INTRO

Eric- You must know ten essential things about ordering almost any RV awning fabric. This makes life easier. Also, today, I am enjoying RV life. We talked about the top eight RV trade-in considerations, and then, in the next stop, we're going to visit the amazing Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and then an RV. And we're going to talk about spare door keys.

These are a must-have. Hey, everybody; 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. Let's talk about everything. RV. And today, today's episode 156. So, let's jump into this. Alexis, how are you doing today?

Alexis- I'm doing great.

Eric- Take us to Shenandoah and give us a virtual tour.

Alexis- Let's do it. Are you ready to take your RV and trade it in?

Eric- And not get taken to the cleaners.

Alexis- Exactly.

Eric- It’s a hard time to sell too. Either way, you lose, right?

Alexis- Yeah, no kidding.

Eric- And that's something negative. I'm sorry about that, people. You said some negatives, but that's okay. We'll fix that. You know, that's my only thing today. I have no other rants today. I didn't bring up my notes with that on there. So. And it's just going to have to tear apart train injury.

Alexis- Thank you.

RV LIFESTYLE

Eric- But then, you know, and you get taken on that, you're just like you've gone to the dealership, ready for a trade. And so, you know, you won't get the value of what you think it is worth now. So sometimes, it's just easier to get rid of it. Right? Let's get right into that since I'm already jumping into it anyway. So now join the RV life. RV trade-in consideration. So Alexis found the top eight things you want to consider when trading in your RV.

So Alexis, what's your favorite one on this list? What's your favorite one?

Alexis—Wow. Well, that's hard, but preparation is critical. This is my favorite because it covers a lot of things. You want to assess your RV, ensure it's clean, and address maintenance issues. That's a big thing because you will want to address these apparent things if you sell it and get the most out of it.

Eric- These are not minor things, but people will want to walk in and see that everything works. So, if you want the most out of it, do these things first.

Alexis- Yeah, you're right.

Eric- The list is pretty inclusive, and it all makes sense. It ties in with preparation. Yeah, but you know you must know what your RV's worth.

Alexis- Yes. It's an actual idea. It's not something you just dreamed up because you think it is worth it. Right? One easy way to do that is going online, going to, you know, one of the RV sales websites, and seeing the value of similar RVs. And try to find something as close as you can to yours, the year, the mileage, everything.

Eric- And you do that in different areas. That gives you an idea. Now, the value will be based on what it is in your area. Then there's also the blue book for RVs. I need to remember what it's called. You can do that as well. So, knowing its value and looking at what you want to get out of it, they won't give you what you think it's worth.

It's just not going to happen.

Alexis- Yeah.

Eric- So, what do you want to buy? What do you want to get out of your RV? Do you want just to get rid of it? Knowing what you want is important because you can go to a dealership, and they will buy your RV from you, and you might cave in.

Eric- Okay, let's just get in. Let's just get rid of the RV. Right. Get out of it. No, no. What do you want to buy? You know, do that. Don't give in. Just get rid of your RV.

Alexis- And, of course, there's a budget. They're going to have to offer you what it's worth. That might affect your budget for buying a new RV, whether the money you're going to put down or whatever it might be.

Eric- I like this one, too. This would apply to so many things, like cars, RVs, boats, and exploring your trade-in options. Go to different places and talk to other people. What's it worth? How are they going to value it? Because it'll be different from place to place. It will depend on what you're looking at and how much room they have on the item you're buying or the new RV versus the one you're trading in.

If you're buying a used RV with less profit, they will give you less of the trade-in. Right. But if you're purchasing an RV or they have a lot more profit, they will provide you with more on the trade-in. But you'll be paying more for the RV, you know. So, with all these options there, you brought out the preparation.

This one is interesting because I hear it time and time again. Even my friends do this after I tell them not to, and they buy an RV that needs an awning. Yeah, the fabric or awning? Fabric. Funny, I said that because I said it wrong. We're going to talk about that later in the show.

