I’ve spent many weekends of my life camping throughout New England, but as someone who belongs to more of a backpacking and car-camping family, the world of RVs was completely foreign to me before I began my position as a marketing admin at Pete’s RV Center about a month ago. In the weeks that I have worked here I have learned more than I could have imagined about campers.

1. What does RV stand for?

This is probably obvious to some, but I really didn’t know! RV stands for Recreational Vehicle. But what can be classified as an RV? 

2. Motorhomes, teardrops, pop-up campers… all of the above! 

Before I started here, I thought “RV” was synonymous with “motorhome”, and that trailers and pop-ups were “campers”. However, all campers are RV’s, and all RV’s are campers! They are interchangeable terms that apply to any trailer or vehicle that has living accommodations. 

3. RV Dealerships can be “exclusive” with one manufacturer 

An RV Dealership may be partnered with one specific manufacturer, so all or most of their new inventory must be of the same brand. In South Windsor CT, Pete’s RV Center is Jayco exclusive. This is great for Jayco fans because our lot has the largest inventory of Jayco RVs in the area and we can show potential customers many different types of units and floorplans of their favorite and most trusted manufacturer. 

4. Hidden features everywhere! 

The first time I opened the door to a seemingly tiny teardrop camper, I was amazed! What looks like it would barely fit a small mattress makes the most of very little space by having incredible design features such as hidden storage, multi-functional furniture, outdoor kitchens, and more. Some even have bathrooms and refrigerators! 

5. All the floorplans 

RV shoppers truly have the luxury of choice when picking out the best camper for their family. Once they land on a manufacturer and the specific model they are looking for, they can then browse through many different floor-plans to pick and choose the features they love. For example, many families with young kids prefer a floorplan featuring a bunkhouse for some extra sleeping space! 

6. Everything is a bed! 

Even if you don’t find a camper with a bunkhouse, chances are there will be more sleeping room in your camper than meets the eye. In addition to a bedroom, many campers have features such as convertible sofas and dinettes. This is a great way to save space in your camper while still providing the option for your friends and family to come along with you on your camping trips! 

7. VIN Numbers 

A quick fun fact that I found interesting when I started here is that motorhomes commonly have two VIN numbers – one for the chassis manufacturer and the other for the motorhome manufacturer, as these parties are frequently different.  

8. Generators

How you will power your RV is definitely something important to consider when purchasing your new camper. Some units have built-in generators, while many others do not. If your RV does not have a generator included, check out this video for some tips on how to choose which generator is best for you.

9. Batteries

Speaking of generators, I was very nervous the first time I had to hook up a battery to a camper. It’s not rocket science! As long as you are careful not to touch oppositely charged cables together, it is very easy and safe. Batteries also have built in safety features to prevent extreme damage to the unit (or harm to you) if you make a mistake. You’ll most likely be down a battery though, so be careful!

10. The size!

When I first stepped into a Class A motorhome, I was shocked at how spacious the living accommodations were. Some of the largest motorhomes can be between 300 – 400 square feet with the slide-outs extended – that’s bigger than some studio apartments!  

While I do still love car camping and backpacking, being immersed in the RV industry for a month has shown me a whole new side of camping that I knew very little about before. Pete’s RV Center can help campers find their perfect new travel-sized home so they can live comfortably in the beauty and excitement of the outdoors. 

In today’s video, Randy talks you through some of the basics of surge protectors, and explains why he highly regards Power Watchdog line of surge protectors from Hughes. https://hughesautoformers.com/power-watchdog-smart-surge-protectors/

Transcript:

Hey, guys, Randy with Pete’s RV TV today. Today, I want to talk a little bit about surge protection. So, something that you guys may not know about me is I’m actually an electrician by trade. So, every RV dealer has a guy like me who has been around for a million years and he is kind of the fix it guy or the go-to guy, where the hard questions usually gravitate towards that gentleman. I’m that guy at Pete’s RV. So, they’d be coming to me. But the thing that I bring to the table as I just mentioned is I used to build custom homes and I am an electrician by trade. So, when it comes to the electrical side of things, I really know what I’m talking about from my former life. So, I’m the guy that they bring in when they talk about surge protection and what kind of surge protection that we’re going to carry as a dealer group.

