Kate and I are very excited to be attending Canada’s largest RV Show – the Toronto Spring Camping & RV Show from February 27 – March 1. Not only are we excited to get to check out all of the new models of RVs on display, but we’re also excited to announce that we’ll be presenting on the Havelock Country Jamboree Stage multiple times over the course of the RV show talking about our full-time RV lifestyle. We’ll be talking about our journey into the full-time RV lifestyle in hopes of inspiring others to consider this alternative lifestyle. We hope you can join us at the show.

Since we’re attending Toronto Spring Camping & RV Show, it had us thinking about how you can get the most out of attending an RV show whether it’s this RV show or one in your hometown. Since we’ve been to a few RV shows in the past we’d like to pass along some tips that can help you navigate and better experience an RV show.

When To Go To The RV Show

More often than not, RV shows take place over 3-4 days during a week. Usually, they run from Thursday or Friday through Sunday. So when should you attend? Does it really matter? In the past, we’ve found that the busiest times at RV shows tend to be Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday. With that in mind, we’d recommend visiting on Thursday (if it’s an option) or on Sundays as both days tend to be a bit quieter. Why does this matter? We found that the busier an RV show is when you visit the less likely you’re going to get the most out of the show. For instance, say there are a couple of models of RVs that you particularly want to check out but once you get to the show you quickly discover every model seems to have endless amounts of people coming in and out of the RVs. This can make it difficult to fully check out the RVs and make it difficult to find a representative to talk to if you wanted to. The same goes for the booths with all the cool new camping gear. Usually, there are large groups of people surrounding the booths making it more difficult to check out everything. Sure, a little patience can go a long way but why worry about testing your patience when you can simply go when there are fewer people there.

Attend With A Plan

Before attending an RV show, have a clear idea in mind as to why you’re attending the show. Are you just there to pass the time and look around? Are you there 100% to purchase an RV? Do you just want to see the new gadgets and toys? Whatever reason you’re attending an RV show it’s good to go in with a plan so that you know exactly what you want to learn and look at and where to find it. The best thing you can do prior to attending an RV show is to check out the RV show website and take a look at the floorplan. From that floorplan, make a detailed plan of attack of how you will navigate through the show to see exactly what you want to see. Be sure to check out the schedule for seminars and other events happening at the RV show so that you can make sure to fit them into your schedule.

Check Out The Seminars

Whether you’re just getting into RVing and camping or you’re a seasoned veteran, you should make sure to check out the various seminars at RV shows. There’s a lot of valuable information to be discovered at these seminars that you might not easily get otherwise. Usually, each RV show will have a set of expert presenters who will talk about various topics pertaining to RVing. You’ll likely learn about RV maintenance tips, how-tos and a lot more from these seminars. Check the full schedule of seminars before attending the show so you make sure you get to see the ones that are most valuable to you.

Look At The New Products, Toys and Gadgets

If you already have an RV, one of the highlights of attending an RV show can be checking out the new RV products, gadgets and toys. There are a lot of great new products being released each and every year that can make the RV lifestyle easier and more enjoyable so it’s worth checking out the vendors at the RV show to see what’s new. If you’re looking to update your current RV, you can also find a lot of interesting new gadgets that can be helpful. It’s amazing how many different RV products can be found that use Bluetooth technology these days.

Preparing To Shop For An RV

While a lot of people are simply at an RV show to simply just look at the RVs, there are a lot of people there who are seriously considering purchasing an RV. If you’re one of those people that are there with the goal in mind of buying a new RV there are a few things to consider. First, it’s best to know exactly what type of RVs and makes/models you’re interested in before attending the show. You can do some pre-show research online that will help you spend your time more efficiently once you arrive at the show. This will give you lots more time to fully inspect the details of the models you really want to check out and also more time to talk to the representatives onsite.

It’s also good to look around online at the prices of the models you’re interested in. Often, you’ll hear that RV shows have the best prices of the year. Yes, that can be true but it can also simply be a ploy to get you to attend the show. If you already know the rough price range a certain model is selling at in other locations, you’ll be able to enter negotiations a lot easier and be more likely to end up with the deal you were looking for.

One thing to keep in mind if you’re purchasing an RV at an RV show is don’t feel pressured to buy. RV salesmen have a job and sometimes they can be a bit pushy in their sales tactics. You’ll likely run into every type of salesperson at an RV show. If you don’t feel comfortable with a certain salesman, don’t hesitate to walk away. At an RV show, a salesman might use the tactic that, “you won’t get a better price than now.” That could possibly be true but if you needed a little extra time to make a decision you could likely get the same deal a week or two later by visiting the dealership directly.

