Eric

I guess it's time to go into maintenance mode. RV sales are plummeting along with quality. That's what we will talk about in staying on the road today. Then, in the RV life segment, we will discuss first aid and medical emergencies in an RV. We will also go on a road trip in the next stop section to discuss the RV nursing battle.

Then, we will wrap up the show with the new interstate battery that doubles the life. It's not new, but it's new enough. So that's our show today.

This is Eric Stark with The Smart RVer Podcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down.

Today is episode 144, so let's get into it. And Alexis is here with us today one more time.

Alexis

I’m all healthy, too.

Eric

All are healthy and ready to go. All right. And enthused. So, we won't talk about much other than the show today.

Alexis

Sounds good, Eric.

Eric

Let's get into it and talk about RV, first aid, and medical emergencies.

Alexis

Yeah, and this is a big one. There are about eight steps on the list, you know, ensuring you have everything you need for an emergency. But we'll let you look at those on your own time. What we want you to do is be prepared, know where you're going, and know that you have put together a first aid kit for yourself, a comprehensive one.

Eric mentioned you can get a good first aid kit from My Medic. So, we'll put the link down there. Right? Right. Awesome. Yeah. We want you to think about where you're going, and having an exit strategy is important. So, know where you're going to be, know what's surrounding you, and know how to save somebody's life.

Maybe some CPR. You know how to get out of there fast, whatever comes up. Just prepare yourself a little bit. We want you to be safe on the road.

Eric

Right? Very good. So, there's some good pointers there. So, if you go to enjoy the RV life section of TheSmartRVer.com, all the information will be there, and it's very helpful. Likes to browse for nice points here, and My Medic makes great supply kits, or you can build your own; you know, if you feel like that's what you want to do, that's fine.

Sometimes it's easier to buy a kit, you know? Do you want to have trauma supplies, too, in case you get a serious wound cutting or something? You know, blood pouring out everywhere. You never know what's going to happen. I've been, you know, doing stuff my entire life out in the deserts and mountains and things.

Occasionally, a first aid kit comes in handy.

Alexis

Yep, it does.

Eric

Keep your senses and know where you're at, your surroundings, and who you can talk to in case of a severe emergency. Is there someone you can call to help you walk through it? Calm you down? Mm hmm. So, yeah, and you go to the website. More information is there. Really. It's. It's not that complex. The eight points that Alexus brought out bring it home.

You must do more planning on your end, but these eight points will walk you through it. So, you've got a pretty good plan if something were to go wrong. Okay. So hopefully that's some helpful information for you. And now, let's get into staying on the road. We're moving along quickly here today.

We've been spending a lot of time on a lot of time in the past episodes. We're just trying to get to the point today. I don't know what it is. It's a Monday.

Alexis

Get to the meat the right way.

Eric

That's right. We're all hungry. Do you want me to get to the meat? Okay. So, I think it's time to go into maintenance mode. New RV sales are plummeting along with quality. So that's what the title of this section is. Now, there's a little bit to this, and you'll have to bear with me for a minute as I walk through this.

I'm building up to something here. So, over the decades, the RV industry has had highs and lows due to the economy, you know, the economy being up, the economy being down. So that would affect fuel prices where they're high, they're low fuel shortages, fuel surpluses, no wars, active wars, high-interest rates, low-interest rates, lack of interest in RV and lack of interest in doing anything outdoors or traveling because of things happening in the world, or maybe just economic pressures.

But through each of these high and low periods, RV years have adjusted to the new circumstances. Even businesses serving the RV industry have had to adjust as well. You know, they got to adjust up, adjust down. And as I recall, you know, years ago, this was, you know, the eighties, early nineties, it seemed like Camping World, you know, they're kind of that brand has been out there a long time since the sixties.

It seemed like they were always on the verge of bankruptcy before expanding into selling RVs. It just seemed like it was, you know, from one day to the next. Is Camping World going to be here? That was always what the discussion was about in the RV industry. But that changed. And it seemed like many RV dealerships, even the huge ones, did at the same time.

