well, I don't want to do it—that way. I want to break it down into bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms.

You could do that as well or add that to it. But when you start breaking it down, it takes the whole RV out of the picture, and it brings it down to a system like if you have a water leak, a freshwater leak coming from your kitchen faucet, you don't need to worry about the rest of the RV.

That's where the leak is. That's where the focus should be. Understand what kind of PEX system you have. You know, if it's a 1/2, 3/8, 3/4, or a combination of all, if it has lines that are pre-made from the factory that you really can't replace today, and you're going to have to make a line buying packs and some fittings or some packed tubing and fittings and making a line to replace it.

That'll work just fine. Having an idea of that kind of stuff helps with the maintenance because when you go into it, you do it more confidently. You know that you can do it, and you know if it's within your skill set or not. You may have some of the parts at home, and I'd always advise having some spare parts.

Not everything. And I'll list things that should be spare parts. You know, some things will get ruined sitting in an RV. They're going to bounce around and more likely be destroyed by the time you ever go to use it. But packs, fittings, and packs tubing would be great to have, and you could use some.

Then the next time you're in town or wherever you go by an RV store, you pick those up, you replace them. But knowing what they are and how they work helps. Often, people just come into the store, and I need to fix my water leak. Well, let's go. I don't know.

Where is that? I don't know. It's in my RV. Well, the size of the waterline I have, I don't know, you know, what size vehicles they are. What do they go to see if, with that information, you can do much? And it's because sometimes it's just not understanding how it works, thinking that all the same, You know, if your RV has this, an aerial RV is going to be the same and, that's not the case.

It might be very similar, but it won't be exact. So, taking each system and understanding it, looking at your microwave, is there any you can do with your microwave? Does it have a fuze someplace? If the microwave quits working and you have 110 volts to the outlet and it's not repairable, then you know what to do.

Throw it away by anyone. If the air conditioner quits working, you can check your breakers, you can check some basic things, and then decide, okay, do I want to pursue this, or do I want to take it to a dealership and let them look at it? And most of the items in your RV, your water heater, your furnace, your air conditioner, Oh, so much of that stuff you can find the manual for it from the manufacturer's website, even service manuals, it'll walk you through diagnosing problems.

And that's what you want to have, you know, on your computer, printed it out, build a little book, a binder, but have it there so you can walk through these problems. So many problems in RVs are fundamental problems. They're not these significant issues that require going to a dealership every time it fails. They're not that way.

You can build your guide to maintaining your RV very quickly. If you break it down, look at what you need and what each system is made from. I mentioned the ventilation system and talked about the roof vents, plumbing vents, and refrigerator vents. Yeah, those are on the roof. The refrigerator will be on the side of the RV, so ventilation is for the plumbing, house, and refrigerator.

So when you break it down like that, I need to check my roof to ensure we're all intact. Hey. Hey. Why? I'm up on the roof. I will also check the roof to ensure that the ladder where it's mounted racks up there, and that the sealant is still suitable. So, there are two separate systems.

It is, but you can check them at the same time. So when you start narrowing it down to one thing at a time, it's okay. The propane system is a regulator to some propane lines, the tank, the valve on the tank, and that's it. So it's not too complex. And now the propane lines might go to an appliance, but that's the appliance, you know; so if you're having a problem with the flame and all your appliance is not working, more than likely it's going to be the propane regulator.

So it's very simple. Rather than look at each application, what's wrong with the water heater? It doesn't have a flame. Wow. The stove doesn't have a flame. What is going on here? Two appliances failed at one time. So you're looking at a wrong look at, you know, what's fueling them, what's supplying the propane. You can call some dealerships or RV places, and they'll help you with this type of stuff. Know, we do it all the time.

But so much information can be found on the manufacturer's websites, even for things that seem pretty mundane, like rough events. And yeah, there's YouTube and all the other places, but you have to be careful. You have to watch what you get off the Internet. We hear about it all the time. People come in here, and I've said it before, and I'll repeat it, you know, all on YouTube.

They told me, I needed to do this. And it's a mile away from what the problem is. And I mean, we do YouTube videos, we support YouTube. We believe in it. But the videos have to be accurate, and they have to be by professionals. Some of these videos take 20 minutes to get to the point.

And then that's not the point. You wanted, so you just wasted your time. Then the next video comes along and might only take 30 seconds. But it answered your question. Stick around with that because you're frustrated. See, that's where these problems come in—knowing your RV, and searching for the right thing if your furnace doesn't light.

You don't go online, and typing in Google Furnace doesn't work. You have to be specific. My suburban 90-something or other furnace does not light. Now you're going to find something more likely to help you. So you have to be specific, and you have to think about it that way. So, a YouTube video might come up.