But for an awning fabric, you might need tires. It has some damage to it. It's missing knobs off the stove, and the dealership sells it like, oh, these are all just little things. Don't worry about it—that awning fabric's only 100 bucks. You can get them anywhere. It's a piece of cake. Those knobs, they're a dollar a piece, you know; just go online.

You can get them on Amazon. You now book a piece, and they tell you all this stuff, but when you're trading in that RV, that awning fabric will cost them $1,000 to replace it. That's of all that is a thousand bucks to replace that. So we got to take that off these knobs. You can't get these knobs anymore.

So now the person is going to have to buy new stuff. We're going to put a new slogan here, So they're going to beat the living daylights out of you, too, on that trade-in. And now, in our sale, they're only going to do certain things to it, and then they will stick it to the person buying it.

Oh, yeah, big time. And it happens all the time. So having that RV in top shape gives them nothing to complain about, and they can't beat you down on the price based on those little things. Yep. So make sure that Ari's in top condition. Everything works. If something doesn't work, consider getting it fixed or replacing it.

Here's another one: Negotiating wisely. Now, how do you negotiate wisely with criminals? Yeah, I mean, they're not in it to help you. They're interested. Take money out of your pocket. Right. And you have to pay attention to them when they get up. Everything's a sign when they're underlining numbers on the sheet, you know, we'll give you this much, and then they emphasize it.

Well, that's because that's a sign to them. Their boss said, okay if they're not going to do this, this first line means you can knock a thousand bucks off or add a Ferrari. I'll give them a thousand more on trade-in or whatever. It is all a numbers game, and they're going to play. And every time that salesman gets up and talks to his manager, they're just coming up with another scheme to take your money.

Yeah, and every bit of writing on that piece of paper they show you or say they love doing, like slap it down in front of you. They look at your wife and say, Doesn't she like this RV? Don't you want to do this? And this is what we can do here. Any circle that is the circle means something.

Everything means something. So, negotiate wisely. Be ready. Know what you want to do. Don't get sucked into anything. And then the timing, you know, the timing of the year, things like that. And of course, your lifestyles, you know, are you changing your RV just because you want to change it, or is it something you need to do, something you want to do, or is the change going to be better?

Have you thought it through? Sometimes, you walk around the dealership a lot, and it looks like it makes sense. But does it? Right. So, Alexis, those are eight points that I covered.

Alexis, you said, "Are you a runaway train?" They're a, so that's okay. Here's a morning off, then. All right. All right. Anyway, just be careful when you trade in your RV; these are available on our website.

TheSmartRVer Podcast It's your top eight RV trading considerations and a lot of the stuff you might be familiar with, but take a look at it anyway. It's always a good reminder to see what's cooking out there. Yep, yep, yep. And it doesn't matter if it is negotiating with snakes, Mama. So you have to be careful.

Boy, That's how it's real. Everybody knew. You know what it's like. Yeah. Like even the cell phone stores are the same way they are. I know you need this and this and this. All you are is never easy. Yeah, I need a new phone. Four months, and I've been wanting to do it. I just. Yeah, I just don't want to do it.

And just like, I'd rather just. Well, heck, I'd instead use this phone. Yeah, right. That's better. But I'm glad she can't see this. I'm talking about a regular old analog phone and the old days. The iPhone one. The iPhone one. There you go. All right, so that was enough of that. Okay. So now we're going to get into staying on the road.

We will discuss the ten essential things you need to know about order: any RV, almost any RV on him. The first time, he said RV, then RV on his RV. Okay. Knowing this will make life easier, and we know this from experience because we sell RV online fabrics daily, complete on things such as fabrics, patio awnings, fabric, and slide awning fabrics.

This is the information, and it applies to so many things on an RV. You know its model numbers and understand what you have. I have this air conditioner here as a model number, and not having that makes it much more complicated because you're returning to the drawing board. You have to get that information in, and sometimes you don't want to, but you get a little.

Well, can you just. Yes. What's the most common part? Oh, my gosh. Things like that. You know, it just doesn't work that way. So now, this is about something other than telling you as the consumer that you're doing things wrong. This is so, so don't take it that way. This is so you know how to order an RV awning.

