In this episode of The Smart RVer Podcast, Eric Stark walks through how to build a roadside RV repair kit that actually makes sense. This is not about carrying every tool and spare part you can fit into a storage compartment. It is about putting together a practical kit to help you handle the most common trip-ruining problems before they become bigger issues.
Eric explains why a good RV repair kit should be tailored to your RV, your travel style, and the problems you are most likely to face on the road. From electrical basics like a multimeter, fuses, crimpers, and connectors to plumbing fittings, leak tape, roof sealants, sewer parts, propane safety items, zip ties, and fasteners, this episode focuses on tools and supplies that can help you make safe, temporary repairs and keep your trip moving.
The goal is not to turn every RVer into a full-time repair technician. The goal is to help RV owners be prepared, organized, and confident enough to handle minor problems before they become expensive, frustrating, or vacation-ending repairs.
Show Notes
In this episode, Eric Stark discusses one of the most practical things an RV owner can do before heading out on the road: build a repair kit that is based on real-world RV problems. Many RVers either carry too little or carry a pile of random tools and parts that may not even fit their RV. Eric explains that the best roadside repair kit is not the biggest kit. It is the kit that makes sense for your specific RV.
The episode begins by looking at why generic repair kits often fall short. RVs have different plumbing fittings, electrical setups, roof materials, sewer connections, and propane components. Because of that, copying someone else’s list without looking at your own RV can leave you carrying parts that will not help when something actually breaks.
Eric then walks through the major categories every practical kit should include. For electrical problems, he talks about the importance of a basic digital multimeter, assorted fuses, crimpers, wire strippers, connectors, and electrical tape. These items can help RV owners diagnose simple 12-volt and 120-volt issues instead of guessing.
From there, the discussion moves into plumbing repairs. Eric covers the value of carrying fittings that match your RV, a tubing cutter, leak repair tape, a spare pump strainer, washers, and basic hand tools. A small water leak can quickly damage cabinets, flooring, and storage areas, so having the right supplies on hand can make a big difference.
Roof and sealant supplies are also covered, including self-leveling lap sealant, non-sag sealant, RV roof repair tape, gloves, rags, and a plastic scraper. Eric reminds listeners that not every sealant is suitable for every part of an RV, and that using the wrong product can create more problems later.
The episode also includes sewer-repair items such as a spare sewer cap, a twist-on waste valve, hose gaskets, bayonet fittings, and disposable gloves. These are small parts, but they can prevent a messy and frustrating situation at the campground.
Propane safety is another important part of the conversation. Eric encourages RVers to carry leak detector solution, use the proper wrench, inspect propane pigtails, and know where the propane shutoff valves are located. He also makes it clear that propane is not something to guess with. If there is a leak or uncertainty, safety comes first.
Eric wraps up the episode by covering fasteners, zip ties, hose clamps, bungee cords, tape, gloves, flashlights, and other simple items for temporary repairs. He also talks about what not to carry, including random parts, heavy tools you never use, incorrect sealants, unknown electrical parts, and plumbing fittings that do not match your RV.
The main takeaway is simple: build your kit around your RV, not someone else’s. A good roadside RV repair kit should help you diagnose the problem, make a safe temporary repair, and keep a minor issue from ruining the trip.
Takeaways:
Building a practical roadside RV repair kit is essential for ensuring a smooth trip.
Every RV owner should customize their repair kit to meet their specific needs and circumstances.
Electrical issues are common on the road, so carrying a multimeter can be invaluable.
Water leaks can cause significant damage; having the right plumbing fittings can prevent disasters.
In staying on the road, I'm going to discuss how to build a roadside RV repair kit that actually makes sense. And then in quick tips, how to keep your tools and your repair kits ready to go.
And in RV Envy, I'm going to discuss easy RV repair fixes that makes life a lot easier. I'm Eric Stark. Welcome to the Smart rver podcast. If you'd rather be camping than sitting in a repair shop, you're in the right place.
Every episode, I'll walk you through practical DIY maintenance and repairs that keep keep you on the road. So welcome back, everybody. Today is episode number 209.
So we're going to jump right into it right after I do a little plug here for wholesale warranties.
