BOOK - The ULTIMATE RV Owner;'s REFERENCE

Check out this great reference book designed for RV Owners.

This book provides so much useful data on RV’s that I will just list a few of the subjects covered here.

RV FINANCIALS:  Searching for the right RV, Negotiating for an RV, RV Values, Purchasing an RV, RV Depreciation, Selling or Trading an RV.

CAMPING: It includes numerous tips on; Camping in an RV, selecting the best campground, improving your campsite, and what to look out for in your campground while you are staying there.

RV MAINTENANCE: RV Electrical and mechanical Systems, Troubleshooting Tips, Generator repairs, Fridge repairs, Door malfunctions, Outdated accessory updates.

RV USE and SAFETY: Proper RV operation and critical Safety tips, Driving Tips, Pre-travel checklists, On the Road tips.

And much MORE!

And it has a comprehensive Index included for quick reference on specific RV subjects.

Click on the link below to go directly to the product on Amazon!

RV Slides - add room to your RV, but they must be maintained.

The addition of Slides to RV’s has revolutionized the interior designs of RV’s, by giving you, the owner much more floor space to enjoy once you arrive at your campsite. 

If your RV has one or more slides, and nearly all of the newer ones do, there are a few things you should know.

Just RV and CAMPER BATTERIES

Battery Dwg by Don Bobbitt

Here is a link to my article on HubPages where I walk the novice through just what your RV batteries do for you as well as how to care for them.

Properly cared for batteries will last for several years and give you great service.

Click on the link below to read my article.



How to care for your RV Batteries.

A Typical Pull Out??

What a start for a 6-month trip!

We talked the CW in MB into actually finishing the installation of our Fridge last night, so they, of course, made the mechanic work over until it was installed and working OK.

Then, as instructed, he parked the Rig outside of CW for us to take our unit early and hit the Road!

Well, we got up at 5:30 this morning. Yes, I said, 5:30AM!

We packed our fridge stuff, our overnight bag, and of course Helen had to sanitize the house because Star is coing down for the weekend and using our house, and we drove in the dark of night down to the CW store.

We finally got down to the RV, loaded up, and pulled up to a Gas station that sells Diesel, and I can get my Rig into with the Jeep tied to it.

Guess What?

6:30 in the morning is when all of the Beer and Cola distributors deliver their goods for the day to these roadside establishments.

And ............ Just guess where they park?  Right at the end of the long line of fuel pumps, which b ythe way is where they put their only Diesel fuel pump.

So, I had to go inside and ask;  "Which one of you is the Miller guy, and which one is the Bud guy?

Well, out of 5 different guys in there, two of them lifted their heads with a very impressive scowl, and both of them said; ME, WHY?

I stepped back a bit and then I responded.

"Hey Guys, I have an RV out side and I need to get to the Diesel pumps, and you guys are blocking them."

Well, Their scowls deepened and one said;
"I got about twenty more minutes before I am finished",
and the other looked at me as he wanted to remove some of my organs, and said,
"and I need more time than that".

I just smiled at them both and responded;
"Well, I am presently blocking the road, going down to a subdivision, and there are already two cars out there with pissed off people in them."

"I'll just go out there and tell them that you two guys need more time, and they should talk to you?"

"Who Knows?" I said;  " Maybe a Cop will drive up and I can explain to him why I can't move my Rig because you two are blocking the pumps and are too busy to move your trucks."

As I turned to go out the door, I heard several strings of profanities thrown at me but the two guys actually got to their trucks, before I could get to my Rig.

As they moved, to where they should have been anyway, by the way,I smiled and waved to them, mouthing the words "Thank You!" over and over.

I filled up ($236 poorer) and I hit the road "South  Bound and Down", as the song goes.

We put in a good 7-1/2 hours in the RV with only a couple of "Stretch, Pee and Eat" stops.

Finally I was south of Atlanta (daily goal #1), and into Alabama (daily goal #2), so we looked for a CG to crash in for the night.
No Wally-World and No Rest Area, tonight.
I wanted AC, Hot Food, Cold Wine, and a good nights sleep.
I plan to run tomorrow!