That's what we talk about today. But you can apply this to everything in an RV, your house, and your car. It's just that cars and RVs are not the same. And I've said this before: You can't look up an RV based on your make and model. And even if you could, it would mean something other than the part you want will be in that breakdown, so you're making it likely because RVs are different from cars.

You might start with a Coleman Air conditioner on the RV. It is brand new in the U.S., but down the road, it might end up with a domestic on it or an Atwood or whatever the Furia. So, it doesn't work that way. We must accept that pitchers' descriptions and measurements are key model numbers. So now, let's talk about our realities.

So, first off, do you want a patio awning or a slide-out awning fabric? Because that's one of the things we get every time someone wants to order a fabric. I need an awning fabric, or actually, I need an awning. Yeah, I need an awning. Fabric. And, you know, a patio awning. Fabric is 13 feet long, 18 feet long, flat out awning fabric, sir, 13 feet, 18 feet long.

Some of them are 27 feet long, yep. So, the link doesn't help us determine what awning it is. We have to ask the question: What do you have? Is it a patio awning, or is it a slide-out awning? That question stumps most people because they don't know what a patio on Inez is. Yeah, that's the big awning.

The main on the awning. You sit underneath what is called a patio. And so you must know that it's imperative because if you order a slide-out awning and you're trying a fabric and putting a patio awning, it won't work. Not at all. So you had to go out 48 inches. That's going to suck.

Yep. This is a slow flow chart. So, understand the difference. And it's the same with other things, like I said. And then, as the brand, is it a Carefree, a Solara, or a Dometic? A standard answer is, "Oh, no." And that's not the correct answer. Sometimes, we can figure it out, or it doesn't matter, depending on the brand. It's not so important if it's an older manual critical.

So, we only become real sticklers once we get into more questions than we might have. Okay, let's go back to the brand. However, knowing the brand helps, and you should know what brand awning you have; even the model helps because there are different awnings. And I know for most Avia, as they look at their RV, they maybe say, Oh, I got a carefree awning, but what model is Carefree as it exactly? You know, carefree has a ton of different awnings.

It's like they come up with a new model every other day. It's better than it used to be, right? You know, they're like U-Haul. In the old days, U-Haul owners went camping and saw a kayak. Oh, we need to carry kayaks. They go camping the following weekend. Oh, sleeping bags. We need them. They have sleeping bags.

So they start raining all this stuff at you, all stores. Then, they sold it off two years later because it was a wrong move. But being carefree is the same way. Anyway, back to the point here: understanding what you have. This goes back to what I've talked about: having a book, a ledger, or something to keep track of what's on your RV.

Once you record all this information, you have it, whether in a physical book, you know, on a program or an app on your phone or your computer. We've talked about different apps that record all this information. You just put it in there for you. So, Aaron, how do you want to do it? Keep track of it so, you know, okay, we're past the brand.

You should figure it out. And then I need a new awning. So, to us, that's a complete awning. But we usually know you mean a fabric. So, you have to be specific. Is it an awning or an awning? Fabric? You know, because you start going down the road of an awning, and it's an entirely different ballgame. Quote: someone $2,000, they're thinking 400 bucks, like, oh, you're a rip-off, right?

Or do you want a complete awning? No, no, I just wish for a fabric. Oh, okay. Sometimes, asking these questions can get confusing because the person is unsure, making it more complicated and frustrating. And you can feel that, you know, between the US and them, us and you, whatever.

It's just the way it works out. But we're just trying to help. We have to ask questions. And then, when you're ordering an awning fabric rather than an awning, we don't want to know the size of the fabric. That's not how awning fabrics are sold for patio awnings. Now, slide out the awning fabrics. We want to know the length of the fabric, sometimes called the width.

You know, we call the length. We go length by depth. Other people will go width by length. Yeah. It gets confusing, but the measurement is long. So on a patio, the big awning, the main one in the morning, you sit underneath and enjoy that cocktail and the sunset, watching your neighbors be stupid.

