Pete’s RV

Cross Country RV Road Trip Tips

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There’s nothing more exciting about RV travel than the famous cross country road trip. But how do you plan such a large endeavor through so many states? Here are some helpful tips.

The Ultimate Cross Country Motor Home Trip Guide | Road trip planner, Rv road trip planner, Travel planner
  1. Decide what you want to see. There are awe inspiring tourist destinations all over North America, but it can be overwhelming to choose from the surplus of cities, National Parks, and so much more. A good place to start is pinning the destinations you want to see the most, no matter how far apart they might be. Even if they don’t all make it into your next trip, it’s good to keep your options in mind for down the road. 
Which Entrance to Yosemite Should I Take?
  1. Calculate expenses and days. Once you have your destinations in mind, you’ll need to figure out how many you can get to based on how many days your road trip will be, and how much you have to spend on it. A good app for calculating gas prices all around the country ahead of your trip is GasBuddy, which also locates the cheapest gas stations in your area as the trip goes on. Too many destinations, not enough days? Time to get clever with routes and timelines. 

  1. Plan that route. Roadtrippers.com has an excellent road trip planning tool to add in multiple stops and stays along your journey. It can show you which destinations are going to add a lot more time to your route and which are easy stops along the way, making a helpful visual calendar of where you’re going and when.

  1. Check up on your vehicles. Your RV and your towing vehicle, if you use one, for any wear and tear or neglected issues. A good tune up at the mechanic will certainly help, as you will especially want a fresh oil change before putting in hundreds or thousands of miles on your RV or truck. 
Ridetech Archives - The Engine Block
  1. Pack intelligently. Before you go, make sure you have the essentials, such as a good First-Aid kit, clothing appropriate for the weather wherever you’re going, sunglasses for driving, reusable water bottles, and your AAA membership and car insurance and registration information. Extra snacks and books are also great choices. 

The most important step of any road trip is to have fun and enjoy the destinations, and especially enjoy the ride. For more RV tips and news, follow our Pete’s RV InfoBlog today!

Maintaining Your RV’s Roof

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Out of sight, out of mind is not a cliche that should be applied to RV roofs. They should be cleaned several times per year, and inspected for any potential issues.

During cleaning, scrub your RV roof with a medium bristle brush, or any other brush recommended by the manufacturer. You can use a cleaning liquid while doing this, but be sure not to use cleaners made with petroleum solvents, abrasives, or citruses, as those will weaken the strength of the roof materials. 

After scrubbing, rinse the whole RV thoroughly, both roof and exterior walls. Any grime dripping off the roof will go down the exterior walls, and if not rinsed, will leave ugly stains. 

Inspecting the roof while cleaning is vital, and should be done thoroughly. Check all sealants and seams, skylights, vents, and roof rack for mold and cracks. Fix any rips or tears immediately, before they snowball into other problems. 

To passively protect your RV roof from weather damage, keep it away from weather, and avoid the sun! RV storage facilities are ideal for protection, but RV roof covers will separate the roof from the elements. Be sure to use a proper RV roof cover and not any other kind of tarp, which can reduce airflow and result in mold.

At Pete’s RV Center, we have all of your RV maintenance needs in mind. Visit us at petesrvcenter.com to find a location near you!

How to Check Your Travel Trailer for Maintenance

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Whether in the middle of a camping season or after a long winter, inspecting your travel trailer for any maintenance needs is a vital component of keeping your RV healthy. Here’s a helpful checklist of what to look for when you’re checking out your RV.

  1. The Roof. Look for any holes or cracks where water could possibly enter the RV, damaged sealant, soft spots, damage to any solar panels, or mold. Just like a house, a damaged roof can bring down the whole RV. 
  2. Walls. Check the interior and exterior of all walls for cleanliness, holes or cracks, warping, which indicates water damage, sealant leaks around the windows, and soft spots.
  3. Tires. The date the tire was made is stamped on the tire, so inspect that and the general condition of the tires, which can erode if left uncovered. Look for uneven wear patterns between the different tires, which could indicate a bent axle. While you’re at it, check your axles for holes and rust. And don’t forget to inspect your spare tire!

  1. Underneath the Travel Trailer. Often overlooked by those unwilling to crawl under the RV, the undercarriage’s condition is fundamental to holding the RV together. Excessive rust, holes where animals could enter, dangling or disconnected wires, accident damage or a bent frame, or any visible holding tank issues are a few important things to look for. 
  2. Outside Connections. Power, cable, water, and sewer connections should all be routinely inspected, because you don’t want to go without any of them! Check if the water leaks out of the connection point, or leaks during water tank dumping. 
  3. Driving Components. Lights, brakes, turn signals, and the emergency disconnect switch should all be checked on to avoid hazardous driving. 
  4. Propane Tanks. The tanks collar will state the year they were manufactured, and propane tanks must be recertified once they are over 12 years old, and every 5 years after that. Make sure you don’t smell propane when the valves open, which indicates a leak in the connecting hose. Replace your tanks if they’re rusty or turning a dark color. 

