INTRO

Eric Stark: Why and how to prepare your RV for winter storage. That's what we'll discuss today on Staying On the Road. But before that, we will go to Enjoying the RV Life.

The subject concerns dealing with difficult RVers, so that Alexis will help us. In the last episode, we promised to start providing cash-saving tips, and we will provide tip number one today.

This is just the beginning of how you can save money while RVing for visiting a NASCAR race or talking about RVing to a NASCAR race.

This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer podcast, which delivers the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. So, let's talk everything. RV today is episode number 161. So, Alexis, you're here today. Ready to go?

Alexis: Yes, I'm ready.

Eric Stark: So, for all of you in podcast land, Alexis already went through hair and makeup and did all that. She got her microphone in front of her. She's ready to go.

Alexis: I am ready.

Eric Stark: Got the coffee sitting there.

Alexis: Yeah. Too bad you can't see it.

Eric Stark: You know, she's fired up.

Alexis: I am.

Eric Stark: Alright, before we get into any other stuff, we'll talk about Heartland.

Alexis: Okay. Oh boy.

Eric Stark: Heartland RV.

Alexis: Uh oh.

Eric Stark: Alexis knows what's coming.

Alexis: I do know.

Eric Stark: She sees what's on the table here as my reminder.

Alexis: It's terrible.

Eric Stark: This last weekend, Karen and I, my wife, went camping in our RV. The last morning we were there, the furnace stopped working. This is a new RV, so I was relaxed about it other than being cold. But there's nothing we can do about that.

I didn't have an electric heater to plug in, but anyway, I got home and started to diagnose it, see what it was, and what was so interesting. The problem with the furnace isn't a big deal.

The problem is how Heartland made this trailer. The North Trail. This isn't a high-end RV by any stretch, so what? They do the same stuff in all of them.

When they did the furnace, I noticed that when I was in there looking for the thermostat wires and the electrical to make sure it wasn't a bad connection, you couldn't see the will to do a video with this one, too, so stay tuned.

The propane line: They slid the furnace in or hooked the propane line up to it before putting the stove in. Then they shoved it in where it was supposed to go. But the propane line went underneath a 1 ½” ABS drain pipe.

It wouldn't allow the propane line to stay up like it was supposed to. Now, it had a 90-degree bend in it, so in other words, there's a kink in it. And these are these cheap plastic LP hoses.

I had to pause there for a minute because they're so poor quality.

Its software's bent is turning white because, you know, plastic, when you bend it back and forth like a comb, it'll change colors before it breaks. So this thing was at a 90-degree bend. And that's what they consider a good quality first, right?

So, you need to have quality control.

And they probably did this on all the RVs that got the, you know, fern in the same situation where the water lines there, the drain pipe, and the inch and a half. And what's so pathetic about it is that Dometic makes up a part of it. Oops. I didn't want to say domestic.

I didn't want Heartland to know because they're so stupid to let them figure it out. But Domestic makes a part for it. Because they're an OEM, that would probably cost Heartland about $10 to put in, maybe even less.

They don't pay much for this stuff. It would have made it so much easier. It's just pathetic what they did.

But I returned the furnace without that part because I wanted to get it going. Hooking up the propane line took me about 30 seconds longer than usual because you have to do it from the outside.

It's a domestic furnace, so everything is accessible from the outside. But it wasn't a big deal. These are flared fittings. They go right on. It's just pathetic.

If you have a Heartland RV and the furnace is near the kitchen, check it to ensure the line isn't kinked. It is dangerous because it's right on the stove.

So if your furnace is running full steam ahead and also in that line decides to break, burst, crack, do whatever. You might have a fire or a minor explosion. Who knows? You know, it's one of those things.

I'd like to test it on someone else's RV—nothing is mine. But anyway, that's my job at Heartland for the poor quality they put in their RVs again.

And this is not the first thing that's pathetic. This. So this is a second life-saving thing or life potentially taking a life thing they've done.

The first one was not hooking up the electric brakes on the rear axle, which is very dangerous. They're good at that, so be careful. You buy a heart. Well, with any RV anymore, you have to check it, man.

