Ever forget to lower your TV antenna or unhook your power cord? We have all done something similar, and this tip deals with one method of reminding yourself of routine tasks.
Put a labled clip or ribbon on your antenna handle, for example. Whenever you raise the antenna, put the clip or ribbon on your steering wheel. When you break camp, the clip on your steering wheel will remind you that your antenna is still up.
Do the same for anything else you want to remind yourself of... If you have a slide-out, hang a length of brightly colored ribbon on the travel lock bars (if your slide uses these). The ribbons will attract your attention BEFORE you try to extend the slide.
Reminders Tip
Quick Tip for the Towel and Toilet Paper Roll in your RV
Often, while traveling, I have found that the toilet paper roll or the paper towel roll has spun and unrolled itself from the vibrations of the road. While it can be fun to get all that paper neatly back on the roll, if you have better things to do, here is what to do ...
Simply place an elastic band on the roll - the roll can spin, but will not spew its contents on the floor. When parked, just move the elastic band to the side and let it hang there for the next trip.
Of course, you have to remember to do this before each trip - just add it to your pre-trip check list ... you do have a list, right?
Battery Maintenance
There are several things in an RV that will continue to slowly drain the coach battery even when you think everything is turned off. One of the leading culprits for battery drain is the LP gas leak detector. On a lot of RVs this is designed to operate all of the time.
There are other items that we overlook sometimes like the power booster on the TV antenna, or a clock that operates off of 12 Volts. If your RV is not equipped with a battery disconnect switch you can purchase a device that installs right on the battery post. When you’re not using the RV you simply lift a lever up and it disconnects all 12 Volt power
going to the RV.
Inspecting Your Roof
Inspecting the roof sealant on an RV is something you should do twice a year. Why? Because that is the likely place that a water leak will first develop. Water runs downhill, of course, and a tiny leak on the roof will turn into a major problem within the structure of the RV. Think about this - one drip per minute (through a pinhole leak) adds up to 1440 drips per day or 10,080 drips in a week.
I do not have time to figure out how many gallons of water there are in 10,080 drips, but I think you see my point.
Closely inspect the roof sealant condition on every protruding fixture on the roof. Any cracks or thin spots can be touched up with the appropriate material. If the roof sealant is peeling or flaking in any way, then the old coating must be physically removed.
On metal roofs I use a 1" wide scraper with a firm blade, like the ones used by auto technicians for scraping off old gaskets. For rubber roofs I made a similar sized plastic scraper that wont cut the rubber membrane. If you heat the old coating with a hot air gun, it will come off fairly easily.
Shocking RV
You may at some time experience an electrical shock when entering or exiting your RV.
This is often caused by the wiring in the electrical receptacle that your RV is plugged into or an improperly wired extension cord. If the "hot" and "neutral" wires are reversed, your coach and you may become an electrical circuit with unpleasant or dangerous results.
There is a small polarity checker available that will eliminate the guesswork and the hazards before you plug in your electrical cord. Everyone should have one of these as standard equipment!