That's on it. We want the center of the arm to be the center of our measurement, so you take a tape measure and put it on the front or rear arm. We always say the front arm and just walk to the rear, holding it in the center. And that side, the side of the center, not top to bottom. And if it's 17 feet, one inch is 17 feet on.

And if it's, you know, 16 feet, 11 inches, 17 feet on, if it's 17, right on the money is 17 feet. And generally, they're not on the money because they get installed a little crooked, or you hold the tape a little, you know, off a little bit, and you're close. That works where fabrics are always about a foot shorter.

So, depending on the brand, a 17-foot awning will have a 16-foot, approximately 2 to 4-inch fabric. But it's much more straightforward to go by the audience size, the center of arm to center of arm size. That tells us everything we need to know on the fabric side. And it just makes it easier because, you know, sometimes fabric measurements are wrong. Well, this is the wrong fabric on an awning.

Yes. All my calls say we have a fabric of 15 feet, nine inches. Mm. And we can order a fabric like that. But there's something wrong with that. Yes, it's different. Maybe the awning was cut down at the fabric or the factory, and they had to cut the fabric down. And that's what fits. That's usually different.

It usually needs to be measured correctly, understood, or used the wrong fabrics on the awning because they say, you know, 15 feet, nine inches. Then we have a measure, the center arm to center alarm, and it's 17 feet. That would make it a 17-foot fabric, which is 16 feet, 2 to 4 inches, depending on the brand.

Right. So it's going to fit much better. Mm. You can see 15 feet, six inches. So we work through that, get the best-fitting fabric, and figure it out. And then, if you do have an odd size, we can get a fabric for that. We just have to ensure that that is what will fit best.

You don't want a bunch of roller tubes sticking out an inch and a half on each end of the awning. You need two inches next to the cap and the fabric area between the cap and the fabric. Also, the awning depth is mostly the same.

They all extend out. We're talking patio awnings here. They all extend out. About the same is approximately eight feet. From the side of the RV to the roller tube, it might be 94 inches to 95 inches somewhere in there. That's a given. There are a few, though, especially Solera. They have some, and they're about six feet. The medic has a couple.

That is not a common thing, so just be aware of that. We don't even dig into that because people generally bring that out, but just be aware. That makes it pretty simple. Most awnings are the same death patio awnings, and then the question arises: does it have a metal cover?

They all have metal roller tubes and aluminum, but they, you know, sometimes there's some confusion there. The metal cover is essential, especially if it's a domestic fabric, because it requires a particular fabric and the fabric much more money. So we must know that. Carefree fabrics are more compatible with metal covers, which is not as big of a deal because they only have one bead in it.

Three beads total on the fabric; they and he would have five beads when you have one of their metal covers. So you go from, you know, three or 400 bucks to 700, 800, $900 depending on the size of the fabric. Huge price difference. So we have to understand that. Most awning fabrics will not work on an awning with a metal cover that is carefree and or care for you.

Colorado has two different guards: a Luma guard and a unit guard. But they require a unique bead as well. But it's not as big of a deal as a domestic. You could make a regular fabric work with theirs. But a domestic is not going to happen. Yeah, so it's essential, and it is a game changer.

A lot of people take the metal cover off anymore because the fabrics are so expensive. Oh, I see. Yeah, they've had a fabric on there for ten years, and they don't want to spend another $800. They feel they are not worth that, or I want to leave the cash-out. They don't have it. So I'll take the metal cover off and just go the universal fabric and off.

But, you know, it makes sense. You see, it's all budget. I don't care for the metal covers because they always come out of alignment. They end up looking crummy over time. Yeah. So, you know, they're rid of them. They create wear and tear on the fabric. Yeah. They just keep the sun off it.

So it's a trade-off. Buy a $300 automatic fabric and install a new one for one thematic fabric thrice or more. Hmm. You know, you won't have the RV for 21 to 30 years? Probably not. So that was sitting out in the back of your yard and collecting weeds, growing around it, and growing mold.