So, We are presently sitting in a CG in LaGrange, Ala. and:    OMG!     OMG!     OMG!

I will have to tell you about this place after we leave in the morning.

What a Dump!  (but with Good Intentions!)

The Adventure has begun!

In Texas and Lickin' my Wounds!

Yeah, That's what I said;  LICKING MY WOUNDS!

We pulled out of Abita Springs, just north of New Orleans right at daybreak.

We topped off our fuel tank (Gulp!-------$242).

And we pulled out onto I-12 (which blends into I-10 in Baton Rouge) and put the Rig in Auto-Pilot.

We stopped to Pee twice, and eat Lunch when we crossed into Texas, otherwise, we cranked.

We ran at 70-73 mph, (cruise control) the whole trip except when one of the many Brain-Dead drivers, that populate the Roads of America, tried to kill us.  This only happened every hour or so, so I guess most of these "Zombie Roadies" were busy preparing for Halloween ..... or whatever.

Anyway, we rolled up to San Antonio, and took a left in to the "Hill Country" of South Texas.

It really is beautiful, and we are going to drive back through there and catch some good Pics to share in a couple of days.

And, there I was, over 9-1/2 hours of jockeying a Big RIG on the Interstates, Back aching, eyes burning, arms weighing over a ton each, and what happens?

There we are less than to miles from our CG, and my Garmin decides to Piss in my Oatmeal.

That;s Right, Piss in my Oatmeal!

The map system tells me to turn right onto a little street called, what else "D" street.

Hell, I didn't know!

I've never been here before.

Well, it turns out that my CG is very near a booming Lake area, Medina Lake.

It is booming so much that many of the aggressive developers have gone out and run bulldozers through teh Mesquite trees and Cactus, and Rocks and Sand, and marked off hundreds of streets.

They even put up signs with proper names on them.

So, some A-Hole at Garmin, went and added these unreal streets to their maps.

So, what is the Big Deal?

OK, These streets are wide enough for one car to go down.

I own a 42-foot, Rig with a 18-foot Jeep tied to it's tail.

Try to make a turn at an intersetion that is this narrow.

I only drove 6-blocks and made two turns before I got to a real Road.

I figure that I only took out 6-10 Mesquite trees and a couple of Cactus with the RV.

Needless to say, I now need; not only a good wash job, but also a good Buff and Polish of the paint job.

Anyway, we checked in to the CG, and went over and selected a campsite.

I unhooked the Jeep, and?

The Battery was Dead.  I had put the ignition key in the wrong position, and the RV sucked down the RV battery.

I had to bum a Jump off of a fellow camper, and we backed into our site.

What else could go wrong?

You will not believe this, but You remember that our trip started two months late while we waited for some major parts for the Fridge?

Well, We opened the door, to assure that it had switched voer automatically to AC fro Propane, and

OH Yeah!

The Freakin' Freezer Temp was 35, and the Fridge temp was 48!

The damned newly rebuilt Fridge was not operating properly.

We walked around and cursed for a while and then after we calmed down, we opened some nice Chardonnay, and went Zombie for the night.

We got up this morning and those temps had dropped to 31 and 35, so we had hope that we could use the Fridge after all.

But, again, Murphy stepped in, and while we took a midday trip to Bandera, the temps had drifted back up to 33 and 37.

I called the brilliant people at Camping World, and they gave me a list of things to test and check tomorrow and call them back.

Banderas was cool,and I will write about it tomorrow, but right now, I think we have another couple of bottles of that Chardonnay somewhere, and ........ you know ....... What the Hell!

We are on Holiday! What else could go wrong?

G'Day!

From San Antonio TX, to Mesa AZ, in 2 days

Yeah, we broke it down.

On Monday, we drove 9-hours to El Paso TX, and crashed in one of those secure roadside RV parks.

You really need to use these sometimes, even though they cost a little more at times.