You know, I've been talking about wholesale warranties for quite some time now, been a couple years, and I think they're a great company and I've had zero complaints about them. None whatsoever. So if you're looking for an RV extended warranty, check out wholesale warranties.
There's going to be a link in the description of this podcast and our website, of course. Check them out. Great company, and they offer great extended warranties for RVers. Whether you're buying a new RV used RV, it doesn't matter.
They will have a plan or a policy for you. So check it out. Wholesale warranties link is in the description.
All right, now let's get into staying on the road, how to build a roadside RV repair kit that actually makes sense. So that makes sense in itself, right? Let's build one that's actually going to be good. Because, you know, there's a lot of kits out there.
I mean, I see them in some of the catalogs we use for our business at Highway 93 RV, and they're so cheesy, so chintzy, and they're so misguided.
They have like two or three tools out of ten that'll actually be a value, you know, and the two or three maybe are barely the right tool or just super low quality.
So we're talking today is the kit that's going to be good for you, and the kits that's good for you might not be good for other people because it's for you, it's for your rv. And so every RV owner should really think about this, you know, before your next trip.
You know, what should actually be in your roadside RV repair kit, because things happen out on the highway. You know, when I say out on the highway, I don't mean literally out on the highway. Sometimes it could be a campground.
You pull off to get gas, have a snack, and there's a problem all of a sudden.
So what I'm not talking about here is building this rolling repair shop where, you know, you got every tool under the sun and all these parts and accessories. You could actually open up business when you get to the campground. Right? That's not what we're talking about.
It's just having the right things, the things that are good for you and your RV to have them handy. So it's practical. It's a kit that's not huge, but it fits what you need and that's what's important.
It might be a 110 volt outlet, some water lines, some water fittings, you know, a propane line, a sewer hose valve maybe. You know, it just depends on what you feel. Your RV needs some simple electrical connections.
It's keeping it simple so it's not way over the top where you got this massive amount of stuff you're trying to go through to figure, hey, I know I got one of these somewhere, but it's going to take me an hour to find it. We don't want that. What we want to do is have the right stuff in our RV or help you to have the right stuff in your rv.
So when you're out on a trip, it doesn't fall apart because of something really simple. And I've talked about this constantly. You know, it's. It's those little things on trips, because I see it in our shop at highway93.
RV, the little things that ruin trips. And it's ridiculous sometimes. You know, and I get it, some people just don't have that, that skill set to work on their rv.
So they don't understand it and they just stay away from it. Understood. But, you know, we do want to make sure that if we can fix it and salvage a trip, why not do that? Our family love us for it, right?
And then we've accomplished it. We've done something good. Hey, got the RV going. I kept us on that trip. That's absolutely awesome.
So here's why most RV repair kits really don't make a lot of sense. You know, a lot of people on the Internet, you know, it doesn't matter.
YouTubers, whoever, RVers, they have some videos, they talk about kits, that sometimes it's what works for them. And I've noticed that in videos, and I said something recently about it, that sometimes these videos are geared towards that person and no one else.
And what works for them might not work. For you, I guarantee you the toolkit I have that I carry is not what you carry.
I mean, there might be some similarities, but mine's going to differ in some ways, probably based on my skill set and just heck, I have the tool. Why not? No, I'm just kidding. I don't bring tools unless I need them or parts and accessories. And so you want to have the right amount.
So it's not based on what someone on YouTube says that you should have. Even what I'm talking about today. These are suggestions. You can modify this any way you want. You might say, no, he's crazy there.
But I like that idea. You know, it's just to give you an idea, direction, where to go. But you can't find the ultimate list on the Internet.
You never will because it's not going to match your circumstances.
Okay, so what you're, what your kid really should consist of is having items in it that will address 12 volt electrical failures, you know, loose connections, blown fuses or small plumbing leaks. Roof, roof sealant issues, if your roof is leaking, sewer problems, sewer fitting issues.
That one's a little bit different because you can only carry so much on that and there's only so much you can do. But we'll get into that. Loose screws, broken clips, temporary hold down type repairs, you know, and think about this.
The kit should not be based on fear. Oh my gosh, I'm so afraid of breaking down. What it should really be based on is likelihood.
