Episode 180 – Avoid These 8 Summer RV Pitfalls Before You Hit the Road

The primary focus of this podcast episode is to explain the eight summer RV pitfalls that need to be addressed before you begin your journey. Eric Stark delves into critical aspects of RV maintenance, emphasizing the importance of preventative measures to avoid potentially catastrophic failures while on the road. Furthermore, Eric delves into the nuances of enjoying the RV lifestyle through the art of boondocking, highlighting practical tips for off-grid living and the profound experiences it can offer. In addition, we provide valuable insights on financial prudence, specifically through the process of conducting an insurance audit that could lead to substantial savings for your adventures. Lastly, we journey to Nampa, Idaho, and reflect on historical towns like Silver City, enriching our understanding of the landscapes we traverse.

Before embarking on summer travels in your recreational vehicle, it is essential to address several common pitfalls that could hinder your journey. The discussion highlights eight critical areas that RV owners should meticulously inspect and rectify: the condition of roof seals and caulking, tire pressure, the efficiency of air conditioning systems, and the integrity of refrigerator seals, among others. These components, if neglected, can lead to exacerbated damage, resulting in costly repairs and a less enjoyable travel experience. By taking proactive measures to maintain these aspects of your RV, you ensure not only the safety and comfort of your family but also the longevity of your vehicle as you traverse the great outdoors.

Key Takeaways:

• Before embarking on your summer RV adventure, it is imperative to address common pitfalls to ensure a smooth journey.
• Mastering off-grid living through boondocking can greatly enhance the RV experience for those willing to embrace it.
• Performing an insurance audit may yield significant savings that could fund memorable trips such as a visit to Yellowstone.
• Maintaining your RV's systems, such as checking roof seals and tire pressure, is essential to prevent costly repairs during your travels.
• Understanding the unique features of RV refrigerators can prevent food spoilage and enhance overall efficiency while on the road.
• Familiarizing oneself with the operation and maintenance of slide-out systems is crucial to avoid potential issues while camping.

• Wholesale Warranties - RV Extended Warranties for Less and Transparent
• Highway 93 RV - RV Parts
• LP Line Pro Pack
• Powermax RV Converters
• WFCO Power Converters

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
In staying on the road today,we're going to talk about eight summer
RV pitfalls to fix before youhit the road. And in enjoying the
RV life, boondocking like aboss, how to master off grid living,
and then in money saving tips,can you imagine saving enough money
to fund a weekend atYellowstone just by doing an insurance

(00:21):
audit? That's we're going todiscuss. And then in the next stop,
we're going to visit Nampa,Idaho. And of course in shadows of
the past, towns that once wereits neighboring city, Silver City,
Idaho. And in RV envy, we'regoing to talk about Powermax and
Wolfco converters. This isEric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast,

(00:42):
your trusted source for tipsand insights to embrace the RV lifestyle
without worries. Let's talkeverything RV today is episode 180.
Now, you know sometimes I havelittle rants here. Oh, before I forget,
Alexis is no longer part ofthe show. She has moved on to bigger
and greater things. So we wishher all the best. So it's just me,

(01:08):
only me. Now one voice. That'sall right. Keeps it simple, right?
One voice, one knuckleheaddoing all the talking. You know who
to blame for everything. Nowone little thing I want to show out
as a reminder. If you have aslide room, which most of you do,
it has Schwintek slide systemon it or a Schwintek slide system.

(01:29):
So it has the aluminum rodsthat go on the side of the slide
room. In fact, in the videoversion I'll put a picture of one
up there. In fact, in thevideo version there you see more
stuff sometimes that I'mdescribing because either I have
it in the studio or I'll putan image of it. Just so you know
that. And in the, you know,the video version on YouTube, you

(01:50):
know, it's a good chuckle. Seewhat I look like? You know what the
studio looks like. Who's thisguy talking to me all the time? But
anyways, if you have aSchwintek, it's recommended that
you use a slide out lubricanton it with PTFE lubricant inside
of it. So it should containthat. In fact, PTFE is a good type

(02:10):
of lubricant to use on so manydifferent things anymore. It's a,
I don't know if it's a newtechnology, but that's becoming the
new thing. So just a reminderthere PTFE inside your slide lubricant
for those Schwintek sliderooms. And supposedly that comes
from Lippert components. WhoOwns Schwintek. Now we got one little

(02:32):
thing we're going to talkabout. We're going to set the stage
for this. So many of you havea motorhome, you, you have a tow
vehicle, you unhook, you hook,you do all this stuff, it becomes
routine, kind of like a traveltrailer. It becomes routine to hook
it up, becomes routine tounhook it. And part of that routine
is sometimes we forget. We getso comfortable, we get sidetracked,

(02:55):
we forget to go back anddouble check something. Well, we're
going to talk about a couplewho had a tow vehicle and they had
a little bit of a mishap withthe pins that hold the tow vehicle
to the, to the motorhome. Soduring unhooking they had a problem.
So we're gonna catch up withthat at the end of the show today.
But I just wanna set the stagefor that. And as a reminder, wholesale

(03:17):
warranties. You know, we lovewholesale warranties and many of
you are checking them out.You're finding out that they are
what they say they are. Theyare who what they say they are. And
they're providing a greatservice at a great price. So use
the link in the descriptionhere or on our website to get a quote
from wholesale warranties orto talk to them. We appreciate it

(03:40):
when you use the link becausewe do get a little percentage of
that when you do sell it. Imean, I got full disclosure here.
We got to fund this podcastsomehow. So check out wholesale warranties.
Now that's going to bring usinto enjoying the RV life. Boondocking
like a boss, now that'ssomething everybody wants to be able

(04:00):
to do, right? Nah, not really.Some people enjoy boondocking, some
people can say nah, not forme. You know, I like an RV park.
I like hookups. I feel justrun waste water, use power, run the
ac, leave the refrigeratordoor open, drain down the batteries.
That's my lifestyle. Well,there's many who already boondock

(04:22):
and they do it like a boss.They've mastered the off grid RV
life. But for some RVers,they've never done it, they've never
experienced it. Maybe they'veonly gone out for a night and they
didn't like it because itreally wasn't filled with the hopes
and dreams they thought. Theythought, ah, whatever, you know.
Well, the thing aboutboondocking is it's going to the

(04:45):
right place so there's no onearound. When you like wake up in
the morning, you have abeautiful mountain sunrise, or you
have the silence of theDesert, or maybe at night you have
that beautiful sunset and yousee animals out eating, you know
her, you know, at dinner timethey're out chomping on some grub,
just like you are. When you'reout in the middle of nowhere, you

(05:06):
see a lot more interestingthings and it reminds you of how
small you are on this planetand how great this planet is and
how much beauty there is init. Now, not to get all philosophical
hearing, but it really offgrid camping can be pretty awesome.
So even if you do it for anight, two nights, three nights,
that's still off grid andyou're still seeing things you haven't