Okay, so the metal cover is a must-know thing. That would apply to window awnings and slide-out awnings as well. Metal covers are a game changer in a lot of cases. That is the awning manual or power. That's not a huge thing. It sometimes gives us an idea because of other questions that will come up. It might point to the brand, or okay, if it's manual, it likely doesn't have anything else on it.

We don't have to worry about a thing if it's a power awning. Usually, power awnings are the culprits that have LED lights up. Some older manual awnings, like the Maddox, have LED lights on the fabric that slide into the awning rail. You know, that's a workaround there. We can, but that's a minor deal. It is out there.

Then, the next question, because of the fabric, acrylic or vinyl, could depend on a metal cover for a lot of domestics, or most Americans with metal covers have acrylic fabric. Acrylic is that canvas C-type material vinyl is like plastic. That's what you slide out. Awnings are often made out of, although some acrylic is flat out on fabrics.

Those are important things to know because acrylic is new, it looks nice, and many people like that look. They want to keep it in all kinds of factories or originals, if you will. So, even on a slide-out awning, it's more likely acrylic if you have this beige color.

It's not going to be vinyl or maroon or blue. And those fabrics have to come from the fabric or the factory. And generally, they're carefree of Colorado, and they're, you know, 3 to 4 times more expensive than a vinyl fabric. So, many people just go to vinyl, especially on a slide-out awning. Right. You know, replace in that fabric.

If you went from a beige to a white or a black, no one would probably ever know, except for you; if they did know, they probably wouldn't even care. Probably not. Much of this concerns us and how we want it to be. But most consumers or most of our viewers don't pay attention to anything, hardly anything at all. It gives technicians a little leeway to be sloppy because people need to notice.

They ignore it. So now we're getting to a couple more questions about LED Light. In the last few years, LED lights have become much more popular in the awning itself, built into the awning. So now the question would be, are the LED lights on the fabric or the roller, too? Now, the roller tube is pretty simple.

It's out on the roller tube, the three-inch round tube that the fabric rolls up on. If they're in there, they're built into the tube. That makes it simple. Now they're in the fabric. So they have fabric that has a bead welded into it about three inches away from the side of the RV. And then they have a light track.

The slides have LED lights on their fabric, which are different from the medics' LED lights because they are game changers. The freight for those because of that LED light system just dawned on me when I talked to them the other day. No, that was solar. Forget it. No. So, the Maddox LED light system is a plastic strip on the awning rail when it's on the fabric.

They use a smaller bead for the awning and rail bead, then put the plastic strip on there. So it fits in the awning rail, and they won't coil that strip. It's not something they can say they can't coil and ship in a box, even with a larger box. Like that's what Solara does. Oh, so it has to go on the fabric.

In other words, if your fabric is 17 feet long, that light strip will be 17 feet long, and it has a tube 17 feet long, so it has to go on a truck, so it can't go on. UPS: Yeah. So that brings the freight to 150 200 bucks, depending on where you live.

We have 102 hundred bucks on it because it's always more than what they tell us. So it always gets up there, so it changes the price. So many people are now getting awnings with LED lights on the fabric. Well, it's time to replace the fabric. They're not putting on the new fabric with LED lights.

They're buying an aftermarket light setup, or they don't even care, so we don't need it Anyway. We have a porch light, but it's never been there. Right? So, demand makers kind of shot themselves in the foot. And imagine that. I wonder how many times you could shoot yourself in the foot and still be able to walk because in dramatic scenes, to be able to keep doing this, they keep getting up and walking.

Yeah. Because this is a boneheaded move to make a fabric like this, you must send it in a 17, 18, or 21-foot-long tube. It's just ridiculous. And they don't see that. Yeah. Or they don't care, you know, is that's the way it is. It's not the way it is. That fabric that those things will roll up into a much smaller box and still be expensive to ship, but it'd be a lot cheaper.