Well, they’re huge today. They were a good size back then. They're in the same situation. They're just one sale away from closing their doors. Then all of a sudden the RV industry just took off in, you know, let's say the late elite eighties, early nineties, probably in the nineties, more so money was flowing, banks were giving away money, RV businesses, you know,, dealerships and such were being able to be able to borrow money, find funding so they were expanding camping world ran into some money and started buying up dealerships all over the country and things went like that for years.

I remember one giving you one or two cars for free, depending on the house you bought. And the house was at some stupid discount rate. So, I mean, people were just desperate to sell it. They had to get rid of it. Dealerships in the RV industry were closing or they had new locations. They were closing those and, you know, scaling it back to their original location or maybe two locations.

Others just closed and went away. RV manufacturers are drying up like the desert plain after a rain. Eric Gone. Not to mention banks did not give me loans for anything related to RV, so the money supply dried up. So, it took a few years, and everything started to bounce back, and eventually, it would become the new normal.

That was going to come, whether it was good or bad. Typically, as badly they prepare for the worst, they'll deal with the goods as they come, but preparing for the worst is more important in business. So part of their preparation is to cut back on quality? And that's what they did. So, this was working against the background of slow, steady change that was taking place.

It didn't happen overnight, but eventually, it became very apparent that this was now built into almost every new RV. And what am I talking about? Poor quality. So, to save money, the quality that could be found in older RVs has gradually disappeared. And many of the brands, not all of them, but a lot of them. Then the pandemic changed the industry overnight.

Could it be built fast enough to keep up with the demand? Manufacturers couldn't keep employees. They saw employee turnover rates that nobody had ever seen. You know, some of the manufacturers were replacing everybody on their floor every 30 days, every two weeks in some cases. So, it was just a constant change. By the time they got someone trained, that person was gone and someone else was in.

Things changed drastically. Today, the RV industry is experiencing a new normal. Today, the complaints about poor quality never seem to end, and poor customer service is the figurative cherry on top. Things have gotten bad even though the RV industry sold more trees than ever. They're making money hand over fist there. Their plan of lowering the quality to produce lower-priced RVs to make more profits finally came to fruition.

Whether they liked it or not, the RV industry has changed now for the worse. So now I'm not trying to be all negative here. I'm just trying to be realistic about what we're facing. So, what is an RV here to do? Should you buy a new RV? Should you buy a used RV? Me personally, I guess. It's time to go into maintenance mode.

The industry is slowing down, which may give the OEMs recess, the RV manufacturers, and the original equipment manufacturers. So, it could be the RVs, it could be the appliance manufacturers that support the industry. Jim is allowing the manufacturers of RVs to reevaluate what they're doing and how to improve it. It seemed like the OEMs think making a more efficient AC or adding more technology to the RV, such as a tablet or a panel on a wall that controls the entire RV in one place, somehow improves the overall experience.

Well, some of these changes sound good. Some of them are good for a little bit until they start having problems and then it lowers your overall RV experience. New technology does not always fix all the problems. It just looks good. Wow. Look at this. A tablet on the wall. I can control my RV from one place. This is like the Jetsons.

Something in the future. But it's not. It's just a tablet that's not going to work very well after a couple of years or even less, or even sometimes a couple of weeks. But when they fail, that's when you feel the crunch of the low quality or the poor quality because you're left in the lurch with something that doesn't work or it's super expensive to get repaired or it's hard to find someone to even repair it, right?

So, in the meantime, it might be better to keep and improve what you already have. If you were to sell your RV today, especially if it's a pandemic RV, you bought it during the pandemic and you bought a new RV. Well, it's not going to change your circumstances too much. You probably have a new RV with very similar problems.

And so, you didn't accomplish anything unless you just really needed to get a new RV because the floor plan years were horrible or you just had so many problems that you felt you'd be better off with a new one, even though it might have problems. You're just willing to take that chance. So those are things to consider. You know your circumstances, so you must purchase accordingly.

