RV University This Week 07/19/2010

Rest Assured with a Tire Minder TPMS
For everyone who contacted me asking why I haven’t posted to the blog for the last month or so thank you for your concern. We just returned from a 7,200 mile coast to coast RV trip. My youngest son said I always work when we travel in the RV so I promised him I wouldn’t work on this trip. We had a wonderful time and saw lots of this beautiful country along the way. I can’t wait to start planning the next trip.... ....... Read the article

Check out this week's poll: "Have you ever stayed at a KOA campground?" To participate in the poll, look on the left hand column (here at RV University) towards the top

Camping vacations are sizzling!
Industry giant Kampgrounds of America recorded a record Fourth of July Weekend, indicating that more of us are camping out this summer......

NFL Legend and Horse Breeder, Terry Bradshaw, Becomes the Face of Eco-Friendly EverGreen RVs
EverGreen Recreational Vehicles, LLC, is pleased to announce its new association with football legend and three-time Emmy winning co-host of FOX NFL Sunday, Terry Bradshaw. .....

Firefighters say a tire blew
then caught fire causing two propane tanks to explode ....

Yosemite Offering More Sites for Campers
Yosemite National Park is offering more sites for campers, including a campground that's been closed for 13 years........

Insurance May Not Cover Campers' Flood Damage Friday campers were bailing out their recreational vehicles and cleaning up what they could salvage....

...with Mark

Q:
Hi Mark, I have recently purchased a 2003 Coleman Bayside pop up camper and am towing it with a 2002 Chevy Tahoe. I have noticed some sway as I get around the 60 mph speeds. I am confident that I have appropriate tongue weight. On some of the pop up trailer forums, people talk about having the sway control bar on the hitch system. Suggestion are the Draw Tite 3400 sway control bar. These run around 120.00. But I also find the exact same setup in "non Draw Tite" brand for $25.00-$70.00. I would like to know what is the difference and why the large variance in price?

Mark Says:
You are talking about a friction sway control unit that is usually sufficient for lighter RV's like a pop up. Always keep in mind that no sway control eliminates sway completely, but if properly adjusted it will dampen and lessen the potential for sway. As for the difference in price between manufacturers I don't have a good explanation for you. Friction sway controls are very similar in construction and design and I don't see any added benefits in the Draw Tite model you mentioned. Reese offers a friction sway control for under $50 and I'm sure it would work just as well as the Draw Tite model. I would try to avoid a $20 model that is made in China, just because you have no idea of the metal used or other manufacturing variables involved.

BY Mark Polk

Let RV Education 101 help you save money in 2010
This weeks featured product:

Go for the RV Gold Program
"I go on tour with Beacher's Madhouse for about 6 months out of the year and we usually use an RV as our tour bus. When I started searching for educational materials for RV owners to help me better understand everything I should know, every search led me to the RV Education 101 folks. When I'm not touring, I'm still on the road, operating my shopping site, Buynana(dot)com, from my mobile office. The Go For the RV Gold package is perfect for me because the less I have to carry around with me, the better. I have data coverage over 98% of the United States so if anything ever happened on the road, I could just pull off, log on, and figure it out! After signing up, Dawn contacted me to welcome me and say thanks. At 33, I only vaguely remember when this type of service was the norm, and it's refreshing to find that some people still greet their customers personally. I'm glad that when I searched for "RV Training Videos" in Google, RV Education 101 made up 4 out of the first 6 listings. What I suspected then is what I clearly now know - Dawn and Mark do a fantastic job and this is, by far, the best RV Education product on the market, and one that's certainly needed. Thanks for everything, I'm looking forward to getting my Gold RV Certification!" ~Sincerely, Brian Hogan
President, Buynana(dot)com
VP of Production, Beacher's Madhouse

At the end of the program there is a 25 question final exam. If you pass the final exam (you need a 72% or higher score) you will receive your “Go for the RV Gold” training certificate that you that you can proudly display in your home or RV. P.S. If you don’t pass the final exam, you will be given an opportunity to take it again until you do pass, so you can receive your Go for the RV Gold certificate.

National Interstate Insurance company offers a 5% safe driver discount when you successfully complete the “Go for the RV Gold” program. Just present your “Go for the RV Gold” certificate of completion to an authorized National Interstate Insurance agent.

The membership fee is only $49.95 per month for 3 months. Billing is on a 30 recurring basis until the final payment is made. This equates to only $12.49 for each in-depth weekly RV training course. When you select the recurring billing payment option you receive the a new RV training module each month. You can’t beat this low pricing for one-on-one RV education training in the comfort of your own home or RV. There is no driving to get to the training location, no packed classrooms and no time restraints.

Note: There is second payment option available where you can pay the full $149.85 program price in one payment. If you select this payment option you will receive all 3 RV modules (12 weekly courses) at one time, after payment and registration.

This program compliments our current line of RV Education 101 training dvds!

RV Links:

Own a motorhome?
Membership in FMCA brings with it a wealth of benefits and services
— all specially designed to meet the needs of motorhome owners.
The value of these benefits and services far exceeds the cost of the annual dues.
Benefit highlights

A product that Mark personally uses: Camping/RV Battery Chargers- BatteryMINDers® are the new generation of SMART, pulse type "computer-on-a-chip" chargers, that safely charge and maintain all size / type / brands of batteries including starter, deep cycle and sealed types including AGM “dry” made by OPTIMA, ODYSSEY, EXIDE, INTERSTATE, et al. They do all of this without ever overcharging, no matter how long they are left on charge – days-weeks-or even months. Dubbed the chargers with "brains," they are the first to fully-automatically reverse the primary cause of early battery failure known as "sulfation". Sulfated batteries once considered beyond recovery can now be brought back to long-term useful condition. Certain models of BatteryMINDers® can more than double the useful life of new batteries.