Special Section!

s the unabated popularity of RVing underscores, outdoor enthusiasts across North America have undergone a change of philosophy when it comes to how they opt to spend their tough-earned vacation days. While the pandemic’s impact has ebbed and airlines and cruise ships move towards “business as usual,” the RV industry continues to set high-water marks. Indeed, data-crunching firm Statistical Surveys reported a record number of retail sales for 2021 — 567,079 units — while the RV Industry Association tracked a record 600,240 RVs shipped to dealers across the continent.

Of course, you can’t pull or drive a “home on wheels” across untold miles of oftentimes suspect roads without things shaking and sometimes breaking — an act that’s been described as akin to subjecting a home to a continual earthquake. And when that happens, it becomes apparent that owning an RV isn’t quite the same as a traditional home, where you can pick up the phone and dial a service shop for fast relief when the furnace or water heater goes on the blink. You can — but what you’re apt to discover is that you’ll be going without the comfort such components provide until your scheduled appointment…oftentimes, weeks away.

There is another option. RV Enthusiast was founded on the belief that common RV “emergencies” can be easily addressed by owners equipped with basic tools and the knowledge of how to maintain, repair and even upgrade their rigs. Sure, there are certain systems that demand the expertise of a certified RV technician — but you don’t need to call one when your shower door is leaking or your four-legged travel companion tears up the screen door.

That’s also why the editors of RV Enthusiast started the weekly newsletter RVExpert — to deliver solid technical advice to readers throughout the year. It’s not a medium for dissecting extensive repairs but how to address the myriad “little things” that can impact a vacation. And when we began fielding requests for assembling many of the most popular tips into a single source, it just seemed to make sense to package them into an issue of the magazine. Some of these tips have appeared on the pages of RV Enthusiast previously — though we’ve culled them down to essential “how-to” information — while others have never been seen on these pages before. All are intended to help take the edge off dealing with nagging little things before they grow into major headaches — because a stopped kitchen drain or leaking sewer hose shouldn’t prematurely end your long-planned escape from the rigors of daily life.