We were only 2-3 miles from the Mexican Border in Ciudad Juarez,, which is just outside of El Paso, so we went for the extra security.

Early the next morning (Tuesday), we pulled out for another long drive of almost 8-hours, and we were in WACO TX.

I went straight to the Camping world there, and started the process of getting my Fridge checked out and beginning the approval process for the Insurance company.



The idiocy of the process required by the insurance companies is at a level that would try anyone's patience, but we are hanging on.

This time, I git a little smarter, and while the CW technicians jumped through the appropriate hoops to prove that the Fridge was indeed bad, we went over and checked into our campground.

This proved valuable later as we could go over to the CG, and do laundry, take a shower, and just overall kill time.

Now, here it is, Friday, and the inspector has sent his report to the insurance TODAY, and now we must wait for Monday for the insurance company rto approve the purchase of the replacement Fridge body.

Then we have approximately two weeks before it is delivered for installation.

Installation will take 6-hours, and then another overnight functional test before we can leave AZ.

I have to re-schedule my reservations in California, yet again, but we have accepted the situation, and are now going through a lot of Maps and Visitor guides to put together a plan for taking our Jeep out into the Deserts (just a little ways) and north to the Mesa/mountail areas.

I hope to get some really good photo's over the next week.  Can't wait!

Right now?

Well, we had a great lunch at a Restaurant/Saloon called the Dirty Water Saloon, and are back at the RV catching up on our web sites and mails, ans a little bill paying.

Later, when it cools down (97F at the moment), we will take another walk around the CG

See Ya!

On to El Paso

We are presently at Medina Lake just south of San Antonio TX, in case you couldn't tell by my other blog.

Well, I still have a bad Fridge, and have just decided (2-hours ago) to head to Mesa, AZ.
We have taken all of the meat in the freezer that we have been babying for almost a week,
and has cooked every damned bit of it.

We then stored all of this in Zip-lock bags and packed it into a coupel of styro-foam coolers that I just picked up cheap.



For Dinner tonight, we will have MEAT, with a couple of sides of MEAT, followed by a tasty DESSERT of MEAT!

MMMMM!- MMMMM!

We will drive for around 8-hours tomorrow (across the West Texas desert!)
and stay over in a CG just east of El Paso, TX.

It has a Pull-Through site I have reserved for the night.

Using it, we can just pull in, and hook up to; Elec. Water and Sewage, and lay in for a good nights dinner and nights sleep.

We will pull out early and hit the road for around 7.5 hours and get to Mesa,AZ around 3:00PM, in time for my appointment at the local Camping World.

They are supposed to try to fix whatever has gone bad with the Fridge for us.

But, we will have to spend the night
hooked up while they run a required Diagnostic test
that requires that the Fridge be run wide open for a number of hours.

The next morning they can decide what to replace.

The bad thing is we spend the night in a CW parking lot.
The good thing is that we will pull over to Apache Junction (18-miles away)
and lay up there for 9-10 days before we go over to California.

Who was it that said that camping is an Adventure, didn't know the half of it.

Well, I gotta open a bottle of Cabernet, and start packing up some stuff.

Day 2 and 3

OK, day-2 was a little rough the next morning!

Way too many Jalapeno's and different cheeses and onions and green peppers and spices.

Oh ...... and corn chips!

Looked good!

Smelled Great!

Tasted Fantastic!

Next Morning?  Not such a great idea in the copious quantities that they were consumed.

So, my plans for yesterday were dramatically modified so I could stay in the house and near the throne!

As to my "Open Display" food management plan on the counter top?

Well, I have had a couple of accidents that dumped enough stuff onto the floor so that when I walk into the kitchen, I am greeted with a medley of crunching sounds as I walk through.

I was going to vacuum, but then I figured that;  What the Heck!

Leave it and just vacuum the kitchen ONCE!

The day before Helen gets home.

As to the crunching sounds from the crushed chips?

I had a great idea.

