RV gadget catch-up - things we've been loving
Catch-up on RV gadgets
Discover the latest RV gadgets that can make camping, traveling, and life on the road easier, safer, and more enjoyable. In this podcast, we take a look at some of the new RV worth considering, what they actually do, and how they can improve your RV experience. Whether you’re a full-time RVer, weekend camper, or new to RVing, this episode is packed with ideas for upgrading your rig with the latest RV technology and accessories.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our new WeighSafe Flapjack stands and shoe scraper - use coupon code STRESSLESS
AirGear Mini Link Starlink power system for trailers
A nifty case for a Starlink Mini
The Camco TastePure XL RV water filter
Our MaxXair Pivot vent fan
The water flow meter we bought on Amazon
Our new PrimeRV sewer hose from the people who brought you Liquified and Liquishine - use coupon code STRESSLESS15 for 15% off your order
Our bike holders and ramp
Bike Stand - https://amzn.to/4jvyfP4
Front Wheel Stand - https://amzn.to/46H7H67
Ramp is from Harbor Freight
Our story about our new Nautilus RV shower door
The motion-sensing battery-powered lights we put in the cabinets of our RV
Our Lippert Picnic Popup Gazebo review
If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.
We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.
Our collection of resources for RVers for StressLess Camping
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 379
Tony
On this week's episode of the Stressless Camping RV podcast
Peggy
We relish the chance
Tony
To see if we can cut the mustard
Peggy
And don't get ourselves in a pickle
Tony
As we catch up on some of the RV gadgets we've gotten lately.
Peggy
I also have not really an RV review, but an RV to talk about
Tony
Yes, she does. And you can find the links, show notes, and all of that at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com, and if you're watching on YouTube, linked below.
Peggy
We really appreciate your likes, your shares, and your joining us this week for episode 379.
Tony
Stressless Camping.
Peggy
Stressless Camping.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
Peggy
In that Rockwood Mini Lite
Tony
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips
Peggy
Tricks
Tony
And discounts.
Peggy
I almost wanna say we live part-time.
Tony
Oh my gosh, right
Peggy
Because right now we're not really traveling. We've been sitting almost in the same space, well, d- directly in this same space for abo- a month or so.
Tony
Yeah, it's the longest we've ever sat-
Peggy
It is
Tony
... in the, you know, any one place.
Peggy
And we're just living life as though we are living life. Nothing really changed. We're not, you know, on a permanent vacation or anything like that. We're just working from a different location.
Tony
Yeah. This week, one of the reasons that we're here, we came for the Frog Rally, and we got to see some of you.
Peggy
Yep.
Tony
Uh, and then the next big thing was Hershey, which I didn't go to.
Peggy
No.
Tony
And then after that is a thing called RV Open House. And what RV Open House is, is it's where the RV manufacturers basically bring all their new models and invite dealers from across the US to come and see what they need to buy next, and it's a four-day event and it's only open to dealers, but we're very fortunate, as brand ambassadors for Rockwood, we got a pass to get in. So next week, here's a shocker, we will be sharing a bunch of the new stuff we saw with you, so that's, you know, put that in your pocket and- ...
Tony
keep it, as it were. But we can't wait to see. There's a lot. We're gonna see a new manufacturing process.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
We're gonna see some new rigs that are really out-of-the-box thinking. Uh, so-
Peggy
So this is not, I m- this will be a lot of upcoming RV reviews also, of course.
Tony
Yeah, full reviews.
Peggy
But that's not the only thing that this is good for for us, because they do it, you know, they have the vendor group-
Tony
Oh
Peggy
... and the different locations, and we've been invited to a couple different locations. That's not just only looking at new RVs.
Tony
Right.
Peggy
So it's very exciting.
Tony
It is. So anyway, that's the deal. This week, as we said, we relish the opportunity to share with you some of the stuff we've bought recently, new RV gadgets that really have been making our lives a little bit better.