Make sure if you’re buying an RV to always negotiate. Never simply purchase an RV at the listed price. There’s almost always some wiggle room. If there’s not much wiggle room in the price, you can also ask that the dealer throw in some additional products that you would likely have to buy when setting up your RV. We did this when purchasing our RV and it helped us save a few hundred bucks in products.

Here’s a full list of RV shows happening in Canada via GoRVing

What tips do you have for attending an RV show?

The post How to Get the Most Out of Attending an RV Show appeared first on Full Time Canada.

RV mattresses are typically thin, between 4-6 inches, with coils and they are cheap. We were actually surprised that we managed as long as we did with our RV mattress without replacing it. It certainly wasn’t as terrible as we were expecting. That being said, we noticed a huge difference once we purchased our new RV mattress.

Searching for a new RV Mattress

Living in Tofino, a town filled with resorts, we could have bought a mattress from the local Facebook marketplace. This would have been the best solution for replacing our RV mattress as most of the resorts in Tofino are 4-5 star resorts with quality beds. They replace them frequently and then sell them for $50-100 on Facebook. Unfortunately, all of those mattresses were at least 12 inches thick which wouldn’t work for us or most RVers. Most RVers, including ourselves, only have so much space for a mattress. Anything above 10 inches in height would block our windows on either side of the mattress. We have read about RVers customizing their bed’s platform to make it lower to allow for a full-size mattress but this would mean taking away valuable storage underneath our bed which we didn’t want to do.

Sleep is something that is super important to both Adam and I. We work hard through the summer, and we need a comfortable mattress for a good nights sleep. Our needs were simple –  firm and not too expensive.

Adam took over the investigation as to which RV mattress we should get. This quickly took him to watch endless videos of people reviewing mattresses on YouTube. Who knew that there were people out there who reviewed mattresses for YouTube? I didn’t.

The main type of mattresses Adam was looking at were mattresses-in-a-box. These types of mattresses seem to be all the rage these days for both RVs and stick-and-brick homes. Most of them are memory foam based with other features/toppers included.

Here’s the video he watched comparing various boxed mattresses.

Our main concern with the new memory foam mattresses is whether or not the mattress would be firm enough. I have sciatic nerve problems and Adam is just tall and needs a firm mattress to support is long torso. We knew that we weren’t going to be able to go and test a bunch of mattresses as we did in the old days, so we relied on research and reviews.

On a lot of the RV sites that we follow, people were raving over the Lucid and the Zinus* (pictured above). Both are affordable, come in the mail, and are made of memory foam. Both had really good reviews and features about them.

*Note – The Zinus mattress linked above is specifically designed for RVs. We don’t believe this model was available through Amazon when we were initially doing our research into mattresses. We believe that this would be a great option if you’re looking to replace your RV mattress.

Purchasing our new RV Mattress

After a lot of shopping around, Adam made the purchase and went with Lucid. Later that week, we went to the post office in Tofino thinking that we would both need to carry it out. Not the case at all. Even though the sticker said, “HEAVY,” one of us could have easily carried it out to the truck.

We removed our old mattress and took the new Lucid mattress out of the box. We carefully cut the plastic off and unrolled it. There was a warning in the instructions that the mattress may have an odour and to put in a ventilated room. We didn’t notice that much of a smell, thankfully.

The next couple of nights, while the Lucid mattress was given time to expand and breathe (it takes about 48 hours), we put our old mattress on the floor of the kitchen and slept there. Two nights later, we finally slept on our new bed. It perfectly hugs your body, which I instantly liked, as it supported my bad knee. We watched an episode of Peaky Blinders and then it was off to sleep. The next morning, I felt great. I slept straight through and I didn’t feel Adam kicking or moving around like I normally do. We were both really impressed with the firmness of the mattress.

Do we still like our RV Mattress?

We’ve now had our Lucid mattress for almost a year. We’re still impressed with its firmness and the quality of sleep we are regularly having. We’ve never found it too hot in the summer months either but it does seem to keep us warmer in the winter months.

Finding a perfect mattress is never an easy situation, especially when there’s more than one person in the bed and everyone has their own level of sleeping comfort.