For more RV maintenance tips and tricks, follow our Pete’s RV Center Info Blog today!

Pete’s RV Center to Break Ground on 7th Dealership Location

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On September 1st, Pete’s RV Center owners Todd McGinnis, Chad Shepard, and Scott Borden announced plans to start construction on a sixty acre parcel of land located in Saco, Maine.

The Vermont-based company is planning to break ground in January 2022 and be completed in early 2023. The Maine dealership will be Pete’s RV Center’s seventh location, and will be a state-of-the-art facility with a spacious showroom, parts and accessories store, and service center with multiple bays.

Pete’s RV Center – Maine is set to carry a wide variety of travel trailer, fifth wheel, and motorhome brands, including Jayco’s full lineup.

Saco, Maine is just four miles from Old Orchard Beach and 17 miles from Portland, both iconic destinations for RVers.

“Maine is called ‘Vacationland’ for a reason.  We’re thrilled to get the opportunity to become a community fixture in the Saco and greater Portland area, plus be surrounded by amazing campgrounds, beaches, and national parks,” remarked Pete’s RV co-owner Chad Shepard.

Along with the flagship store in Vermont, Pete’s RV Center has dealerships in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and South Carolina.

For more Pete’s RV news, events, and inventory, check out https://www.petesrv.com/–location-maine today!

Boondocking on a Budget

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boondocking (noun) — RV camping without being connected to water, electricity, or sewage, usually in a remote or wild location. Synonyms: dry camping, free camping, wild camping.

What Is RV Boondocking? - Gander Outdoors

One of the most exciting ways to go RV camping, boondocking can be a great new way to spice up your summer. But are you prepared to ration supplies, go without WiFi, and camp off the grid? The Dyrt magazine has a comprehensive guide to all things boondocking, check it out below!

Boondocking: The Complete Guide to Free Camping (Almost) Anywhere

At Pete’s RV Center, we’re here for your RV adventures! Find your next RV or schedule a service appointment at petesrvcenter.com today!

How to do Laundry on a RV Road Trip

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One of the big mysteries of full time RVing to those who don’t live on the road is how do full time RVers do laundry?

The easiest way is the laundry machines often placed in RV parks. One RV blogger said that “I can count on one hand the number of RV parks that didn’t have laundry machines.” Despite this frequency, not all RV parks have enough laundry machines for the number of RVers within the parks, and not all RVers stay in RV parks! Additionally, hunting down all the quarters required to use a park laundry machine can be a struggle in an increasingly cash-less world, especially with the sometimes high cost of laundry machines. 

Mountain View Campground in Morrisville, Vermont boasts many amenities along with laundry machines

Another solution is using a local laundromat, typically easy to find on Google, but not always found in remote areas. Most laundromats do have a machine for getting quarters though, making it easier to stock up for more washes down the road. Some even have laundry machines that can be activated with a credit card swipe. 

Not every roadtrip situation offers the flexibility to wait around on laundry machines, though. That’s why many RVers have gotten creative with portable laundry devices. 

This portable washer-dryer has two neighboring tubs, one for washing and the other for spin drying. It takes up to 10lbs washing capacity and has a drainage tube for emptying the dirty water, and runs off the 120v power similar to most RV refrigerators. Most reviewers do say that after the spin dry clothes are still damp though, so an additional investment of a drying rack is also recommended. Keep in mind that many RV parks do not allow outside clothes lines to dry your own clothes. 

A smaller personal laundry option without needing to use your RV’s precious electricity is the Scrubba, which is popular with backpackers. It works by filling the bag with laundry, water, and detergent, rolling the bag down and clipping it, twisting the valve to deflate, then rub the clothes on the Scrubba’s internal washboard for anywhere between 30 seconds and five minutes. You then unclip, pour out the water, and rinse clothes with fresh water in the Scrubba, and they are now clean and ready for the drying rack. 

Perhaps the most luxurious RV laundry option is having washer and dryer hookups within your RV, which is becoming increasingly popular in luxury fifth wheels. The laundry cycle can take a few hours this way, and you won’t be able to do this while boondocking, as it requires a lot of power and water, but is temptingly easy if your RV is plugged in one place. 

No matter how you keep your clothes clean on the road, Pete’s RV Center has all of your RV camping needs in mind. Follow our infoblog today for more RVing tips, tricks, and news!

Maximizing RV Gas Mileage

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The roadtrip of your dreams in your own RV is an inexpensive way to see the world, without the pricey hotels and restaurants that can raise travel costs. But beware, the cost of gas can raise roadtrip rates significantly. Here’s some strategies for limiting your pain at the pump. 