(05:28):
done. Boondocking times, it'sassociated with those that go out
into the desert, like Arizonafor example, in the wintertime. There's
a lot of people that boondockout there and they do it for months
at a time. That's notnecessarily always what it has to
be. That's kind of a gooddescription of it, gives you an idea
what it is. But it's notalways this long term thing. Boondocking

(05:50):
or off the grid could just befor a few nights. One night you're
off the grid, right? Two,three nights a week, depending on
what you want to do, what yourskill set is, where you want to go.
Now boondocking is somethingthat does take some preparation.
It's going to test your skillset to see what you're good at, what
you're not good at, what yourfamily's good at, what they're not

(06:10):
good at. Because you have todo some preparation. You can't just
walk right into this. And soI'm going to go out camping for three
nights with not even givingany thought. I'm going to load up
on water, charge up mybatteries and fill the refrigerator
with food. I'm good to go. Ah,it's not really like that. You, you
got to do more. You reallyhave to plan ahead. And with that
being said, I would go for anight or two nights. Maybe you have

(06:34):
experience with one, two,three nights, but you'd like to go
longer. Well, that experiencewill help you, but you have to gain
some experience. And I thinkfor some who own an rv, especially
with a family, the boondockingthing, if you're going to do it,
maybe try it in an RV park oreven at home, camp at home for a
few nights. But an RV parkgets you out of the home, but you

(06:58):
still have that safety net ofhookups, water power. If you run
out of water the second night,you're okay. Because you can fill
up, but then you have toanalyze why did we run out of water
so quick? Oh, that's right. Welet little Billy and little Sally
take their showers likealways. And they took long ones.
You know, we didn't thinkabout it. Those are the things you

(07:18):
have to plan before you evergo. You know, I don't want to make
this sound like it'simpossible to do because it is possible
to do. It just takes somepreparation and understanding. Your
RV. And you know, 12 voltbatteries don't last forever. They
last two or three nights ifyou have two of them. And boondocking,
you're going to want at leasttwo batteries. And you have to conserve.

(07:38):
That's kind of the golden ruleof boondocking. Conserve everything.
Water, power, waste,everything. In fact, on our website,
this article will be laid outwith all of the things you need to
know much more than what I'mgoing to give you here. Because boondocking
is, you know, it's out RVing,but you have to think about everything
a little bit differently. Andfamilies do this. There's a family

(08:01):
who comes into our store,Highway 93 RV, and they have 11 kids
and they go out boondocking.They make it work. And, you know,
I'm sure there's issues,there's problems, but they make it
work. So you want to keep thatin mind that it is definitely possible.
Now, the thing is aboutboondocking, like I said, this will
be on the website, but thereare some real wins to it because

(08:25):
you're out, you're enjoyingthis, this place that you've, you're
at by. You're by yourself orMaybe some fellow RVers are out there,
but they're doing the samething. So everybody's given everybody
their space. You're just offthe grid. So like your kids, it gets
them away from their phones,it's time, away from the phone, getting
their face off that screen.For you, it's getting off that screen.

(08:48):
No phone calls, nothing thatgets you back together, especially
as a family, you starttalking, wow, hey, we do know each
other. Wow, this is cool. But,you know, and for some, that might
be a stretch, man. For some ofthese young ones, kids going a night
or two without a cell phone,oh, man, that'd be like, yeah, that's

(09:10):
an addiction. There's a lot ofpeople with that. So it's a way to
help break that addiction withsomething that's good, good for the
family and fun. You need totry it. Even if you do it and you
do it for two or three nights.You do it a couple different times.
Don't just try it once. Yougot to do it, you know, several times
to really see if it's for you.But if, if you do like it, it's definitely

(09:33):
a win. But also if you decide,hey, I don't care for this, that's
a win as well because now youknow, you know what's involved in
it and it's not your cup oftea. And that's cool. If you don't
like it, don't do it. Here'sthe deal. This entire article will
be on the [e-mail] under the Enjoying
the RV Life, Boondocking Likea boss. And also we'd like to hear

(09:57):
from you how you boondock, howyou get off the grid. If you have
a short story to share or thehow you process this or what your
processes are, we'd love tohear it. And if we like it, we will
put it on the website forothers to see. We want to share your
personal experiences so youcan contact us through the website.

(10:18):
We'll have our phone number,text number, email. Now email is
not going to be in thedescription, but you can go to our
website and there you canemail us or if you contact me and
we get some communicationgoing, I will give you my email address.
We don't put a real emailaddress on the website because it
just gets spammed so much. Ithink most people get that. So hey,

(10:38):
check it out. Go to thesmartrver.com under the next stop
and look at boondocking like aboss. Let's get into that saving
some cash by performing aninsurance audit and money saving
tips. Many people getinsurance for their rv, their house,
their car, their boat. Theysign up and they just, that's it.

(10:59):
They have insurance now. Theygo on for years with the same carrier,
the same thing every year. Itjust automatic renews rolls over
after five years. You don'teven know what you have anymore.
You don't even know what yourinsurance will or won't cover. Those
are important things, but alsosaving some cash. You have to know
a little bit more about yourinsurance. So I'm going to say this

(11:22):
right now. Put it on yourcalendar. Make it a calendar item,
put it out there a year outfrom now or whatever date you decide,
preferably about a monthbefore your renewal. If your renewal
comes up, you have time tonegotiate a better deal or as I'm
going to get into here, shopfor a better deal. You have to do

(11:43):
This I say have. I don't likesaying that. But you have to do this.
You're the smart rver, so savesome cash here. So why do you want
to audit your insuranceannually? You might love the company
you're with. Maybe your houseis with them, cars with them and
you just don't want to rockthe boat. Oh, I love these guys.
They're so nice on the phone.Well, you know, nice on the phone
is a trademark of a goodinsurance salesperson or company.

(12:07):
They're always nice on thephone. But what about when you need
them? When you need to file aclaim? Oh boy, do things change sometimes,
especially today, things arechanging rapidly with insurance.
We hear it quite often howinsurance companies aren't paying
what they used to. I know thatthey like to battle like with RV

(12:29):
businesses over prices.They'll find the lowest price online.
So that's what we're going topay, you know, and that's not always
accurate. It could be a lowquality product from the Jungle website
or something like that. Orthey're not going to pay, period.
Or they're not going to paythe full amount even though the contract
says so. And this is happeningin residential, commercial, across
the board. These are thingsyou need to know. And that's where

(12:50):
I was getting at. You know,sometimes it sounds good until you
go to file that claim. Sohere's a few things that you want
to do. You know, you want tomake sure you have the right coverage
for your rv for your financialsituation in life. You don't want
to get wiped out because ofone claim. But also making sure the
policy matches your RVlifestyle. For example, if you store

(13:12):
your RV for six months, youdon't need a year round policy, not
the same policy. And manyinsurance companies will give you
a discount if, hey, you don'tuse the RV from let's say November
through April, it sits instorage. They're going to give you,
they might give you adifferent rate if they know that.