You know, what's that old saying, if it can happen, it will happen. Or it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when things will happen out on the road and maybe you'll get home when it finally fails.
And that's great. You can do it in your driveway or take it to a repair shop, but just be ready for it. That's what I'm trying to get at here.
You know, you're not trying to rebuild your RV on the side of the road. You know, you're trying to just take care of simple little problems that can ruin a trip and they can cause greater damage if they're ignored.
All right, so let's get into electrical items. These are some of the things that you should carry or, you know, at least consider carrying.
I'm going to have more of this information on this entire thing on our website as well. So there'll be a link there in the description. Because this article has got a lot of stuff.
I'll probably have a checklist made up for you so one of the things you need for electrical issues and solving them is a multimeter or a digital multimeter. So that's for checking for voltage and ohms. And I know that might scare you, but you know, DC, AC, both those are an RV.
So 12 volt, 110 volt ohms, and all multimeters come with instructions. And if you just learn the basics, how to check 12 volts, 110 volts and ohms, you probably have it covered.
I wouldn't even worry about amps, you know, at this point, maybe down the road, unless you really understand it or you, hey, this is really intriguing to me. What can I do with this meter? Doesn't have to be an expensive one. In fact, we have1onsunpromfg.com that works. It's a great little multimeter.
In fact, we use them around here. I got one in my rv, one in my truck, one in my bag at home from different things.
Again, there'll be links to the descriptions of all these things that are relevant so you can see them at least give you an idea what to shop for. You want to know whether your battery is actually charged? We've had a lot, a lot of conversations about batteries being charged.
Is power getting to the fuse panel? Are there 120 volts at the outlets? Are the fuses good? Are they bad? Is the problem power related or something else?
Now it sounds kind of weird, but that's where a multimeter is going to help you with that. You're going to be able to find out with that, at least send you in the right direction.
You might not be able to exactly pinpoint the problem, but it's going to send you in the direction. I don't have voltage here, so that means I need to check there. Then when you go to check there, you might say, oh, no voltage there.
Now I need to check here. And bingo, that's the problem right there. Maybe it's a relay. Not a fuse, but a relay.
So in your kit you're going to want to have the multimeter, some basic crimping tools, wire stripper, Crimper. And I like two separate ones which I've said and we have those on our website. Crimper in one hand, stripper in the other, wire stripper.
Okay, guys, get your mind out of the gutter there. And a small assortment of connectors, butt connectors, ring connectors, spade connectors, some wire ties.
You can put some heat shrink in there if you want, but that's probably something you'd want to do at home rather than out on the road, because you want to just get it going. Unless it's one of those things that while you're there, it's the best time to do it.
And you know, some electrical tape, but electrical tape is not for repairing the rv is to make things watertight, wrap it around connections, make them stronger, keep dust and dirt and water out, bundling wires together if you have to. But good crimp connections are definitely better than electrical tape.
Now, if that's all you have and that's going to get you through the trip, then that's what you use. Electrical tape, you know, some resetting breakers or 12 volt circuit breakers if your RV has them. A lot of trailers have them under the tongue.
And if those go bad, fail, you lose power to the rv. So there's some things like that and your RV specific. So you're going to have to do a little inspection on your rv.
And I'll get to that in just a moment here. And now let's get into plumbing. What kind of plumbing items do you want to carry?
Now, keep in mind, you know, a small water leak can quickly ruin a trip, you know, but it can also cause damage too. It can soak cabinets, ruin the wood in the cabinets, ruin the floor. You know, it can create a mess, leaking out onto the floor, under mats and rugs.
You know, you step on it and squish, all that water comes out. Then it's like a disaster. Oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?
You know, the blood pressure starts going up, the heart's pumping racing and all right, it's a water leak. Turn off the water. That's the first thing you do if you don't know where it is. Find that water leak. Then turn off the water. But be ready.
You know, that little PEX fitting that costs five bucks maybe will save the day, save the trip. And a lot of water leaks. When you fix those, that's it, it's done, it's permanent. You're not going to have to redo it when you get home.
Unless it's just a really obscure one, something you just had to really make work. You had to MacGyver it, as you might say, put some bubble gum on it, tin foil, wrap around it. I don't know.