Is this mattress the perfect RV mattress? Probably not, but we’ve been extremely happy with the value we’ve received for $300. We may add a gel-topper in the future to give us a little more overall thickness to the mattress but for now, we’re still happily getting a good night’s rest which is all that matters. In hindsight, we wish we ordered the 8-inch option available but we went with the 6-inch based on the fact the old RV mattress was 6-inches.

If you do end up replacing your mattress in your RV let us know what kind and how it worked out for you. And if you do decide to replace your mattress, investigate giving your old mattress to someone who may need it. We ended up giving ours to a lady who wanted it for her two dogs to sleep on. Try to find a use for it rather than sending it to the landfill.

*Note – We did not/do not receive any compensation or commission from Lucid or Zinus and all opinions are our true and honest opinions.*

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The main villain – plastic! A sea bird with a plastic ring around its head, pieces of plastic washing up on the beach, whales dying from eating plastic. It’s a horrible reality in our oceans. We are running out of room in landfills for all of the plastics that we use. We think by recycling we are doing all that is needed, but the truth is, most plastics are not recycled. According to the Canadian Government less than 10% of plastics are recycled.

In Canada, over 3 million tonnes of waste plastic is generated each year and less than 9% of plastic waste is diverted for recycling. What does this mean as a full-time RVer? I don’t know about you but I cringe when I read on other RV sites about people using single-use plastic cups, plates, and plastic cutlery as their everyday dishes.

We have to change. We need to train our brains to figure out how not to use single-use plastic. We’ve been conditioned by convenience. Adam and I were raised using single use plastics every day. Waste was never considered back then but here we are now with our oceans being choked by plastic and our climate changing. It’s time for change and every little bit helps. We are trying to reduce our day-to-day waste and even though we are way off from being waste-free, we are down to a small bag of garbage weekly.

If you are living full-time in your RV, that alone is a great help to the environment. The tiny home movement has shown to take up less energy, and because you are using less space, you have less stuff. Full-timers don’t have a basement or many closets to fill with “stuff.”

In the little town of Tofino that we live in, there is a ban on plastic bags and plastic straws. This opened our eyes to the fact that we need to be better and that it actually is possible to make a lot of these changes quite easily.

The following are some of the things we are doing, that we hope you can try to become a greener RVer

1. Insulating the RV

Unless you buy a Polar RV with proper insulation, chances are you will notice that there is barely (if any) insulation in a typical RV. There are a few things you can do to help insulate your RV that so that you are wasting less energy. Adam insulates our slides with pipe insulation shoved into the gaps in the slide-outs. We did this both inside and outside and noticed much less drafts. Adam also puts plastic over the windows every window in the RV. Unfortunately, the plastic over the windows isn’t the best for the environment because it is throw-away and unusable for the next year. We are fortunate though that we do have a clear plastic recycling program at Crystal Cove Beach Resort that we use for that disposable material.

Insulating the windows and slides has not only made our RV much warmer in the cooler fall/winter months but we’ve also noticed our furnace coming on substantially less which is saving on propane as well.

2. LED Lights

A quick fix for power-sucking light bulbs in your RV is to go all LED. We have done this and love how long-lasting LED lights are. Check out everything you need to know about going all LED here.

3. Solar Panels

Adam and I do not have solar panels on our RV but we are thinking about doing it in the future. We found a great blog that covers the basics of solar panels. 

Using the sun for energy in our RV is definitely something we are going to invest in.

4.      Reusable Shopping Bags & Produce Cloth Bags 

This is an easy one that a lot of us have been doing for awhile now. Buy reusable shopping bags and then put them in your vehicle. The key is not to forget them. When I go grocery shopping I put my purse in the back seat where the shopping bags are. If Adam goes grocery shopping, same thing, he puts his wallet in the reusable bag. If you are purchasing reusable bags, get ones that you can wash. I throw ours in the laundry in a cold wash once a month and let them air dry.

Don’t stop at reusable shopping bags, also be sure to grab cloth produce bags. These bags are what you can store those loose produce items in instead of the plastic bags the grocery store provides.

5.      Rags 

Spilled something? Grab paper towels to clean it up. Grease in the frying pan? Wipe it out with a paper towel before you wash it. Cleaning windows in the RV? Use paper towels to give it that streak-free shine. Nope! Not anymore. We use rags. We haven’t used paper towels in over a year. I have a few good rags for cleaning windows and some other rags for just general cleaning. Give them a wash and reuse. My mom, her mother, and my great grandmother and beyond used rags. No more paper towels that come wrapped in plastic.