(13:33):
Now you have to rememberduring that time you can't use your
rv. You would have to talk tothem about that. Hey, what if I wanted
to use it for two weeks, whatdo I do? And then there's, you know,
different deductibles whichaffect the rates. If you have a higher
deductible, lower premiums.So, but just make sure you can pay
the out of pocket cost if youfile a claim. So high deductibles
sometimes sound horrible, butthey do have a purpose. It'll lower

(13:56):
the rates a little more Moneyout of pocket though, and then you're
not going to be able to filethe like. Let's say Your deductible
is 1,000 bucks and you need$100 worth of work. Well, you're
just going to pay for that,which sounds bad up front, but how
many $800 repair jobs do youhave versus thousand dollar ones
that the insurance companywill pay or a thousand, you know,

(14:17):
twelve hundred, two thousand,whatever it might be. So other things
to consider, what kind of RVyou have, the age of it, you know,
is it out of all warranties,extended warranties, manufacturer
warranties, those areconsiderations. But your rv, lifestyle
changes. So ask about that andspecific rates for RVers, whether
you're a full timer. Sometimesthey have discounts for that. If

(14:40):
you're bundling, you know, isyour RV insurance just a standalone
or can you bundle with othervehicles, your house, that type of
stuff. Put it all under oneumbrella. Well that saves some money.
RV associations, you know, youmight have to join one but sometimes
discounts can be great. Youknow, if you pay a hundred bucks
to join an association, butyou save 300 on your insurance and

(15:01):
you still have a good policy.Don't, don't forget about that. If
you get discounts, you stillwant to have a high quality policy
that's going to covereverything you need it to cover.
Remember that. Don't just gofor the price. Price will get you
later on. You save now andyou'll pay later. That's self inflicted
inflation. And you know, fulltimers need different type of insurance

(15:23):
than someone who's just usingtheir RV in the summertime. If you've
changed your rv, it's time todo an audit. If you have a smaller
rv, if you went from a trailerto a motorhome or a motorhome to
a trailer, you need to adjust.If you go to Canada and Mexico, does
your policy cover you when youcross the border? Maybe it does,
but you have to find out whatit covers. Oh yeah, you're covered.

(15:47):
Don't worry about it. That'swhat they say. And then oops. Oh
well, we didn't cover that.I'm sorry, I didn't mention that.
Well, you didn't ask. It'syour fault. It's time to do an audit.
Or when it's time to do anaudit, make sure it's on your calendar.
As a reminder, 30 or. Yeah,about 30 days in advance. And check

(16:08):
with other companies too. Whatare they offering? What are the prices?
Can you save a few buckswithout diminishing? The quality
of your coverage. Then andonly then, you save that money. And
that's going to fund your,your trip to Yellowstone Park. And
while you're at Yellowstone,you can come by, visit us in Victor,

(16:30):
Montana. And hey, we'll takecare of you while you're here. So
save that cash and enjoyYellowstone or maybe some other place
you'd like to go. Now that'sgoing to bring us to staying on the
road. So we've enjoyed the RVlifestyle. We're boondocking like
a boss. We've saved a bunch ofmoney on insurance. So now we're
going to look at something alittle bit different. So this segment

(16:53):
is called 8 Summer RV Pitfallsto Fix before youe Hit the Road.
Now, we're on a maintenancekick lately because we're seeing
that in our store. We'regetting phone calls from all over
the country about manyquestions about taking care of things
because summer's here. And soit's been on my mind. And that's
kind of why we keep bringingthese things up each episode lately.

(17:15):
And even next episode we'regoing to have more about maintenance.
And it's important that youtake care of things before you hit
the road. You don't want toget out on the road, man. Some stupid
little thing, you got a leakyfaucet now that has turned into a
gushing faucet or the roof hashad a small tear in it. Now it's

(17:36):
a big tear. Little things thatyou just saw neglected, whatever,
because you're out on theroad. A small little repair can turn
into a very expensive, timeconsuming or cancel vacation type
of repair. So we want to havea good time when we hit the road.
Your family wants to enjoy therv, not dread using it. And that's

(17:58):
why you take care of thingsbeforehand. And so these are eight
of many of the overlookedthings that people or RV owners just
ignore before they hit theroad. Or actually number one on the
list. I don't know that'snumber one, you know, in general,
but it's on the list is roofseals and caulking. So take care

(18:20):
of that roof. It doesn'tmatter where you're at. In the United
States, some people talkabout, like Arizona, how it just
destroys all the plastic. Youknow, the sun there is so bad. And
it is, it does cause itsdamage and sometimes very prematurely.
But then again, you have otherparts of the country where maybe
it's not as hot, but you havea very high UV rating. You know,

(18:44):
you might get sunburned muchquicker there than you would in Arizona.
You feel the sun, it's drierlike in Montana. It's very dry here
versus it's not hot. You know,it gets warm, but not like Arizona
hot. So you see somedifferences there. But no matter
where you're at, the plasticis going to degrade, the rubber roof

(19:04):
is going to degrade, thesealant is going to shrink up, it's
going to crack. It's going todo what it's going to do. So check
out the rubber roof and makesure the roof is sealed good. Remember,
the rubber roof is whatprotects your entire rv. If that
roof is leaking, you got aleak inside and it's going to ruin
something. Stop it before itstarts or stop it as soon as it starts.

(19:29):
So take care of that roof, getup there, check for cracked seals
where the sealants peeling upand it happens. You know, sealant
doesn't last forever. Whenthey put it on at the factory, they
goop that stuff or stuff on.You know, 4 inches thick has an exaggeration,
but it goes on pretty thick,pretty wide. But it still is going

(19:50):
to crack. It might crack inthe first year, it might crack in
the first three years. Youdon't know. So you got to check it
a couple times a year. So getsome lap sealant, go up there, clean
it off, repair it, then putsome roof guard on it to help that
rubber roof stay alive formany, many years to come. And it's
same on our. Like a lot ofmotorhomes that have fiberglass roofs,

(20:12):
it's the same principle. Maybethe fiberglass isn't cracking, but
make sure everything's clean,maintained that the vents and the
seams are all sealed up, noissues going on there. You know,
a $14 tube of sealant, lapsealant will save you some big time,
big money down the road if youhave to take it in for a repair that
you let go, run away from you.Now also checking your tires. That's

(20:35):
number two. Check the tirepressure. Travel trailers, keep it
to the maximum. Tire pressurethat says on the side of the tire,
keep it at 65, 80, whatever itis, all the time, never lower it,
leave it right there. That iswhat all the experts say and that's
how you extend the life oftrailer tires. You have tread wear

(20:58):
problems on a motorhome traveltrailer, take care of it. Motorhomes
are a little bit different ofan animal. You treat their tires
more like you would a truck.You know, you still, you follow the
tire pressure guidelines fromthe manufacturer of the rv. You look
at the sticker inside thedoor. Generally, it's going to be
pretty accurate, and you canadjust. Maybe you want to go a little

