Must you be a Handyman (or woman) to enjoy RV'ing - I say Yes

Reading the forums on topics that include broken appliances, parts, tires, frames, finishes, etc.. causes me to reflect on my own years of experience with just about every type of RV; the common thread = maintenance is way of life. Preventative maintenance can greatly reduce incidents of failure and disappointment; while, some break downs are imminent, your knowledge of your RV components and systems is necessary for continued enjoyment of the lifestyle as well as peace of mind.
Lots of posts talk about the long waits on dealer lots for service, while others just fix it and move on. Also, we all have different levels of mechanical experience and there are some things that only an experienced shop can fix, but most of what I read could have been dealt with at home by a person with minimal mechanical ambition.
Some personal examples:
-My cabinet finish looked good, but almost immediately any water on the surface would cause a white spot. I was able to cure this with an outdoor clearcoat that was not hard to apply and now after 2 ½ years, no more problems.
- After less than two weeks of ownership, I had several water leaks. I got down and started tightening every joint I could find and have had zero leaks since that hour or so of snugging up fittings and drain pipes.
- I was never happy with the roof ladder support and when the factory wouldn’t help, I added two sets of the stand-off supports, which now gives me a much more stable ladder.
-A good exterior surface protectant application can keep the finish shining and decals looking like new. I use Rejex and that works great for me.
-Using a torque wrench, I’ve checked and re-checked/tightened to proper torque spec wheel lug nuts, pin box mount, axle u-bolts. I’ve found quite a few nuts well below torque spec on more than one occasion during the past 2 ½ years. Failure to keep these to proper spec could cause other problems on the road at inopportune times.
-My refrigerator drain hose quickly deteriorated and from this forum I discovered how to easily replace it, which I did with a better quality vinyl hose.
- I had a recent front jack switch failure somewhere in Texas. I sat down and read some things and gave it some thought, then removed the switch and fabricated a jumper wire to actuate the hydraulic ram. I found a replacement switch a week later, but in the meantime was able to continue our travel.
**There are some other examples, but my point here is that had I not been able to address these items myself, I would have spent many hours of travel to the dealer, hours of waiting time, and many headaches. I am by no means a mechanic, but do read my manuals and have followed suggestions for maintenance and troubleshooting.Things anyone can do.
This all came to the surface yesterday when I was talking to another Heartland owner here in Arizona. They have had their Big Country just under one year and were two weeks out on their first long excursion of six months. During our conversation, he mentioned two separate trips to the dealer to fix a water leak and an exhaust fan issue that turned out to be a bad ground wire. He was also unaware of the need to check torques on his wheels and other points I mentioned earlier. I suggested he check his torques when he said he had a torque wrench (Unaware of needs but had the wrench?). I finally showed him my crude preventative maintenance notes that I got from reading my manuals. That’s when he told me he had never read the manuals and wasn’t sure where they were!
We got off the subject and finished up talking about pets and scenery.
Arguments can and have been made that RV manufacturers could do a better job, and dealers could do better, standards could be higher and owners shouldn’t have to deal with some of these things; some manufacturersare better than others, that’s why we should do our homework when shopping. In the meantime ……………….
Bottom line, do your best to bone up on your systems and how to take care of them for peace of mind in your RV’ing journey.

Well put. It's the same with a sticks & bricks home. You can either maintain and repair it yourself or pay someone else to do it.

A little known thing I've heard tell of "Pride of Ownership."


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Amen. I do all my own maintenance and remodeling at home, all except what I can't buy since I'm not a "certified " technician for anything. Therefore it carries over to my rv, my boat, my cabin, etc. you get the picture. Lots of info and how to in manuals and online. Most of what was mentioned in the previous post is not rocket science.


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As a female and a bit of a tomboy all my life, I like working on projects with my hands. Thanks to reading the forum every day, and nearly every post, I know a lot about our rig. And, what to watch for, before it happens! So little fixes and maintenance don't scare me.... Thus, I think we've enjoyed our overall rv experience more than some others.


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I wouldn't say must, but it sure helps and saves an awfully lot of grief and frustration.

