“How to Buy an Airstream” Tip

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information! RV.Net Blog AdminMy goal with the “How to Buy an Airstream” ebook is to arm anyone interested in buying an Airstream with the essential information needed to bring home the right silver baby. The basic principles discussed will be helpful for anyone who is going RV shopping. Even if you are buying some other brand of RV or travel trailer, you’ll find useful information in this book. Hopefully, this book will save readers a lot of time, money, and heartache. One tip I’d like to offer all used Airstream buyers: watch out for oriented strand board (OSB). OSB is an engineered wood particle board formed by layering strands (flakes) of wood in specific orientations. In other words, it’s particle board that is a cheaper alternative to plywood. Alas, OSB has been used as a subfloor material in some Airstreams over the years. While it has usually been used in entry level models, in the late 1980s it also appeared in the high end Excellas. While its presence isn’t the end of the world (and shouldn’t always necessarily be a deal killer) OSB does merit your... Read more

New on Amazon Kindle: HOW TO BUY AN AIRSTREAM!

For the past several years, my wife and I have enjoyed owning an Airstream travel trailer. We’ve taken our trailer to 49 states and several Canadian provinces. We’ve camped everywhere from national parks to Walmart parking lots (and frankly, I felt safer interacting with Yellowstone grizzly bears than certain residents of Las Vegas). But the point is that we’ve built up a lot of life experiences with our Airstream. Anyone who has spent a little time RV camping is probably familiar with Airstreams. These are ‘old school’ aluminum travel trailers that are built in an old fashioned style. Panels of aluminum are riveted together to form a giant silver camping loaf. Airstream owners form a sort of cult, a blue beret-wearing pink flamingo-planting subculture that exists within the broader RV camping culture. Click the image to see HOW TO BUY AN AIRSTREAM on Amazon Kindle. Look for the FREE SAMPLE on Amazon! In some ways, Airstreams are just like other RVs. In other ways, they are very different. That’s why I wrote this new ebook: HOW TO BUY AN AIRSTREAM. Over the years I’ve noticed that many people share an interest in Airstreams. My hope is that this book helps other prospective Airstream (and RV) owners make a wise purchase. When it comes to a large transaction like buying an Airstream or other RV, every bit of information is helpful. Many of the principles and concerns discussed in this book apply to any RV. But some of them are specific... Read more

VIDEO: Alaska Flood – Emergency Airstream Repair!

In 2012, we towed our Airstream on a 14,000 mile road trip. We traveled 5000 miles from Alabama, exiting the United States from Montana, branching through Alberta, and then along the Alaska Highway through British Columbia, and the Yukon, all the way up to the Alaska border. Then we drove around the Alaska interior (visiting Tok, Fairbanks, Denali, Palmer, Wasila, Anchorage, Homer, Portage, Seward, Glennallen, Haines, and Skagway) for another 3000 miles. Then we towed down the Cassiar Highway through British Columbia another 3000 miles to California. Then we made our way home over the course of another 3000 miles. According to our odometer, it was about 14,000 miles from start to finish. “Wasn’t that trip hard on your rig?” you may ask. Indeed, it was a bit hard on our rig. Although we never suffered a major catastrophe to our Airstream, nor did we emerge unscathed. (Our truck did suffer a catastrophe; more on that subject later.) Of course the general assumption is that the widely feared Alaska-Canada Highway (also known as the “Alcan”) is hell on all vehicles. It gained its legendary reputation in the 1940s, when it was carved out of Canadian wilderness by the U.S. military over the course of six frenetic months. What kind of 1700-mile road can you build in six months? Read more  Read More →

GETTING READY — THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS – PART 5