But let's say you bought a new RV post during the pandemic, not post now. It doesn't matter. The quality is probably even worse because they haven't improved, you know, pre-pandemic. RVs In other words, RVs built before the pandemic were better quality, but they were still part of that overall plan or strategy where quality is being reduced.

It's sold, it's been registered. It's used. Now might be the time to invest in just fixing it up rather than looking at a new RV unless you really must have one look at your RV. How bad is it? How many problems does it have that you can't work your way through and keep it? Because, you know, if you buy a new one, you start from scratch in a lot of ways and you're having to do certain things to get where your RV is at now.

So, you're going to spend more money. So, if there's nothing major or like a structural problem, a chances bench or something, that is probably worth keeping your RV and just working through the issues and some of the issues like refrigerators today, furnaces, they don't seem to have the quality that they did just a few years ago. They might be more efficient, but they seem to break more often and that probably carries over from brand to brand by brand.

Some brands are better than others. Right now. You must look at that if your furnace is going to break every year, and you know it's going to need a new sales switch; you know, 20, 30, 40 bucks for a sale switch is not the end of the world if you know that's going to happen. Or maybe it's a circuit board, ? is into more money.

But if that's the worse it gets, as you've got a bad furnace, that's always going to fail or you know, it's going to they maybe keep it gone for a few years until the quality changes, hopefully for the better. It is like that. On everything on the RV. Some things are just maintenance items that constantly need attention anyway, like your rubber ref.

It needs to be inspected two or three times a year regardless of the age of the RV. Those new used. It doesn't matter. You must stay on top of that. That's maintenance. Your tires are going to wear out, your brakes are going to wear out things like that, or normal maintenance. But it's the problems, you know, looking at all the little things, the RV, maybe those little things that fall apart, you know, screws come out here or there.

Can you fix that and make it last, do a better job, you know, anymore? You look at RVs, especially the mid to lower-priced ones, and you can tell how they're built just by walking in and looking at the trim on it. The trim is the finish. Sometimes, you know, it has the appearance of looking finished.

But when you look at it, it's not there. Don't even use 45-degree cuts on trim anymore. So straight cuts are things, but together, they can only fairly do Montana and windows and doors. For some reason, it's like they can't hire someone who can run a saw and make a 45-degree cut. That's too complicated nowadays. At least that's what it looks like because you go going RV, every cut is straight and things are, you know, might have 2 to 3 staples to hold it on or maybe two or 300.

It's like, you know, the quality is just there, it is failed. But can you deal with that? You have already bought the RV. Something drew you to it. Did you like it? Yeah. Or at least maybe the thought of RV, and you get it. You use it a few times, like, wow, this thing, is it like a new car?

When you buy a new car, you don't have any problems. And if you do, the dealership takes care of it. They don't give you a bunch of runarounds. You know, dealerships in automotive typically do give people a runaround in a lot of ways. But with warranty work, they take care of it. RV dealerships don't want to take care of it.

They don't want to do the warranty work. So, you find yourself with this RV that, gosh, what do you do with it is new, can you sell it? You know, you could probably do Lost, though. So just hanging on to it. Look at the bigger picture. The RV is just a tool to get you out of the area that you want to go to. The RV now is to get you to the campsite so you and your family can enjoy your weekends or weeks gathering time together.

You know, it's a house on wheels. It will have problems, but make the best of that house. And, you know, I have a new RV. I bought it during the pandemic, and I knew buying it would make me regret it. You know, that's the problem when you know a little bit about how things are built and then you buy it during a bad time, you know, there will be problems in my house.

Problems. And, you know, the manufacturer, they don't care. It's all heartland. They don't have that. Oh, really? That didn't work. Oh, golly, gosh. Jeepers, we better take care of that. They don't care. You talk to people who are making X amount of dollars an hour, they're probably not going to be there for more than six weeks or six months.