(21:21):
bit higher. You know, higherpressure is going to be a little
better mileage, you know, notas soft of a ride, but the, you know,
the tires will have. Well,there's going to be stiffer, give
you a little more mileage.Maybe that's what you're trying to
do. Whatever it is, you wantto keep that pressure adjusted accordingly,
but you want to make sure thatyou're not too low on pressure. That

(21:41):
creates heat and thereforeblowout. So keep your tires aired
up. Check the tire wear. Now,motorhomes, they don't seem to have
problems. You might have analignment issue, but travel trailers
get a bent axle, a bent wheel.The tire might be just wearing out
on the inside of it. Andsometimes they'll wear out in 100,
200 miles. So don't let thatgo. You know, sometimes it might

(22:04):
be 1,000 miles or 2,000 or3,000. You might think, you know
what? I could care less than3,000 miles. That's five years for
me. I'm just going to buy anew tire, you know, every five years.
That's not a problem. And Iget that. You know, as long as that
that tread is not wearing outso much where it's going to cause
a blowout, because now there'ssomething going on there. But for

(22:24):
some people, 3,000 miles infive years, that's not a lot of big
trips. That's a bunch of smalltrips. So maybe it's not an issue.
Heat won't be a problem. Also,check out your air conditioner for
efficiency. Clean thosefilters inside. All air conditioners
have a filter of some kindinside. Well, at least most of them
do. I shouldn't say all. Ishouldn't throw everything into that

(22:46):
category, but most of them do.Get up on the roof, clean the condenser
out. You can get a condensercleaner. So it's a product made for
cleaning the condenser on anair conditioner. And they work good
and they help with thatefficiency. There's no point in an
air conditioner not onlydrawing more power, which maybe you
don't care about, but it'sharder on the air conditioner when

(23:08):
everything's not in place, tokeep it running as efficient as it
can. So keep it clean. Get upthere. Just the other day, a guy
called me and said, oh, man, Ineed a technician to come out right
now. I got water just pouringinside my RV from my air Conditioner.
So I know where he's at. He'snear us. And so I verified that.
So are you here in Hamilton orthis area? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

(23:30):
I'm right here. So it's notraining where you're at, right? No,
no, no, no, no rain. Well,the, the drain holes on the pan of
the air conditioner were justplugged up. He went up there and
I told him that just go up onthe roof, pop off of the, the COVID
of the air conditioner. You'llsee it'll be filled with dirt and
leaves and debris and stuff.That's exactly what he did. You know,
he came in the store to thankme because of that, because it saved

(23:52):
him probably 2 or $300. Ifsomeone went out, they would have
turned it into a much biggerthing than it was and charged accordingly.
But the problem was solved. Heis happy as can be. So little things
like that sometimes can be aproblem. So if you're out on the
road and all of a suddenwater's coming in the air conditioner,
you know, into the RV throughthe air conditioner. The condensation
from it's not draining ontothe roof like it's supposed to, is

(24:14):
draining inside. You mightcancel your trip because of that,
thinking, oh my gosh, we got amajor problem here. We better go
home. It's not a majorproblem. You can fix that. You are
the smart rver now. Flushingthe water system, keeping it nice
and clean. Don't let water sitin your RV all year long. Flush that

(24:34):
sucker out. You know, likehere in Montana, states like this,
areas like this where you'reconstantly winterizing. Every year
you winterize your rv. Everyyear you de winterize your rv. So
you're moving water throughit. You don't really have water sitting
in there in most cases, butsome parts of the country, you could
leave water in the tank yearround and not really think about

(24:54):
it. Try not to do that. Keepthe water system fresh. Now, maybe
you go camping enough whereleaving water in there all summer
long is good, you know,because you're always adding to it,
you're draining it. You know,it's never really just stagnant.
That's fine because, you know,the water is out of the sun, it's
in the shade, so it's notgoing to get mold in the tank or
anything like that. So that'snot really a problem. But if you

(25:17):
do have waters with orproblems with the fresh water system,
you can get many treatmentsfrom RV stores. Camco makes one.
Thetford makes One, some areeasier than other than Camco's, is
very simple. Thetfords is aprocess, but it's still a great product.
We sell a ton of it here. Sokeep the water system nice and clean
and fresh. Even if you don'tdrink it, you still want it to be,

(25:39):
well, fresh. You know, youdon't want to open up a spigot or
a faucet. Spigot. You know,spigots in your RV have faucets.
You don't want to open up afaucet. It smells rank. It might
be clean water, but justsmells rank because it's just something
in your system. Keep it clean.Your RV system, not your system,
you know, the RV system. Sokeep it clean. And then, of course,

(26:01):
we have refrigerator seals onthe doors and of course the roof
vent and the side vent on therv. So refrigerators have a tendency
when they're getting older tonot work so well in the summertime.
They don't heat so good orcool so good. Even newer ones do
the same thing. First off,with the refrigerator. This is an

(26:23):
RV refrigerator. It's not aresidential refrigerator. They don't
cool the same. They takelonger time to actually get down
to the temperature you want itto. Refrigerators, like, before you
go camping, you should leaveyour refrigerator turned on for 24
hours. That way it gives itenough time to get down to temperature.
Now, you might be saying,eric, you're crazy. Mine gets cool

(26:43):
in three hours, mine gets coolin 15 minutes. You might be thinking
that, and that's fine. Maybe Iam crazy. But all the manufacturers
say 24 hours to make sure.Because not all refrigerators are
equal. And there are some thatdefinitely cool down quicker. You
know, we've put in brand newrefrigerators, and they don't cool
as quick as usedrefrigerators. So keep that in mind.

(27:06):
They don't all cool the same.Now, the newer they are, typically
they do cool quicker. And, youknow, you put your hand on the back
of the freezer or the bottomof the freezer pan, you can feel
it. But it takes arefrigerator portion longer to get
cool, too. So what feels likefreezing on the top might not be
the temperature you need inthe bottom. It might be at 50 degrees,
but it feels cold, but not ascold as it should be. So give it

(27:30):
time. That's the point. Somerefrigerators need those little fans
you put in them that run off aD cell battery or two batteries to
keep the air circulating. Youknow, it's not like a household refrigerator.
They are different. Anotherthing too is see, we're not getting
to seals and cooling ventsyet. We got a few other things here.
I want to make sure everyunderstands this. When you have an

(27:51):
RV refrigerator, the bestthing to do is not to stand in front
of it, deciding what you wantto get with the door open. Not like
at home where you open up thedoor and you're leaning on it. What
do I want? Do I want thesparkling water? Do I want this Perrier?
Do I want milk? Do I wantorange juice? What do I want? You

(28:14):
know what, I'll just get apiece of cheese. Yeah, it doesn't
work. Decide what you want,what you're going to grit. But before
you open up the refrigeratordoor, it helps keep it cooler. When
you're out camping, it doesn'tmatter if you're hooked up to shore
power or not. It helps keep itcooler. And of course, if you're
off grid camping, it's goingto stay cooler, use less propane