Need a little more convincing? Here are some paper towel stats that hopefully will open your eyes…

*Stats provided by the Paperless Project

• To make one ton of paper towels 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of water are polluted.
• Globally, discarded paper towels result in 254 million tons of trash every year.
• If just 50% of the U.S. population uses 3 paper napkins a day, that totals 450,000,000 napkins for 1 day—or more than 164 billion per year.
• If every household in the U.S. used just one less 70-sheet roll of paper towels, that would save 544,000 trees each year.
• Worldwide the pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy, accounting for 4% of all the world’s energy use.
• Over 60% of the roughly 17 billion cubic feet of timber harvested worldwide each year is used for paper and pulp.
• The paper industry uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.
• Discarded paper is a major component of many landfill sites, accounting for about 35% by weight of municipal solid waste.
• Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water and land in both Canada and the United States, and releases well over 100 million kg of toxic pollution each year.

6.      Personal Hygiene

I love a good bottle of shampoo. I can remember as a teenager having all kinds of varieties under the bathroom sink and selecting the scent based on my mood. It’s absolutely mind-boggling to think that a lot of those bottles are still around in some form.

What is the alternative now? Shampoo bars and no more body wash or hand soap in bottles. Back to bar soap. That is the saving at least 3-6 single-use plastic bottles per month that Adam and I won’t be contributing to our landfills. Imagine if everyone who read this did the same! We can make a difference.

If you haven’t tried it already, grab some natural deodorant and give it a try. I’ve been using it for about a month and while you sometimes have to give your armpits a little extra scrub, the packaging for a lot of natural deodorants is glass which easily breaks down to sand and is much better for the environment.

7.      Laundry 

A typical family of 4 can do between 6-10 loads of laundry per week, depending on the ages of the children and whether you wash your sheets once a week. As a couple, Adam and I do between 3-4 loads of laundry a week. A big jug of laundry soap would last us about two months. That’s 6 large plastic jugs a year.

Now, we no longer use those disposable jugs. We use Tru-Earth laundry strips. It’s a Canadian company (which is always great to support) and the strips use no plastic packaging. You can buy the strips that arrive in the mail in a recyclable cardboard package. It’s about $19 for 32 loads without a subscription or you can subscribe and they knock the price down to about $13.00. They send you the strips either monthly or bi-monthly depending on your needs. The company is still new so they aren’t available in a lot of stores yet. They have a scented version, unscented, and laundry strips for babies. I’ve been using them for a month and absolutely love them. Our clothes are clean and fresh smelling.

Also, give the wool balls a try for the dryer. This is a great green alternative if you need to use the dryer and perhaps can’t hang the clothes out to dry. The wool balls work like dryer sheets and help with static. Tru-Earth also sells this product for about $20.

8.      Compost

According to the EPA – food waste makes up more that 28% of our trash which should be composted instead. Keeping this food out of landfills is a bonus as this is where it will release methane – a greenhouse gas.

If your campground has a compost unit use it. Or perhaps the town you live in has a compost heap that everyone can use. We are very lucky that Crystal Cove Beach Resort has a composter that we can put all of our food scraps in. The only thing we don’t put it in bones or crab shells due to the bears in the area. Composting is an easy way to reduce your garbage and it makes your other garbage not stink as much.

9.      Doing the Dishes

When we first started becoming more environmentally conscious, we bought larger bottles of dish soap. A large jug would result in many smaller jugs not being thrown out in the recycling. Now we are looking at alternatives. I have started looking at dish soap bottle alternatives. There is a refill store in Tofino now that we may check out where we can simply take in our old jug and refill it. There is also the possibility of using bars of Sunlight soap, Castille soap bars, or an olive oil bar soap.

10.  Food Containers

20 years ago, I used to use plastic wrap on everything whether it was storing food in the fridge or wet cat & dog food. Like many, I did this without even a thought of how it would affect our earth. Now we have had the same roll of plastic wrap in our RV for almost 2 years. Instead we now use beeswax wraps which you can buy or easily make yourself. Plus, we have a lot of storage containers which we’re always using to eliminate plastic storage bags. 

11.  Clothing

On average, a North American person throws away 81lbs of clothing per year. That has a huge impact on the environment. What can you do? Buy good quality shoes, boots, jackets, and clothing. Basically buy quality instead of quantity. Look for items that have good warranties. One item we bought this year was Darn Tough socks. They’re expensive at $30 a pair but they have a lifetime warranty and they’re super comfortable. You can also repair zippers, sew on buttons and get the soles of your shoes fixed if you can.

