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!

Enjoying The RV Life: We all like to buy trinkets on the road. But Eric and Alexis talk about whether or not it's worth it. They talk about the right things to buy and how to find more quality items to take home for yourself or your loved ones you left behind and didn't travel with. Staying On The Road: Eric dives into the interesting world of trailer axles. He eases the minds of his listeners and explains how to find the ones you need by helping you understand how to find the size and help yourself be more informed. He also talks about the benefits of upgrading your axles if you ever have the chance or the desire to do so.

Axle Identification ChartsThe Next Stop: Alexis and Eric talk about Route 66! This road is famous and can be done in chunks or you can explore the entire Route 66 and never leave it. The entire Route 66 is about 2400 miles long and is a great way for the entire family to have a great vacation. They talk about the incredible landmarks that can be seen on the route. RV Envy:Eric gives his listeners the run-down on Blizzard Boxes! These exciting items are a must-have for an RVer of any level. You’re friends will be sure to envy your amazing cooler that beats all other coolers! Take the leap and get yourself a Blizzard Box today!

The Amazing Blizzard Box - BlizzardBox.com

Sunpro Mfg - RV Sunshade, Windshield Covers & Slide Out Awning FabricsSmart RV Parts Center - RV Parts & AccessoriesHot Boat Ropes - Marine Cordage- Anchor Lines, Dock Lines, Tow Lines etc.RV Rubber Roof Repair RV Roof MagicDicor Products- Dicorproducts.comRudys (Dicor) Tips and Tricks Book- RudysRoofbook.pdfRV Destinations Magazine- RVdestinationsmagazine.comThe Smart RVer YouTube Channel-youtube.com

INTRO

How complicated are trailer axles? They're not, they're simple. And that's what we'll be discussing today and staying on the road. And in the enjoying the RV life segment today, it's all about buying souvenirs. Is it worth the money? I'm going to tell you right now. I think so. I love souvenirs.

So now, once again, though, we're going to be on a road trip and Alexis will take us to Route 66. And it's dubbed America's greatest road trip. That's how people view Route 66. And we're going to visit that at the next stop. Then we will wrap up the show with RV Envy and an RV Envy.

We're going to talk about blizzard box coolers. You've probably never heard of a blizzard box. Well, they are cool. Get it. Coolers cool. All right. Enough of that. 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.

So, this is episode 140 and let's just jump right into it. So welcome to the show, Alexis.

LIVING THE RV LIFESTYLE

ALEXIS- Thanks, Eric. I'm glad to be here. And how are you?

ERIC- Today? Very well, I think. Yeah, it seems to be a recurring theme now, that uncertainty of how you are. You know, I never know. Yeah.

ALEXIS- Mm-hmm.

ERIC- All right. No rants today.

I'm just going to get right into the meat and potatoes of it all. I'm going to be rant-free, but as a reminder, we're still a top-rated podcast on Player FM climbing up the ladder and all the other places too. So, let's get right into enjoying the RV life. See, that's really where I want to go because buying souvenirs, I like buying souvenirs.

ALEXIS- Is it worth the money? Yeah. So, your opinion is pro souvenirs. But they got to be the right souvenir. Not every single one. Well, you and Karen have a knack for picking out interesting ones. So, I get that. Yeah. They're probably not even souvenirs. Really? Souvenirs are a little cheap junkie thing.

ERIC- That's what I envisioned. That's true. These are more of the things we find that when we're on the trip create memories. Yeah. Okay. I gotcha. Yep. Well, that’s what I mean. What's on the walls behind us around us is all from somewhere. How's the story? Yep.

I love it. Okay. So, Alexis, uh, what's your take on souvenirs?

ALEXIS- Well, I think they can be, um, fun sometimes, and this is just. So, you know, a common opinion, I think it's kind of overcharged on even like the small little tokens. Oh yeah, you get ripped off. Yeah, totally. So, I guess, choose wisely, you know, where you go, and as you said, if you find something and it's okay to take that something, like, you know, out of a park, there are very few things you should take, but you know, if you can, then that's fine.

You have got to remember your trip somehow. So that's okay to do.

So, if you’re in an RV park and you like the picnic table, you just take it. Yeah.

