New Gadgets for the RV

Since this was the first conference of any type that we’ve been able to attend, since going on the road, there were several things that we saw in the vendor showcase that we felt would be beneficial to us. One was the flow-rite battery fill system. Our “house” batteries are under the top step of the stair well we no longer use so it’s a real pain to uncover to check each month. Smitty, that sold these systems, hooked it up so it routed over to the bay next to the stairwell…so no need to dismantle the steps to get to them.

I just hook the bulb pump to the connector (that you see in pic on left), place other end in bottle of distilled water and pump until the bulb is hard and accepts no more water. Each cell has its own sensor to know when the right amount of water has been added so you can’t overfill the cell. And since the two batteries are hooked up in series, in about a minute’s time, all cells are filled and the job is done.

One of the primary causes of short battery life is a failure to maintain proper water level. I try to check mine every 6 weeks or so but, as a full-timer and the constant charging (percolating of the cell) they need to be checked monthly. Now I can do the two house batteries and one battery in the engine compartment in a couple of minutes time. Maintaining the proper level of water can extend the life of your battery. Overfilling causes the acid corrosion to form and is a problem just as lack of water is. It’s a fine balance to fill to the precise level. I’m thrilled to have this new system on the rig and we can take the system with us if we get a new rig down the line.

Ok, for any RVer out there who has been in a park with low water pressure (that is about 1/3 of them), we know how it sucks to try and take a decent shower when the water just dribbles out of the showerhead. Fear no more ! We had other RV women at the show tell us how awesome the Oxygenics showerhead was and they even invited me into their rig to show me but holy cow, until I watched the before and after, once I installed it…..wow ! The swirling action of even low pressure water makes it come out forceful. Even on the water pump, it was great Monday night. Shower pressure isn’t a big deal to Linda but she didn’t want to get out of the shower after I installed this new head. Uses less water than normal head and about 6x more force. Awesome !

 

Had a Road Performance Assessment done on the rig by Henderson’s Line-Up out of Grants Pass, Oregon. We have some handling issues with the rig, mainly failing to track well in the front end (wandering) and sway in the rear end. We had them install a Safe-T-Plus Steering Stabilizer on the front, which has made a huge difference. Many of Henderson’s products are parts they have designed themselves for RVs to made handling better and safer. The stabilizer always makes the steering want to return to center so it’s not wandering all over the road. Even if you have a blow out, they claim that the steering wheel will track straight and not veer off the road. We also should have a rear sway bar put on but they did not have them at the show. Perhaps down the road we’ll have that done.

Also bought some more of my aero wax (they had a bottle of concentrate at a special price and it takes up much less space in the rig and makes a gallon). Bought two floor mats for the garage to get the dirt off before getting in the house. Got three fire extinguishers after Linda went to the fire safety class and got the crap scared out of her. Linda found the class to be very informative. If you see us climbing out our bedroom window some day, we’re probably just doing a fire drill. Damn, but it’s a long way down.

Bought some heavy duty velcro straps and won two great camping chairs in a silent auction. Those other ones I wrote about a while back that folded up small …don’t buy them. At least two of them have broken and although the manufacturer sent two more, at least one of the new ones has broken. Great, compact size but a poor design. 

Think that’s it. It probably is a  very good thing that we can only get to these types of events every five years or so after what we spent at this one. More next time on the classes and fun things we did at the conference.