(28:36):
and less battery. Well,batteries can use so much no matter
what, but it's going to useless propane. So if you're off the
grid, you know, boondockinglike a boss, you got to save that
power, that propane. Propaneis power. It is money. Do those things.
Think about it before you, youknow, free open the door. Decide
what you're going to get. Ifyou have kids and you're constantly

(28:57):
getting drinks out of therefrigerator, maybe set up a nice
chest solely with drinks in itand that's where they go. You go
there to leave that open aslong as you want, but stay out of
the refrigerator. You know,I'm not knocking kids. It's just
the way it is. Kids standthere and stare at everything that
they want. Now back to kind ofthe other things of the refrigerator
like the seals and the coolingvents or the vents. The door seals

(29:20):
might not be working as a asgood as they could. It might be an
older refrigerator. And itdoesn't mean you can just replace
the door seal. Sometimes,sometimes you got to buy a whole
door. Sometimes they're veryexpensive. So it can be a process.
That being said, treat thoseseals nicely. They're good. You know,
they can be expensive orimpossible to replace, but all you
do is get a dollar bill justlike you do at home, close it in

(29:42):
the door and see how easy itcomes out. If it just pulls right
out. No, no pressure on it, notension, no restrictions, no friction,
that those door seals areprobably no good. But you know, if
it comes out and it's kind oftough, well, Then they're working
good. Try it on yourrefrigerator in your house. See how
compare the difference. See ifthey're the same. That'll give you

(30:03):
an idea. Basic test, beenaround forever, but it works. Then
also you have the vents. Youhave a vent up on the roof in most
rv. Sometimes that upper ventson the side, but most of them are
on the roof. Make sure thatvent cap is in good shape. Make sure
there's nothing underneath it.No nest things are building up, leaves,
branches, whatever you want tokeep it clean. So the air that's

(30:27):
flowing through it can go outthe top. That's going to help keep
your refrigerator cooler andthe side vent as well. Which all
refrigerators have a sidevent. Well, at least all propane
and gas ones do. And that'sbasically what we're talking about
here. More so than these newerRVs with 110 volt or 12 volt refrigerators
with compressors. Differentanimal. So this is your gas absorption.

(30:47):
Refrigerators. Make sure theside vent is clean, nothing going
on in there. Sometimes you seenests and things happening there
as well. Even just blowing outthe back of the refrigerator with
air, just getting some of thatdirt out. Or a vacuum cleaner if
you can clean out some of thedirt, just keep stuff out of there.
But refrigerators need to haveair moving through the back of it.
And some refrigerators comewith fans on the back side, so you

(31:09):
want to make sure they're niceand clean. And some people add the
fans to keep that air movingbecause it's going to help keep the
refrigerator cooler. And ifyou have problems in the summertime
with the refrigerator gettingdown to temperature, maybe you need
to add a fan. There's plentyof fans that you can add. 12 volt
fans, not a big deal. Prettydarn simple as a matter of fact.
But they help move some airand keep the refrigerator cooler,

(31:32):
which that's what we want. Wedon't want food going bad when we're
out camping. That's no bueno,no good. Then check your propane
system for leaks. Now I'vetalked about propane a lot this year
because there is so much or somany low quality propane hoses on
the market and regulators. Itis unbelievable. When people come

(31:53):
into our shop store, we askthem how long have you had these?
Because we're just kind ofkeeping a mental record of how long
propane hoses last. On new RVswe're getting anywhere from one to
five years max. Pushing it atfive years. Most of them are failing
within that one to three yearrange. They're cheap hoses. They
crack, they split, they fallapart. So make sure yours aren't

(32:17):
doing that. The minute you seea crack, replace that hose. Now we
sell awesome quality hosesbecause we make them here. We use
top of the line Gates RubberLP Hose. You can go to our website,
sunpro mfg.com and you can seeour propane hoses. There we go, a
little bundle deal. If youwant to do that. We'll also put a

(32:38):
link in the description here.And this isn't a plug to just sell
propane hoses. Believe me,there's a lot of stores out there
that sell propane hoses. Someof them sell better quality than
other. You know that it's hardto find really good quality propane
hoses in the stores. I'mtrying to think of the name of the
company that we we sell somepackage stuff from. Gosh. MB Sturgis.

(32:59):
Can't believe I forgot it.They make good propane hoses. They
try. They're better qualitythan most. When you go to the Jungle
website or the garage salewebsite and you buy propane hoses
there, especially if you'rebuying on price, you're getting low
quality garbage. Again, selfinflicted inflation because you're
going to be replacing themmuch sooner, many times over than

(33:19):
if you just buy a good qualitypropane hose. And remember, self
inflicted inflation, you heardit here first. When that becomes
a worldwide term, you heard itfrom me, Eric Stark, the smart rver
podcast guy. All right, let'sget that out of my head there. So
check it out. I mean thinkabout your propane system. Started

(33:41):
to say check it out like we'recoming in here, we're not. Check
for leaks, check the obviousthings, make sure the regulator isn't
leaking. You don't have leaksaround the valves. And if you smell
propane, more than likely youhave a leak. Or sometimes when you
open up a valve, it'll leakfor a split second. So you smell
a little propane, then it goesaway. Now you might be able to live
with that for a little while,but don't let it go too long. That

(34:02):
valve is going to have to bereplaced. The packing inside of it
is going bad, so it's going tohave to be replaced. Those are little
tips. Check the propane systemand most of your leaks are going
to be at the tanks on theregulator, the lines and the line
going from the regulator tofeed the rv. Those are going to be
your culprits. So make sureyou always check those to prevent
those crazy things fromstopping or ruining a trip. Now,

(34:25):
slide outs are another thingin RVs. Slide outs are absolutely
awesome. They give you somespace that just is remarkable. The
other day we had like a 40foot motorhome in the shop and it
had a slide room that was27ft. Just made that motorhome unbelievable.
It had bunks in it, sofa,swimming pool, pool tan. Just kidding.

