Category: RV Tips

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Which is Better: A Gas or Diesel Tow Vehicle?

As an RV owner, I have used both gas and diesel tow vehicles. This experience has led me to the conclusion that diesel tow vehicles have more torque at lower RPM than do gas engines. What does this mean for you as an RV driver? It means that if you go up a steep grade, a diesel tow vehicle will pull your RV at Highway speeds while a gas engine will often bog down when climbing steep hills. This can mean that you are slowing to a crawl until you can reach the summit of the hill.

Here are the advantages that I have found to buying a diesel tow vehicle:
1. Better fuel economy. With my diesel truck I get double the mileage per gallon of fuel as compared to the fuel economy I got with my gas powered tow vehicle.
2. My diesel vehicle came equipped with air brakes. This making your truck brakes and tow vehicle braking system last longer and operate more safely.
3. The pulling power needed to get the job done.

Here are the disadvantages of purchasing a diesel tow vehicle: :
1. The overall cost of a truck with a diesel engine is higher. .
2. Getting diesel fuel takes a bit more effort than it does to find gasoline. I have found that in most places, diesel fuel is readily available at area gas stations.
3. Repairs should really be done by a diesel mechanic. This might be difficult since certified diesel mechanics require specialized training. Depending on where you live, local diesel mechanics may be in high demand so you may have to wait to get any needed repairs completed in a timely manner.
If you have a larger RV that has some significant weight to it, there is no question that diesel is the the best way to ensure that your rig tows easily and without bogging down on hills.

The size of the engine can also matter with respect to your towing power and the options that may be included with your standard vehicle purchase. I switched from a Ram 2500 to a Ram 3500 this past year. When buying my new vehicle, I found that getting the heavy duty options that suited my rig came standard on a 3500 while on the 2500 model, these features required additional costs. . The ease of pulling my 5th wheel with my 3500 is exceptional. I have the pulling power to easily pull my rig up hills and pass slow moving vehicles that I would never have been able to pass in my old gas engine Ram truck. Owning a diesel powered vehicle has definitely improved our RV experience and made our travel much less stressful for our whole family.

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Keeping RV Water Fresh

A couple of months ago, we visited an RV park that had a high level of sulfur in the water which was being pumped from a ground water well.  Needless to say, the smell was bad news and taking a shower would have required a nose pinching for sure.  Having plenty of fresh water from home already in our storage tanks, we quickly disconnected and went back to stored water for the remainder of the evening we spent in this camp ground.  We naively thought that we had escaped any bad effects since we had only been on fresh water for a short time. Much to our surprise, a month or so later when we again took out our RV, when we got to our camp site, we again smelled that same foul odor.  Fortunately, we were able to make a quick trip to a nearby RV store for some water treatment tablets. This quickly solved the problem and made the water smell good again. It seems the water must have had a bacteria that entered our water supply and there multiplied while in storage. As a result of this stinky lesson, we now make sure that we keep water treatment tabs in the coach whenever we travel.  Lesson learned…

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Keeping TV’s Stationary During RV Travel

We recently upgraded our old televisions to digital models so we can get all of the on-air stations when we are traveling. We used a tilt-able arm on our bedroom installation so we can angle the television better while we watch TV from the bed. To keep the TV from moving around during travel, we purchased the white tension rods from our local camping supply story that are made to keep things on the refrigerator shelves. Since the bottom of the TV cabinet has a slight lip on it, placing the rods vertically held the TV in quite well. The last time we took out our rig, the television stayed in place and we had no problems with it.

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Keeping RV Paper Towels in Place During Travel

One of the first problems that I encountered the first time that I took my rig out was opening the coach door to find the entire roll of paper towels in a heap on the floor. Needless to say, spending 10 minutes rewinding the roll was not a fun way to start my camping trip. Of course, I could have always removed the roll from the holder but I preferred a solution that would keep the roll in place and yet not allow it to unroll from the vibrations of the moving coach. I found two solutions that worked well for this problem. The first was a short bungy cord wrapped around the roll however, I found that depending on the amount of paper still on the roll, this did not work well all of the time. I went back to my RV store and found some long velcro ties. These work really well since they are easily adjusted to the size  of the roll, do not crush the roll, yet keep it from unraveling during travel. A great solution for this most annoying problem.

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TV Upgrades for RVs

When my RV was purchased, it came with a tube television. Recently, since the switch to digital television, I wanted to upgrade my two televisions to the newer, digital models. I found that a 17 inch flat screen model fit into the bedroom wall-mount cabinet and a 32 inch fit nicely into the main living area wall cabinet. Of course, I had to buy new straps and velco strips to mount the new televisions. Once thing that I soon realized was that we had trouble seeing the television when it was flatly mounted in the old cabinet due to the angle on the flat screen. I had to go back and loosen the straps and place a small piece of wood under the back of the television so that it would be at a better angle for viewing. If you are replacing your televisions, be sure to check the viewing angle before you fasten down your new television so you can avoid the extra time it took me to do this.