They don't care about the job. They don't care about you or their problems. They don't care about the company. That's what we find every day. So, you're on your own in a way. You're on an island and you have got to make sure your RV works, and we'll take you on your trips. You know, and this is what's happened in the past in the year, you know, throughout the years, like in the seventies or eighties, when fuel prices go through the roof, people don't sell their RVs.

They stop buying new ones and they fix up their old ones. When interest rates go through the roof. They don’t, they don't stop when they don't buy new ones. They fix up their old RV. We're at one of these points where it's time to fix up your RV or, you know, keep it maintained. Maybe it's new and you've got it all dialed in just how you want it.

Then keep it going that way. If you want to get a new RV and you're thinking, well, I'm going to buy a used one, go around, then find a used one and plan on keeping it for a while and you'll have some problems with it. But realize that going in, try to find the RV with the least number of problems so there's fewer headaches, then fix it up the way you like it and maintain it, so you don't have all these extra problems with the RV and in your life.

And then when you're ready to use your RV, it's there for you saying, come on in, let's go. So, you know, I'm not knocking the industry. I'm not trying to know how I am, but it is what it is, is reality. And this is where we're at and it's just where it is. One of these pivotal points in time when you need to decide.

And if you want to enjoy the RV lifestyle, then you need to make some changes and adjust to it. And that's what's happened throughout the decades. We adjust and it's not just our RVs, it's a lot of things we adjust to, but keep the RV in your life. Our roads are great. They're fun. They bring families together. It's a good way to get away and forget about all the problems surrounding you.

So, use your RV, even if just for a weekend here, or a week there, take advantage of it. You already got it. You might as well enjoy it. So, hopefully, that's helpful. Information can benefit you in some way, not only that, but it also helps support the RV industry, keeping it going without crashing it. All right. So as a reminder, we now have our YouTube channel and we would like to encourage everybody to take a look at it.

If you go to YouTube and just in the search bar, type in the Smart RV here, it'll come up plenty of videos there to help you with the RV videos on all sorts of subjects to help you figure out how to fix your RV what you need to buy, or how to proceed with a certain project. All right.

Now let's get to the next stop. And today,

Alexis is going to take us to Seattle, Washington.

And it's a ride, specifically, to the Seattle area.

Eric

Sounds much better.

Alexis

Yeah, it wouldn't be that fun to RV inside the city, I don't think.

Eric

Let's see, there's nothing over there.

Alexis

Okay. Maybe for the best. Yeah. No, but there are some beautiful places around the RV, around. Around, RV, around Seattle. They have a lot of a lot of campgrounds around that area. The Olympic National Park is close to the Cascades for those views. It's just a beautiful place. There's a lot you can find around there. So maybe by doing a little Google search for if you're going to be in the area, if you're going to be around Seattle, you're reuniting with family and you want to go camping around that area, then you can do it that way.

There's a lot to do, a lot to eat there. So, if you want to go to the city for a little adventure, you can do that too. It's got everything. What do you think? Eric?

Eric

Yeah, if you want to go to the city. Yep. Yeah. Or just bring a flak jacket.

Alexis

And there you.

Eric

Are. Fire extinguisher. Yeah. Now, there's a lot to do there. It's another one of those areas that is jam-packed with stuff. Seattle has had some problems over the years, but there are still some good spots. But if you're RV and around it and that's what's cool is your RV and around it if you did have to go into the city for something, some essential item that is there.

Alexis

I could do it.

Eric

You know, it makes it easier, but it's a great way to have kind of day trips if you want to find a base someplace and head out from there. You know if you wanted to do stuff like that.

Alexis

See the ocean.

Eric

But there are things, the air, the ocean, that's worth going to.

Alexis

Exactly.

Eric

You know, check it out. Go to spire Voter.com and go to the next stop. And the title of it is Discover the Magic of RV near Seattle. Yep. And look that over. And, you know, it's just another place to go. You know, there are so many places in the United States, but if you're on the West Coast or, you know, Western states, sometimes these are easier because you head north, south, west, whatever, and you're there a lot quicker, a lot less expensive to get there.

