et’s talk about icebergs for a few minutes.

Yea, I know — it’s the middle of summer. Who wants to think about overgrown ice cubes when your air-conditioner is having a tough time keeping up with the temperature outside your rig? But it’s precisely now, when you are using your RV — or, possibly, looking for one after having finally decided to start enjoying the outdoors — when you oughta be aware of your immediate surroundings.

An iceberg, if you remember your high school physics class, behaves just like that cube in your evening drink — it’s a solid, but it floats, because it’s about 9% less dense than the water around it. That said, its density also means 90% of floating ice is under the surface, and as any ship’s captain knows, it’s not only what’s visible that will hurt you — it’s what you can’t see. If he were around, no doubt Edward Smith would concur (he was the captain of the Titanic — and that’s the limit to your history lesson for today).

The same is true with recreational vehicles. There are plenty of things that can — and often do — go wrong with an RV, and many of them portent even greater maladies. Fortunately, they also often tend to reveal themselves long before real calamity strikes. Being able to recognize such problems will go a long way to alleviating major repairs down the road.

here’s no denying that Mother Nature is capable of throwing a curveball on occasion. Sometimes these occurrences are oddities — like snow in Florida — while other instances they have a very real impact. One such impact was the recent winter cold weather snap in Texas. I recently had an extended conversation with tech support from Champion Power Equipment, during which they said the company had been inundated with calls about generators not starting during the Texas winter power outage.

On a less-critical level, this same thing is happening now when so many RV owners are taking their travel trailers out for the first time in more than a year. And to a large extent, the problems can be traced to poor maintenance.

Generators Need TLC
What’s the common thread here? Well, according to tech support, many of these generators have sat unused with gas in their tank for two years or more. What then happens is the gasoline evaporates out of the tank and carburetor, turning into a varnish. And no amount of carb cleaner is going to fix that. Fortunately, it really doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to maintain your AC genset.

ntry doors are taken for granted — and often neglected. Let’s face it, a door is as forgettable as it is functional. It has one job: To allow you to easily enter and exit your RV. Not surprisingly, trailer- and fifth-wheel entry doors are pretty bland from the factory. However, Lippert has introduced several aftermarket products of late that make entry doors and screens more convenient, private — and protected from pets who love to plow through the lower screen or, at least, paw the material to death.

Our door transformation started with replacement of the window with a snap-in frame counterpart that can be fitted with a Thin Shade pleated privacy “curtain.” From here, we installed the Screen Shot auto-closing mechanism for the attached screen door and, finally, added a Screen Protector mesh panel to the bottom section of the screen door. None of these projects was particularly difficult, but you’ll have to spend some time reading the clearly presented instructions to avoid making mistakes. Installing all three products will take about an hour for anyone with a moderate level of mechanical aptitude.

oud noises are always disconcerting while RVing, but when they originate at the hydraulic systems driving the leveling jacks and slideouts, owners — especially newcomers — tend to freak out. Popping noises — which can oftentimes lead owners to believe system failure is imminent — are not welcome, and in most cases are virtually impossible to identify. This condition is a common problem experienced by RVers with hydraulic leveling jack systems, but occasionally hydraulic slideout room mechanisms. In extreme cases, this sound can be quite loud and unnerving, but the good news is that the problem can be traced to couple of different sources — and anytime you can track a problem down, you can fix it.

Cause
Due to the high pressure necessary to operate hydraulic leveling jacks, micro bubbles in the ram section are the leading cause of the popping sound. A companion problem is caused by static friction or “stiction.” The noises may come and go, leading one to think the problem is going away, but they will usually return. Fortunately, these noises do not lead to system failure, and there is a simple fix that was initially circulated by Lippert, the leading supplier of hydraulic systems to the RV industry.

think it was 1979 or 1980. My family was attending a horse show in Farmington, Connecticut, in our Winnebago motorhome, and it was a rainy day as I recall. My grandparents, who lived nearby, were visiting, and mom was cooking up appetizers in the galley. The wonderful aroma of home cooking that day — of Hickory Farms sausage and sauce in the pan — are indelibly recorded in my mind. The ability to have a family gathering in a field with all the comforts of home is an amazing experience, a feeling that many RVers can connect with.