I put a pair of Crocs at the doorway into the kitchen, and slip them on when I go into the kitchen, and off when I leave.

Working Great so far.

Today?  Well.my internal systems are back to functioning properly, so I will be down at the RV for a couple of hours tinkering with that noisy roof fan in the kitchen.

I will either fix it, or make sure that it is so broken that it will need to be replaced.

PS. You know those Eggs that you can pour from a carton?
I found some this morning, in the back of the fridge.
A note to you all ......... Don't spill that stuff on a rug!
What a sticky mess!
I decided to let it dry and maybe I can rub it off then.
Wish me luck.

On the Road for the Winter ..... I Hope!

Well, we have been dealing (or is it not dealing?) with our RV Fridge problem for over two months now, and we just finally decided to do something!

We loaded up the RV, which took us three days, believe it or not, and we hit the road.

We decided that we could handle living out of coolers for a few weeks, at least, and still be on the road, to .......... SOMEWHERE!.

So, we pulled out yesterday, and drove up to Lynchburg, and are presently parked in our daughters driveway.

We will spend a few days with our kids and grandkids, and visit a few other relatives and some friends, and then we will head west.

On the drive up, I discovered that, in this cooler weather, our Fridge does seem to operate, somewhat in the LP-Gas mode.  SO, if this holds up, we can keep our fresh stuff cold as we hop across the country, and we will just have to use a couple of coolers for drinks and ice.

Once we get to the West coast, I guess we will attempt to get our Fridge fixed by someone out there.

I don't hold out much hope though, as it seems that Dometic has shut down their factory in Sweden back in July, and haven't finished building their new factory in Elkhart, IN.  ANything that they are shipping seems to be just what they have in their warehouse over there.

From this, even my simple mind can figure out that parts are going to be scarce for a while yet.

Dometic, though, just doesn't seem to be worried about customers with parts problems.  Their standard response is; maybe in the next shipment in two weeks?

Ya just gotta love em!

Anyway, I will get online tomorrow and re-route our trip to take into effect that our starting point is no longer in SC, but in VA.

Should be fun, Huh?

On the Road ..... finally!

You would not believe what we have gone through over the past week.

You think that this picture is of an RV, Right?  Nope, it is a used RV wrapped around a new Fridge!


As the old Country song says; "I been Lied to and ..............".

Anyway, the Fridge is completed (or so I have been promised?)

And, early in the morning we are going to drive down to the CW store, long before they open, and load up our new Fridge with food, and finally head to Texas.

I am going to try to get on the road early enough to get out of MB, and on the South side of Atlanta by tomorrow afternoon.

If all goes well, I will pop into a campground for thenight and get a good nights rest and continue on from there down to Baton Rouge.

I figure that two long days of driving, and I can make up for one of the days we lost.

But, I am not going to push it.  IF I have problems, or get tired, or whatever, I am going to pull into a truck stop or a Wally-World and shut down early.

I have done those 10-hour-plus driving days, and they really pull you down.

I don't need that.

So, I will have to play this whole first part of our trip to Texas by ear.
What does ON-THE-ROAD look like?

Check it out!

We spent a week in LaGrange, last night!

Yep, That's right!

We were tired.  I had driven over seven hours in the RV with a Jeep in Tow, and it was time to quit.

Oh, I was OK, but I needed to stare at something other than a white line on the right and a dashed line on the left.

I had wanted to make it to Montgomery, AL, but I decided to find a campground.

I got on the web, and found several in Auburn, AL. and we called a few.


Guess what?

It was Saturday, and what would think goes on at this time of year in Auburn, AL?

Right on College Football game.

It turned out that there wasn't an empty caming site within 30-miles of Auburn.

So, we backed off and found a little, and not highly rated CG in LaGrange.

It is called Hoofers.

Not a clue how it got it's name, but I had a weird feeling, but we went ahead and called them anyway.


The phone rang and a person answered and gave me directions.

Which I wrote down, by the way.