12.  Walking, Biking, Travelling

When we can, we walk to work, bike to the store, and we plan on travelling more but in a smaller RV. Our RV does cost a lot to travel with, which means more diesel burned by our truck. While we are absolutely going to continue RVing we are going to rent a smaller RV. Our next trip we plan on going through Washington, Oregon and California. We are going to rent a tiny RV and not have to worry about damage on our full-time home or unnecessarily affecting the environment.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed our planet is changing and not for the better. We all have to be better. Adam and I only recently started to consider these changes but have made quite a few significant changes that have reduced our waste and our use of plastics. The main thing is don’t feel like you have to change everything at once. Make the changes in your life slowly but surely. This will help make the changes seem less drastic which will make it easier to continue to produce less waste and make you a greener RVer in no time!

How have you become a greener RVer? What do you do to cut down on waste and eliminate your single-use plastic use? Let us know below!

The post 12 Ways You Can Become a Greener RVer appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Sitting in our little house in New Brunswick in July 2015, knowing that we were about to venture into a fairly uncommon way of living in Canada, we would have loved to have had some advice from fellow full-time RVers. 

The one thing I want you to know is that if we can do it you can too. You just have to change your way of thinking about everyday life and what you have been taught your entire life about the normalcies of society. 

While Adam and I are not the first ones to full-time RV in Canada, we know it can be tough to find information out there on how to live in your RV full-time. 

Here is some advice and the honest truth about living full-time in your RV.

1- Let Go Of What Society Expects of You

Get married. Buy a home. Have children. Save for retirement. Retire. That’s the road map that most of us have been told our adult lives are supposed to follow. But why does it have to be that way? Here’s the thing we’ve learned. You don’t have to follow societal norms. Don’t be afraid to break out of the comforts of society and lead your own journey.

I started full-time RVing at the age of 41, right in the middle of when I should be saving for retirement and continue working my career for another 20+ years.

Instead, I’ve now been full-time RVing for almost 4 years while travelling across our beautiful country and enjoying so much more freedom. I also now run Tofino Food Tours with Adam and have a wonderful job at Crystal Cove Beach Resort in Tofino, BC. That is a lot of change for someone who had 20 years of radio broadcasting under their belt.

You can do it though. Whether you are becoming a snowbird and retiring, or you are in your 20s and want to travel and work across Canada while living in your RV, or you are like me, approaching middle age and couldn’t stand doing the same thing as everyone else. It can work for you if you have an open mind and are willing to let go of what society expects your life to be.

2 – Be Prepared for Cold Weather

Here’s a good thing to know about RVs before you buy one – they have very little insulation. So what does this mean? Essentially, in the summer it can get really hot and in the winter it can get really cold.

One of the reasons we chose to live in Tofino is for its weather. While it rains a lot it doesn’t get much warmer than 20 degrees in the summer and it usually stays above the freezing mark during the winter. That being said we’ve had to deal with almost a month of temperatures at night dropping to -5 degrees. This obviously isn’t very cold compared to most places in Canada but when you’re living in an RV it can be very cold if you’re not prepared for it.

One big piece of advice we wish we knew before buying an RV is to look for a 4-season RV. Brands like Arctic Fox have much more insulation in them and will keep you cooler in the summer and do a much better job of keeping you warm in the winter.

If you wish to full-time RV in some of the colder regions of Canada there are plenty of modifications you can also make to your RV. Aside from wrapping our windows to keep drafts out, we really haven’t done many ourselves but the Facebook group Winter RVing is a great resource for ideas and tips on how to stay warm in your RV throughout the winter.

3 – It Takes A While To Get Used To Living in an RV but You Will Learn

Adam and I are not mechanically minded people by nature and having an RV has resulted in learning a lot. You will learn too so don’t be afraid to hop into the deep end. Can it be overwhelming? Yes, but it’s a challenge worth taking on.

Our first year of full-time RVing was quite the learning process. We were as green as can be when it came to RVing. We had to learn absolutely everything on our own with the help of the odd Facebook group or RVing forum.

Learning to pull a 30+ foot fifth-wheel across the country was quite the experience. As is backing your trailer into everywhere you camp. *Hint- try to find pull-through campsites* Then there is all of the maintenance and learning how certain things in the RV work. It takes time but it all comes together slowly but surely.

