The different sounds of living in an RV - and your interactions with animals.

Seren · Apr 20, 2014

As a newbie to the world of living in an RV, I found that there are different sounds, or level of sounds to get use to. Some are obvious such as the water pump, a louder AC (compared to our S&B). Some I found interesting like how loud rain sounds on hitting the roof, and some takes a while to figure out, such as when it is windy the topper over the bedroom slide rattles against the slide, which sounds like a squirrel walking on the slide (I even thought that it might be a bird nesting between the topper and slide).
Just like knowing all the sounds of your car/truck, I am sure there are sounds that you have never heard before and know that something is wrong. What sounds are the "that is not good" sounds that I should check out right away? And speaking of birds, what are some interesting animal interactions that you have experienced (anyone actually have birds trying to nest on their RV)?

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JanAndBill · Apr 20, 2014

Wait till you encounter a hail storm in one!!!! You don't know the true meaning of being in a barrel untl you do

ziggy · Apr 20, 2014

Birds will nest in your pin box and make quite a mess of it.

Kristy

MTPockets · Apr 20, 2014

ziggy said:
Birds will nest in your pin box and make quite a mess of it.

Kristy

One time, after being startled when cleaning around the pin box, I bumped my head when a bird flew out right by my face. I cleaned out the nest (no eggs) and stuffed plastic bags in the space so they wouldn't do it again.

ziggy · Apr 20, 2014

Mark has had to stuff ours full of things to keep them out. They have been persistent this year.

Kristy

jassson007 · Apr 20, 2014

ziggy said:
Mark has had to stuff ours full of things to keep them out. They have been persistent this year.

Kristy

I have had a persistent bird this spring and he even got mad at me for tearing down his nest. He flew in one day with pieces just as I was pulling his earlier work out and looked at me like what are you doing to my nest. He flew up to a nearby branch and squawked for a few min and has not been back.

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Ellie · Apr 20, 2014

We had some very persistent barn swallows building underneath our slides at the lake where we park our Bighorn for the camping season. I found the only thing that worked was to hang a windsock with streamers at each end of the slides. (I had to trim some of the streamers so they didn't drag in the dirt.) The windsocks also worked like a charm on our boat lift, where we constantly battled the swallows building under the canopy. I just buy the cheapest dollar store kind, and replace them every spring.

dbbls59 · Apr 20, 2014

I had a small bird make a nest in the insulation under the fridge vent on a SOB. I've had many make nest in the pin box.

olcoon · Apr 20, 2014

Have had several birds try to live in the pin box. Some friends of ours had bees take up residence in there & even made it inside the camper!

StarryNight · Apr 20, 2014

A sound that you may want to investigate would be "metal-on-metal"...example would be when pulling in or taking out your slides. This happened to me just a couple weeks ago when I was about to do some spring cleaning in the rig. DH said the gear rails needed to be lubed...so I got the special spray and walked around to all slides & took care of it (he made a point to tell me to NOT get it on the hydraulic mechanisms). I had to go through the motions twice: spray, bring slides in & out...spray again...but it worked and now it sounds like it should.
Also, we had birds in the pin box area...DH got a heavy wire mesh, like a piece of "fencing" and bent it in such a way (like a box missing 2 sides) as to fit all around the area...haven't had a problem since

We did buy mesh wire covers for the vents that run along the kitchen slide for fridge...they can be found at Camping World...to keep critters like bees/wasps from making nests.

Seren · Apr 20, 2014

monica-don said:
A sound that you may want to investigate would be "metal-on-metal"...example would be when pulling in or taking out your slides. This happened to me just a couple weeks ago when I was about to do some spring cleaning in the rig. DH said the gear rails needed to be lubed...so I got the special spray and walked around to all slides & took care of it (he made a point to tell me to NOT get it on the hydraulic mechanisms). I had to go through the motions twice: spray, bring slides in & out...spray again...but it worked and now it sounds like it should..

What was the "special spray" that you used for the slides?

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Seren · Apr 20, 2014

Wow, I was half joking about the birds, since I would have thought that the close human activity would be a enough to keep them away, unless of course that most of these occured when the RV was in storage and not being used for months at a time.

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MTPockets · Apr 20, 2014

Seren said:
Wow, I was half joking about the birds, since I would have thought that the close human activity would be a enough to keep them away, unless of course that most of these occured when the RV was in storage and not being used for months at a time.

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Our nest was there in just few days at fairly busy campground.

Ray LeTourneau · Apr 20, 2014

One sound that scares the bajesus out of me is a close lightning strike. I mean within 50 feet or so.
I think the roofs that are now full laminated are noisier than the old style of bat insulated roofs. We had a Class C with a laminated roof and even light rain was pretty noisy. they seem to transfer sound better.

Seren · Apr 20, 2014

JanAndBill said:
Wait till you encounter a hail storm in one!!!! You don't know the true meaning of being in a barrel untl you do

Ahh, that's why they now have rubber roofs - the hail just bounces off

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scottyb · Apr 20, 2014

In my case, the bedroom AC serves as sort of a "white noise". I occasionally return to my rig and am surrounded by loud noises. I sleep like a baby with the AC going and don't hear all the activities going on outside.

priorguy · Apr 20, 2014

This doesn't apply to 5er owners but the terrible sound a friction sway bar make when wet. Sounds like the rear axel of the truck and frame are twisting to their death.

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Seren · Apr 20, 2014

scottyb said:
In my case, the bedroom AC serves as sort of a "white noise". I occasionally return to my rig and am surrounded by loud noises. I sleep like a baby with the AC going and don't hear all the activities going on outside.

Ahh, great idea. Well then it is a good thing that my Landmark has a bedroom AC. Remember the words of Yoda "White noise, good it is - sleep you may"

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StarryNight · Apr 21, 2014

Seren: the "special spray" is a product made by Protect All and is called slide-out dry lube protectant.

Seren · Apr 21, 2014

monica-don said:
Seren: the "special spray" is a product made by Protect All and is called slide-out dry lube protectant.

Thanks, sounds like something that I should have a can of...

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The different sounds of living in an RV - and your interactions with animals.

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