But you know what I mean, if it's a nice repair and water leaks typically end up being that way, then you're done with it. But it's having the right thing with you. Now we sell some PEX repair kits on our Website and they are the right items.
You can look at what's in your RV and then see how these kits are made up. And you can pick the one according to what you feel you'll need. And then we can always add and subtract things to it.
Easier said than done, but we can do that. We sell all the fittings as well. Not all on our website though.
A lot of stuff we don't sell on our website, we just sell in our store for various reasons.
But having the fittings, you know, pex fittings that fit your, your pecs, you might only have half inch pecs in your rv, so you don't need three, eight fittings. You know, look at your rv, see how it's made up, how it's been plumbed, you know, water pump, strainer, you might want to have one of those.
You know, sometimes a little clear housing on them crack, then it starts sucking air. Water pump quits working. You maybe want one of those. I'm not sure. That'd be up to you.
You know, if this, if that cap cracks and sucks there, you can take the strainer out of the system on a temporary basis. It's not the greatest, but hey, sometimes you got to do what you got to do, right?
Get the water going again and carrying a strainer and sitting around to get damaged. And that's what I look at too.
How many things can get damaged if they're sitting around in your rv, you know, bouncing down the road, are they, you know, going to get all, you know, the vibration is just going to wear them out, ruin them. It can happen. So you do have to be careful how you store your spare parts.
You know, don't just throw them in the bottom of a toolbox and call it good, you know, think about that. Whether it's a strainer or anything else. And water fittings, you know, pex fittings, there's flare, there's pex, there's a CTEC style there.
Aqua Pro is what they're called now, or Aqua Aqua Lock, not Aqua Pro. Excuse me. So see what your RV has in it. And then you can also tell, huh, this might be the best fitting to put in there.
Or have an emergency and it'll hold me up forever. It'll be a permanent fix, not a temporary one. Having a tubing cutter or having the ability to cut a pex line straight or a waterline straights.
Nice thing to have out on the road because it does make a difference. That way you don't have to go in and redo that later on.
But having those fittings and seeing what your RV has, what kind of seals, you know, the pex fittings flare it. It doesn't matter. Best packs, they have rubber seals in them.
Having a handful of those seals around can fix a water leak problem rather than replace the fitting. It could just be a seal. A lot of these best pex style fittings, they leak, they fail, they blow apart, and then we see it all the time.
And they're on newer RVs, not brand new. Well, they're on newer one, brand new ones, but it takes years for them to wear out. But they do fail, you know, so just keep that in mind.
And of course, you know, I'll help you guys out on anything like this. If you want to call me, text me, contact me, no problem. Now, when we get to the roof, having roof repair items, that's kind of a different story.
I mean, if you carried anything, probably some roof repair patches would be good. You know, a couple of them, maybe 6 inches long, 4 inches wide.
I don't know that I would carry lap sealant or something like that because, you know, lap sealant is not going to last forever.
Sitting in an RV in a compartment someplace, you know, getting hot, getting cold, you forget about the winter, it freezes, you know, it could be years before you ever use it. Now, unless you were to use it, you know, kind of cycle through it, rotate it if you will.
You know, if you check your roof two times a year and you know there's little cracks in the lap sealant around the vents and such, and you were to take that lap sealant that you had in your kit and use it, then replace it, then that makes sense. But me personally, I just carry some patches I figure out on the road, if I get a leak, I'm going to do the patches first.
And I won't do anything else on the roof unless it's designed for an rv. Rubber roof, no silicone, no sealants. You don't go down the hardware store and get some big stretch or something like that. Nothing like that.
Use lap sealant for the rubber roof, period. You have a fiberglass roof, an aluminum roof, you can use other things. But think about it.
If you have to peel or peel or scrape it off, remove it later on to do the right repair. Is it going to be a disaster? You know, think about that too.
Sometimes when we get in a bind, we might make decisions that make sense in the moment, but later on they can make things a lot worse for us and create a bigger problem. When we get home, we want to avoid that if at all possible. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do, you know, you got to make it work.
Water is pouring in and a patch kit isn't going to do it, then you're gonna have to do something else. And by all means, that's what you have to do. Right, because you don't want water leaking into the rv.