You will learn too. Don’t get dragged down thinking it is too much.  You will figure it out.

4 – Be Prepared – Your RV is Probably Going To Leak or Already Has

This is likely to be the one consistent you’ll read about when it comes to RVs – they leak.

Short of building a whole new roof on top of your RV that also covers your slides, your RV will likely eventually leak. Ours did and we got it fixed for a cool $8000. It’s awful to think but I suspect it will likely leak again sometime in the future. It’s the nature of the beast when you live in a cheaply manufactured home. We even did somethings to safeguard ourselves against a leak and it still happened, although, we’re rather certain our RV leaked before we bought it.

Slides are the biggest issue when it comes to leaks in RVs. If you don’t mind sacrificing some extra space, go for an RV without slides and then take good care of your roof and you’ll be much more protected. Also, make sure to check your seals along your sidewalls and reseal them. The more you travel with your RV the more often you will have to redo your seals. This is probably Adam’s least favourite RV maintenance task.

Something to keep in mind as well is that your RV insurance or warranty likely will not cover the cost of these repairs due to a leak so have a little extra money saved up for that rainy day.

5 – Slow Down and Take A Look Around

Ferris Bueller may not be known as one of the great philosophers but he did leave us with this quote to reflect on…

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

It’s great advice and it’s something everyone should remember.

When we drove across Canada we took about 36 days while travelling from PEI to BC. I wish now we would have taken a lot more time and explored more of Alberta and BC. Our country is vast and expansive with so much to see. Slow down. It’s a great thing to do when travelling. There is lots to explore out there so enjoy it.

6 – You Still Need an Address

We get a lot of questions about full-time RVing with most of them surrounding having an address and health insurance. These are two things that you absolutely need to have. 

The one thing we Canadians love is our free health care. To keep your provincial health care, though, you do need to have a physical address.

Currently, our address is the campground that we live at which is an easy solution. If you’re staying at campgrounds longer-term this is likely your best option. If you’re travelling freely, you will need to figure out a solution. A lot of full-time RVers will use the address of a family member or a friend. This is where you will also get your mail delivered. Keep in mind that whatever province this physical address is in is the province you have to legally live in for 6-months a year in order to be eligible for that province’s health care system. There are some legal variations to this so it’s best to do your homework on what your province allows.

7 – Staying Online Can Be A Challenge

It may be sad but definitely true…a lot of us can not live without the internet. Whether it’s for checking email, staying connected with friends and family or even just watching adorable cat videos, the internet is something we’re all used to having whether it’s on your phone or computer.

When you’re travelling, staying connected can be a challenge and sometimes frustrating. You’re likely going to experience most RV parks have weak WiFi, although a lot of them are getting better every year. The larger the park, usually, the worse the signal as more RVs are pulling from the same signals.

Here in Canada our cell phone plans are not cheap and are very limited in terms of data so you can’t really use this is an option either when travelling as it will only take you so far.

What we did when we first set up our RV in PEI was to get a WiFi Ranger unit which actually helps boost the signals of available WiFi connections in the area. This definitely strengthened weaker signals for us and allowed us to continue to blog and do basic internet tasks.

We’d recommend setting your expectations for having no internet when travelling and being pleasantly surprised when it turns out to actually be good. Definitely don’t expect to roll into every park and be able to stream Netflix without interruptions. Maybe one day but that day isn’t here yet.

8 – Full-Time RVing May Not Be For You

You’re probably thinking that we built you up throughout this article to think that you can full-time RV. It’s true you can and a lot of people do and absolutely love the lifestyle change. However, that’s not the case for everyone.

I will tell you the truth. Full-time RVing is not for everyone. You already read about RVs leaking and dealing with cold temperatures. You should also check out our blog about 6 Reasons Living Full Time in Your RV Sucks.  There are so many things that we love about full-time RVing but then there a few small things that we don’t like. But the good outweighs the bad in our case. That may not be the case for you. 

We’ve read many stories about full-time RVers who gave up after a year and returned to living in a brick and mortar home. For some those comforts can be hard to give up and you may struggle without them. You may not like having to physically empty your toilet. You may hate having to make sure your trailer is level every time you park it. The one thing we will say is to give it time. It may not be for you right away and all of the new challenges can be overwhelming and stressful but once you adapt to your new way of life you will likely find life is actually a lot easier than it was before.