You know, Furnace doesn't work. Well, that's the same problem you're having. It doesn't light does not work. I mean, the fan doesn't even come on. So, see the difference there. So be careful what you or what you take in from the Internet and remember the Internet. Anybody with a video camera can produce a video and put it on YouTube.

There are no restrictions. So if a guy has a video camera or a phone, and his water pump quits working, he might record it and go through the entire process of what he what happened with his water pump. But it might not be what you had in a might be 30 minutes of your time watching this guy do it.

It's a waste of time. So be careful. And that's where getting your information from the manufacturer's website will help so much. Start building your little arsenal of your guide, and then you can refer to it and reach out and other directions If you have to add, you know, some of these videos stick to the most basic processes that you'd never be able to fix anything, even with furnaces, something like that.

There are basic things that go wrong, and then there are the things that aren't so basic, that aren't normal, that don't happen all the time. And when you have one of those problems, it's a little more complicated. So then, sometimes, it might be trial and error if you can't find the correct answer. But call someone you can trust in the RV industry. Maybe there's a store you go to. Get to know someone there. Give them a call. See if they can help you, but build that manual up.

Now look at it this way: an RV is similar to a house. Some things in a home are very obvious, and some are challenging with an expert involved. Some things are simple, and some things are, for example, you have an appliance that fails. You call a technician, and he comes out and looks at, let's say, your 110-volt range.

So the range isn't working in all you know; it's just not working. You know, I turn the knobs, nothing happens, no lights come on or anything, and you don't want to mess with it. And so he comes out and looks at him and says, okay, so from what I can see, the range is acceptable, but you're not getting the 400 or 220 volts to the range.

For some reason, you are only getting half the power. But I'm not an electrician, from an attorney over to an electrician, and I know who can come out and take care of this. The range is one thing, and the wiring is another. And so he knew his limits and would have you call another person who specializes in that.

And doesn't that make sense? There are different systems in an RV. It's the same way it's up there, and it's much simpler to work on and figure things out. They're not as complex, and there are few models in a home. There could be thousands of different ranges in a home, but in an RV, it slims it down.

But that's to give you an idea, a house, sometimes things are really obvious, and sometimes they are not. And it's the same with an RV. RVs are easier to work on, or they can be careful of who you rely on, but make sure that you can rely on yourself. Learn how to navigate through your RV with all the different systems and break them down.

As I said, if you write out what you think a system consists of, then make sure you have the manual for it. Let's say the converter, water pump, and toilet. Once you start getting all that, you've just built up the guidebook to repair your RV, maintain it, and keep it on the road.

And that is cool because now you aren't relying on anybody else. You can do it yourself, and it's a great feeling to keep your things maintained, fixed, and repaired, especially when they fail out on the road. You just become the hero to your family because you maintained your RV. That's what you want to do.

All right. I hope that this information is helpful. We'll have a description of it here and a link to even more of it. So, we will build that out and make it a very comprehensive guide with tools and recommended parts to keep on hand. Spare parts have to have spare parts, and you don't need gobs of tools either.

Yeah, you're not a mechanic. You're working on an RV tool for your truck. It might be different, but tools, your RV, they don't need to be that complex. You don't need an extensive old, giant toolbox. Very basic. And we'll keep it basic—one more reminder here to check out our YouTube channel. We were talking about YouTube videos. Go to YouTube and type in TheSmartRVer.com.

Our viewers and channel will develop the videos; even the podcast episode is in place now. There are videos, podcasts, everything under the sun. YouTube is good. All right. So check that out. Now we're getting into the next stop, and Alexis will talk about RVing in Cody, Wyoming.

NEXT STOP

ERIC- Cody The Old West. Yeah, the Wild West. That's right. It is. Oh, man. Yeah. So tell us about it, Alexis. What's there to do in Cody, Wyoming?

ALEXIS- There's a lot. This is a place I'd like to visit. First of all, you're close to Yellowstone, so that's cool. You should visit there.

ERIC- Then come to Victor, Montana, and visit us. I know. Come on over, please. Well, you've got the, you know, your beautiful scenic drives. You're going to have that everywhere you go Here. And then there's a big cowboy culture there. So that seems obvious, but they've got rodeos and all sorts of things that are very, exceptionally cowboy bull riding, barrel racing.

ALEXIS- They've got all of it. So if that's something you're interested in doing or the family is, take them to something like that because it's really fun. Getting to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is cool. It's a treasure trove of exhibits and everything that chronicles American, the American West. It could even be a fun history lesson for your kids or yourself.