Peggy
Going to ABC Upfitters does not have to be a one and done. We talk a lot about upfitting at ABC Upfitters, and sometimes a power package, or if it's not a Rockwood product, I think that has a different name, but sometimes you'll get the lithium and solar system built into your RV. But maybe you want more. Maybe you want bigger. Maybe you want newer. And that's when you come back and instead of upfit, you're gonna upgrade, and that is what Mike is doing with this Geo Pro.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yes, I am. So thank you, Peggy. So what we have is h- this customer came back. He is changing his AC that he had, a, uh, a Mach. He's changing it to a Firion Chill Cube, which is more efficient, cuts half the time, so he'll get more runtime on his, uh, his battery. Uh, he also came back, got a couple extra different stuff, customer preference, that we installed for him. Uh, but along with these upgrades, he's getting, he had three solar panels. He's adding another one for number four. Even if you had three, you wanna, uh, size of your roof, you wanna add three more, we can go six.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
If you have a 60 amp MPPT, uh, that'll max that out. If you have a 25 MPT, we can go up to a 60. That's another upgrade that you can have. Um, gosh, battery-wise, a 460, you can add another 460 to it. Uh, another, uh, popular demand this year has been the, uh, the 1250, the 100 amp hour batteries. Um, you get three, four, you can put those in a install. Um, then you can go up to, uh, six. Um, you just keep coming back and, uh, you can just add on.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
There's just so much you can do, uh, add on and upgrades to this product, uh, to the system. It's, uh, very prone and, uh, I mean, it's kinda endless, you know?
Peggy
Yeah.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
So, yeah.
Peggy
Yeah, I know we've-
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yeah
Peggy
... come back from our original power package. We came back and got the DC to DC converter installed.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Mm-hmm.
Peggy
Then we came back another time and got the rail lights, when you started doing rail lights.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yep.
Peggy
Which are standard on Rockwoods now.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yep.
Peggy
And but if you don't have a Rockwood and you didn't get 'em standard, come to ABC and get-
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yep
Peggy
... those. And, uh, the bifacial solar panels are starting to become a thing, so the-
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yes, they are
Peggy
... the, kind of a little better solar panel.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yep.
Peggy
So again, there is no end to the number of times that you can come back and upgrade your ABC power system.
Mike Zarse - ABC Upfitters
Yep.
Peggy
Do you have e-bikes? Do you tow a travel trailer? Does that make it difficult to carry your e-bikes? We have used totes for quite some time. Never was the perfect solution. We both had to lift the tote up into the truck. Things got banged up a little bit. So our friend Steve and Kathy, Steve Royce particularly, built a rack system for the back of his truck to hold his Lectric e-bikes, and we took that inspiration, but we're no builders. You all know that.
Peggy
And so we found some- ... racks on Amazon, some bike racks, that we thought might work perfectly, and we were right. Tony was right. Uh, this is gonna be my first time taking this bike out of the truck. He put them in by himself. I should be able to take them out by myself. Uh, but because I don't really know what I'm doing, Tony's gonna walk me through it. I know that first I'm gonna need a ramp to roll the bike down upon.
Tony
We bought that ramp at Harbor Freight, and I think it's a dirt bike ramp. Boy, it's really... Before you pull it all the way out, the legs here have, like, a rubber coating, and it just, it really grips the truck bed well. So I'm gonna let you do the honors. There's also handles on it.
Peggy
Oh, I see that. Okay.
Peggy
Ner, ner, ner. All right, so it's folded in half. I'm just getting a feel for it. This goes to the ground, or this goes to the ground?
Tony
Uh, I think this goes on the truck, the rubber. Uh, you know, to, like, griptionize the truck.
Peggy
That makes sense.
Tony
Griptionize.
Peggy
Griptionize.
Tony
That's the... Oh, wait, let me back the camera up a wee bit.
Peggy
Okay, that's an easy unfold. Now let me just get it in place. As Tony said, this rubber makes this really stick well. The next step that we learned is this was, like, super really stable, especially, you know, out on the ground before we put it in the truck. But just for an extra added benefit of stability, Tony found these great bungee cords.
Tony
Also at Harbor Freight.
Peggy
Also at Harbor Freight. They have a clip on the end. They're a ball bungee, and they-
Tony
And they're adjustable
Peggy
... are adjustable, yeah.
Tony
They're really neat.
Peggy
So you can make them longer or shorter as needed, and they are great. They're just gonna hold the bike closer to the wall so that they don't fall into the center.
Tony
Yep.
Peggy
Okay.
Tony
Okay, here comes the fun part.
Peggy
The fun part? That makes me nervous.
Tony
It shouldn't. It's very easy.
Peggy
We're gonna take out this front rack or back rack or whatever it's called, the small rack, that's just, again, just holding everything stable and upright. Easy-peasy.
Tony
That was an Amazon purchase.
Peggy
And now I should just be able to grab something and roll this bike right out. I'm gonna put the handlebar up.