These guys out there on the floor putting the stuff together, you know, they act like heroin addicts. She still had the needle in her arm from last night, you know, all jacked up, probably smelled like alcohol, cigarettes, heroin.

That's my opinion. Probably wrong. A lot of good people out there in those factories work hard for a living.

Alexis: There are.

Eric Stark: The company does not care when you see stuff like this. They have no quality control as far as I'm concerned. All right, there's my little rant for the day. Well, first one of many, as Alexis will know.

Alexis: I love it.

Eric Stark: Let's dig into this and enjoy the RV life. Alexis will share some information, helpful hints, tips, tricks, and whatever else you need to deal with difficult RVers.

Imagine that—somebody being difficult. It's challenging for people because they just happen to be RVs now, but they're probably always having difficulty.

Go on, Alexis.

Alexis: That's why they're in an RV; their families can't. No, I'm just kidding. So we've all dealt with this, but I'll give you a list. It's all on thesmartRVer.com.

We recommend you go there. I'll briefly highlight the list. The first one is to maintain a calm and respectful approach.

You only want to fuel the fire as much as it already is. So if someone's being, you know, terrible, don't match their energy, in other words. And then two.

The second one is to familiarize yourself with park rules. You don't have to memorize them all, but knowing pet policies, quiet hours, and other considerations can help.

You know the rules when you're talking to them so that you can use them. You don't want to be a tattletale. The number three is to use discretion when involving park management. So this is when something's serious.

You don't want to do this anytime because it can worsen the situation for you and everybody around you. Number four is to seek support from your RV community.

I like this one because it is less involved. You can go online.

You're usually associated with a social media group. Please ask them for advice because they've dealt with it. Number five is. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, I was waiting, waiting.

Eric Stark: Support from your RV community. That doesn't mean you get torches and guns, right? And go after the person, right?

Alexis: No, no, no.

Eric Stark: This is like down the RV park. No, that isn't it.

Alexis: It's a little extreme.

Eric Stark: I just wanted to be sure.

Alexis: Little extreme? Yeah. No, no, not that. But, like your social media group, we've talked about having forums online. That's who you want to see.

Okay, calm down. All right. Number five: practice patience and flexibility. So, if somebody is being terrible, try not to be like that.

Just be patient with them. That could be hard. So go in your RV and curse into a pillow. Number six is focused on enjoying your RV journey. You know, focus on the right people.

There will always be some but focus on the good part. Let. Let it go if you can, and enjoy your vacation in your RV.

Eric Stark: That's right. Enjoy it now. Focus on enjoying your RV journey. I want to say something about this.

Alexis: Okay.

Eric Stark: All right, so here's what happens. Somebody in the RV park, let's say, is, uh, their dogs wandering around, peeing on everybody's tires, right?

Alexis: Yeah. Lovely.

Eric Stark: So that person could care less, right?

Alexis: That's true.

Eric Stark: They've already shown they could care less. So now, if you're sitting in your RV and you're all mad, grumbling, and grumpy about it, it doesn't do any good because they don't know.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: The person just goes on. The dog goes on. Remember, the dog's not the problem here. The person is.

Alexis: Right.

Eric Stark: Because the person never trained the dog. So don't take it out on the dog. No, but they don't. They don't even know you're mad.

Being mad doesn't do good, so it doesn't matter. That's what I mean. Enjoy your RV journey. Yeah, just don't worry about all that nonsense.

Alexis: Don't worry about it.

Eric Stark: Especially when your RV park or wherever you're at, you come and you go. Yeah, or the people might be leaving the very same day, the next day.

Alexis: Yeah, you never know.

Eric Stark: Kind of. Who cares, you know? All right, now. Okay, you're done, Alexis.

Alexis: I'm done.

Eric Stark: All right. Where we move on and just cut you off. All right. So now we're going to hit money-saving tip number one.

This is a no-brainer for many people out there. So we're talking about boondocking or camping in parking lots as you're traveling.

You can sometimes stay in parking lots for over a night or two. In this day and age, you see a lot of RVs in parking lots. I.

We were outside Bozeman over the weekend, and along the highway, there's a row of RVs, all filled with homeless people. Then you notice they're all over the place. Like, wow, there's a lot of homeless people living in RVs. So this may or may not be.