And keep in mind with an rv, I kind of alluded to that not all sealants work everywhere. Cap sealant is what you use on the side of an RV and lap sealant is what you use on the roof.
So the moral of that is have your roof in good shape before you ever go on a trip. Every trip, check your roof. Now let's get into the sewer system. So are you going to carry spare holding tanks? I really doubt it. Right.
Holding tanks can break at any time, but holding T breaks, that's the way it is. You're not going to carry an extra one. Even sewer parts, components, sewer fittings, you know, sewer hose fittings is one thing.
You know, maybe you have room and you always use like a 20 foot sewer hose, you know, Camco, Vaultera, all of them. You know, a 20 foot sewer hose kit, if you buy it as a kit, it's two 10 foots that connect together.
So if you had a spare 10 foot hose that you just set aside in case one of your hoses got a hole in it or something, that makes absolute perfect sense. So essentially you're carrying 30ft of hose, but only using 20ft. Spare hose is not a bad thing to have.
You know, look at your hose, whether it's a Thetford Volterra, Camco, you might decide, I need a spare one of these fittings, the one that goes into the ground. I have a tendency of leaving that at the RV park. So maybe you have a spare one, right?
Maybe you have a spare cap that goes on the, on the valve or you know, where you connect your sewer hose. The caps sometimes get lost or they break because they get worn out. A spare cap, that's not a bad thing to have.
They're cheap enough, you could carry a twist on valve made by Valterra. They're small, they're Compact. The numbers T58.
It's if your valve starts leaking, you can put that on where the cap goes and then that stops the leak.
And then when you get to an RV park, you put on your sewer hose, you pull that valve first and that any liquid in there comes out and you're Set, pretty simple to do. But carrying some of these things like that valve, I don't know that I would, you know, unless I really anticipated a problem.
Whereas going to be areas where there's no RV stores hard to get stuff, then I maybe would consider that more so. And even that's for consideration as well.
Are you going to be in remote areas or areas where there's more RV parts or accessibility to RV parts that might dictate how you're going to prepare your kit as well. If you live around here in Hamilton, a lot of people go camping off the grid and they're an hour away.
So if something fails, worst case scenario, they drive back into town. On a weekend, it's a little harder because most places are closed where we're at. But during the week it's not a problem.
You know, people do it all the time because it's an hour drive, you want to get going, your water pump fails, you drive into town.
So those are things to keep in mind and that, you know, as I said, that fresh water, when you get into, you know, your pex fittings and things like that, I don't really recommend carrying a water pump. A lot of people want to and that's fine. But they seem to last for a long time, years.
And you might be carrying that pump for years and by the time you go to use it, it might not even work. Has been rattled and bounced so much, frozen, unthro, you know, thawed out, it might not work. So keep that in mind. You know, that's everything.
Circuit boards, all these types of parts can really get over the top. You want the quick and easy parts to get you back on the road. Not the complex ones, you know, electrical things.
We talked about that a little bit also. You know, you don't want to have electrical parts that you don't know how to install or any type of part.
If you can't install it, why carry it unless you know there's going to be somebody nearby? But that type of part probably isn't worth carrying anyways because it'll probably get ruined by the time you go to use it.
Now, propane systems, you know, there's really your propane regulator, which I wouldn't carry a spare, but I would carry a spare propane line that goes from your tank to your regulator. And that's easy. You can measure it, get the length, keep one of those, put in a Ziploc bag, store it away.
That'll protect it from the air, moisture, things like that. Definitely worth having. Propane Line leaks or both of them start to leak, you got a problem. And if one is going to leak, the other is going to leak.
It's going to work that way. They're the same age most of the time. You could carry two if you want, but at least have one.
And beyond that, you know, it's your rv, but there's not a lot in the propane system. The propane tank regulator in that general area is where most of the problems happen. So if you're ahead of it, you know, think about your regulator.
If it's really, really old, you know, 10 years old, that's really, really old anymore, maybe replace it, just get ahead of it. But that's up to you. Now what about carrying things like fasteners and screws and nuts and bolts and all that?
You know, that could be endless as well, you know, pick and choose. You know, I'd carry zip ties, you know, some duct tape. And I am not a fan of duct tape whatsoever, but I do keep a roll of it just in case.