Manufacturers do their part by equipping contemporary RVs with the same sort of appliances that are critical to meal prep in a traditional brick-and-mortar home — though they are a bit different. And, all things considered, they are amazingly resilient. However, time does take its toll, especially on equipment subjected to constant pounding during travel, and RV appliances do require more upkeep. Properly maintained, though, they should continue cooking up memories for years.

f all the activities loved and shared by RVers, campsite cooking has got to rank near the top. There’s nothing like the communal feeling of gathering around a grill or fire with loved ones and collaborating on a memorable meal. However, sometimes time constraints or uncooperative weather make galley cooking more convenient.

That’s okay. RV appliances have made great strides in just the last few years as manufacturers continue to adapt appliance components and functions we’ve grown accustomed to in brick-and-mortar homes to mobile living quarters. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need to buy a new RV to take advantage of newer galley products — most contemporary RV appliances are available in the aftermarket and, with some work, can be incorporated into most any older RV.

Our 2005 Lance Lite 1025 camper is a case in point. Used by RV Enthusiast editors as a test bed of sorts for different products, it’s been a workhorse — but it looks it. As the “Lite” version, it only came equipped with the necessities, and the years haven’t been kind to the standard white-toned appliances. Worse, it had obviously been neglected by its previous owner(s). The range, for example, suffered from stains, broken components and signs of rodent infestation — and, as was often the case a few decades back, it was equipped with a recycling range hood rather than one that vented to the outside.

V owners rarely pay attention to how many times they have gone in and out of the entry door, climbing and descending the folding steps, not to mention how many times they pushed them in and pulled them out. As long as they continue to do their job, that’s all that matters. Over time, however, the joints holding these steps together will wear out and eventually fall apart — usually at an inopportune time and sometimes making a fall and injury possible. Even if that never happens, the bigger 3- and 4-step models have a tendency to flex and bounce, which many RVers find disconcerting.

If you have compromised entry steps or would like a quality upgrade, Torklift International offers a practical system for all RV trailers and fifth wheels. This versatile and flexible step configuration, called the Smartstep Glowstep Revolution, requires no drilling to complete the installation and will adapt to almost any terrain once deployed.

To start with, Torklift designed an upper pivot point that has three positions for raising or lowering the top step, which provides a level surface — and the space between the top step and the entryway into your trailer is reduced to provide an easy transition without losing one’s footing. The steps have a 7.5-inch rise height, which is claimed to be the shortest in the industry. In addition, the lower section has an additional five adjustment positions via all-terrain landing legs that can easily be adjusted individually to give the best possible support. Perhaps best of all, you will no longer have to tote a portable folding step or a bunch of loose lumber in your storage compartment to enable safe passage into and out of the trailer.

everal years ago while RVing along the east coast of the United States, I planned a visit to Assateague Island. I am a true nature lover, which means I thrive on spending time in the outdoors and photographing wild animals, flowers and scenery. Mother Nature teaches us something new every day, and there are many ways to soak in the beauty of the outdoors, either through hiking, kayaking and canoeing, bicycling, birding or even gardening. To that end, while searching the National Wildlife Refuge System’s website (fws.gov/refuges/), I discovered Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, located on Assateague Island. The National Wildlife Refuges are quite inexpensive to visit (generally $3-$5 daily) and will also accept the America the Beautiful Federal Recreational Lands Pass (Golden Pass). A Senior Pass to the National Parks is also acceptable to enter National Wildlife Refuges, as well. Assateague Island was once part of Fenwick Island, a barrier island off the coast of Maryland. Barrier islands often change in shape and size due to coastal storms and conditions that affect their landmass. In 1933, a hurricane hit Fenwick Island and separated the area into two islands, creating an inlet between them. Assateague Island was named for the tribes that had lived in the region at the time of the European invasion of explorers. Following the hurricane, jetties were built to keep the two islands separated and to create a navigational channel.