I mean, they're not homeless. They're sticking sticks and bricks homeless, but they have a place to sleep.

But anyway, if you're traveling, consider spending the night in parking lots.

And there's a reason why, you know, today, many RV parks can be costly just to park in their park overnight, to have electricity and water, you know. You might be paying $100 a night. You might be paying $50 a night.

Depending on your budget, you might say, "I want to do that, but it is a waste of money."

It's like staying in a motel when you're driving, and you pay $100 to stay in a motel six or something, and it's just asleep for 8 hours. Like, man, that's just. It's hard to do. You know, you're throwing that money away.

But when you're RVing, part of having that RV is being able to spend the night in to save some money on that type of stuff. So, rather than staying in a motel or a hotel, you could spend the night in a parking lot in your RV.

Now, you want to make sure it's one of those places that allows you to, like, you know, some Walmart, some cracker barrels, some bass pro shops, some cabelas. Do it. Not all of them. You must ensure it's a safe area because that'll save you some bucks. Definitely.

And so you have an RV and water in it.

Only travel with a full tank if you need it—not half a tank, so you don't have that extra weight and wear and tear on the tanks. You have a battery—12 volts—that should be all you need for a night. You know, you're nothing setting up shop there.

The other thing, too, is if you're going to be spending the night somewhere longer but don't want to pay that money again, you could boondock or dry camp, as they call it, where you're staying on BLM land or someplace where you're allowed to camp in your RV for days at a time. Many places may have a 14-day limit, and you have to move to a different spot—not out of there, just a different site.

Investigate that, see where you're going, and see if it's feasible. If you drive for three days and spend two nights somewhere, think about parking lots.

Of course, you have to spend time in many small towns. I won't even care if you just park on the side of the road. They, you know, whatever.

Those rest areas on highways might be a good spot, too, so you have some common sense. You want to avoid parking somewhere. I remember my wife and I doing that once, returning from Montana. We were living in Arizona.

We pulled behind this building, which was new construction, man; it was like you're just trying to figure out how to get out of there when it. When it happens, you know, dark, it was horrible, you know, but it's just like it is late, easy to get to, and that's where we're going.

It didn't matter, but I'm going to do it again. That's just one way to save some money. It's going to be on our website, intelligent RVer.com.

Along with the article about dealing with difficult RVers, Alexis touched on the main points, but there's much more to it.

Alexis: Yes.

Eric Stark: Okay, that takes us to the next part of our show, staying on the road. Today, we will discuss why and how to prepare your RV for winter storage.

Now, for some people, as I've said in other episodes, you don't have to worry about it. You live in Southern California. You know, you just park your RV, go inside the house, and call it a day.

In other areas, though, you have to drain the water and do things so it doesn't freeze. So we're going to hit this in different places. Even people in California, though, might.

Or places like that—I shouldn't just say California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. Maybe the weather doesn't call for draining the water and doing all that type of winterizing. It's just perhaps covering the RV.

It's a different type of winterizing because if you do not use the RV all winter, you want to prepare it for that. So, there are other things to do as far as winterizing goes.

So, probably one of the first and foremost things that come to mind when people talk about winterizing is draining the freshwater system, getting all the water out of the faucets, the pipes, the valves, the this, the that, and the water heater that. Everything's drained; there's no water in it. So some people just drain it and blow it out with air nicely. Open up each faucet.

I'm not getting into the details because we have that on previous episodes, and there's a lot of pointless and worthless information on YouTube and other places that direct you down the wrong road. So next year, you're buying a new faucet. Alright, there we go. There's a little rant.

So, anyway, we have that on our website. It's a previous podcast. It'd be last year. It's September. October is when it came out. Give you an idea. I didn't look it up. I should have done that.

When draining the water system, you can blow it out with air after you drain it or run RV antifreeze through it. Some people blow it out with air well, then run RV antifreeze through it just to be sure. Whatever you want to do, I do both.

I blow it out there and run the RV antifreeze through it. It takes nothing, you know. You're good to go for a few more minutes to blow it out there, then run HaRVey antifreeze through it.