By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers The winds are bringing in more of a chill.  November is getting closer, and before that, of course, many of you snowbirds are excited about watching your grandkids go trick-or-treating. In this episode of “Getting Ready “for your fall travels,” I’ll remind you of what I consider to be the most important tasks for trailer/5th wheel pullers – checking the battery and tires.  For you motorhome, C Class and truck camper drivers, I would imagine having the engine checked over would be just as important, and getting it done at home from mechanics that you trust is probably a better alternative than hoping for a reliable mechanic a long way down the road. But first, let me pass along a note from RV expert Mark Polk about putting grease on slide bars: Hi Barry, There are lots of slide-out manufacturers and various slide-out control mechanisms. If at all possible it’s best to follow the advice of the slide manufacturer for maintenance procedures, intervals and lubrication techniques. If the unit is under warranty it’s important that you use what the manufacturer recommends for lubricating the slide-out. The owner should look through the owner’s manual for information on the slide-out. Many times it is possible to contact the manufacturer through a tech email or phone contact and get answers directly from them about their products. With that said, the majority of slide mechanisms call for a... Read more

GETTING THE INTERIOR READY – PART 3 of a Series

By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers My plan for today: get under our trailer and squirt grease anywhere that looks thirsty.  Thankfully, a thunderstorm appeared over the mountain crests and favored us with rain. Since I’ve obligated myself to getting the rig ready for our 10-month cross-country jaunt – by virtue of having committed to blog readers that I’m going to do this – I joined Monique inside for some interior prep. Monique rented a rug shampoo unit and spent almost a whole day last week cleaning and freshening up our 28-foot floor space (she’s thorough!). Kokopelli Gets a Needed Bath - Cleaning the Carpets We’re still 35 days from departure, so it’s too early to begin filling the cabinets and closets, refrigerator and “health & beauty aids” drawer, but there’s still lots to be done. On my agenda for today was what I call repair, maintenance and improvement.  For example: Lots of Tools; Not Much Improvement on the Table Base REPAIR – Our dinette table has been wobbly for years, despite my replacing the 1” factory  screws with 2”ers.  Today I put heavy-duty anchors in the floor.  It may have made it a bit steadier, but the most gratifying result was that it got that project off my list. MAINTENANCE – I removed the toilet several weeks ago to re-align the gasket.  It still didn’t keep water in the bowl.  A few days later Monique was doing routine cleaning with a scrub brush and hit the gasket by accident. ... Read more

RV 101® What to do After the RV Trip?

Copyright RV Education 101 When you return from a trip and you’re not going to use the RV for a while you need to drain the entire water system to prevent it from getting stale and musty. You can start by draining the water heater. If the water heater has an electric mode make sure it is in the “off’” position before you drain the water heater tank. It’s a good idea to turn the breaker for the water heater off, so the switch doesn’t accidentally get turned on with no water in the tank. Now go to the outside compartment where the water heater is located. The drain plug, or petcock is normally located in the bottom left hand corner or bottom center. Remove the plug and open the pressure relief valve on top of the water heater to assist in draining. (See Caution below) If you have a Suburban water heater you will need to remove the anode rod with a 1 -1/16 inch socket to drain the tank. The anode rod is designed to help prevent corrosion and protect the tanks steel lining. Corrosive elements in the water will attack the rod rather than the tank. Inspect the anode rod every time you remove it to drain the tank, and replace it when 3/4 of the rod is consumed. Atwood water tanks do not require an anode rod and use a nylon drain plug because the tank is made of aluminum. Caution: Never drain the water heater when it is hot and/or under pressure. Turn off any water going to the RV, to include the water pump, and open a hot and cold faucet to relieve water pressure. Allow... Read more

TRAVEL CHANNEL’s: MEGA RV COUNTDOWN

TRAVEL CHANNEL’S: MEGA RV COUNTDOWN High Noon Entertainment, the producers of Cake Boss, Heat Seekers, Bang for Your Buck and Food Network Challenge is thrilled to be producing a no holds barred special for Travel Channel that takes an inside peek at America’s most tricked out, pimped out and over-the-top RVs. From the converted school bus to the Boatorhome and everything in between, America’s Craziest RVS is looking for the most outrageous vehicles and the people who own and design them. Want to share your recreational vehicular creation with the rest of America? If you can drive it and sleep in it, we want to see it! All interested vans, buses, campers, trailers and their owners are welcome to apply. Please contact us at rvshow@highnoontv.com Watch as we feature your favorites voted on by viewers at http://www.travelchannel.com/ Source: High Noon Entertainment Press Release Mark Polk RV Education 101 RV Consumer RV101.TV  Read More →

