Solving The RV Foggy Window Syndrome

Almost all motor homes have thermopane-type dual glazed windows that act as insulation and prevent interior condensation. Between these pieces of glass is a dry air that will not form moisture when subjected to temperature changes. However, all that changes when the seal between these two glass pieces become compromised and develops a leak. I use the term “When” in lieu of “If” because over time most, if not all, will suffer this failure. Over time it is subjected to movement, vibration, altitude pressure variances and of course, the harsh temperature changes and environment conditions. There are 4 or 5 glass manufacturers that all the RV builders use, so no matter which brand of RV you have, all will eventually fail. So, what do you do when foggy windows strike? You could replace them at the RV maker’s factory or authorized dealer. But that can be very costly. The preferred method, however, is to have them repaired or actually refurbished. There are several companies that offer this type of service and may well do a good job. One such company, located in Hudson, Florida, SunCoast Designers, specializes in this field. They offer a number of 50 amp, water equipped RV sites as well as an on-site dump station. The process is far more involved than I had imagined. They remove the window(s) from the coaches while they are sitting in the serviced lots and then plastic seal the hole(s) temporarily while the window refurbishing takes place. Inside the plant,... Read more

The RVs We Drive – Woodall’s Bloggers Discuss their Personal RV Choices

The RVs We Drive | This Week Only at Woodall’s Campgrounds, RV Blog and Family Camping Blog! This week in the Woodall’s Blog – The RVs WE Drive! Read our expert bloggers as they share the pros and cons of various camping units – from their own personal experience. These posts are about their favorite RVs! What is your RV of choice, and why do you choose that vehicle for your camping trips? Tell us by submitting a guest blog about it at http://blog.woodalls.com/authors/guest-blogger-submission/ . Here’s what one blogger had to say: Looking for Fun with the Fun-Finder How did we select our current RV? Well, I’d like to report that we had unlimited funds and time to select nothing but the very best that satisfied our every whim and need. I’d like to tell you that, but it wouldn’t be true. Instead, I’ll tell you what is probably a common story. We had camped for ma… READ MORE  Read More →

RV Driving On Extreme Mountain Grades

A Lug_Nut point of view.  Extreme mountain grade driving is something most RVers prefer to do in their towed vehicle rather than with their motor home or truck trailer combination.  Steep climbs and drop- off downhill grades can turn a pleasant days run into a white knuckle survival experience.  So what exactly is considered extreme mountain grades?       Interstate highways and the majority of state routes are generally limited to 6% to 7% grades.  This means for every 100 feet travelled you would climb or descend six or seven feet.  A long downhill grade of this descent requires a constant resistance of lower gear operation, Pac Brake, Jake Brake and or service brakes.  The heavier the vehicle the harder it is to maintain a reasonable speed.  While you can generally use your brakes to check and maintain your speed in your automobile or light truck, the same cannot be said for most RV rigs.  Brake friction to slow a heavy rig quickly produces excessive heat that may lead to poor braking efficiency or even full brake failure.  While drum type brakes are perhaps more affected by this, disc systems can also overheat and fail. Extreme mountain grades can be upwards of 18%, well over double what you would normally encounter in the U.S or Canada.   These can bring the climb speed of a heavy motor home or trailer combination into single digits on the speedometer at full throttle.  Likewise on the descent an extreme resistance will be required to hold back the vehicle. ... Read more

Next-Gen Dodge Viper Motorhome Revealed

Have you ever wondered what a motorhome would look like if it was based on a more glamorous prototype? DriveSRT(Street & Racing Technology) recently released the world’s first supercar motorhome—a possible reincarnation of the Dodge SRT-10—on its Facebook fan page. Automakers and RV manufacturers frequently reveal future products online, sometimes on purpose while other times supposedly by accident. Next-gen Viper camper van. (Credit: DriveSRT) But what do you do when your Facebook fans clamor for insider information on the upcoming 2013 Dodge Viper? You give the people what they want. Yet, sometimes stupid questions beget stupid answers. In response to numerous requests for early looks at the next-generation of the Dodge Viper, the DriveSRT Facebook page gives us…a Dodge Viper motorhome. Yes, it’s a Viper SRT 10 three-axle camper van, and yes, it’s still sporting the old Viper front-end. No, it’s not a great photo. DriveSRT’s statement: “Like many of you, Twitter user @DaveOrrSales asked for a taste of what’s to come at SRT. We dodged death to sneak you this top-secret photo. That’s all you get, crew,” said the team revealing the Viper SRT-10 with more than a hint of tongue-in-cheek. Whilst the Viper SRT-10 may do a top speed of 202 mph, the Viper was always renowned for its erratic handling, although the Chrysler team appears to have fixed that by adding an extra axle and two extra wheels. We’ll all have... Read more

Coming soon to a Community near YOU?

Rarely a week goes without a media story about some community somewhere in the United States or Canada imposing restrictive rules, regulations, ordinances, and general hassles on owners of recreational vehicles. Parking restrictions on RVs Rusty Powers stands with his son-in-law, Anthony Lyles, by his RV, that is in violation of a city bylaw because it is too big and will have to be moved elsewhere. Image courtesy Maple Ridge News Here’s a typical article that appeared in The Palm Beach (Florida) Post News: For years Wellington has enforced its laws so that a recreational vehicle or boat must be parked on the side or rear of a lot and behind a 6-foot wall, fence, or landscaping—the maximum height village rules allow. But, perplexingly, village rules also say that the vehicle must not be “clearly visible” to drivers or neighbors. “If it’s 15 feet high but behind a six-foot fence, then I’m sorry, but my sight says it’s clearly visible,” resident Donna Weaver said. Are RV Parking Restrictions out of Control? In British Columbia, Leeann Costa lives on a quarter of an acre and stores her 12-metre (39-foot)-long recreational vehicle at the side of her house. Last month she received a letter from the Maple Ridge bylaw department and learned she must remove her RV by April 20, reported Maple Ridge News. “We’ve lived here for 25 years. We’ve had an RV ever since we lived here,” said Costa. “All of a sudden because somebody complained,... Read more