It went like this:  You take exit-18, take a right off of the ramp.  Go down three stoplights and take a right on the "14-Spur" at the foot of the water tower.
Go 3-4 miles and take a right on Hwy-27, go about a mile on the right and we are there.

OK, Simple right?

Idid as told, and turned right on US-27 ...... and I drove for 7 miles. No Campground.

I have been here before, so I pulled over and called the CG again.

The same guy answered, and I explained my problem.

His response was. "Lordy!" I'm not sure where you are."

TO which I responded; Well, If yoy live here and can't tell me how to get there, I am in big trouble  because, I damned sure don't have a clue."

He seemed upet with my anguage, but ai calmed down and went through what I had done, and he said;

Oh, You took US-27, you needed to take state hwy 27!

So, after a minute or so, I peeled myself off of the roof and as calmly as possible mentioned the fact that someone, not from the area, would probably need to know this distinction in the future.

He was silent for a few seconds and agreed that he would keep this in mind.

Needless to say, we had a communication problem, but, by this time I was so tired that I was going to find this damned CG and stay there.

Little did I know!


I kind of knew that I was in trouble when he gave me his Cell phone number, and said if I had any more problems, that I should call him on it, because he was leaving the office, but wanted to be sure that I got into the CG.

OK, three more calls and I was finally on a road that he agreed was the right one.

He told me that; You can't miss the CG. It is right next to the John Deere dealership!

Cold Chills went down my spine.

And, let's ignore the fact that the 3-miles he said was ahead, was really 5.3 miles.

I finally found the John Deere Dealership, and sure as hell, there was a campground right next door.

Oh, Did I mention that he said it was owned by the same person as owned the Hoofers restaurant on the property.

So, we pulled in, and ..... the Office was closed.

It was only 4:00PM, and the office was closed!

I had to take an envelope and put my "cash" money in it and slide it into a slot like at a bank.

Then we went down to the camping sites.

They were all about 30-35 feet long!

So, I improvised.

I pulled into two sites lengthwise and to hell with it!

If no one was running the place, I figured I could do whatever I wanted.

BTW!  There were around 70-80 sites, and there were 3  campers in the whole place.

I looked arund as I was hooking up and then I saw the signs;

PRAISE GOD!   JESUS SAVES!  VICTORY TO GOD!

I had Arrived!

My Beer drinking, swearing, and stinky feet Ass was ensconced in a dyed-in-the-wool religious zealots CG.

I told Helen, and we figured!  We would shut up, talk to no-one, and get out in the early hours, so wat could go wrong? Right?

So, we finished hooking up and walked up to the Restaurant.  CLOSED! Out of Business!

No problem, we walked out to the street for a look.  IF you can't eat John Deere paint, well, we weren't going to eat out that night.

SO, we walked back to the Community building! CLOSED!

We saw a sign that said; WASEERIA!
We walked over and: two restrooms, a table TV, four chairs and rwo washing machines.
But, the AC was on and working.

We waked back outside the whole comples was connected to a big Church, Also closed!

I was ready to pray for a Beer by this time.

We talked things over, and we finally decided.

We went back to the RV.

We turned on the AC.

We turned on the TV.

We opened a couple of bottles of Chardonnay!

We RELAXED!

We went to Bed.
We slept well, and we;

Got the Hell out of "La Grange" before daylight the next morning.

Yep!

We spent a week in a LaGrange ...... last Night!

Goodnight!

Preparing the RV and Ourselves for a 6-month trip

OK,
 We're Back!
Yep, We have been sitting around at home for several months, but now we are getting down to the wire.
We have set a tentative "pull-out" date for the first of September, and we plan to stay on the West Coast for the Winter.
Today, I am taking the RV down to the local Camping World to have the Fridge checked out, because it acted a little funny on our recent trip to VA.  So, better safe than sure.
After the Fridge, I will need an Oil change, along with some filters, etc.
More on this later.
Also, we are starting to pull our personal stuff together.
What we do, is take the 3rd bedroom of our house, and use it as a kind of staging area, for what we are going to eventually load into the RV.
This seems to work best for us, as we can walk in there at any time, and check if we have placed a certain item of clothing, or computer accessory, or whatever, in the staging area.
More later

The RV Newbie

The RV Newbie

Holiday Rambler Neptune Service Visit Info

Pulling Out Soon!