That's like last ditch for me because it always leaves a mess. People always leave it on way too long. You got this big mess there. It's kind of a personal thing for me. Right. I hate duct tape. Yeah, I'm right.
That's right. But zip ties are worth carrying. You know, you can carry multiple sizes or just one size. A 7 inch long zip tie will cover probably a lot of things.
You can put two, three, four of them, five of them together if you have to. They're good to have, you know, assortment of screws and fuses in, in an rv, most of the screws are square tip screws.
And to be honest with you, if you go up to your awning rail and you take out one of those screws, that probably is a screw that'll work on a whole bunch of the repairs you might have out on the road. They use those screws everywhere.
In fact, in an emergency you could pull some screws out of your awning rail or someplace on your RV if you had to in an emergency. But those are the spare screws you'd want to have. They look just like that.
Some quarter inch hex head screws, you know, maybe an inch long would be nice. Self tapping would be nice. You know that that's going to kind of COVID it. If you look at your rv, you can see what you'll need.
You don't need to carry screws. You're not going to, you know, some bolts.
If you had a quarter inch and five 16 bolts, a few of them an inch long, inch and a half long with nuts and washers. You're probably good there. You don't need lots of stuff. When you really look at an rv, it's not this.
It's not like a car where there's all these different size bolts and screws. You know, there's not hundreds of them. It's just, you know, a few.
You can count them on your hand, probably the different sizes and styles, but make sure you have the tools to get them out. Like a square tip, Phillips head bits, things like that, number two square tip. Those are what's important. Then occasionally a Torx head.
So look at your RV again, I say that looking at your RV is really what's important. So you know what your RV has. And it's not what your neighbor has, it's what your RV has now. Things that you don't need to carry.
Don't carry random parts just because you can get them. You can afford them, you want to have them. Your neighbors went out, now I need to carry one. Nuh. Don't carry parts you don't know how to install.
Don't carry heavy tools that you're going to use. I mean, don't bring a bunch of tools and you know, five years later you're still lugging them around. You don't need to do that.
Carry sealants and things like that. That work for your rv, not someone else's.
You know, circuit boards, I mentioned electrical parts, they can bounce themselves, vibrate themselves into pieces and be destroyed. And you know, you think about a circuit board bouncing around for five years in your rv, you go to install it.
Maybe if you're a furnace and your furnace still doesn't work. Here's the first question you're going to ask yourself. Is that circuit board bad or is there still another problem?
You're not going to be sure, right? That's why you don't carry them. Well, that's one of the reasons why. So keep your kit organized as well. You know, you might want to buy boxes for it.
You know, separate out different parts, but have it organized ever how you want to do it. You know, I keep a lot of my stuff in a toolbox main, one big toolbox. I carry a bag with certain tools in it as well.
That bag goes from vehicle to vehicle, depending on where I'm going, what I'm doing. And it has a half inch impact in it.
So I can take wheels off, you know, spare tire you got to blow out, you got to put on your spare makes life easier. Just, you know, you got a lot of heavy duty bolts, which in our next episode, I'm going to talk about that a little bit.
This half inch impact really made a big difference on how things went for me. But that's me, that's what I carry, you know, and it's the same half inch impact I'd use at home.
Fuzz rotating my tires or something like that, or checking my brakes, but they're, they're just make life so much easier to have, you know. Then I carry a breaker bar and make sure the bolts are tight. You can carry a torque wrench breaker bar.
But having the right tools can make all the difference in the world. But keep them organized, you know, you don't want to have a bunch so much stuff you can't even find what you're looking for.
Or you think you have it, but you're not sure. So walk around your rv, check it out. Maybe go in an RV store, look at some of the things that you're thinking about.
Well, do I really want to buy these? Are they readily available? Is this a big deal? Is this fuse that I need? Is that the same thing I can get at an auto parts store?
RV store, auto parts store, do I need a bunch of these or this circuit breaker? So check it out. What kind of roof do you have? What kind of propane connections? Your air conditioner. Take pictures of everything.
Create a photo album on your phone just for your rv. So you go in to an RV store. Hey, I need a capacitor for my air conditioner. Do you have the model of the air conditioner? Yep, got it right here.