(34:46):
It gave it a lot of extraroom. Kind of changed the entire
look of the RV. And 27ft is alot of slide room. And I personally
wouldn't buy an RV with a 27or slide room that big because then
it breaks. Man, you got 27ftof headache hanging out there. You
got to do something with.Especially if you're out in the middle
of nowhere, which, you know,that guy probably doesn't camp in

(35:08):
the middle of nowhere. He'sgoing to an RV park someplace, you
know, where it's morecomfortable, which I get it. You
know, it's the kind of RV has.It's not when you're going to drive
down a dirt road somewhere anddestroy trees rubbing into the paint,
scratching and all that funstuff. But slide outs need to be
maintained. Check themechanisms on them, check the gears,
the rollers. If you have thoseswintech gear slide rooms with the

(35:31):
aluminum channel or track onthe side of the room, it's visible,
you can see it. If you havethose, you need to pay attention
to them. Especially a newerrv. We're selling a lot of the re
upgrade kits to those. They'reexpensive, they're over a thousand
bucks, and each one is custommade. I'm sure for the brand of rv,

(35:54):
they use a lot of the samepart number, but it's made by Lippert
and it's V triple zero.Whenever you see V triple zero, it's
a built part, it's not madeand sitting on a shelf. They put
those together as they getorders because all the little pieces
are different. So it can take,you know, a while to get one. You
know, it could take a week,could take three weeks, could take
four weeks, depending on howbusy LIPR components are. But those

(36:17):
things are failing. And theirupgrade kit fixes the problem. But
you don't want to have thatfail while you're out on the road.
I'm not necessarily sayingjust go out and get an upgrade kit.
It might be something you wantto consider if your RV is a few years
old, it's getting to thatpoint. Hate to say it might be a
problem, but make sureeverything's lubricated. Make sure
you got an escape plan. So ifthat slide out gets stuck in the

(36:40):
out position, someone just theother day is asking me how to bring
their slide out in on their.Whatever year the RV was, is stuck
in the outpost. They're up inthe mountains. And he couldn't find
any place to put a crank.Well, do you have a crank? He goes,
no. So he had nothing, nopreparation whatsoever. So our trusty
local mobile guy went outthere and got him squared away. But

(37:01):
it cost him some money, and hecould have avoided that if he would
have known beforehand. So makesure you know how to bring your slide
room in or even outmechanically if it fails, that you
can do that. Because, youknow, to be honest with you, if you
get someplace and you can'tget the slide room going out and
it's, you know, just, it's notelectrical, the motor failed, and

(37:23):
you want to bring it outmanually, then if you know how to
do that, you can at leastenjoy your trip. Then you bring it
in manually and you go homeand get it taken care of. So don't
let these little things ruinyour trips. And, you know, it happens.
I mean, there are things onRVs that can be so ridiculously small

(37:44):
and ruin a trip. Some RVs,when they put. Put them together,
I mean, they put fuses in themost obscure places. You know, most
technicians who work on RVsregularly, they see this, you know,
they're like digging in acabinet looking for, you know, a
water line also. And there's afuse behind a wall that you'd never

(38:06):
even think to look there. Or acircuit breaker or a whatever, or
a controller for a slide roomor a battery disconnect switch. Wow.
Why is it back here? Thebattery's up front, the switch is
in the middle, but thedisconnects here in the rear of the
rv. That sounds crazy, butthat's how it's done sometimes. So
become familiar with your RVso you don't find yourself in these

(38:29):
predicaments where you can'tfix it. Or you're like, wow, where
is this thing? When you buy anrv, if the manufacturer still in
business, you might call them,ask them, hey, is there anything
you guys know of? It doesn'tmean they're going to know it, but
they might say, yeah, youknow, there is a fuse here, there.
You have to think about howyou're going to ask those questions.
Just make sure you understandyour rv. The ins and outs. Go out

(38:53):
on a trip and enjoy it. It'ssummer 2025, it's a good summer.
It's a great year fortraveling. People are out, people
are enjoying the parks. Bepart of that. Take the family out.
You've got this rv. Don't letit sit and rot and do nothing. Don't
let it sit and say, oh, weshould sell this thing. Use it. Just

(39:15):
take care of the things, thesystems in it, your batteries, your
refrigerators, your propane,your slide outs. Just take care of
that stuff and then you willenjoy your rv. Whether you go from
coast to coast or town to townor from your house to the local RV
park or whatever it might be.Use your rv. Now, there'll be more

(39:36):
about this on our [e-mail] so you can definitely
read this article and maybeprint it, keep it in your rv or start
building your own list ofthings that you know you need to
do on your rv. Every time youuse it every few months, every spring,
every winter, whatever itmight be, just build a list and then

(39:56):
you don't forget it kind ofrhymes. That's pretty good, right?
All right, so that's stayingon the road. So now that's going
to bring us to next stop andwe're going to visit Nampa, Idaho.
So we're going to exploreNampa. Well, we're going to spend
a few minutes talking aboutNampa. Nampa, Idaho. Well, Idaho
is a pretty cool state. Soit's an interesting state. Has a

(40:17):
lot of flat land, you mightcall it high desert. There's the
forest, there's volcanic rock.There's mountains, rivers, tons of
water. That's what's coolabout these mountain states. They
always have a lot of rivers,streams. There's always water everywhere,
which is kind of nice. Evenwhen you're just traveling, you got

(40:38):
a river alongside the road.Just makes the drive that much better,
you know, more of a challengebecause you're trying to look at
the river as you're swervingoff the road, hitting the dirt, crashing
the trees on the shoulder.Just kidding. Well, that's how my
life is. So Nampa, Idaho is apretty cool place. It's got a population
of over a hundred thousand.It's the third largest city in Idaho

(40:58):
Now. I bet you've been worriedabout that, right? I wonder what
the third largest city inIdaho is now. You know Nampa, Idaho,
it's in the Treasure Valley.That's what it's called. It's about
20 miles west of Boise. SoNampa was discovered, founded, created
in 1886 by Alexander andHannah Duffs grew from this little

(41:20):
railroad town into a bustlingtown of 100,000 plus today. And it
was actually in what wascalled heart of the Treasure Valley.
Now they just call it theTreasure Valley or Treasure Valley.
So there you go. So that was aShoshone saying, possibly meaning
moccasin. You know, see, itgoes way back in time. And what's
cool about Nampa is itshistory has a lot to do with irrigation.

(41:45):
So canals were brought in,created to turn that desert type
of landscape into fertilefarmland. You see that places like
Arizona, where they tap intothe Colorado river, start flooding,
you know, create these canals,irrigation systems, so everybody
has this cheap or free water.So Nampa is a very history rich place.

(42:07):
It has this small town charmthat's blended with modern amenities.
I mean, we see that anymoreeverywhere, whether we like it or
not. But there's a lot to doaround Nampa. You know, you've got
the Snake River Valley nearby,you've got the Warhawk Air Museum.
So if you like airplanes,warplanes, things like that, this

(42:29):
is the place to go. You cancheck all that out there. That does
have an admission fee. It'snot much. Then of course there's
Lake Lowell park, which ispart of the Deer Flat National Wildlife
Refuge. So it's a teenage or ascenic area. And it's only 10 miles
south of Nampa, so it's nottoo far. So it's great for bird watching.

(42:50):
You got a nice loop for fourmile loop for hiking, walking, dragging
your kids along, riding abike, things to do. There's the points.
As you notice, a lot of, a lotof these towns that we pick here
are smaller towns. They're notthese massive places. I mean, it
doesn't mean we haven't chosensome massive cities. But these smaller

(43:11):
towns are just friendlier.They have more things around them.
We kind of have a flavor here.We like the older stuff, you know,
so Nampa kind of fits thatbuild. And all we're doing is stimulating
your thinking. You know, youguys get online, you look at some
maps of the United States, youlook at Idaho, next thing you know
you're making a trip toColorado. That's all we want to do.