Are you thinking about full-time RVing? Do you feel a little bit more relieved after reading this? If you have any questions or thoughts you would like to add to this blog comment below.

The post 8 Pieces of Advice for Newbie Full-Time RVers appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Slide Replacements

It’s true when they say, “it’s not if your RV leaks – it’s when.”

Let’s start with the biggest repair we’ve had to do on our RV and likely the biggest we’ll ever do. Slide replacements. Yes, we said it. It sends a shiver down the spine of anyone that owns an RV with slides.  We took our Sundance in and got all three slides redone.  After living in our RV for almost 3 years, we noticed some sagging in the back slide and some softness in the other two.

While we get a lot of rain in Tofino, we’ve kept the RV sealed well and protected as much as possible since we’ve moved here. We’re almost certain that the damage was done prior to us purchasing our RV which has been a lesson in buying second-hand RVs. Regardless, we still had to get the slides replaced.

After having a local RV repairman come to look at the back slide, he indicated all three had some water damage.  Our bedroom slide was the worst which was surprising as we thought it had just minimal damage. 

Getting all three slides replaced was not only expensive, but it also meant having to live elsewhere for a couple of weeks while the work was done. We were fortunate that our employer let us live in one of the RVs they have on-site.  I’m not going to lie to you, this was an extremely stressful repair.  The cost, and having to be out of our home for a couple of weeks was less than ideal. 

Our local RV repair shop removed the old slides and completely replaced the flooring, the under-siding, and the caulking.  It is incredible how much it improved the feel of the slides. It also made us realize what slides in good condition should feel like and ours definitely weren’t that when we purchased the RV. Again…another lesson.

We are happy with the work that was done during the repair.  The downside was the cost – $8000! We decided it would be better to get them fixed properly and not have to worry about mould or further damage to the rest of the RV floor.  We contemplated just selling it as is, but then we would be losing out on the money we had already paid in full for our RV.  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet plus with the slides now fixed, it’ll make it easier to sell in the future if we decide to.

This winter we also decided to protect our slides with just one more little addition.  We made our own slide toppers with thick poly wrap and secured it to the RV with HVAC tape.  It has held up in our wind storms here on the Pacific Coast and it keeps the slides much drier and free of debris.  It doesn’t look that pretty but it also doesn’t stand out appearance-wise. It was an experiment that actually worked out and only cost us about $50 compared to thousands of dollars if you were to install slide toppers.

The Kitchen Sink

One day, while I was doing dishes, the kitchen sink tap came off in my hand.  Hilarity ensued as I tried to shut the water off.  When I did manage to get the water off, I realized we would have to replace the faucet and taps.   The old one that came with the RV was made of plastic (shocking) and was literally falling off into my hands.  

Adam, who is by no means a plumber, decided he would tackle this project himself.  I was quite proud of him and decided to make sure I would be out of the RV while he did this repair as I didn’t want to be in the way. Adam gets a little animated when he does repair work and it can raise my blood pressure.  Turns out, replacing the sink faucet and taps was easy for him.  He did a splendid job and now we have a lovely new sink feature that only cost us about $100. We thought about replacing the entire sink to put in a better quality sink but decided against it at the moment as it requires some cabinetry work. If you’re looking to replace your RV sink, be sure to check out the blog on replacing your RV sink by our contributor Greg Walker.

The Toilet

From the moment we bought our 2008 Heartland Sundance, the toilet never properly held water.  This my friends is kind of gross.  Without going into too much detail, imagine if you had a cat using a catbox without kitty litter in it. Eww. That’s what we were dealing with. This needed to be repaired.  

When we had the RV repairman come out to check our slides Adam also asked him about our toilet.  We had bought a new sani seal gasket for our toilet but it still wouldn’t work properly.  We then found out that was because it was the wrong gasket.  The RV repairman said they don’t even make the gaskets for our toilet anymore. Apparently, our RV is too old which was hard to believe since it was only 10 years old. That being said, there was some good news. Getting a new toilet was covered under our RV warranty. In the end, we got a lovely new toilet, complete with a spray hose which makes cleaning SO much easier. And the cost to us? $0!   

It was an expensive year for us and our RV. One thing we had to remind ourselves is that this is our home and everyone has home repairs whether you live in a brick & mortar home or an RV.  Fortunately for us at this point, we have replaced most of the major items that would need to be replaced in our RV. During our first year RVing our warranty took care of a new air conditioner and a new converter.  Now we look ahead to 2020 and fingers crossed everything keeps on keeping on and we won’t have any large repairs to make.  