A lot. She really could go up, but I don't work it domestically. It's a good thing people will be fired. What's that show? Donald Trump. You're fired. And yeah, so The Apprentice or something like that then. Yeah, I do. With a madman with orange hair, the. All right, so lady lights are essential. Both brands have LED lights on the roller tube and the fabric.

It depends on the options. So the minute we get into LED lights, if we can't determine the brand, we want to picture the label on the roller tube because that also has the model and serial numbers. Quite often, it's just easier to go with that, especially carefree ones. Carefree fabrics are very complex, and their whole system is very complex.

We still need to figure out how to look stuff up on their website, identify fabrics, order them, and give them a number because they make something for a manufacturer. Well, and it goes to the aftermarket—the number of changes. And just when you think you've figured it out, you don't.

So we always have to call them. And that label is critical. Like anything on the RV, if you take a picture of all the labels and you have it covered and the awnings have a label on the roller tube and they have a label on the arm, the arms do not come with roller tubes on the RV awnings. When you buy a new and complete awning, the roller tube is one part number in the arms or another part number.

So, if you need arms for your awning, you must get the number off the arms or some measurements, pictures, pictures, and the label, depending. And just for this, it isn't 100%, but LED lights are more common on power awnings than manual ones. They said that earlier. So these things here are going to help you order fabrics.

It's the same deal as the slide-out awning fabric: the same deal, brand, and measurements. Like most window awning fabrics, we just go by the measurements of the fabric because it's so much easier. We try to keep it accessible because we know it's a pain getting all this stuff, and most of our viewers aren't ready when they make the phone call.

We tried to do this in one phone call but needed more information to do it correctly. A stove doesn't matter. A water pump and everything else have a number. There's something that identifies it. And that's what we need. And the companies we deal with want that.

We can't just call the medic and order a fabric. Yeah, we want a fabric that's about 13 feet long. It's blue. It goes with, you know, 20, 22 fusion RV. It doesn't work that way. And like Lippard, they are number-driven without a number. Man, you want me to talk to you.

This is just to help you. When you call up, you call and test us out, or you're on fabrics from us and put us to the test. Yeah, you can train us now. So anyway, take that information. Is it what you will? You'll use it and share it with others. If your buddies are thinking about getting an awning fabric or something for their RV, explain what they need to do to make that process easier.

You know, especially when you call stores like Camping World, someplace like that where they have a high turnover of employees, and they sometimes get it. They sometimes have a more outstanding reputation for helping figure things out. Yeah, I remember one time we had a store, and we were three miles from Camping World, and people were in that store every day saying Camping World doesn't carry it, and you listen to the person describe it.

Yeah, well, the descriptions are wrong. You ask a couple of questions, and now you just see the three-inch waste valve. Yeah, Camping World had them, but they didn't describe it. Right. The employees there can't ask enough questions to figure it out. Yeah, we. We're not that like that. We're going to figure it out. Oh, yeah. So, you know, that's where the more information you have, I know you're going to buy everything from us, but, you know, the more information you have.

So anyway, go to our website. We have all our articles there, everything we talk about other than this staying on the road. This one, we have the podcast there, of course, and then we also take these waiting in the streets and turn them into videos. We're on episode 152 of the videos, so we're behind.

We'll have to get on that. Alexis is looking at me now and bringing us to the next stop. Let's get moving here and go to Shenandoah National Park. So, Alexis, I will let you take this one so I don't ramble on forever.

NEXT STOP

I spend way too much time talking about owning fabrics. All right. What state is this in again?

Alexis- Virginia.

Eric- Okay, good.

Alexis- Oh, boy. Wow.

Eric, I don't have it right in front of me. Shenandoah, here we go. All right.

Alexis- This is an excellent place. It's in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, and we've talked about the Blue Ridge Mountains before and how beautiful they are. But this is a little different right into the park. The views are stunning. There are a lot of opportunities to drive, which is excellent for people with impaired mobility. Or you can go hiking, and you can take photographs. There's a lovely fall there. There were many excellent camping options. Many of their RV parks are just like regular camping spots, with many history and cultural sites where you can visit many things like settlers' homes and cemeteries that offer a glimpse into people who were here in the United States.