And there are all kinds of RV parks and campgrounds and just a ton of things to do outdoors. And then usually people are pretty nice there. There's a Western hospitality about it. So it's an excellent place to visit. One to keep in mind. Yeah, those places are pretty cool. Yeah. So when you go somewhere like this, there's much to experience.

There's more than just the basics. There's always more to it. And bring your family and bring friends. Oh, that's what it was a fear. You know, the rodeos there, you know, that's cowboy stuff. But, you know, if you're not a cowboy and you've never been to a rodeo, you must go at least once. I agree because they are fantastic.

There's a lot of things happening there. The pinon, the rodeo, how they set it up. There it's like a carnival way. A lot of different things going on at one time. You know, it's great for the kids. Oh, yeah, they will have a good time no matter what. Adults might ruin it for them, but, you know, the kids will have a good time, so it's well worth it to go for the rodeo because that is authentic cowboy country town is the same way of permanent rodeos here and stuff.

Oh yeah. And they're always good to go to. Even if you're not into it, check it out at least once. So yeah, Wyoming's just a great state in general, like so many. I'm partial to the West; the more rugged, cowboy-driven states. Yes. So, check out Wyoming and, I'm sure, an RV Destinations magazine.

You can find something there about Wyoming. If not just coyote, it's Cody itself, so go to RV Destinations magazine dot com and see what they have to offer. And again, they have these fantastic pictures in there that just man speak volumes quality is in those pictures, so it gives you an idea of what you'll see if you decide to pick a destination out of their magazine.

RV ENVY

We're coming to the final part of the show, RV Envy. This is about keeping your neighbors jealous of your RV. Yeah, I am decked out in gold, glitter, and stuff and have everything that makes RV life easier. Some people are just very basic, and there's nothing wrong with that.

They grab whatever, do whatever, and make it work very minimally. Others like to have all the gadgets to make it work even better. And it's just incredible. It takes a lot more time to set up and tear down, but it's worth it, you know? And so our house supports are one of those things. A lot of RV parks care less about what you do.

Throw it on the ground, throw it up, whatever. But then, some parks, you know, prefer that your sewer hose not sit on the ground. And there are some excellent reasons why. They have their reasons because it doesn't look as good. They're trying to keep standards up, and maybe your hoses leaking are making a big puddle right there, whatever their reason is.

That's fine, but keep it above the ground. It makes sense because it will ruin the hose or wear it out sooner when it gets dragged on the ground and kicked around. It's like we just did a YouTube video. So we'll attach the link to it here as well so you can watch about sewer hoses and the quality of the brands to buy and things like that.

But when a sewer hose lacks support, it will last longer. It's not going to take those abuses is less likely to get, you know, someone standing on it, someone on a bicycle, riding over it, driving over it, things like that. It does look better. It keeps the waste, and the gray water flowing out of the RV more efficiently.

So, there are some benefits to it, and there are different sewer hose supports out there. And there are two different brands. There's Camco, and clunky Camco makes the Sidewinder. Val Tarah now owns Flunky. I prefer the Camco one. It's a little less money. It does the same thing. So if you prefer the clunky brand, then go ahead and get it.

But those two are great because they come together, you know, they're not this big, long, clunky thing. They are compact and very small boxes, if you will. They put it back in the box, or it doesn't come with the bag. But so they only take a little storage space or are easy to use.

You know, anybody can use one of these things. So the Sidewinder or the Slinky, we prefer the Sidewinder, but that's the way it is. So take your pick. But those two are the easiest to use. Parks will allow you to put that down. Even if they have, you know, stringent guidelines, they'll allow that to be there.

Easy to do. They come in different lengths. So depending on where you camp, all the timing by a short one or a long one, you make the park. So anyway, check it out. Set Sidewinder or Skunky sewer hose supports. You know they help keep the RV looking good. More set up, but man, it's worth it because now areas envious of you around your sewer was even can you imagine that someone Hey, I sure as a nice set up you got there see now you're rocking it.

All right. So you come to the show's end today—one last reminder to go to YouTube and check out the Smart Rear Channel and see the videos. We have. And while you're there, like our videos and subscribe to them. That way, you get the updates regularly, pushing those videos to the top of the algorithm so everybody else can see them and enjoy them.

OUTRO

And if you have some friends with an RV, send them the length share to share the video with them. So, in the next episode, we will discuss De-Winterizing your RV. It's going to be in the middle of March. It is time to do that. Get ready to winterize your RV and hit the road.

We had a great show today. I want to thank everybody for coming by, listening, and hanging out with us. This is Eric Stark with The Smart RVer podcast. If we see only some on the road, let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.