Have you had to have anything major replaced in your RV?  Did you do it yourself or have a repair shop do it for you?  Let us know in the comments.

The post 3 Repairs We Made To Our RV in 2019 appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Full-time RVers are faced with daily challenges including maintenance and repairs of the RV, getting reliable networking and communications services and finding or navigating to your next destination. Technology can be a great asset when faced with those challenges. Following are several RV tech hacks that a full-time RVer can tap into to make life in the road a little less challenging.

Battery Maintenance

For your devices to work consistently, you have to keep power flowing to them. That means properly maintaining your batteries. The Black and Decker BC15BD 15 Amp Bench Battery Charger is a small, lightweight charger that has a battery reconditioning mode which will regenerate your house batteries to keep them in top operating condition. Like running an equalization charge, the recondition mode de-sulfates the plates in your batteries. This raises the specific gravity in the electrolyte and gives tired batteries more storage capacity. Unlike an equalization charge, it is safe to use in gel or sealed batteries and does not create dangerous boiling conditions or excessive heat in wet lead-acid batteries. The charger can also charge your house or tow vehicle batteries and do alternator checks to make sure your RV is ready to go when you are.

Wi-fi Router and Network Repeater

A Wi-fi router and network repeater combination allows you to create your own internal wireless network within your RV. The repeater feature allows your Wi-fi router to connect to an outside network, like the RV park’s Wi-fi, to gain access to the internet. This has several advantages over simply connecting to the park’s Wi-fi directly. If your park only allows one device to connect to their Wi-fi, the repeater can be that one device. Multiple devices from your internal network can connect to the router and share that single connection to the park Wi-fi. All the devices connected to the Wi-fi router can also share data within your network without having to go through the internet. This is much safer and faster. A good example of this technology is an Alfa R36 USB Wi-fi wireless router coupled with an Alfa AWUS036NH Wi-fi USB Link and antenna.

Full Time Canada Tip: WiFi Ranger is a great addition to your RV to help boost nearby WiFi signals

Digital Multimeter

Troubleshooting electrical issues in an RV is extremely difficult without a way to reliably test electrical circuits. A digital multimeter is a must have on the road. When selecting one, make sure it can work in the ranges which your RV runs. Most RVs and tow vehicles have a 12V DC side and RVs generally also have 120V AC side. Some RVs may also have 24V or higher battery banks and may use 6V batteries. If you have a solar system, higher DC voltages may present. Ideally, a digital multimeter for full-time RVing should at least work in those ranges and test both AC and DC voltage, current and continuity

USB Charging Stations

A multiport USB charging station can keep several electronic gadgets charged up and ready to go all from a small, lightweight box that only uses a single 120V outlet. 10 port Unitek or Tripp Lite charging stations are a great choice measuring in at about 3” x 6” x 10.5” and weighing only about 2.5 lbs, these units can hold and charge up to 10 devices simultaneously.

RV Surge Protector

RV surge protectors are another necessity to keep the power flowing to your tech gadgets while full-time RVing. It is best to choose a unit that does more than just surge protection. At a minimum, they should also test for common circuit faults at the pedestal like open neutral, open grounds or dropped legs in 50-amp service. Detecting and avoiding these faults will protect both you and your rig from dangerous electrical conditions.

Full Time Canada Tip: Read more about how our surge protector possibly saved our RV from burning to the ground.

Level Your RV With Your Phone

There are many bubble level apps available and even some specifically dedicated to RV levelling available for both iPhones and Android devices. Simply place your phone on a flat surface in your RV with the app running to get a current state of how level your RV is. Make adjustments based on that until the app shows you are all leveled up. Some of the dedicated apps even have Bluetooth functionality that will allow you to use a second phone outside to read the level of the phone inside. This allows you to make quick adjustments.

Preload Google Maps

If you use google maps for navigation, make sure you download your map data before venturing out to remote areas. Without a cell signal, Google maps cannot download the necessary data to function on the fly and can leave you stranded. Offline map data is easy to download and can even be stored on an SD card if your phone supports them for later use. Simple instructions can be found by searching the internet for Google Maps Download Map Data or Google Maps Navigate Offline.

With these great tips, the full-time RVer can get those most out of their electronics while on the road. These tips will keep you powered up, connected and travelling safely whether you are working, playing or just hanging out.

The post Tech Hacks for the Full-Time RVer appeared first on Full Time Canada.