ERIC- Hey, it's fine. You don't have to purchase souvenirs. Souvenirs can come in the form of pictures. That's true. We talked about that. Maybe, you know, rocks, things like that, unique, um, pieces of wood.

I mean, there's always things that you find somewhere, you know? Yeah. Yeah. A bottle cap lying in the sand. Who knows?

Yeah. Hey, you'll remember it. Frame it. Put a year into it. Yeah. I like the one point in here. It says instead of buying numerous small souvenirs. Consider investing in a few high-quality items that are meaningful to you.

ALEXIS- So, instead of all these little things, maybe you want the blown glass vase that's expensive, but pretty. So, maybe you get that instead.

That's true. You know, the little things tend just kind of disappear into no man's land. They can, yeah. You know unless you have a place for them.

ERIC- Like we always get a magnet from everywhere we go. And sometimes we can't find a magnet. So, we must find something that we can convert to a magnet. Oh, interesting. You know, like we got a surfboard that we made into a magnet. That's cute. You know, a little tiny surfboard, you know, other than that, it would just. Be a nowhere good idea. Yeah. So, it's doing that sometimes. Right. You know, on the list here, which is also on our website, the smart RV or. com under, um, um, enjoying the RV life, it says, um, cultural immersion. So sometimes, you know, souvenirs can be part of a culture and that's kind of unique. And some cultures we might not care about some, oh, this is very interesting.

We might even collect stuff about that culture. Right. So being out on the road. Sometimes it exposes us to things we don't normally see at home. And that's where the souvenirs, I guess, come in, you know? Yeah, that's true. Very true. And you are supporting the local economy, usually a lot of local artists and things like that.

Yep, exactly. We went to Alaska. You know, we came back with all sorts of stuff, two big giants, or is it two or three, two big giant carved bears, you know, they're carved with a chainsaw. I love it. Pretty cool. You know, and we had a lot of other stuff. The whole backseat of the truck was just filled with junk we bought.

ALEXIS- Very nice area, but you love it. Exactly. You know, cause we went up there, Cal or Oregon coast and through Washington, you know, drove along the coast. So, we took some time going up, and then why are there? Yeah. But you know, on your list, it also talks about budget, you know, keeping within a budget, but you know, my wife and I, we look at stuff that price does matter.

ERIC- But generally, it's okay if we just, that thing jumps out at us and it might be the ugliest thing on the face of the earth, but like this picture behind me with the soccer player, it might be the ugliest thing on the face of the earth, but it just pops and there's something about it. Um, we typically will buy it unless it's just way too ridiculous in price, you know, and then quality is another thing here.

Quality over quantity. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Come back with nothing. We've been gone for a week and don't have a thing to show for it. Didn't want anything. Couldn't find it. It stood out to us. You know, the quality was bad. Maybe it's cool looking, but you get to look at it closely. Yeah.

This thing won't even make it home, you know, exactly. Yep. Another thing on your list too is space constraints. The last time we were in California we went to some surfboard shops, and I found a long board that I wanted. It was old, it was just, it was a classic, but we had no way to get it home.

Right. And there was no way I was going to buy it and have it shipped. Yeah. Too expensive. So yeah, there's a lot of things there. It talks about the environmental impact of whatever you need to do there.

If it's listeners, don't do that. You know, there's bigger things to worry about. Okay. Now that's going to bring us to the end. So again, that's on our website TheSmartRVer.com in the early enjoying the RV life. And all our articles are there where we talk about this stuff. And, you know, like we always say, it gets you thinking about things just like our next, next stop sections, it gets you pondering things, looking at how you travel and things you do, and ideas for the family as well.

STAYING ON THE ROAD

Now we're going to get to staying on the road. How complicated are trailer axles? They're not to kind of set this up. You know, I have a passion for certain aspects of RV maintenance. As odd as that may sound, I do, you know, and these are usually areas that I get passionate about that are commonly neglected.

And when they go unchecked, they can easily ruin a well-planned vacation. And that creates that situation where you say, I'll never let that happen again. No way. But sometimes we do because we get home and get past it and go right back to what we're doing. Trailer axles. They're an area. Trailer tires, you know, not maintaining your tires, replace them when they need to be replaced.