Free RV Video Training Site – RV101.TV

Mark Polk with RV Education 101 recently launched a new RV video site called RV101.tv where RV owners & enthusiasts can learn more about their RVs. Polk explained, “For more than a decade we have been helping educate RV consumers with our RV instructional DVDs, books, online TV series and free video clips. Our you tube channel alone has had over 1.1 million video views. Recently I realized that we had over 100 RV related videos uploaded to our You Tube channel, but if you were searching for information on a particular RV topic it was difficult to locate.” To fix the problem Polk decided to launch a new RV101.tv video training site. The new video site is easy to navigate and find exactly what you are looking for. At RV101.TV you will find a large selection of RV how-to training videos organized into over 20 specific RV categories. When you are searching for a particular RV topic you just click on the RV video training category and a listing of all available video titles within that category will come up. The RV101.TV site is a great place to learn more about your RV and you can subscribe to be notified by email every time a new video post is added. Polk added, “We also offer a free monthly online magazine titled RV Consumer E-magazine that is packed with great articles and RV how to information. To subscribe to the E-magazine visit http://rv101.tv/or www.RVconsumer.com. When it comes to learning about your RV the easy way RV Education 101 has you covered.” Happy... Read more

How to Get FREE eBooks (for Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.)

We RV campers love our eReaders. Many of you have purchased my own ebooks, and for that I am grateful. Long Long Honeymoon – Living Large in a Small Tin Can has been ranked one of the top 20 books in Amazon’s Travelogues section. The book is doing well on Nook also. Of course the almost-but-not-quite-free price ($2.99) won’t dent anyone’s pocket too much. VIDEO: How to Get FREE eBooks A wise philosopher once said, “the only thing better than cheap beer is free beer.” So let’s talk about ways to get free beer — err, free books — for your ereader. Free ebooks are much easier to find than free beer. One of the simplest (if not the best) methods to find free books is to search your eReader store. But instead of searching for words, search for numbers: “0.00.” We illustrate this method in our video. The “0.00″ trick may not retrieve every free book in the catalog, but you’ll get a hearty supply of material from the likes of Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens. Put these books on your eReader and your IQ will automatically jump 10 points. The greatest authors of all time... FREE! There are also some free trashy romance novels (for those of you who are into that sort of thing – you know who you are). Note that these may actually drop your IQ, so if you’re reading NASCAR Hotties Part IV, it’s best to also download a copy of Great Expectations. Ironically,... Read more

7 Step Process to a Wise RV Buying Decision

Buying an RV is a major purchase decision. We don’t take the decision to buy a house lightly, and buying an RV is no different. You need to do your research and be well informed to make the best buying decision possible. Let’s take a look at my 7 step process to a wise RV buying decision. Step 1: Try before you buy This is perhaps the most important step of the process. It can be difficult to determine if an RV is right for you if you have never used one. Plan a weekend or week-long trip and rent an RV to try it before you buy. Renting an RV can be a good indicator to gauge if an RV is in your future. Another option is to spend a weekend at a campground that rents RV’s already set up on site. My only caution is that you don’t confuse not liking RV’s with not understanding how an RV works. If the rental dealer doesn’t give you a thorough orientation of the RV, or offer an instructional DVD you should consider purchasing a RV training DVD prior to renting the RV. Knowing how everything on the RV works can make the experience much more enjoyable. Step 2: Attend an RV show RV shows, like boat shows, are intended to introduce the new model year RV’s and to help disseminate RV related information to the RV consumer. RV shows are usually scheduled during the slower time of the year, the winter months, to help jump start the selling season. RV dealers from miles away will bring their wares to these shows. For the buyer RV shows put everything you need to see and learn about... Read more

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