So you have the water system you want to winterize, and then, of course, you want to consider whether your RV needs to be covered. You know, it's going to sit outside. Do I want to get a cover on this?

Consider buying a cover. Some people make covers, and some store them inside or in covered storage for the winter. Those are all options. If you can find temperature-controlled inside storage, that might even be better.

You know, you don't have to worry about anything freezing. You don't even have to winterize it.

Alexis: Right.

Eric Stark: Well, you. You should, in case the heat.

Alexis: Goes down, just in case.

Eric Stark: Right. So that's another option. So, keep it out of the elements or cover it so the elements don't get to it.

But before you put a cover on it, you want to make sure that you check the roof, the vents, and everything for the potential of leaks. There's nothing worse than trying to fix a leak when it's continuously raining, it's freezing, or you have a roof covered with snow, but the water is leaking. Every time the snow, you know, the temperature warms up, the snow thaws out. Get ahead of that. Inspect your roof clearance.

Make sure the lights and windows are all good before you put them into storage. One less thing to think about and one less thing to do next spring when you find out you had a roof leak all winter.

And if you can check your RV during the window, maybe once a month, to ensure there's nothing crazy going on, even if it's in storage somewhere, it might be worth the trip. You may have done those and checked the roof and the ceiling.

You know, you went through all the motions, but something happened, and you catch that before months go by. That's what you want to do.

If you take it to a shop to fix some of that stuff, you must ensure they keep the RV covered before digging into it. Okay, so you've got it sealed and covered, everything's good, and there are no leaks.

Alexis: Checked it.

Eric Stark: I checked it, double-checked it, and triple-checked it. Now, you want to ensure the tires on trailers and motorhomes are pressured and aired before you put them into storage.

Alexis: Good point.

Eric Stark: Because you'll probably not check them for months. And so make sure they're, you know, where they're supposed to be. Trailer tires put them at the maximum pressure.

Alexis: Yes.

Eric Stark: If it's 80 pounds on the sidewall, put it at 80 pounds, whatever the maximum pressure is. I recommend checking them even in winter or getting the RV and pulling it around the neighborhood.

Put 10 miles on it once a month or at least once every couple of months. Those tires don't get flat spots in them.

Alexis: Yep.

Eric Stark: Especially trailer tires. They just. Trailer tires are meant to roll down the road, not sit.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: I take my trailer out monthly and pull around the neighborhood to show it off. Now everybody's me. You know, they all wave, hey, there's Eric the smarter Bearden.

Just so the tires don't do that, because trailer tires are expensive.

Alexis: It's a good point.

Eric Stark: And they don't tell you when they'll blow out and cause $2,000 worth of damage to the side of your RV or the holding tank. So it's a good thing just to do, and then you know where you're at. You feel better about it. We live in a society today where people are taught not to feel good about themselves and their work.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: To do less, not more.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: So you're the brighter every year, though. So you're going to do more, not less.

Alexis: We're not like that.

Eric Stark: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Water system, tires, the, you know, sealing it, covering it. Now, you also want to think about batteries.

Most battery companies say that if a battery is put into storage and fully charged, it will be fine if it freezes. Now, that's only sometimes true. Experience teaches otherwise. You should take the house batteries out and store them somewhere where they're going to be warm or not, at least if nothing freezes, and put them on a battery maintainer. Like a no. One note. They work great. They maintain it. You can choose twelve-volt AGM or lithium. They're, you know, intelligent chargers anymore, but you just get one amp, one two amp. That's all you need just to maintain those things all winter long.

If you have a motorhome, you can pull the house batteries out and do the same thing. Now, your cranking battery in the motorhome is up to you. Generally, cranking batteries aren't affected similarly, but pulling it out and charging it wouldn't hurt. If you won't be moving the RV, it's up to you. You have to look at your circus sometimes. Sometimes batteries and motorhomes, especially, can be a real bear to get out.

Alexis: Yes.

Eric Stark: You know, or maybe it's where you don't want to take it out. You just want to put a charger in the RV. You know, you decide if that works for you.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: You know, those freezing temperatures, lithium batteries, are a different ballgame. You can drain them away when they're frozen, but you can't charge them while they're frozen. So remember that.