Those things ruin trips. But for today in this episode, we're just going to focus on RV trailer axles and motorhome axles. Yes, they can have problems. You need to pay attention to them, but you know, they're very specific to the chassis. And for the most part, they're what I would call static. You know, they're there.

You don't just replace them because. Just because you're not going to go to a different axle size because that axle was made for that chassis. It was thought out. And generally, on motor homes, they don't undersize axles. They're built, you know, correctly for the motor home. They don't seem to have the same problems that trailer axles have.

So, we're going to focus on the RV trailer axles, which a lot of this just carries right over into cargo trailer axles. And, um, you know, utility trailers, horse trailers, things like that. But our focus today is going to be on sprung axles as well. In other words, they have leaf springs. They're not torsion axles.

They have leaf springs. There are not that many torsion axles, if any on trailers, although some do get put on there, and independent suspension is sometimes put on trailers. So, these are sprung axles that we're talking about. It has leaf springs, but you know, looking at trailer axles, they can also be a little more dynamic.

I kind of touched on that a little bit. You know, you buy an RV, and you might decide that the axles are underrated for the RV, and so you're going to upgrade them, or maybe something happens down the road, and for some crazy reason, you decide to downgrade the axles, you know, something might happen while you're out on the road.

And you know, you've got. A 5, 200-pound axle and you need to get on the road. And the only thing you'll find is a 3, 500-pound axle. You might downgrade, you know, and maybe later, get it back upgraded, but it got you on the road. And you know, some of those things are doable, not recommended, but you do what you must do sometimes.

You might be out in the middle of nowhere and it's going to be a long time before you can get an axle. And they just happened to have one lying around. Well, let's throw that puppy in if it fits, and let's get me out of here. Yeah, that's if it'll fit, not all axles are just interchangeable, even though.

A lot of parts are, and I'm going to touch on that. So why does it matter what axle and suspension you have? Well, in some respects, it doesn't matter at all. The trailer came with what it came with. And when there is maintenance that needs to be done, you just take it to the local service center, and they repair it.

It could be that simple. You just pick it up and you're done. Don’t worry about it. Don’t think about it. You know, maybe RV maintenance isn't your thing, and you just have someone else do it. On the other hand, you might own, you might like to do all your maintenance, and knowing what you have as far as the axle goes can save a lot of time when purchasing repair parts such as wheel bearings.

You know, you can just bring in the old wheel bearing or you might have the number written down and this is what I need. It makes it simple, but writing things down and having a record of it is better than having them, or it helps with the parts, but sometimes you don't have the part to take in. And so having a record of what your axle is and the parts in it.

Certainly, makes it easier, especially if you're calling around and asking if they have these parts, you may want to see what you have in the event, in the event you experience a breakdown out on the highway and that information saves the day. So, recording it, having it with you, you break down on the road, maybe, you know, disconnect the trailer, drive into town, you haven't taken it apart yet.

You want to leave it intact until you find the parts and do it all in one shot. Now, that might be what you want to do. It might not be the best thing to do. It might be better to take the drums off and see how bad it is. If the wheel bearings melted onto the spindle and you must replace the entire axle or the spindles, you want to analyze that first.

Nonetheless, the point is if you have the information, it makes it easier. Now, most RV trailers, fifth wheels, and travel trailers have a 3,500-pound to a 7,000-pound axle. So that's going to depend on the trailer's weight and what the manufacturer installed at the factory. So, they determine the weight of the trailer and what axles should go on there and the axles.

Also, requires the same type of leaf spring. If you have a 3, 500-pound leaf spring, I mean, you can have the same leaf springs to go with it. They work in conjunction, and you might not know what type of axle you have with the weight rating or anything about it. You know, it's just an actual, you don't care.

Well, most of that information can be found on a tag. Sometimes it's a metal band on the axle and sometimes it's a sticker. It's on the axle and it tells you all the information or usually all the information about it. You must decode it sometimes, but even if you can look on the internet, help get help decoding it.