Start Small

If you’re looking to purchase a RV, consider an upgrade–in the form of a downsize. Small RVs often pack in just as many features and amenities into a less gas-guzzling frame. There are more options than ever for smaller RVs, including micro travel trailers that are several thousand pounds lighter than most towable vehicles. 

Jayco Jay Feather Micro

If you’re shopping for a motorized vehicle, Class B RVs such as the Jayco Swift are exploding in popularity. The size of a standard van, they are by far the most fuel efficient–an easy to park–motorhome. 

Jayco Swift

Turn off the engine

Idling is the worst way to burn fuel, and very environmentally destructive. According to the jayco.com blog, “a test performed by the Edmunds.com automotive staff showed a fuel savings of up to 19 percent by shutting the engine down at each stop (10 stops) during a 10-mile test drive, rather than letting the engine idle during the two–minute stops over the same 10-mile, 10-stop test route.” 

Be smart about cruise control

Using cruise control on those long, mostly flat stretches of uninterrupted highway can save both your foot and gastank. However, keeping it on in mountain filled areas will force the vehicle to use extra gas to maintain the cruise speed, wasting lots of fuel as the engine speed rises to climb the mountains. 

Pack Efficiently

Fill that huge water tank at the campground. Buy groceries near the campsite. Leave behind everything you don’t really need, because camping is about keeping it light and having fun anyway. 

How to Achieve Extended Hot Showers When RVing

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How to Achieve Extended Hot Showers When RVing
Thursday, September 8th, 2016 18:16:23

Pete’s RV Vermont Service Writer and Resident RV Expert Randy Murray provides a step-by-step overview on how to achieve extended hot showers in an RV.

Video Transcript for “How to Extend Hot Water Showers in Your Camper”

Randy: (singing) Hey folks. Randy with Pete’s RV TV here today. Another quick fix segment for you. When you’re camping, do you go to take a shower, do you get about three minutes of good, hot water? And then it starts to go lukewarm on you? And of course your hair is full of soap, and you haven’t rinsed off yet? Happens to me too, but I’ve got a trick. So when we’re camping, different camp grounds have different water supplies. Some of them will have very deep wells. Some of them will have shallow wells. Usually on a deep well, the water coming out of the ground is very cold. This can happen at the spring of the year as well, when the water feeding that well is very cold. So what my trick is for that is I will, when I’m having that problem, I’ll fill my fresh water holding tank. And when I take a shower, I’m actually going to turn the city water off, and I’m going to turn on my water pump and feed the water from the fresh water holding tank.

The reason I do this is the water coming in from a very deep well is mixing with the hot water in your tank, as long as you don’t have a tank-less hot water heater. So it’s mixing with that warm water in the tank and it’s bringing the temperature down very quickly. And we’re also taking water out of the top, so as that cold water is mixing with the hot, it’s going to bring the temperature down. Where if we’re taking it now out of our fresh water holding tank and mixing it with that same hot water in that water heater, it’s going to be ambient air temperature coming out of that fresh water holding tank entering the hot water heater. Rather than the real cold water from the city coming in and cooling down our water a lot faster.

So if you’re looking for a little bit longer shower to get that hair, or that soap out of your hair, fill the fresh water holding tank when you arrive. And use the fresh water holding tank rather than the city while you’re taking your showers. Then you can go back over to city after you’ve done your shower. But that will give you another minute or two of warmer water to get rinsed off. So just another quick tip from Randy at Pete’s RV. Thanks for watching our quick tips segment, and I look forward to seeing you on the road. Happy camping.

The video of this presentation by Pete’s RV Center is available at: https://youtu.be/rljtuXYgpvk?list=PL90E8009ADFC48C0F

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.

How to Program Your RV TV

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How to Program Your RV TV
Friday, July 1st, 2016 15:23:13

 

Pete’s RV Vermont Service Writer and Resident RV Expert Randy Murray provides a step-by-step overview on how to program your RV TV.

As Randy explains, as you travel you will begin to pick up different TV stations depending on the region you are in. You will continually need to reprogram your TV as you arrive in a new television marketplace. Randy provides you with a step by step guide on how to set up your TV and boost your reception so you won’t have to miss your favorite shows while on the road!

The steps to programming your TV as you travel explained by Randy include:

  1. If running on open air antenna find your camper’s TV booster and turn on your antennas extra power setting (not necessary to do when utilizing cable)
  2. Open the auto channel search menu on your TV (refer to your owners manual if unsure how to do so)
  3. Select “auto channel memory” on your TV
  4. Start your TV’s automatic search mode and let it run until complete

To learn more from Randy as well as stay up to date on all things Pete’s RV be sure to visit and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

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.