I’ve played with them all. I’ve played with all the big names out there, and we have ended up with the Hughes Watchdog. Hughes makes an incredible product. I’ve actually met with the owner of Hughes, gentleman named Pat. He’s actually a friend of mine now. And the product that he brought to the table I felt was so far superior to the other stuff out there, we took it on. And as I learned more and more about it, I just kept knowing that I made the right choice because it is a great product. One of the things that the Hughes Watchdog does is it protects us from surge. So, if there is a lightning strike down the road or nearby, this is going to protect anything that’s coming in on those negative lines, on the ground wires, or the high voltage is coming over on the positive side of things. Nothing will protect you from a direct lightning strike, but if there’s something nearby and you can be protected from it, the Hughes Watchdog is definitely going to do that.

One of the really cool things about the Hughes Watchdog is protecting you on those surges, is it actually the Joules, the absorption material that takes those hits is replaceable, where with the competitors, it is not. Once those Joules of that absorption portion of the surge protector is worn out, you need to replace the whole detector. Where this guy here, we can just replace the absorption of the Joules portion of it. The Power Watchdog is going to run at equal or better than its competition out there. When it comes to absorption, they’ve actually just changed. So, depending on when you purchased, they’re offering a little bit more than they once did, which again is in line or better than the competitors out there.

The other thing that the Hughes Watchdog does for us with the EPO, emergency power off, and this is probably going to come into play more often than we would with the typical surge on it, is low voltage, high voltage, reverse polarity or no ground. It is going to protect us from all that. All very important things. This guy will shut power off if it doesn’t like something. So, at 103 volts, so say on a busy weekend at a campground, we can see very low voltage. Everybody gets to the campground, everybody throws on all their air conditioners or electric hot water heater. The griddles go on, the coffee makers, everything that you need to go camping that we brought from home, we bring to the campground and we turn it on when we get there, which can actually put campgrounds into a low voltage situation or a brownout.

When I say brownout, I mean below 103 volts. So, electricity is an amazing thing. Electricity will still function at low voltage. It will still pass at low voltage, but at low voltage it creates high amperage. High amperage creates high heat. High heat will prematurely wear out your electrical components, especially your inductive loads like your air conditioner motors and things like that, things that are very expensive to replace. So, with the EPO here, it will protect you from that. It will actually shut power off, not allow power to pass if it doesn’t like something, or it’s in a spot where we feel that it’s damaging your coach. When we can throw this thing into alarm here, also has Bluetooth, so it’ll go to your phone. So, if you’re within Bluetooth range of the Watchdog, it will come right to your phone.

I’m going to hook this device up to my phone right here. And if you can zoom in on this, Cam, we are going to see the incoming voltage on both legs of that 50 amp Watchdog. I’m not pulling any amps right now, because I’ve got nothing plugged into it. And the frequency in North America is 60 hertz, so we’re running right there where we’re supposed to be on that. Let’s throw this thing into an alarm so we can see it come up. So, I have just removed the ground from the Watchdog. We can see the Watchdog is turned red, but immediately it has hit my phone as missing ground. And has actually shut power off going through the Watchdog, so no power is passing to the camper right now. And I have an alert on my phone within Bluetooth range saying what’s going on.

And it will work for you whether you’re in Bluetooth range or not, but it will tell you what’s going on if you’ve got it tied to your personal device. Once power has been restored or it likes what’s going back on, in about 90 seconds it will just make sure that everything is safe and then it’ll allow power to pass again. So, that’s how the EPO works. No ground can put you into a hot skin situation. So, very dangerous situation. And again, why it doesn’t want to pass, high voltage above 132 volts, doesn’t want to see that. It will shut power off. Low voltage below that 103 that I referred to earlier, it’s going to shut it off.

So, this thing is going to work continuously for you to protect your investment and make sure that you don’t end up in those service bays, which we all know are a little bit cumbersome to get into and sometimes take longer than what we’d like to get back out of them. So, I recommend the Hughes Watchdog for any camper out there. I personally like the hardwire version, because it is working for you all the time. It is wired permanently into your camper. It can’t be stolen. It is not in the elements. It can’t be damaged for transport. So, the hardwire version would be my recommendation and definitely the Hughes Watchdog. Thanks for watching Pete’s RV TV with Randy today. I look forward to seeing you on the road.

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Pete’s RV Center is an exceptional dealership group serving the United States and Canada since 1952. With multiple locations, Pete’s RV provides sales, service, parts, accessories, and education to our community of RVers all across North America.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTNG7AfrL5X2TfjZP3TdKeA

Pete’s RV Center is delighted to sign with US Lighting Group as a Cortes dealership. Our Vermont, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Virginia locations will all carry Cortes Campers’ state-of-the-art, fiberglass travel trailers. 

These units are ultra light-weight and have four season capability—with an interior and exterior shell of molded fiberglass, they are models are constructed without any wood or carpet. Meaning no corrosion, mold, or rot in your camper.