Or like if it's a Dexter axle, you can call Dexter. If it's a Lippert component, you can call Lippert. The Lippert's website, you can put it on their website, and it'll tell you what a replacement is, how much it'll cost, and all the information about it. So that's kind of cool. But if you have the tag or the label on the axle, take a picture of it.

Make sure you put that picture someplace where you're going to have it. And write down the information off the tag. Even if you don't understand it, just write it down in the same order that it's on the tag or the label. And record that in your book for your RV, and that's assuming you keep a little book of some kind or some sort of record-keeping method for your RV, whether it's digital or paper, you should have something.

And I recommend the picture because tags sometimes fall off. They get torn off. A dealership might take it off for some reason. Maybe they're doing a little information on your axle, and they forgot to put it back on. The labels don't last forever. You know, they get all smeared road, grime chewed up. And then if you don't have the label, or you can't read it, or the tag is already gone, it's not that hard to figure out what you have.

It's just a few measurements. And some common sense and a little bit of time. And you can do this. And sometimes you might have to take the tires and wheels off to get an accurate measurement. It's probably better to just plan on doing that at least on one side of the axle, it'll help make it easier because what you need to get to help you do this is the axles complete it together.

So, you want the hub face to hub face. So that's the outside of the hub. Where your lug nuts are, where the wheel would press up and rest against the face, of the hub or the drum. It could be either a hub or a drum. Most trailer travel trailers are going to have drums on them, not a hub. That would be more like a, uh, utility trailer.

So, drum face to drum face. Then you also have the, the, uh, spring perches or spring supports for the leaf springs. They're welded to the axle. If you measure across from those centers to center. That's a measurement. And then here's another one that's a little harder to do the axle length. So, the axle, you'd have to have it stripped down the drums or the backing plates taken off so you can get a good axle or length, or you'd have to put a straight edge on the tip of each axle and then measure in between it.

So that could take two or three people to do that. But that's another option as well. And the flange-to-flange measurement, having all of these. Makes it very concise. So, if you do need a new axle calling around, it makes it much easier. And even knowing the lug pattern on the wheel is going to help.

And you want to keep your wheel size the tire size, and the lug pattern also recorded as well. Keep that in your book because those are important things too. If you need a wheel, you know exactly what you have, what the lug pattern is, the diameter, if it's 15 and then the width of it, if it's five, six or seven inches, you should know that that way you can walk into a store and buy a wheel for, let's say a spare.

And not have to do all this measuring again, because you've done it. You've done it the first time. The lug pattern is important too. There are different lug patterns, but sometimes they look very similar. Like there's a, you know, two, five lug patterns, five lugs on four and a half inch or five lugs on five inches.

And to determine your pattern, you just put the measuring tape in the center of one lug and measure across to the other one, um, the one closest to the center, and that's the size. You have five on four and a half, five on five, six on six, whatever it might be. So that keeps it simple, but those things there can help you identify an axle.

Now it's not going to tell you everything you need to know about your axle because you do need to know the weight rating of it. That's very important. And that's where the wheel bearings and some of these parts come in. Knowing this, let's say you have a seven 7,000-pound axle that the wheel bearings and the grease seals will fit.

Your axle will fit all 7,000-pound axles for the most part, unless there's just an oddball axle out there, but you can walk into a store. I need wheel bearings and grease seals for a 7,000-pound axle. And it shouldn't be an issue. Now, some stores might not have the experience and they're going to have to look it up or you might have to bring samples just for them to be sure.

But ultimately though, you don't have to do that. If you have numbers that helps too, but a 7,000-pound axle is going to take the same wheel bearings as any other. Now, let's dig into the part that matters. Once you determine which axle you have, all the parts, as I said, are going to be the same based on the weight rating.

So, for a 5,200-pound axle, all the parts are going to be the same as any other 5,200-pound axle. So, I'm kind of reiterating that, but I want to make sure that you understand that. So, the bearings are going to be the same. The grease seals are going to be the same. The drums would be the same. The hubs would be the same if you had hubs.

So, it makes it easier. So, but still record all your wheel bearing numbers, just in case you might get someplace where they absolutely can't do it by weight, they're going to say, I need the bearing numbers, period. So, then you're prepared to do that. You're helping them at that point, especially if you're out on the road, you don't want to be arguing with somebody over this stuff.