(43:32):
We want to just get youthinking so you're motivated and
you make a trip somewhere. SoNampa also has a farmer's market.
And farmer markets are alwayscool. You find the things there that
you don't find anywhere else.They everything's fresh, unique.
Quite often they have crafts,local crafts, local things like honey

(43:52):
or jams or different Flavorsof alcohol, whatever it is they got
going on. And of course, Nampahas several different restaurants.
They've got RV parks. It's anRV park friendly place. In fact,
they have one calledAmbassador RV park that's actually
in Caldwell, so it's a fewmiles away. But Ambassador, doesn't
that sound very important? Soyou can go the Ambassador RV park

(44:17):
and you could be considered anambassador for the weekend or the
week or whatever. And don'tworry, they got propane, they got
dump stations. They've goteverything you need. Heck, Nampa
even has some books aboutNampa. If you got a town and they
got books about it, you knowyou're going to the right place.
So Nampa is this. It's avibrant destination for RVers. There's

(44:39):
a lot of history there,outdoor adventure. It has a small
town charm. You have themuseum, you have the lake, you have
hiking, you have biking, youhave the farmer's market, you have
camping, you have exploring,you have it all in Nampa, you've
got propane, you got dumpstations. What more could you ask
for? So Nampa is the place. SoI would certainly check into it,

(45:03):
see if it's someplace you'dwant to go. And of course, the full
rv, I mean, the full articlewill be on our website, the smartrver.com
under the next stop. So youcan explore Nampa that way as well.
Now we're going to go intoshadows of the past, towns that once
were. I had to take a big gulpof water there. Silver City, Idaho

(45:29):
is where we're going toexplore. Now, Silver City is a very
unique place. It's like somany of these shadows of the past,
towns that once were that weexplore, they're all founded, you
know, in the 1800s. There'sgold, there's silver. It's kind of
the typical thing. But theseare the towns we like and we choose

(45:49):
them because they're next tolike. In this case, it's near Nampa,
so you have a larger hub whereyou can, you know, do your RV and
camp there, explore there. Butthen you also have these smaller
towns that give you a reallysome history, some local flavor,
and that's why we pickedthese. And I only say that for those

(46:10):
that are new to the show ormaybe you forgot, maybe you haven't
listened in a while for somecrazy reason. You boycotted us for
three episodes. Who knows? Imean, that's crazy insanity, right?
We can't do that. We got tolisten to the smart RV or every week
or every two weeks when theycome out and on YouTube, watch it.
Yeah, speaking of YouTube,we're a little bit behind. I think

(46:31):
we're an episode behind. Nowwe're going to do a little reading
here like we typically do forshadows of the past. This one seems
to be a little shorter thannormal, but it's going to explain
Silver City, Idaho veryquickly. So let's just get into this
one. In 1863, a group of 29prospectors known as the Jordan Party

(46:55):
stumbled upon silver in theOyhee Mountains while searching for
the mythical Blue Bucket Mine.Their discovery on War Eagle Mountain
sparked a Frenzy, and by 1864Silver City was born. At its peak
in the 1880s, it boasted 2500residents, 75 businesses, 300 homes

(47:17):
and 12 ore processing mills.It was the Oye county seat from 1866
to 1934, with Idaho's firstdaily newspaper and the Telegraph
in 1874 and electricity in the1890s. Silver City wasn't just a
mining company camp, it was ametropolis with saloons, a brothel,

(47:39):
two hotels and stacks ofsilver bars awaiting Wells Fargo
stagecoaches. The PoormanMine, named ironically for its rich
veins, drew global attentionwith its ruby silver crystals. But
the boom was fleeting. By1912, the mines dwindled and the
remote location, accessibleonly by dirt roads, hastened the

(48:00):
town's decline. By the 1940s,only one resident, Willie Hawes,
remained, serving as mayor,postman, and everything in between.
Silver City avoided the fateof many boom towns that burned or
modernized. Its isolation andlack of fires preserved about 70
structures from the 1860sIdaho Hotel to the 1898 Our lady

(48:24):
of Tears Church perched abovethe the town. In 1972, the town was
listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places as a
historic site. Unlikecommercialized ghost towns, Silver
City remains authentic, withmany buildings privately owned by
descendants of originalminers. The Idaho Hotel moved from

(48:47):
nearby Ruby City in 1866,reopened in 1972, and offers seasonal
lodging and dining powered bysolar since the town lost electricity
in the 1940s. But visitors canbrowse Pat's Whatnot Shop for souvenirs
or the Silver City Fire andRescue Store Frantiques, with proceeds

(49:08):
supporting the community.Today, Silver City is a summer haven
for history buff andadventurers. Open from Memorial Day
to mid October due to harshwinter closures, the 25 mile drive
from Murphy, Idaho via SilverCity Road is a bumpy adventure. Think
washboard dirt and rocks besttackled with a high clearance SUV

(49:31):
or truck. RVs leave them inMurphy. The road's too rough for
trailers. Explore the Masonichall, the 1892 Standard School, or
the cemetery with itsweathered headstones. You can enjoy
a guided tour if you'd like toto hikers can tackle the 8 mile Presby
Creek loop or trails to WarEagle Mountain. While photographers

(49:55):
will love the rugged Oyvistas, some report ghostly vibes
at the Idaho Hotel wherecreaking floors and old mirrors hint
at lingering spirits. SilverCity, Idaho is a raw slice of the
Old west where historywhispers in every creaking board
from its silver fueled boom toits quiet preservation. And it's
a must see for RVers chasingauthentic adventure. So that Silver

(50:20):
City you know this entirearticle and then some will be on
the website@the smartarver.comunder the Shadows of the Past Towns
that Once Were Silver City isa very interesting place. I haven't
been there, but when you readabout it, it kind of makes me think
of Bodie, California, which isone we're going to be doing in the
near future here. Except Bodeis a little more accessible, so this

(50:41):
sounds like a pretty goodadventure. Unfortunately, if you
don't have a high clearancevehic, it might be a tough one for
you to get to, but it's stillworth checking into. Or at least
that general area. Maybe youcan't get there, but you can do other
things. You go to Nampa, etc.So there's a lot to do there. Scan
the full article will be onthe smartrver.com under shadows of

(51:02):
the past Towns that once werenow this is going to bring us to
RV Envy. So this is aboutWolfco and Powermax converters. Wolfco
wfco. So remember that wfco.We call it Wolfco. A lot of people
do. Or it's World FriendshipCorporation, something to that effect.
If you go with WolfCo or WFCO,you got it. Then PowerMax is the

(51:23):
other brand and both of thesebrands are very good. In fact, we're
going to have an interviewfrom somebody with Power Max in our
next episode. 181So we're notgoing to really do this. PowerMax
versus Wolfgang Co. It's justtwo different brands out there and
both of them are good. You'regoing to find Wolfco in more new

