RV Education 101 February 2007 News

Some of our monthly RV Video Tips are designed to provide basic RV information for new RVers and some of the future RV Video Tips will cover more advanced topics. If you have any ideas for future topics you can email me at Mark@rveducation101.com

This months RV video tip is: Saving RV Dump Stations

by Peggi McDonald, Author of RV Living in the 21st Century
Vinyl Planking Floor

Carpets in RVs can a pain to deal with.The grade is marginal in most and they receive a lot of wear. Keeping such carpet clean is difficult. We replaced our carpet with a sub floor of half-inch plywood topped with vinyl planking floor. Each strip is glued down individually so it looks like hardwood but wears like vinyl. We chose planking instead of laminates because the narrower pieces are easier to install in tight places, plus we have two dogs that occasionally have accidents. We love our new washable floor mainly because with a quick sweep all the freshly cut grass, dirt, sand etc., is cleaned up with little effort. I add a coating of Mop and Glow wax with a wet cloth and the floor is set for another day. On our previous two motorhomes we added a one-piece vinyl floor. It's not as classy as our vinyl planking, and depending on the amount of cutting, installation can even be more costly. We hired a professional flooring installer to ensure the end result had a professional look

All RVers (and Wannabes) can enjoy the most exciting social community online - free! Join RV forums, meet RVers and make RV friends, write camping and RV blogs, upload photos, listen to music and video tips for RVers, invite your friends to your personal RV web site network, join and create RV groups, place RV classified ads, RV chat in "real time," email and instant messaging with other Rvers, and search for friends and RV events in your area. Keep it private, like an RV trip diary, only for your invited family and friends, or make it public, for the whole world to see. Currently there are over 1000 members. Every Saturday and Sunday evening at 5pm (Central Time), members can come together for a live chat....hosted by Happy Camper RV Club.

Start your half-price discount camping privileges today Not already a member? Join 1/2 price camping today!

RV Education 101 has added a new monthly addition to the newsletter: The RV Insurance Corner. We feel that prevention is the best protection. We also feel that by adding some real life stories of insurance claims, we can help educate you and bring awareness regarding subjects that you may never have considered.

Insurance Corner: Learning About RV Insurance Through Stories and Examples

Protecting Against the Cost of Depreciation of Your RV

When you drive your RV off the dealer lot, it begins to depreciate immediately. If you experience a total loss of your RV once it has depreciated, the value of your RV will be much lower than the cost to replace it.

Specialty RV Insurance companies like National Interstate offer coverages to protect RV owners from the effects of depreciation in the event of a total loss. One such coverage is Purchase Price Guarantee. With this coverage, in the event of a total loss, the insurance company will pay the RV owner the purchase price they paid for the original vehicle towards the purchase of a replacement vehicle. This amount is nearly always greater than the Actual Cash Value of the vehicle. If the RV owner did not have Purchase Price Guarantee, the insurance company would only pay the RV Owner the Actual Cash Value at the time of the loss.

Here is a real life example of the positive impact of Purchase Price Guarantee. An owner of a 40’ 2000 American Coach Eagle was in Mississippi in 2006 when their RV caught fire and was destroyed. The individual had a National Interstate Insurance Company policy through Explorer RV Insurance Agency, Inc. The Actual Cash Value of the RV was determined to be $159,635. The RV owner, however, paid $296,000 for the RV 6 years earlier. If the individual not had Purchase Price Guarantee, the insurance company would have only paid $159,635. Fortunately, the owner had this specialty coverage. The insurance coverage paid $289,694, the cost of the new RV, when the destroyed unit was replaced with a 40’ 2006 American Coach Eagle. By purchasing this additional coverage, the owner saved $130,059. The owner could have received up to $296,000 for a new unit had the owner purchased a more expensive replacement.

Fuel cells are in the news. Most of us have heard stories on TV or radio, or read articles in newspapers or magazines about fuel cells in our future. In this four- part series, FunRoads.com will take a look at fuel cells, how they work, what they mean to RVers, and what Onan is doing in the area of fuel cells for the RV market.

RV Newsletter Archives

Q & A by Mark Polk

Q: How do I drain the water heater?

A: Locate the water heater compartment on the outside of the RV. In the lower left hand corner you will see a drain plug. Remove the plug and let it drain until it is empty. You can open the pressure relief valve at the top of the water heater to assist in draining. You can install a small valve to make draining the water heater tank easier to drain in place of the drain plug, so you don’t have to remove the plug every time you drain it. Check with your local RV dealer. It is a good practice to drain the water heater every time you get back from a trip. CAUTION! Never attempt to drain the water heater when it’s hot or under pressure. Do not attempt to drain the water heater when water is hooked up to the RV or when the water pump is on. Open a hot water faucet to relieve the pressure before draining.