Everything I know about fixing things or making things has been self-taught and/or gleaned from various sources. If I can't figure it out or it takes more tools, time and energy than I have, it gets fixed with the checkbook. Fortunately, that form of "repair" doesn't occur too frequently.

MT and others, well said. The only difference between a S/B and a RV is. My S/B's does not go bouncing down the road. If you can't fix anything on either things.....boy are you going to need DEEP pockets. I told all my kids...if you buy a house....you better know how to fix things or get 3 jobs to pay for it to be repaired. I think the 'OL Horn is easier to maintain than a house.

A few years ago the city of Austin had a water conservation program where they bought homeowners up to 3 new low-water toilets. The catch was that they didn't pay for installation. I called a couple of plumbers and found that installation of 3 toilets would be quite expensive. I did it myself. The first one took almost an hour. The second and third took about 30 minutes each.

When our oven broke, I replaced the front panel control board myself - easy peasy. When the furnace igniter broke, I found an online source and fixed it for $30 instead of paying a $150 service call and $150 for the part, which is what the local guys wanted.

I can't imagine having to pay someone for every thing that needs to be done in the house.

Same in the RV, except that most repairs take a long time and cost a lot.

I agree, when we went from a simple no slide trailer to our Big Horn the first major fix it job I had were cabinet doors, about 5 of them had the hinges fall off, then the pantry which would open all the way and last of all the kitchen slide which wouldn't open. Since then there have been many more things. Reading this forum and another one have provided me with a wealth of information and is sort of like a security blanket. I've tackled things I probably wouldn't have done, but with forum encouragement I fixed them.

I'm like JohnDar, most of what I know has been self taught, or gleaned from somewhere. I've learned a lot about RVing mainly from this forum, or in person from some of the folks here, plus from other sources. It may not be or look professional, but it works, and is passable, at least my building inspector (DW) is happy with it. Seems like every time my son wants to go fishing, I'm working on the camper, or house, & have tools all over the place, but I'm getting things done & maintaining my investments. When something goes wrong, nothing gets fixed by blaming someone, & complaining about it, I just jump in & fix it, or attempt to fix it. When it seems to be going wrong, I have different people to ask for advise on how to fix it.

Terry,

Great thread - thank you. Like Bob, I too find my RV home easier to maintain that the S&B home. As my RV Home is a factory owned demo, people may think I don't have to make any repairs myself. Not true. In fact, since I moved to TN, it's super inconvenient for me to take my coach to the plant for repairs. As such, I fix nearly everything myself. Or with the help of my RV friends. And I really enjoy helping others make repairs or modifications to theirs.

I grew up as a blue collar / hands-on guy - so I have a good foundation of concepts, experience and knowledge. And each year, through my own RV trials, those of others and reading thousands of posts on this forum and others, I expand my knowledgebase and therefore my potential capabilities.

For those who follow me on Facebook or my blog, you know that just this morning, I rolled up my sleeves and implemented a temporary suspension repair. I've got little slack time built into my schedule. So no time to wait on repairers to come to me or me to limp to them and wait.

For those who don't possess some level of skill or desire to make even the smallest of your own RV adjustments or repairs, I say "learn what you can, from anywhere you can". With that theoretical knowledge, you'll be able to tackle the small things. Fix a few small items and you will gain confidence that "you can do it". And down the road, you can tackle larger issues. Then slowly, that feeling of helplessness lessens.

Happy camping y'all!

LOL! I have the best of both worlds...I learn everything I can here on the forum, and then explain to DH how to fix the problems that crop up!! We love our Landmark!!

For those who don't possess some level of skill or desire to make even the smallest of your own RV adjustments or repairs, I say "learn what you can, from anywhere you can". With that theoretical knowledge, you'll be able to tackle the small things. Fix a few small items and you will gain confidence that "you can do it". And down the road, you can tackle larger issues. Then slowly, that feeling of helplessness lessens.

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At the Durant rally last month, a number of us pitched in to help someone with plumbing issues. Among other things, we removed his water heater from the coach to change the check valve (it was on the doorside with no easy access). I know it turned out to be educational for me and probably for many others. I now have confidence that if I ever need to pull the water heater on my unit, I can do it.