You want to just get your axle back together and get back on the road and do what you do best RV and have a good time. Now, 3, 3,500-pound axles are kind of in a. Category all by themselves, their parts don't match anything else. A 3,500-pound axle, a 3,500-pound axle. So, if you have one of those, which would be on a smaller trailer, maybe 22 feet, 24 feet, um, 28 feet, depending on the manufacturer, you're probably going to have five lugs on a five-inch or four-and-a-half-inch pattern.

It's like I said, that comes on smaller trailers now, 5,200, 6,000, 7,000-pound axles. They're all the same axle. Everything on them is identical, but the difference is they take different bearings. So, the inner bearing is the same for almost one. It’s the same on all three of those sizes and the outer bearing varies by the actual size.

Now the grease seals are the same, but the drums can be different. So, the bearings, the, uh, the outer bearing is going to be different. The grease seals are going to be the same, but the drums can be different. And the drums are going to be different due to the wheel bearing size and the lug pattern. So, the lug pattern is going to play into this as well.

So, these are little things you need to know, but the axle itself, the tube, they're all the same. It's just the bearing configuration and the drum configuration. So, one other point worth knowing is if your axle is under or over-slung. Under-slung means the axle is mounted on top of the leaf spring. So, the leaf spring is underneath the axle.

Over-slung means the leaf spring is mounted on the top of the axle. And this is good to know because if you're replacing the axle, it might come up. The question that is going to arise is over-slung or under-slung. Cause everything else on the, you have everything else, but that, so that's good to know if you're not sure, just take a picture of the axle and the leaf spring, and most parts guys can figure that out and help you, uh, you know, determine whether it's over under-slung and there's also this term that floats around called flipping the axle and you don't flip an axle anymore.

It's, it's a terminology that came from years ago when axles were made a little bit differently. But what it does, the idea behind it is raising the trailer or actually you could lower it too, but generally, it's done to raise the trailer if the, if it's under-slung, so the leaf springs are under the bottom of the axle, you would, well, leaf spring perches on the top of the axle and the leaf springs would now sit on top and that would give it a three-inch lift, but the axle stays the same.

You're not flipping it because it has a bow in it. And that bow needs to stay at the top. So, it's just changing the trailer, basically putting the trailer on top of the axle. So hopefully this makes some sense, and you see the value in it of knowing what you have because it makes it a lot easier when people come into the store and they tell me I have 3, 500 pounds.

Now I don't have all the numbers memorized, but our boxes are identified. And then we have a cheat sheet we look at, which will be on our website, which I think is already on our website, but I'll make sure it's there again. Um, and there I go again, saying this stuff and it's already going to be there.

It'll be there. It was already there. How's that? But it just makes it easier. And you can even print our cheat sheet and just keep that with you. Maybe circle the parts you have for your existing trailer. And a lot of people, you know, just have problems with this. They go to part stores. They don't know how to look it up.

You know, it’s all one, you know, who you talk to and how much experience they have. That doesn't mean they're idiots. If they can't do this, it just means they don't have the experience, but just simple little things like this can make life easier when it comes to maintaining your RV. Even if you have a problem, you just jump in your car.

I need a new wheel bearing and you take off and you get to the store. Oh, I forgot what bearing number that is. Or I forgot to bring the bearing, but hey, I got a 7,000-pound axle. It's the inner bearing. They should know what to give you. See how that pays off. All right. So, I hope you appreciate this information.

So that's going to bring us to the end of staying on the road. As a reminder at SunPro manufacturing, we have slide-out awning fabrics. All the major brands slide out, whether it's Solara, Dometic, or Carefree. Well, that's pretty much it anymore. So those three brands, we have replacement slide-out fabrics, check them out.

They have three-year and five-year warranties and even a 10-year warranty. Great product, great prices. Now this brings us to the next stop. And today, we are going to Route 66, sometimes dubbed as America's Greatest Road Trip. That's right. I think it's still.

NEXT STOP

ERIC- So, Alexis, why are we going to Route 66?

ALEXIS- I just thought this would be fun. It kind of changes it up. It's not one single location, but it's several. And, uh, I think you can hop on to the route from different locations. Can't you? Yeah.