Cortes Campers are built like a boat—durable and strong, ready for an adventure.

Currently in stock, with more models on the way, is Cortes 17. This travel trailer, which comes in an array of vibrant colors, is 17 feet long and 8.11 feet wide. It sleeps two with a rear dinette that converts into a double bed. At its middle sits an additional, smaller dinette, as well as a kitchen with a sink, 8.0 cu ft fridge, microwave oven, and three burner stove. A bathroom and closet space are at Cortes 17’s rear. 

Cortes 17 also has double pane acrylic windows, a marine gelcoat, anti-skid floors, all stainless steal fasteners, plug and play wire harnesses, and a patented gray water dump system.

View our current selection of Cortes Campers:

✦ New England ✦ Virginia ✦ South Carolina ✦ Indiana ✦

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Learn more about Cortes 17’s additional features and add ons here! 

In partnership with Leaf + Linen, nuCamp has recently introduced the Signature Series Tab Teardrop Camper. Leaf + Linen is an Ohio-based clothing and home goods company with a clean, elegant aesthetic—offering a ‘calm, restorative feeling’ to this new edition of the Tab trailer. 

This unit follows the same layout as their current 320S teardrop floor plan with a front galley kitchen, adjacent wet bath, and dinette that easily converts into a sleeping area at the rear. 

On the exterior of the Signature Series Tab is a metallic vinyl of Leaf + Linen’s letter and pictorial mark—giving the interior room to reflect the brand through its serene palette of coastal teal cushions, sandy driftwood flooring, and alabaster countertops. 

The 2023 Signature Series Tab Teardrop Camper includes standard features of a Tab camper, such as the Alde heating system, central AC, Nautilus water management system, and Goodyear tires. This unit, however, sets itself apart with wood cabinetry that has the premium feel of typical Class B motorhomes.

“We aimed to combine the quality nuCamp build with Leaf + Linen’s clean style and sophistication,” says nuCamp CEO Scott Hubble, “to make a travel trailer you will fall in love with every time you walk in.”

Contact our New England, Virginia or Indiana locations for information on acquiring your very own Tab Signature!

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Learn more about the Signature Series from nuCamp here.

Pete’s RV Center is elated that Brinkley RV’s luxury campers will be joining our extensive inventory. Brinkley currently offers two models—Model Z 3100 & Model G 3500, with more on the way. Model Z 3100 is a mid-sized fifth wheel with, amoung many features, has H-rated Cooper tires, flush floor slides, and class-leading 79.5″ bed & bath interior height. Model G 3500 is a luxury toy hauler that ‘offers dozens of intelligently designed features, an automotive exterior, and a true residential interior’.

Brinkley RV is owned by Ryan Thwaits, Ron Fenech, Micah Staley, Bill Fenech, and Nate Goldenberg, who came together with years of respective RV experience to build a brand that focuses on customer satisfaction. They say, “Due to the industry’s noticeable shift in focus away from customer experience and product design, [we] saw a unique opportunity to recreate the RV experience for dealers and customers”. Brinkley aims to put customer feedback at the center of their production work to create campers that are truly for their audience.

Check out the current selection of Brinkley RV’s in our inventory.

If you’re familiar with nuCamp, you may easily recognize their teardrop, clamshell, or cirrus campers—all uniquely shaped travel trailers designed to accommodate those interested in an off-the-beaten-path type of camping experience. These RVs are compact, easy-to-tow and the epitome of tiny-living. 

This line-up will soon have company as nuCamp is finally sending their long-awaited Barefoot travel trailer off to production. Diverting from the brand’s usual style—this camper has a bold seaglass colored exterior and round fiberglass body. It sets itself apart with its ‘retro-chic’ aesthetic and more spacious interior.

This is an incredibly unique product we are sure you will love!

nuCamp CEO Scott Hubble

nuCamp initially announced plans to manufacture Barefoot in 2019 when they partnered with the British company Barefoot Caravans. It took two years to “Americanize” the trailer for North American patronage due to COVID restrictions, and the first official unit was produced only this past December. 

The brand is excited to finally release this product now that they’ve finished fine tuning. nuCamp CEO Scott Hubble says, “Our goal was to take the beautiful UK Barefoot and transition it to the U.S. market. We wanted to maintain the look and feel of the unit all while adding in components and features the North American market has come to think of as a standard. The high quality you have come to expect with all the nuCamp products will be no exception with the Barefoot. This is an incredibly unique product we are sure you will love.”