That way you don't even have to look at the capacitor first. If you're 100% sure it's the capacitor, you go to the RV store. Here's the model number.
You know, you could take a picture of the capacitor if you want to take the COVID off and go to all that. So you have it. That's okay too. It doesn't hurt to have more pictures. It, it's just time.
You might spend a half a day getting all this stuff together, really compiling a nice organized way so it's there, accessible, you know, you have it. So build your kit around your rv, not around someone else's.
So the, you know, the deal here is you want to be able to fix your rv, get yourself going on the road so you're not ruining a trip, and that's it. You know, it's up to you look at your rv. As I said, I can't emphasize that enough because I've said it a lot because they're all different.
They have a lot of the same stuff, but they're all a little bit different. And yours is yours.
So just check it out, make sure you have those parts and have them available, and then you're going to have that confidence you need. So if something happens out on the road, it might be a hassle, might not be what you want to do, but it's something you can do.
And sometimes if you can't do it and you're at, let's say an RV park or someone's stops along the highway to help you, they might be able to do it. So having that part might pay off just because you had it. So there we go. That's some good information.
Like I said, there'll be more about this on our website@the smartrver.com you know, each kit, don't let it overwhelm you. They're pretty simple and you really get right down to it.
Now, one of the things I brought out, or, you know, I said we were going to talk about the quick tips today is keeping your tool and repair kits ready to go. So what I mean by that is, you know, we've talked about building this kit, keeping it ready for your RV you know you want to have.
Now, some things might cross over. Maybe you're limited on tools. Like you don't have two crescent wrenches. And I only say that because I should have mentioned it earlier.
When you're building your kit or working on propane, try to use wrenches, not pliers. A crescent wrench is okay if that's what you have. Sometimes they're easier, especially if you're on the side of the road or something.
But carry a quality one cheap quality crescent wrenches ruin stuff. They break very easy. So anyway, back to this. So have, if you can have a set of tools for your RV that just go in the rv, great.
If you can have a bag with some other accessories, maybe you do off roading, you do different types of traveling and they need to go from one vehicle to the next, then set it up in bags where it's all together, but it goes from one vehicle to the next, you know, like a couple bags. Like I have one bag that goes from whatever, where I'm going, wherever I'm going, depending on what I'm doing, this bag will go with me.
But my RV has a set of tools in it. My truck has a set of Tools in it. It's kind of overlaps. But I'm not always pulling my RV with my truck.
And by the same token, sometimes I'm just in my truck without the rv. But I have, I'm prepared for it. And I carry some things in the RV that aren't in the truck.
You know, I do some, I do off roading or, you know, over landing, I should say. That's why I have the different tools. I carry a floor jack. I carry a harbor freight.
I think it's a off road floor jack, has plastic wheels on it, works great in dirt and stuff. It's lightweight, it's aluminum, a little expensive, but I have the room to carry it and it makes life easier.
If you have to jack up your trailer, you know, it's safe, it's easy to use. But have your stuff ready to go and that doesn't mean you have to set it by your door, you know, right at your house, your garage door or something.
But have it together. And when it's time to go, you know where it's at, you grab it. Nothing's missing out of the bag. You don't have to check it every time.
You might want to do that. But having it there makes life easier.
Like mine's pretty easy, you know, I grab several different things, like I said, depending where I'm going, and they go in the vehicle. And sometimes we have to bring other things that aren't part of that process.
So, you know, keeping a list of things, hey, on this trip, this, I'm going to need this. And a good chance I'll forget it because it's out of sight.
So I'm going to get that out now or make my little checklist here to go through it, just keeping it together, ready to go. It's like anything else. You're prepared, makes it easier.
You don't get out there and forget about that one tool that you wish you had or that little pack of fuses or something that now you need them. That becomes a problem. All right, so now let's talk, get into RV envy and talk about some easy RV awning fixes from an expert. And I'm the expert.
Imagine that. Okay, I love RV awning. I know a lot about RV awnings. I can do them, take them apart, put them together in my sleep.
Now, when it comes to RV awnings, one of the biggest things to keep them working right, especially manual awnings, is to wash them with soap and water. The hardware, you know, the arms on the side of the RV or if it's a box type awning, keep that hardware clean.