(51:44):
RVs. PowerMax is in some, butthey are a great replacement for
the Wolfco brand if you wantto save a few bucks and buy a quality
part at the same time. Now wesell both in our store. We do replace
a lot of Wolfco products.Wolfco or powermax replace old converters
it doesn't matter the brand,they fill the box. Magnetek and Teletech,

(52:08):
it doesn't seem to matter. Tomake clear here when we talk about
converters, RVers or RVs haveessentially two different types of
systems. Some of them willhave a power distribution center
where it has your fuses andcircuit breakers. And that's all
it does. All the wires forthat come into one box. It's a power
distribution center. Then theconverter is a standalone converter,

(52:30):
generally nearby it, behindit, you can't see it. You can see
the power distribution center.It has a little door opens up and
you see your 12 volt fuses andcircuit breakers. Then the converter.
Generally you have to pull theout or a door something. You access
it a different way, but it'sgenerally in the same area where
a power center will have your12 volt fuses, your 110 volt circuit

(52:52):
breakers and your converterportion will be right below it in
the same box. You have to takethe door off to see it, completely
off to see it, but it'sgenerally underneath it. That's called
a lower section, or it used tobe called a lower section and now
they're called an MBA mainboard assembly. So we have two different
types of systems here for themost part. In RV, all RVs have a

(53:15):
converter, unless you have aninverter and it has a charger built
into it. And sometimes theyjust leave the converter out of the
RV or they have itdisconnected. If it's part of the
power center with theconverter built into it, they might
not have it powered up becausethe inverter is doing the charging.
Either way, if you have thatsystem and you got that MBA mainboard
assembly, that's what fails asfar as the converter goes. And those

(53:38):
are replaceable. Now what'sinteresting is powermax MBA main
board assembly. The converterwill work in a Wolfco one. I would
imagine a Wolfco one will workthe other way as well. But the PowerMax
one saves you a little bitmoney when you're replacing it. And
it's a superior product, itworks really well. So you can't go
wrong by putting powermaxproducts in your RV is my point.

(54:01):
And believe me, Wolfco doesmake a good product. And one thing
too is if I understand theirwebsite correctly, Wolfco is made
in the States where powermaxis made overseas. So that might be
a problem for some people,which is fine. Powermax is a great
product and like I said, we'regoing to have them on the show next
week. And I'm not pro PowerMax all the way, believe me. We've
got both brands in our storeand they're the only two brands we

(54:24):
sell. We will sell some of theother ones that people need to get
them because of a constraintof some kind, a certain type of problem
they're having. We really likethe powermax product actually. Their
water pumps are awesome too.We sell a boatload of those. So hey,
we just, you know, if they, ifpeople like it and there's no problems,
we're gonna sell it because welike to sell quality products. I

(54:46):
think you guys get that fromthis podcast. We talk about quality.
Our store reflects that. Wedon't sell junk. The only low quality
stuff we sell is because wehave to. There are no other options.
And there's plenty of that.You know, plastic things, you know,
the list goes on. But we'drather sell better quality. But sometimes
that's just all that'savailable. Either one of these converters

(55:06):
will charge your batteries.Whether you have lead, acid, agm,
lithium, it doesn't matter.They'll work in any direction. They're
both smart chargers. They'reauto detect. They're going to figure
out what you have and they'regoing to charge accordingly. So don't
go run out and replace onewith the other just because. But
if you have a woof company,you're looking for an upgrade or

(55:28):
not an upgrade, yours failsand you need to get a new one. And
you can get a Power Max.There's nothing wrong with that.
Power Max will replace it, noproblem. And you can go the other
way as well. One of the coolthings about the Power Max converters
that I really like is all thewires for it are hanging off the
back side where the Wolfcoones. You have to feed all the wires

(55:48):
into it, all the 12 voltwires, and then wire them into the
circuit board individually,which is okay. The Power Max one,
I like it because you can justconnect the wires up with wire connectors.
It's going to go quicker, it'seasier. It's easier to see what you
have. You can feel thatconnection right away. You know it's
good or bad, it's just, to meit just makes more sense. And you,
if you go look at one, you'llunderstand that. And of course in

(56:11):
the video version of thiswe'll have something showing. I should
have brought one up and had itsitting on the table, but I forgot.
But anyway, next episode 181we're going to have someone from
Powermax on as an interview.So we'll be able to learn a little
bit more. They're going to getinto more details than I'm going
to get into, that's for sure.You know, these sales guys are in
these interviews, you know,blah, blah, blah. No, I'm just kidding.

(56:32):
So we will have a great shownext time as well with Power Max.
So we're wetting your whistlefor it, basically. Now that's bringing
us towards the end of our showhere. You know, before we really
get to the end, I want toremind everybody to subscribe to
our podcast, whether you watchor listening to it on iTunes, Spotify,
iHeartRadio. Subscribe, shareit with your friends and do the same

(56:54):
with our YouTube channel. Youknow, YouTube.com the smart rver.
Subscribe, share, watch allthe videos. Share them. Like them.
Yeah, like them to doeverything. Good. We want to build
this up more and more so morepeople get the gist of what we're
trying to do, how we're tryingto help them. Our show is growing
because of support from youguys, and I want to thank you for

(57:16):
that. We got an awesomeaudience. The Smart RVers. They are
the Smart RVers. So now let'sgo back to our couple who had the
tow vehicle and a littlemishap with the pins for the tow
vehicle. Well, when youdisconnect your car, like this couple
found out kind of the hardway, they were able to disconnect

(57:37):
the car and it wasn't in park.That means there were. There was
no tension on the pins, which.That, you know, okay, I get it. But
they didn't put it in park. Sothey pull the pins and the car rolls
forward, pinning. I'm notgoing to say his name. He's an RVer
against the RV. Now, the RVwas running, you know, the engines

(57:57):
on the air conditioner, allthat kind of stuff. So there's all
this noise, you know, is adiesel pusher. So he's, you know,
trying to yell for help. Hecouldn't push the car away, just
the way it had him pinned andthe weight of the car, a little bit
of a slope, obviously, so itwas hard for someone to hear. And
finally someone actually heardhim yelling. They were able to help
him get the car away, get himunpinned, all that good stuff. But

(58:20):
it just shows, like I wassaying in the beginning of the episode,
you need to double check,triple check procedures like unhooking
your tow car, your towedvehicle so you don't find yourself
in a potentially lifethreatening situation or something
where, you know you cause alot of damage to something, to property
or yourself. So just doublecheck everything. Now, this person

(58:42):
was able to get away withvery, very, very minor injuries.
No big deal. But we want to becautious there. So that's just a
reminder. Check yourprocedures. If you get pulled away
while you're hooking up yourrv, start from the beginning. When
you get back to it, don'tstart from where you think you left
off. You'll forget something.People forget to unhook water hoses,

(59:03):
unhook electrical cords, allthat good stuff. So don't be one
of those. Be the smart rver.So again, I want to thank you all
for listening Today, watchingon YouTube, coming by and checking
out the podcast. So this isEric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast,
your go to guide for smarterRVing and unforgettable adventures
on the open road.