ERIC- It's not like a tunnel, right? You must drive to Los Angeles or Chicago. So, it does cover a lot of, of a lot of mileage, but I think it's so cool.

ALEXIS- It passes through historic, you know, highways and small towns, major cities. I just think it would be fun to do if you plan it out. Right.

ERIC- Yeah. It's 2, 400 miles. Yep. You could drive that in a couple of days if you wanted to, you know, yeah. So, few. Planned for a long week, you know, or even two weeks, you'd have a good trip.

You would be neat. You'd see a lot of different stuff. Cause you'd see like Chicago, you go to kind of the Midwest, the desert States, New Mexico, and stuff. That would be cool.

ALEXIS- Super neat. Yeah. So now, if let's say I was going to embark on this trip, would you suggest that I kind of look on a map and Kind of plan this out? I would, and I would say have several mapping options available because that's great if you have a GPS. It might not always, uh, work for you depending on where you're at the time. So always having a paper copy is good. Um, maybe even like a What do they call those? Um, I'm trying to think of the phone satellite phone.

ERIC- That might be good too, because no, no satellite phone, just in case you come across an emergency and your cellular is not that great, you can get, um, for an RV or they might not like this, but the, uh, or need it, but you can get the handheld GPS is like Garmin makes. Yeah. And some of them have a subscription plan for, uh, text messaging.

ALEXIS- That's cool. You know, if you're out and about and you need help, you can text message somebody and they can get help from you. That would be ideal. Yeah. So that's cool. So just in that subscription plan, you can turn it on and off too. I have one. That's why I know that's cool. So, you know, you just want to use it for a couple of months in the summer, turn it on or a trip here and there, just turn it on.

ERIC- Great idea. Yeah. Perfect. Yep. That would be what I would do.

Okay. So, on a long trip like this, you probably want an RV. Be comfortable for you. All right, right if you have one, that's great Just make sure it's up to code. Like you said always make sure you've got good tires on there and everything's checked but if you're renting then that's another thing you can kind of maybe do some research first and see Which RV would be the best make sure everything you need is on it and then have insurance.

That’s important. Yeah, the fine print on that, and sure.

ALEXIS- Please do. Yeah, exactly. So, you also have on the list here, budget planning. Now I would recommend just using a credit card with a high limit and just going crazy. Oh yeah. Would you buy all the suitors you can find? Oh no. Bring a trailer to bring them all home.

Yeah. You're going to need to, you know, that'd be a cool trip. Cause you really could have a lot of fun, especially if you had a kind of a high budget and you really must worry about it. I mean, you worry about some things, but not everything, you know, the thing I think would be cool is just eating out everywhere.

You stop. Yeah. Like you'd, you'd find so many places. That'd be so neat.

ERIC- Exactly. Yeah. You know, I mean, school is going to be your worst expense. Yep. You know, maybe, well, RV parks probably wouldn't be bad, but depending on where you're going, what you're doing, you can just stay in a parking lot too. It was just an overnight deal.

That's true. That's true. So, some parts of it could be pretty. You know, do it on the cheap. Yep, exactly. Yeah, so it's, you know, just knowing where you go along the route. There might be some places that everybody says you must go, but you might not be where you want to go. Right, exactly. You know, it might be like, you know, going to some monument that you could care less about.

ALEXIS- Well, don't waste your time, you know. Go to the places you want to go. Yep, that's right. And it's a long drive anyway, so it probably would take you, you know, leisurely pace at least three days. Um, so now you add all the other stuff in there and remember you can shoot off a route 66 to, you can, yeah, you can make little day trips out here and there if you wanted to, or even overnight trips, you got an RV, that's right, you know, so that makes it cool.

So yeah, maybe two weeks would be better. I agree. Then you can just go kind of on a whim to feel like you're diving down the road. It's not everything you're going to see on a map. Right. You might see a road that says, you know. Go down here for Indian petroglyphs, maybe this, you know, equator, you know, the, I don't know, uh, earthquake fault or something might be cool.