Homemade Teardrop Trailers Make Comeback

Gary Daniel and Don Wheeler are two -it-yourselfers who built their own teardrops—compact, efficient travel trailers measuring just 4 feet by 8 feet. Central Illinois Recreational Show David Clemente of Janesville, Wisconsin, built a teardrop trailer from the information in a 1939/1947 Mechanix Illustrated magazine. It is nicely finished and used regularly for camping. Photo courtesy Allen Penticoff and Rock River Times Daniel and Wheeler will be among teardrop owners who will display their rigs at the Central Illinois Recreational Show at the Peoria Civic Center from Friday (March 4) through Sunday, the Bloomington Pantagraph reported. The show used to be just for motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth-wheels, but it has expanded in recent years with the growth of the Civic Center. Now, besides recreational vehicles, vendors will represent campgrounds, tow-vehicle dealers, boats, three-wheeled motorcycles, trail bikes, all-terrain vehicles, and even golf carts sales. This year’s highlight will be the small pull-behind trailers known as “tear-drop trailers.” Teardrops have been around since the 1930s—many were home-built—and were popular because of their sleek, aerodynamic design and lightweight materials. Several tear-drop trailers designed by local campers will be on display at the show. What is a teardrop? (The following information on teardrop trailers courtesy teardrops.net) Anyone who has ever owned (or used) a teardrop trailer can tell you that the most... Read more

What’s That Big Thing in Your Driveway?

 By Monique & Barry Zander, the Never-Bored RVers  What is an RV?  Easy question, since you either own one or are considering which type will best suit your RVing lifestyle. But is it all that easy?  For instance, the Good Sam Club Buyers Guide lists the following types of RVs (and who would know better?): Non-motorized versions include travel trailers, fifth wheels, folding camping trailers and SURVs, which is like an SUV.  Then there are the Motorized RVs, which the Buyers Guide breaks down into Class A Motorhomes, Class B Van Conversions, Class C Motorhomes, Truck Campers and Custom Coach/Bus. But is that all … and are non-motorized vehicles RVs?  On the Wikipedia website, there is a good argument made for 4-Wheel-Drive vehicles being considered RVs.  There was the night when Monique and I were tent-camping in Joshua Tree National Park – the wind picked up dramatically and blew live embers from the campfire into our tent.  The temp dropped into the 30s, so we “camped” in our SUV.  Apparently SUVs are often used as RVs in Australia. Then there is another entry in Wikipedia arguing that park models on wheels are RVs.  Well, maybe. I bring this up to open a forum in the Comments Section below about what you consider an RV, but first, I’d like to share a few experiences. Our home is in a 28-foot travel trailer*.  We parked in front of our son’s home in Huntington Beach last November, where we were cited for parking on the street on a street-sweeping day. ... Read more

RVIA Show, New Product Introduction

One subject that will always create a lot of conversation on the various RV forums is when someone asks about running their air conditioner via an invertor, powered by batteries.  The educated consensus is typically that you can probably do it, but the energy storage capacity of a battery bank will not power the A/C unit for any significant amount of time, thus rendering the system practically useless.  I worked a little math on this and, assuming my math is correct, a typical 13000 BTU coleman A/C unit will consume about 3800 watts per hour and a set of Trojan T-105 6 volt batteries, fully charged, has about 5400 watt hours available, or less than 2 hours of operation until the batteries are fully discharged.  Since we don’t want to discharge our batteries more than about 50%, or about 2700 watt hours, or in terms of a cold RV, about 42 minutes of operation.  In other words, not a very practical arrangement. Enter the Topleader Group Limited our of Dongguan China who were showing their line of DC operated roof top A/C units.  The photo below shows their DL-1200 unit. According to their literature, the AC unit operates on 24 volts DC, at 600 watts, and produces from 6200 BTU cooling.  I am going to assume that in the air conditioner has an internal inverter which converts the battery DC voltage to AC in order to run the compressor, either that or it actually operates with a DC motor.  Either of these schemes would be different from the typical US made A/C unit which... Read more

RVIA Expo 2010 Wednesday Dec. 1

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky! Wednesday, Dec. 1.  Today was a very busy day at the RVIA Expo here as we prowled the aisles of the show for about 8 hours, looking at an amazing array of RVs and RV accessories.  Yesterday I posted some photos of a recent innovation from Monaco using a telescoping slide to provide a wider floorplan on their motorhomes.  Today I took a photo of the outside of the slide which I think, shows the operation of the slide a little more clearly. The slide depth totals 50 inches, consisting of a 32″ main slide and an 18″ second section.  When coupled with an 18″ slide on the curb side, the total slide width measures 68″, which I believe is the widest in the industry. Read more  Read More →

RVIA Expo, Nov. 30, 2010

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky! Today was the opening day for the annual RVIA trade show here, and our initial impressions are that the industry is very upbeat about the future.  The day started off as usual, with the opening breakfast and industry presentation by the RVIA.  The reports indicated that all segments of the industry, motorhomes, towables, etc, experienced a significant increase in sales compared to 2009.  Of course, 2009 was by all reports, a disaster, so beating that sales level wasn’t too difficult.  Forecasts for future sales do indicate future growth, and hopes are high that will in fact be the case. Read more  Read More →

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