Come to a rally and wait for someone to break out a toolbox.

danemayer said:

At the Durant rally last month, a number of us pitched in to help someone with plumbing issues. Among other things, we removed his water heater from the coach to change the check valve (it was on the doorside with no easy access). I know it turned out to be educational for me and probably for many others. I now have confidence that if I ever need to pull the water heater on my unit, I can do it.

Come to a rally and wait for someone to break out a toolbox.

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And we also changed out the ice maker line in that same unit. That was my first. Like you, I love doing this sort of stuff. So educational.

Yesterday I was changing out the wet bolts, Neverfail Bushings and Equiflex on the Bighorn.
And I learned again. But not about the suspension, I've done this kind of stuff before.
I learned that all of those "special" words that I've learned throughout life do not ease the pain when you smash your hand with a lead hammer.

Peace
Dave

Between the Heartland forum and Google you can get info on how to fix just about anything. My years of experience repairing office equipment showed me that sometimes the hardest part is figuring out how to get at the broken item. Once you know that the repair is easy.

Funny Dave...
As a kid I enjoyed working on cars and rebuilt my first Chevy 265 V8. It was then that I learned the connecting rod caps had to be oriented. Jobs I had before the navy were all mechanically related and after Uncle Sam sent me home I returned to the auto field but leaving a few years later for "cleaner" work. I then spent near 30 years in the warehousing and distribution industry.
I still did everything I was capable of on my own vehicles including campers. Like JohnDar, a lot was self taught. Now that the Internet is here it's pretty easy to figure new things out through Google or other search engines. I do all I can to repair things on my own. Another limiting factor causing me to do it myself is money. Fees from the pro shops are really high so to save money it's a no brainer.
What hurts is there are times my physical capabilities and shop equipment are limited. I ache for a day or two after jobs that require me to get down on the floor and git er done. Next week I'll be replacing wheel bearings on our 08 Town and Country that's a couple of weeks out of warranty. Bearings on line are less than $100 each and at the dealer closer to $200. Not to mention their labor charges.
An added bonus, it keeps my brain healthy learning and figuring out new stuff.

cookie said:

Yesterday I was changing out the wet bolts, Neverfail Bushings and Equiflex on the Bighorn.
And I learned again. But not about the suspension, I've done this kind of stuff before.
I learned that all of those "special" words that I've learned throughout life do not ease the pain when you smash your hand with a lead hammer.

Click to expand...

Ouch! I assume you did this after our phone conversation. Thanks for giving me confidence before I "went in". Sorry about the smashed hand - yikes!

bsuds said:

Between the Heartland forum and Google you can get info on how to fix just about anything. My years of experience repairing office equipment showed me that sometimes the hardest part is figuring out how to get at the broken item. Once you know that the repair is easy.

Click to expand...

and don't forget youtube lol I have enjoyed this forum and friends to fix things on our trailers that I know would have taken the dealer weeks waiting on parts and costly labor to do I don't know everything but I am willing to learn and not afraid to read , watch, and just get er done on my own and with help from knowledgeable friends thanks all....

If you do not know what you are doing and want to learn Terry Cooper (RV Professor) offers a RV Repair course which is a 1 week hands on course teaching you about all the different systems on your RV. It is not free but you do get a certificate and allows you to be compentent in troubleshooting and repairing your own as well as others (maybe make a little $) RVs. You can find out more about this course at www.workkampers.com Also what has been said about doing your own repairs is right on target. example: The toilet in our daughter's Trail Runner developed a leak where the water line attaches to the rear of the toilet. Upon inspection the molded to the toilet fitting was split. We found a Thetford toilet at the local RV dealer for $180.00 (on sale). She took removed the two nuts holding the toilet to the floor, removed the broken toilet, mounted the new toilet, tighten the two nuts and then had me cut the water line to size (the old one was too long), mount a new fitting and attach the water line. Repair was completed in about 20 minutes. If we would have called a RV repair person to do the repair it would have cost $75 trip + $95 and hour labor + $300 for a new toilet + $25 misc supplies + $50 for new water line and fittings. Add it up and you will find the RV repair guy $545 versus DIY $195 (taxes included). So the moral is Do It Yourself is usually the best and cheapest route.