Helen and I are pulling out for 5-6 months of running around in Florida and ???(mayme other points) in about a month.  So, as you can imagine, we have been spending a lot of thime getting ready for our trip.  A lot of that time is being spent adding a lot of little things to our RV for our personal convenience and comfort.

We just purchased our RV in January, and we had done a lot to our old RV, and we have been busy this Fall implementing the same kind of things on our new unit.

First,  we have a 2008 Holiday Rambler Neptune XL 38-foot Diesel Pusher with 4-slides.  It has a Cummins 340 hp engine, and the Ariens 6-speed Automatic Transmission, and has a RoadMaster Chassis.  This is for your reference.

Chassis Service:

I have put over 8200 miles on it since it's purchase, and decided that considering the length of our trip coming up (in and out of CG's in FL), I should probably get the Chassis serviced, you know, Just-In-Case.

ConsidEring that Monaco went Bankrupt on me (and others), I no longer have a Warranty.  And considring that the local Dealer went Bankrupt on me, I no longer had my favorite Service Center to use.  Well, after some searching and conversations, I eventually found a local Diesel Shop that not only worked on RV's, but had a good reputation as being professional and efficient.

So I decided to get the service done by them, and have just received my RV back.

The reason I am writing this is to let you know what Info they needed, and the actual parts that finally used on my unit.  You see, the Owners Manual had a few errors, and luckily I had left it with him for reference, but there wer still some problems that had to be overcome.

When I left the unit I told the Manager of the Shop what I wanted done, which included;

• Replace the Fuel Filters
• Replace the Air Filter if necessary,
• Check all Belts and adjust if necessary
• Change the Engine Oil and Oil Filter
• Drop the Leveling Jacks, and lubricate the fittings and grease the Jack Legs.
• Grease all suspension fittings
• Grease any Chassis fittings
• Check and Adjust the Brake linings.
• Check the Air Brake System
• Give the Chassis an overall check for any potential problems.

Well, I was billed for 3-hours of Labor, and the specific parts used were:

• 7182-          Oil Filter
• 15W40        Engine Oil (20-quarts
• P551003     Fuel Filter
• 3966           Fuel Filter
• Misc Shop Supplies

 I hope this can be of some help to some of you Holiday Rambler, or Cummins, or RoadMaster owners  out there.  The Shop did a good job, and they were on time.  I couldn't ask a lot more.

Have a god Day!

Don Bobbitt

RV's and their Roofs

RV’s and their Roof

One of the things that I hate to climb onto, and one of the things that demand regular maintenance and inspections is the Roof of your RV or Camper. Remember, IT keeps the weather out of your RV, if maintained, but it will allow water to get into the damnedest places in your RV if left to itself. And visible water damage to your RV or Camper, will hurt the re-sale value of your unit more than pretty much any thing else.

A Personal Problem: As I mentioned above, I do hate getting on and off of my Rig’s roof. First I do not like heights, and second, even on jacks an RV is not the most stable place to stand. And the Ladder; I cannot fathom the reasoning behind placing a ladder onto the rear of an RV that cost 1/4M$ or more, with treads that are an inch wide, and 12-inches or so long. Two shoes can barely fit on a tread. And when you get to the top you have to straddle this miniature device and slide your butt onto the roof. I do it, but I hate it!

Straight Ladder: So, deciding that this ladder was insufficient, I looked around and found a great extendable ladder made just for use on RV’s and it packs away in a small package for storage. So after using it several times I learned another lesson. The lesson I learned here was that an extended ladder when placed on the edge of a Rubber or Fiberglass roof can cut or scratch the roof, right along the edge, where EVERYONE can see it. And, pretty soon you have a good chance of these cuts developing into leaks, or at the very least leave you with a very ugly marred roof edge.