ERIC- Who knows? Go on that adventure and check it out. That's right. Checking out Route 66, you know, that's a 2, 400-mile trip that you could make a lot of memories. Bring that camera, your phone, whatever, take a lot of pictures and buy a lot of souvenirs, but it's a good trip. And like I said, all those little.

You can make all the little day trips out of it as well. It'd be quite an adventure. If you like doing that, maybe investigate it. You know, you're going to find all sorts of information on that on the website, probably more than you could ever even deal with. So, it's probably easier just to kind of plan your trip and work it out yourself.

I also want to remind everybody to look at RV destinations magazines and go to RV destinations, magazines. com. Super cool magazine, with quality artwork. If you have paper, well, even the digital, I mean, the digital, the same quality but the paper is super high quality. If you have a paper copy of it, check it out, it will inspire you to go places and do things most will.

RV ENVYAll right, now that's going to take us to blizzard boxes in the RV envy section of the show. Blizzard box coolers. They are the ultimate adventure cooler, and these are made by Projectx. com or ask the website where you find them. The company that owns them is Horizon Brands.

So, it's a company that has several different brands, but ProjectX is their ProjectX.com is their website. And you can go there to check them out. Now, blizzard box coolers are 110-volt and 12-volt coolers. You're probably familiar with these. Dramatic makes them. Trauma makes them. Camco makes them. You know, Joe's cooler company makes them. Bill's cooler company makes them. There are a lot of companies that make them, but there are only a few that kind of rise to the top because they survived the rugged tests of the outdoors these types of coolers are, have been around for a long time. One of the first ones was called Waco then Dometic Bottom and Norcold had some and fishermen bought these things because they'd go fishing and they'd need a place to.

Keep their fish cold for the rest of their trip. So, they're kind of popular in that type of environment. So, they weren't huge in the RV industry, and I don't think they still are today. Depending on how you RV and where you go, these coolers are awesome. And the blizzard box makes a nice system. You know, they've thought it through the, the lids can open and close from.

On any side, you can just take them completely off. You know, they have, uh, baskets inside the cooler to keep everything off the cooler surface itself to not only protect it but so things don't freeze or get colder than they need to. And these puppies can get down to zero degrees. So that's cold. So, you can freeze things.

You can use it as a refrigerator. They're durable. These are used in the Overlanding off-roading environments all the time. They make nice covers for them that still breathe. So, you can have the cover on there while you're bouncing down a road, but it's still going to get the airflow that it needs. So, it doesn't ruin it.

They have a slide-out tray. So, if you have it in a compartment, you can slide it out, or the back of a truck or an SUV, you can just slide it out to you and there are 110 volts and 12 volts. So that makes them. Universal or adaptable because you could put it in your house, get it down to temperature before you leave, and then plug it into your RV or your vehicle.

And then on the 12 volts, and then it's just going to keep everything just ongoing. You don't have to worry about it cooling down. You know if you're out traveling. They'll say you're doing a trail or an adventure and, you know, during the day it's plugged in and you don't want to leave it outside all night cause you know, not sure if it'll kill the battery, even though it has protection built into it, so it won't destroy a battery or drain it down to zero, but you don't want to take a chance you could, or maybe for convenience, you could bring it in a motel room with you and just plug it into the wall.

That's how you, you know, universally are, or, you know, adaptable. You can use it in any environment. And they're nice. If you have company at home, you just need a little extra space. Are you going to have it sitting out on the patio, you know, someplace where everybody grabbed their alcohol, there you go, you know, so go to blizzard or go to ProjectX.com and check out the blizzard box coolers. And these sit out to me just because they're rugged, they're tough. They're good company. I've called them. You can talk to them on the phone. And that's important to stay in age, be able to get through and to have a conversation with somebody about the products that they're selling you.

So go to ProjectX.com. If these coolers sound like they're the cooler for you. As a reminder, check out our YouTube channel, TheSmartRVer on YouTube to look at the helpful videos we have there to help you in your RV maintenance endeavors. Now that brings us to the end of episode 140 and next, or the next episode, 141 wire 110-volt adapters.

OUTRO

So confusing. And they can be. So, I want to thank you for listening. This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast has been great hanging out with you. If I don't see you on the road, let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.