Eric- Before us, a long, long time ago.

Alexis- Yeah, it's just an excellent place to go—lots of history, lots of nature. So, if that's what you're looking for, then this would be something to research for your next vacation.

Eric- Yeah. Sounds like a good place, Virginia. Sounds interesting. I'd like to go there. I'd like to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Alexis- Yes, me too.

Eric- And, this year, going through this, you know, a lot of what you describe sounds like many places. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But it's always different. Yes. Yeah. It's like even here in Montana, you can go to a ghost town, let's say in Bannock, then you can go to one in Garnet.

Yeah, it's like two different worlds at the same time. Very cool. Don't think because you've seen one, you've seen them all. Not like a swamp, and now it is different. Yep. Yep. So it's just one more thing to put on your list. And we have this on the spot every year on dot com.

Under the next stop, the amazing Shenandoah National Park is the article. So check that out. And again, it just gets you thinking about where you can go and what you can do. You know, sometimes just breaking out a map and looking at it, getting out of the United States and zeroing in on a state or an area, then zoning in from there, helps you find new places.

RV ENVY

Okay. So now this is going to take us to RV envy. And this one is about spare door keys. That sounds boring. Well, it is, but the moment you're locked out of your RV and you can't get in, it's anything but boring. Exactly. You know, then all the stupidity comes out, and you start thinking, Gosh, gosh, I break the window to someone.

I have a chainsaw to hole in the side. If I try this door open, all those things cost a lot of money, new doors, you know, a thousand bucks. That's a little high. But they're expensive, and you must get a new door. And this will not be the same, you know, all that kind of stuff, baby, better.

But you're used to old and worn out, you know, so you might not like it. So always keep a spare key in the RV where you'll remember it. I've got one of my RVs now. I have a keyless entry, and we went camping this weekend and thought of the combination for our life.

No, but I was just like, it's gone, man. But I did have a key, so I wasn't apprehensive about it because before I leave, I know there's a spare key on the trailer, but I also make sure I have the other keys in my truck just in case things happen, you know? So I might find my spare key and steal it.

It's not hidden that well. Where is it? It's LP things. So you'll never find it good to know, and then you can check that it is there occasionally. Yeah exactly. I want to go wild, like getting clever and hiding it because you won't find it again. Right?

Exactly. You know, you'll just hide it, turn it around, and walk away. You're not saying you forget about it when you leave the room and shut the door. Yeah, we all do it. You walk out of the kitchen, you're you. You only go to the living room and say or do something. Like, what was I going to do when you left that room?

All your business in that room is done and gone. Yep. It's the same with the spare key. Yeah, for the. Don't hide it too well, but just ensure you have one. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you kept it in your toe vehicle, if you have a trailer, that'd be fine. If it's a motor home, put it somewhere where you can find it, you know?

So anyway, just have that spare key because breaking in, locking out, getting time-consuming, and damaging doors is ridiculous. Calling a locksmith does not even get you down that road. You know, drill now for the cylinders in the lock. There are enough problems in life as there are anyway, so let's not create another one. Yeah. Be the intelligent RV or have a spare key.

There you go. Okay, so now, go to our YouTube channel. TheSmartRVer is on YouTube, so if you go to YouTube.com, slash TheSmartRVer, or just search TheSmartRVer, you'll find all of our good videos. Unfortunately, there's a lot of junk on YouTube, but go to our stuff, as it's all good, and like and subscribe.

Fact: Like and subscribe to everything we do and share it with all your friends. Let everybody know what we're doing here. All right. So that will bring us to the end of the show today. It's been a great show. We've covered a lot of ground, but definitely what longer? What we usually do. But that's all right. It's well worth it when you get good information.

Outro

Right. All right. So, let's just end this puppy now. This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer podcast. It has been great hanging out with everybody today. If I don't see you on the road, let’s connect at TheSmartRVer.com.