Materials: The Roof-Top of Coaches, and other Campers have evolved over time. In years past they were almost exclusively covered in a solid sheet of a Rubberized compound, usually the same as what was used on Mobile Homes.

Today, the majority of the cheaper units still use Roof materials made of Rubber Compounds, while the more expensive ones utilize Fiberglass materials either alone or in conjunction with layered Composite materials. These Composite materials are used for added support for the Fiberglass, but often also for insulation and strength. All of these Roof designs suffer from one common problem.

Even though they, in themselves are designed and mounted to be waterproof for the life of the RV, the first thing that happens after installation, is the installation of devices and accessories, onto the roof.

Some of the most common installations are; Sewer vents, Cabin Air Fans/Vents, Air Conditioners, TV Antenna’s Satellite Antenna’s, Radio Antenna’s, Air Horns, Solar Collectors, Weather stations, etc. Each of these installations require the cutting of, or drilling of, holes through the roof, and then the subsequent sealing of the item to the roof with common outdoor sealants.

The thing you need to know is that your RV or Camper, and it’s roof flex, and this along with the stress of temperature differences over a day, and a season, that are constantly pulling on the sealant used on your roof. And ….. the sealant WILL pull loose or crack open over time. It is just a matter of time.

Your job is to climb up there and check your roof; every 3 months if your unit is in storage, or always before and after each trip you take. If you find problems with the sealant on the roof, it is relatively easy to trim it off of your roof, and apply a new coat of sealant. The sealant is available at almost all RV parts stores.

Fiberglass and Rubber: FYI, one of the great things about a Fiberglass roof is that it does not leech a chalky residue onto the sides of your RV like the Rubber roof does. When I was negotiating the purchase my HR Arista, I was concerned about these same seemingly perpetual streaks on the side of my old PACE-ARROW.

Rubber Roof: The HR rep was there at Lazydays that day, so he and I had a long conversation about the different roof materials. He stated that the residue I was seeing is part of the design of the roof material, and all Rubber roofs will leech this fine white dust onto your sides of your RV or Camper.

This leeching keeps the roof material clean and flexible. He also stated that these Rubber roofs should be cleaned regularly (ready for this?-- “every 2 months”), and only with the appropriate “approved” Rubber Roof cleaners. And the final thing I got from the rep was that you should NEVER seal the roof after cleaning. It will get amazingly dirty and feel very hard and be near impossible to clean. The Rubber material, again, is designed to leech it’s outer surface, so it should be cleaned and never sealed.

Fiberglass Roof: Now with my new HR Neptune, I have a fiberglass roof, and only need to inspect it regularly, and occasionally clean it of dust, pollen, leaves, bird poop etc. And if the manufacturers design is good, the fiberglass will have more than adequate support, and there should never be any cracks develop from people working on the roof. Overall, while a Rubber roof is perfectly adequate, and should last for 15-20 years or if taken care of, a fiberglass roof is the better choice, in my mind, to date.

Organize your RV information for quick and easy access.

ORGANIZE or PAY the PRICE LATER:

It really doesn't matter if you have a Pop-Up Camper or a Motor Home, or whether it is shiny new, or one of the great old units on the road, you must put together a plan to organize all of the information on your unit. Please understand, THINGS WILL BREAK or STOP RUNNING! It is just a matter of time!

You can be prepared, or you can be that guy on the side of the road performing repairs, or even worse, you can be the guy in the campground begging tools to patch up his/her unit while their family and friends are all having a blast at the pool or whatever.

NEW UNIT:
With a new unit, the manufacturer have provided the sales people with a package including all of the RV documentation in a bundle (large portfolio, or box, etc), and they hand it to you at the time of the sale. The better ones will walk you through the documents quickly, but remember, many RV sales people do not have an RV, nor do they have a clue what all of the documents mean so they are often of little real help if you have questions.