Alexis: That's right.

Eric Stark: Lithium has its little flaw there, too. So you have your battery tires; now, ceiling it. COVID: I had a list, and it disappeared. Yeah, it's like sometimes water leaks disappear when you go to fix them. Overall, look at the RV before you wrap it up for winter storage. If you will cover it or make it hard to access, review it and list things you want to prepare for in the spring.

Alexis: Good idea.

Eric Stark: You'll start buying some parts and get a little one built up, depending on what you do. I wouldn't buy anything significant, like an air conditioner or something. Let it sit for four or five months. Regardless of what the store tells you, the warranty starts ticking once you buy it.

Alexis: Right?

Eric Stark: Yeah, I just heard about that the other day. Someone bought a refrigerator. Oh, no, the warranty starts once you install it. Well, the guy didn't install it for a year. No, it was two years before he installed it. Oh, wow. So it didn't work. So he lost his warranty.

Alexis: Oh, you're kidding.

Eric Stark: Yeah.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: So you want to stay ahead of that one. The warranty starts when you buy it unless you get something in writing.

Alexis: Oh, exactly. And then, even then, you have to be careful.

Eric Stark: Right. Anymore. Companies are getting very tight on warranties, returns, and everything.

Alexis: Yep.

Eric Stark: So be careful and buy stuff you'll keep, not things you think you might need, and then have to return. If you need more clarification, make sure it will fit the RV. Don't let it sit for four or five months, and it doesn't fit. Then you go back to the store. No, we're not taking this back. Or you bought it online. Well, they'll take it back, and they don't. You know, they'll give you credit if that. You know, be very cautious.

Alexis: Fire, beware.

Eric Stark: And that's good practice anyway. We get a lot of time with windshield covers. People order one for the wrong RV; they have it for five months, and they go on their trip, and it doesn't fit because they ordered it for the wrong RV.

Alexis: Yeah, they didn't check.

Eric Stark: They had all that time to check it and resolve it before they went. As a reminder, when you winterize your RV, it's more than draining the water and putting RV antifreeze in. Check everything in it. See what works and what doesn't.

Make sure your heater works before you put it into storage, just in case you have to run it for some reason or move into the RV for a few days. You know, there's a lot of things happening in the world. I mean, there's that Hurricane Helene they're recovering from, Milton's slamming the east coast right now, or Florida. The government needs to respond more quickly; they need the money to do it or the wherewithal. So you're on your own, man. Having that RV ready as a backup place to live is good.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: You know, they had Internet shortages last month and quite frequently had power outages. So it helps you be prepared.

Alexis: It does.

Eric Stark: You know, water is another issue, but you can get bottled water, and if you get heat, man, you're good. Yeah, some water, Denny, more beef stew in a can. We're rocking it.

Alexis: You're all set.

Eric Stark: Alright, that covers it. Now, I'm going to have this on the website as well. So, if you want to check it for more things, there probably will be. But just that gets you going, man. It gets you set for winter. If you do all that, you'll be good to go. You shouldn't have any problem.

So get everybody in your family to subscribe. If you have a dog or a cat, just email them. Go to Gmail and get them an email.

Alexis: I do.

Eric Stark: Cat at my house. Right. And subscribe. We want 10,000 subscribers now. We should hit that mark. But if we don't, we'll move on, right? We're going to keep on rolling. So now let's go into our Next Stop, where Alexis will bring us into the world of RVing to a NASCAR race.

Alexis: This is a fun one.

Eric Stark: So you ready for this, Alexis? Yep.

Alexis: Oh, it's going to be good. All right. Yeah.

Eric Stark: Meow.

Alexis: That's good. Yeah. So I love NASCAR races. I've never been to one in real life. But I've got some info for you if you decide to RV out there. And, of course, this is on the intelligent RVer podcast online so you can look at it more in-depth. But I'll give you one that I thought was fun: the tailgating extravaganza.

Eric Stark: Tailgating. Woo hoo.