And if you're going to lubricate it, which you shouldn't have to, but if you're going to use spray silicone, 100% silicone, that keeps them, you know, lubricated, but it doesn't collect dust and dirt and all the garbage that's going to get on there. But just washing them with soap and water makes all the difference in the world.
And now when your RV awning breaks, let's just say with a manual awning, generally it's obvious what breaks. You know, an arm gets bent, a bracket breaks.
You know, on manual awnings, at the front of the awning or towards the front of the rv, you have the roller tube and the torsion assembly. The torsion assembly has a lock mechanism in there. If that lever falls off, that lever doesn't turn either. It's.
Well, if it falls off, you got to replace the torsion assembly. If it's binding, sometimes just pulling on the awning or pushing in on it can unbind it and it'll work okay.
But if it breaks, you know, it's not working at all, then that torsion assembly has to be replaced. They don't sell the lever or the little gears inside. You have to replace the whole thing. Knowing that helps.
And I'm not saying you carry an extra torsion assembly, but knowing that and knowing what brand and model awning you have, they're not all the same. A Dometic manual awning, well, none of the awnings really interchange whatsoever. The bottom brackets are different. Everything's different.
So knowing that makes a big difference. And there's parts that slide. Manual awnings have inner and outer arms that slide.
If you measure those and take pictures and measure it or keep some notes in your book or something, that way if you do break one, it's easier to get. You know, a lot of them are very.
Oh, there's not a standard, but some, some sizes are more common than others, and it might be the size an RV store always carries. But just knowing makes it easier.
the way it is. Dometic has a:
There's no parts for it. I think it's 8,500 plus. It's got rounded arms on it, parts break and that's it. So just be aware. And when a part breaks, it's obvious.
Now you might need some help fixing it, but all these awnings are very basic to fix. There is nothing complex about them. But just getting the right part sometimes can be part of the battle or maybe even the entire battle.
And if you have an electric awning, they pretty much work. The motor is the only thing that really ever fails on them.
I mean, you might bend the arms, it might get caught in a windstorm, things like that, which is pretty obvious. You need a new awning or new arms, but the motor, that's your biggest problem.
And generally all the manual, all the electric awnings have overrides on them. So if your awning is stuck and let's say in the out position or it stops halfway in, you can override it and get it back in.
I'm not going to detail that right now because there's different awnings, different models that do it different ways, but there's always an override on them. If all else fails, there's ways to get the awning in without cutting the fabric going to drastic measures.
So what I'm getting at here too is awnings aren't that complex. And I know here in the store at Highway 93 RV most we sell a lot of parts over the counter because most people have no problem fixing it.
Pretty simple. They just need to know the part. And that's sometimes, like I said, the hardest thing because they think it's a carefree, but it's a dometic.
Parts aren't interchangeable. Sometimes they look alike, but they're not. So just keep that in mind. Wash that awning soap and water the hardware. Keep it nice and clean.
Check it before you go on your trip, make sure it rolls out, rolls in and alignment issues generally if they go unkept or unchanged. If you don't fix an alignment issue, the fabric can actually take the shape that it's in and you might never be able to align it.
So if you have an alignment problem, fix it yourself or take it in to get it fixed as soon as you can. And I'm going to have a checklist on our website about some of these items as well for the awning. So that'll help you out.
And as always, if you have questions, you can call me. I am here to help. And by the way, I get phone calls every day, emails, text messages, people asking questions, because I really do help.
We want to help you. I mean, Highway 93 RV is about do it yourself maintenance and RV repair, just like the Smart rver podcast is.
So that's going to wrap it up for today's episode. Now next, episode 210, and I'm going to tell you a story. This is how I have it titled right now.
What appeared to be a simple purchase turned into a life lesson for me. I bought something that absolutely changed my perspective on things in the RV industry, and I want you to know about it.
So we're going to talk about that next week and two weeks in episode 210. So. All right, everybody, that's going to do it for today's episode of the Smart RVer podcast, I want to thank you for listening.
I'm Eric Stark, and if you'd rather be camping than sitting repair shop, you're in the right place. Until next time, take care of the little things and enjoy the trip.
