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

Sutton RV: Top Airstream Dealer in West

George M. Sutton RV has become the premier one-stop dealership for unique, high quality lightweight products. Their flagship brand is Airstream. Airstream has released its list of “Top Ten” dealerships for 2010-2011 and has named George M. Sutton RV “Number Two” behind an East Coast outlet. Located in Eugene, Oregon’s third-largest city, Sutton RV has sold nearly 100 new and used Airstream products this past year. Coupled with its sales excellence, George M. Sutton RV is Airstream’s West Coast leader in service, parts, and both warranty and body repairs, according to a company news release. Founded in 1996, Sutton RV is a family-owned business, a tradition in the Sutton family since 1921. Both George’s father and grandfather owned and operated George M. Sutton Ford, Inglewood, California, for 37 years. The Sutton family was featured in Life Magazine as an example of American Life in December 1956. George and Martha Sutton In addition to Airstream’s tribute, George M. Sutton was elected President of the Oregon RV Dealers Association (ORVDA) at their Spring Meeting in Salem, Oregon. An association of dealers, suppliers, lenders, and associates who are dedicated to promoting the welfare of the RVing public, ORVDA is also focused on legislative issues that affect their ability to do business. “For example,” explains Sutton, “the laws that define an RV versus a manufactured home are convoluted. Currently, when an RV is larger... Read more

A new trailer that’s old

Airstream, arguably the most recognized RV manufacturer in North America, has partnered with Eddie Bauer to produce a new trendy trailer—the 2011 Eddie Bauer Airstream travel trailer. The all new 2011 Eddie Bauer Airstream. Photo courtesy Gear Patrol First unveiled at the 48th Annual National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky in late November 2010, the Eddie Bauer Airstream is now available at dealers nationwide. With more than 160 years of combined experience, two iconic brands, Airstream and Eddie Bauer, have partnered to create the ultimate adventure travel trailer, specifically designed to bring outdoor enthusiasts closer to Mother Nature in comfort and style. Designed to meet the specific needs of outdoor adventure travel, the Eddie Bauer Airstream includes a unique sport hatch in the rear of the trailer. The hatch allows for easy loading and unloading of oversized equipment such as bikes and kayaks which can then be secured in the fold-away dinette/lounge area. The unit is also equipped with premium oversized Michelin tires to provide greater ground clearance and rugged wheel-well cladding to protect against off-road debris. A handheld exterior shower makes for easy cleanup for the traveler, their equipment, or pets. Extra clotheslines and racks are intended for hanging wet clothing while durable exterior tie hooks are ideal for securing equipment or making sure Fido stays close by. The interior features an Eddie Bauer-inspired décor, including maple and soapstone... 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

What is a “Green Certified” RV?

I just returned from the 48th annual National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky. There was a good representation of exhibitors and manufacturers at the show and attendance was up from last year’s scaled down show. All good signs that the RV industry is on the rebound. Read more  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 →

RVIA Expo. Monday Nov. 29

Greetings to all from Louisville, Kentucky!  Linda and I are parked at the Expo center campground.  (Under the topic of “name dropping”, we are next door to Bob Tiffin’s son’s motorhome)  It is nice to see that at least some of the manufacturers actually “go rv’ing”! Since  the actual show doesn’t start until tomorrow, we went over to the center, registered, and then went on a tour of Louisville, and our main objective was to visit the Louisville Slugger factory and take the factory tour.  If you are in the Louisville Ky area, and if you have ANY interest in baseball (and what good American doesn’t?), this is the place to go.  The factory, museum, and gift store are all located together, downtown, near the Ohio river.  The downtown area is very clean, and parking in this area is plentiful.  We parked right across the street from the museum, and of course took the requisite photo of the world’s largest baseball bat. Read more  Read More →

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