So, check it out. Like every one of these places, we discuss it in greater detail after the show. How cool would be to go there, right? All right. And so also to help you get motivated on your trips, go to RV Destinations magazine dot com. We've been pushing this for a while. Great magazine. They've got a quality magazine in, and they travel to all these different places, taking great pictures, really showing the area.

We talked about it, but these pictures describe the different areas. So, they have great destinations there as well. So, there are so many places to see in the United States in an RV. It's just it's it takes years to ever do it. If you ever could in a lifetime. So, check out RVDestinationsMagazine.com, and now let's talk about the new interstate battery. The Steamboat series is a 24 series and a 27 series.

So that's the BCI group 24 and 27. Both of those are very common in RVs for deep-cycle batteries. So, what's cool about this interstate battery is it's been out for I think about three years now, somewhere in there. And during that time, they've had like next to nothing for a failure rate. And so that's one of the great things.

But the better thing is the battery has this new technology inside of it. Even though it's a lead-acid battery, it doubles the life of the battery. So rather than getting, you know, 3 to 5 years, you're going to get more like 4 to 8 or nine years out of it, maybe even ten. It's a super high-quality battery.

It's not twice as much. It's maybe 25% more, but you double the battery's life. And one of the things that I like about it, is it's maintenance-free. So, you can put it anywhere without having to worry about checking the water in it. It's maintenance-free. And until now, I think AC Delco is the only one that made a decent deep cycle battery that was maintenance-free fact.

That's the brand we saw a lot of here just for that reason because it's maintenance-free. So now this interstate battery with double the life, maintenance free, is a no-brainer. You spend a little bit more upfront, but if you get double the life of it, it's well worth it. It's a cheaper way to go and it's still a good way to go.

Lithium batteries are taking the market by storm, but lithium batteries are not for everybody. They can be expensive. They do have their problems and more and more problems with lithium are surfacing now with fires. And, you know, the obvious things that, you know, when you buy it that you can't use, the wires freeze and what you can use it, but you can't recharge it.

Things like that are becoming more apparent and causing more problems for people. So, if you don't want to go the lithium way or even the GM way, in which GM batteries have changed a little bit, we're going to talk about that in a future episode. The quality of those has gotten better. So, it gives you alternatives to that lithium battery.

And this is one of them. You know, if you're not a full-time traveler who's living off the grid, then this interstate battery is probably the battery for you. Hope that information helps you. And any interstate dealer can answer any, you know, greater questions you might have about the battery. Like most, everybody who sells Interstate batteries also has them stock in them.

All right. So just as a reminder, one more time, go to our YouTube channel, TheSmartRVer to check out our videos. And that's going to bring our show to an end today. We have done it. That went super quick. Hopefully, it did for you in a good way. Yeah. So, it caught me off guard. So, you know, we have our YouTube channel.

We have a lot of things happening there. As far as videos go. We're adding videos to it at least every two weeks. Right now. We're trying to up that, but no guarantees. But every two weeks there's a good video that's coming out having to do something with RV maintenance to help you make better decisions and purchase products, not throwing your money away.

There are so many bad products out there now. It's easy to buy stuff that's just not going to last is becoming an issue. So go to our YouTube channel, TheSmartRVer on YouTube, and you'll be able to get some good advice there. All right. Next week, our next episode, I should say, is 145. And this is going to be the complete guide to simplify RV maintenance for newbies and full-timers.

Now, this guide is not going to be a physical guide, so to speak, but it's going to break down the maintenance in your RV in a way that's going to make it very simple to do for anybody. And it's going to take the fear out of maintaining your RV. You know what will make it, so you have the confidence to do it.

All right. So, we had a great show today. Thank you for being here, Alexis, and now throwing in your two cents worth.

Alexis

Thank you.

Eric

All right. This is Eric Stark with The Smart RVer Podcast. It has been great hanging out with you. If I don't see you on the road, let’s connect at TheSmartRVer.com.