Alexis: Yeah. They do this, and it's like this extensive, long line of epic parties and big things. Grilling burgers, smoking ribs. They have all this stuff going on. So if you're going to go there, prepare to be social. That's what I'm saying. People get excited and like to hang out. There's a whole RV park outside of NASCAR, too. That. Because they expect people to come out there. Yeah. So it's wild. There's a lot of activities.

The race is the most significant event, but there are also meet-and-greets with the drivers, autograph sessions, and other fan-friendly events. So it's not just the race—there's more than that, and it's family-friendly fun, too.

Eric: Kids, if they're into that, they will love it. Many NASCAR events have kid zones with games and rides. If you're worried about that, there's probably that there.

Alexis: But I would check before you go to one to see what there is. You can book it in advance for your kiddos. It's just enjoyable, and it's cost-effective, too.

This isn't crazy expensive, especially if you're RVing. So it's a fun way to travel there. You don't have to buy a hotel. You can bring your food, and it's something fun to do if you love NASCAR.

Eric Stark: I've never been to a NASCAR race. I've been the other race. Never a NASCAR. Me neither. So I'm thinking now about going.

Alexis: I do, too.

Eric Stark: As you go through this, I'm curious if you immerse yourself in the whole experience.

Alexis: Yeah.

Eric Stark: Now, the tailgating thing, if you've never done tailgating, that might blow your mind.

Alexis: It might.

Eric Stark: You know, I mean, people that do it, I mean, they got 55-inch TVs, barbecues. I mean, they're set up for life there. Some of them never even go inside because they. That's true. I am sitting out in the parking lot. But that's a whole new place.

Alexis: Right?

Eric Stark: If you've never tailgated, search YouTube. I ease into that one.

Alexis: There you go.

Eric Stark: There you go. But I would go for the experience the whole day, man. I would turn this into everything you could do there. I would do it if you could meet the drivers and talk to one of them, do it, you know, ask them good questions, what's it like? How'd you get into this? You know, what's your motivation? You know?

Alexis: Right.

Eric Stark: And. Yeah. So that'd be cool. NASCAR is huge.

Alexis: Oh, yeah.

Eric Stark: It's like so many other things today. It's a safe thing to be involved in or part of. You know, as far as, you know, it's a family atmosphere.

Alexis: Oh, yeah.

So you have a couple of months now besides subscribing to our channel on YouTube, and I am going to a big event, a fan-based event like NASCAR. Go to a big, well, any r or sports event you still need to do. So, if you've never been to a rodeo, go to a rodeo. The rodeos are pretty cool. You see, you don't have to be a cowboy. You don't have to buy a bunch of garb.

You know, you just sit there, drink beer, watch the event, or go to NASCAR, but find something to go to. Doesn't that be a massive thing? But the bigger, the better the experience will be in many cases. So that's our push. So that's the call to action. Now, do that before the end of the year. If you can't do it before the end of the year, a lot of stuff is happening, then try to do it in January or February, NASCAR Inc. Starts.

I forget now, but they go through the winter months. I know it's January and February. I need to look at the schedule. We also have a link to NASCAR's website with their schedule.

TheSmartRisndis er is the Next Stop for this article. R: ing to NASCAR. So you can check out the link. Go there. TakIt will take you right to the calendar of events.

Alexis: There you go.

Eric Stark: There you go. We're going to make it easy for you. So now we've done the Next Stop, and our next Next Stop is RV Envy. Many of you have probably heard about Goal Zero. They make power centers for personal use. They have small ones, big ones. You know, you see advertisements for products like this on YouTube. You know, these are the prepper channels or the prepper people.

This Yeti replaced all the power supply sources in the camper, so you didn't have to hook up to shore power anymore to have 110 volts. The only time you'd hook up to shore power is to charge the gold zero.

Alexis: Oh, that's amazing.

Someone came in here telling me I had a Yeti. It's right out in my car. You have to look at it. I don't understand. Yeti is a good brand. Well, he had an Eti, not a Yeti. Yeah, it was a pile of junk.

Alexis: That's hilarious.

Eric Stark: But anyways, this. Only shore power is needed to charge Goal Zero. And you don't have to have batteries in the RV anymore because this becomes your twelve-volt source.