I purchased my last RV in Florida, from on of the largest RV dealers in the country. They have people that work for them, who come to you after your purchase, and walk you through the RV, and explain how to operate pretty much everything on and in your RV.

If I could do it over, I would have filmed everything he said and kept it for later reference. He spent a little over an hour, spewing invaluable information about my RV, and my memory retention level is not good enough to remember everything he said. And I already had 2 other RV;s before this last one!

When you get time later to open and go through the package, I guarantee you will be intimidated by the number of different reference documents on all of the appliances, accessories and gadgets included in your RV.

USED UNIT:
With a used unit, be sure to ask for this same package, as it is going to be invaluable to you. But, it is sad to say, many previous owners end up not having the package of documents when they trade or sell their unit.

If this is the case, you must go on a campaign to get copies of this documentation. Every piece of paper is valuable for your future reference. TRUST ME!

I suggest that you try the following methods: First, try to intimidate the dealer to; 1-find you a package for your year model, 2-copy someone elses document package for you, or 3- copy one from a similar model but from a different year.

Second, If the dealer is of no real help, get the manufacturers technical support or customer service phone number and contact them for any documents they can give you, or at least ideas on where you might find them. The next step that I suggest is to go to eBay, Yahoo, CraigsList, or any other web sales site and search for someone smart enough to realize they can get a few bucks for such documents.

Finally, the last two desperation ideas are; 1-whenever you go camping, hope to find someone in the campground with a similar model to your own, and introduce yourself and ask if you can copy whatever documents he/she might have, and/or 2-join the manufacturers club (almost all manufacturer has a club magazine or web site), and advertise tghere for a copy of the documents you need.

The real and final desperation move, is to write down the Model and Serial numbers on everything that you can find in the RV, and start web searching the appliance and accessory manufacturers, then request any manuals or documens they might have available. Some have good sites and are very supportive, and some have nothing but a phone number and expressions of sympathy.

Set up your own little Library Reference System:
Once you accept the fact that you might need the documented information, you should start looking for a way to manage it all for fast and efficient reference wen needed.

You will soon note that you have a lot of;

1. important company names, address', and phone numbers
2. web site address' with logins and Passwords
3. Service schedules and part numbers
4. and a pile of different sized appliance, engine, chassis, etc. documents
5. many, many hand-written notes you have taken when talking with others that you need.
   

Now ..... I have met a lot of campers, many are older and set in their ways, and resist change, and especially technology, like Computers. Even if they are new to camping, they generally have their own ideas on how to do things, and more power to them.

I, myself am too old to tilt against windmills and change a world of stubborn old farts.
BUT ................... I strongly suggest the following procedures for the most efficient way to keep reference information stored and easily at hand. Take it and "Prosper" as Spock used to say, or do your own thing, or the scariest of all .... Do nothing!

Personal Computer:

I have a PC and I use it often. While at my home, or on the road, I pay my bills, I communicate with family and friends, I research information, I keep up with the news, I edit my photographs, and I have my own web site for my photography.

I can use spreadsheets, so I do have several spreadsheets that I use to;

1. organize special web site address', phone numbers, passwords, etc. for quick reference,
2. track my fuel consumption and mileage,
3. record preventive maintenance schedules and parts and materials on everything,
4. store photos that I have taken of my RV; behind every service door, the Engine compartment, the Generator, and all appliances for reference,
   
5. and in addition I have scanned copies of many of the large and small appliance service documents.

Yes, I said I scanned documents.
With the price of today's printer/scanners, I even have a separate one in my RV, and a good rainy day project is to scan your documents on appliances and other RV equipment, and keep them stored on my hard drive in an organized folder. Of course,I keep the old documents, but I can add notes and pictures to my scanned documents that help me tremendously.

This Library System really helps me by having a quick digital reference when on the road, for almost everything I need when traveling.

Also, another advantage is that I can quickly print a paper copy of anything I have scanned/stored, and; take it with me to stores when; looking for parts, looking for help in a Campground, or to just lie beside me when I am working on something myself.