Alexis: I'm sold.

Eric Stark: And it has a display panel that you can look at to create a new hobby and see how much power it brings. And if you have solar boom up on the roof, it charges it.

Alexis: How cool is that?

That will charge it up if we spend a few hours on a lovely sunny day. What we did was he had 400 watts on the route; it takes about 7 hours to charge it, which is longer than it would take to charge wet cell batteries.

Your typical deep cycle batteries. But it does it okay. That's all right. You just have to adapt to it. This thing is super cool,

So, if you're thinking about genuinely getting off the grid and having that photo be self-sufficient, this is the thing for you. As we did with this camper, they sell a kit with everything to make it work in your RV. He got the kit and had all these plugs. They only go in one way, and they just snap right in. It's super easy to hook up to the Yeti. Then they have.

The other ends are bare, with just wire sticking out, which you hook up to your power center. Installing the shore power for 110 and 12 volts is effortless. The hardest part is making it work in your RV. This camper is Nordic Fox. I just remembered its brand.

Alexis: Arctic fox.

Eric Stark: Arctic fox. That's what it was. So he had a closet where we put it. We had to, you know, take the closet completely apart, rebuild it, and make it more robust to support its weight. It weighs 110 pounds.

Alexis: Wow.

Eric Stark: So it's heavy but fits in the closet perfectly. Nothing else will fit in the closet. Some clothes above it, but that's it. And then all of his power was just very close to that. So, the cables worked out perfectly. They weren't short, they weren't too long. So that would be the only i: the cable they come with.

You might have to go on to them, but it's not a big deal. You can do that, but this thing is super sweet. So, his entire camper is self-sufficient. Just this thing is running in there. And when we started it up, we turned on the air conditioner. They sold it because the air conditioner just started up, and it was no big deal. Oh, man. That's. Run the air conditioner on. Now, I wouldn't run the air conditioner unless ely had to because it's going to suck down the power pretty quickly. But, you know, vacuuming it, you just plug right into it. You got your 110-volts right there, microwave so, if you're going to be the envy of the neighborhood or the RV park.

Alexis: Yeah, yeah.

Eric Stark: You get one of these things for your RV, even if you don't hardwired in like. Like this one was, and you just have it as that exterior power source. You could plug your RV into it. You can run your RV off it without having it all hardwired. You just plug right into it. You'd be the coolest guy in the RV park.

Alexis: totally.

Eric Stark: Now, they do come with a price tag. They're on sale right now. They're under three grand right now.

Alexis: Not bad.

Eric Stark: When they're closer to four regularly. So if you are going to buy one and you want to get one for me at the end of the year, go ahead and have a drop. You shipped a Highway 93 RV to Victor, Montana.

Alexis: Just Eric Stark.

Eric Stark: Alexis might want one, too.

Alexis: Want one, too? Thank you.

Eric Stark: Two of them?

Alexis: Yes, please.

Eric Stark: All right, so that's our beginning for the day. So check that out. Go to that. We will have a link to that particular one on our website under the podcast's description. We don't have an RVMV page, but we'll have a description or the link in our podcast description. So, whatever you're listening to or how you're getting this podcast, you can click on that link and see that bad boy.

Alright, so one final reminder. Check out our YouTube channel. You should put up a new video about anode rods from last week. And so now we have some other ones building up here.

Heartlaanti-heartlandland ones. You don't want to watch those, but you need to see some of these things because it's so interesting. The stupid things they do. Yep, it's a song. They do silly things. It is trying to think here.

Alexis: Oh, well, Neil Diamond.

Eric Stark: No, not Neil Diamond. That's a stupid thing to do. All right, so next week, we have episode 162 to look forward to. And we've had a great show today. Lots of good information and lots of things to learn. So, Alexa, did you walk away brighter today?

Alexis: I did. I feel like I’m wiser.

Eric Stark: Yeah, there we go.

Alexis: I love it.

Eric Stark: She's not wise because we have yet to leave. We're all right, so everybody else will gain something from it, too. We're all just learning as we go here. So, this is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast. It's been great hanging out with everybody today. Thank you for listening; if I don't see you on the road, let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.