Tony
Yes, I'd put the handlebar up. So we wanted to do this, just have Peggy do it so you can see, and of course, after more than one time, it's easy.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
At least that's what it says on the internet. Okay, I'm gonna move the-
Peggy
Okay
Tony
... camera again.
Peggy
And now, in theory, I'm just gonna roll right down this ramp without crashing.
Peggy
Would you look at that?
Tony
Yeah. It's... I'm telling you, this is the great solution.
Peggy
And we're out. So what you can't really see, because it's dark inside the truck, is the front rack or back rack, the big rack, and it has a rocking mechanism that flops down when you pull the bike out. Then when the wheel rolls into that mechanism, it rocks back up to hold everything in place. We'll put some pictures up, but really super good, high quality. The bikes just stand without a kickstand in those on the ground. I knew that this was gonna be a good solution.
Peggy
I am super pleased with it. I am glad that Tony had all the pieces when he needed them, when we had a big storm and I wasn't here to help put the bikes into safety. I am super pleased with this. Apparently, Tony drove around Elkhart like a maniac, trying to get the bikes to fall over.
Tony
Hey, you gotta test everything thoroughly.
Peggy
And they did not fall over, so I think it's a good road test. Plus, we carry so much other stuff that we'll put between the bikes, like chairs. We don't anticipate them going anywhere.
Tony
Yeah. One of the good things is the way we have the bikes, we have one on either side of the truck and are flighted, and the chairs and totes just fit in the middle perfectly. It's, it's really a good solution.
Peggy
So we have, if you... I don't know if you can see them, but we have the big totes that we use to put the bikes in.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Not really to get rid of those totes, but we've gotta get them home somehow, so they're just gonna sit there in the way, I guess.
Tony
Yeah, and block my view when I'm backing up, but oh, well.
Peggy
Well, maybe we'll figure out a way to... If we lay them down and put other things in them, maybe that'll work well.
Tony
Maybe. Okay, so the next two gadgets we have are all for the Starlink Mini. The first thing is a case that we found for the Starlink Mini. This was on good old Amazon. And it's a really convenient little way of carrying this. It's, it's pretty. So it holds the Starlink Mini, and then there's a flip top, and in here is the cable, the power supply, and the pole mount, and we can mount the Starlink Mini pretty easily on the flagpole that we have.
Tony
You're saying, "Well, but to power the Starlink Mini, is there a good off-grid solution?" And there is, and we have an article about this at stresslesscamping.com. So this is from our friends at AirGear. It's called the Mini Link. And you might say, "Dude, that looks like a seven-pin connector." And effectively, that's exactly what it is. So the Mini Link plugs into the seven-pin on your trailer, fifth wheel, or, uh, travel trailer, then it draws power from that- And you just plug the Starlink cable into the Mini-Link, and now you've got power for the Starlink right off the 12 volt system of your fifth wheel or travel trailer.
Tony
It's a great solution that Rich came up with over at AirGear, and we have an article with a link to how you can find this thing. But it's, it's just such a simple solution to a problem that a lot of people have. So the Starlink case is in Amazon. The Mini-Link is, uh, from our friends over at AirGear. Very simple, elegant solution. The next gadget we have is a new TastePure water filter from Camco.
Tony
And Camco has redone their water filter, so they're like a six-stage water filter all in one, and they have the regular one and then the XL. We bought the XL, and what we've found is that the flow rate, how much water's coming out of the faucet, is really good with this.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So it doesn't seem to block. Okay, but we have notes. So apparently it's a six-step filtration, including a sediment filter, but more importantly, there's a component in there that's, like, antimicrobial to keep it from getting moldy between uses. So the idea is you drain it, y- it's still designed not to get mold.
Peggy
But if you don't drain it, it's not designed not to freeze, and we learned that lesson- ... from a previous filter. You, if you're gonna store over the winter, and you're gonna leave your filter... Sorry, there's a bee. If you're gonna leave your filter in, you know, in storage inside the RV, make sure you get that filter dried out and no water in it because we didn't realize we had frozen-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... the water filter until Tony put it on to use it, and it literally exploded.
Tony
It literally exploded. Which was entertaining, but... And it was loud, too.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So we had been using a different brand of filter, and we've talked about it, and we've liked these Camco TastePure, this new version, enough that we've switched. And it's a simpler solution 'cause it's just one piece. By the way, these are also certified to be lead-free.
Peggy
Okay.
Tony
And they're made in America, so 'Merica, baby.
Peggy
All right. Okay, so this is a trick that most people already know, but we use this brass elbow on the fill port for the city water hookup, um, which helps keep a little bit of the pressure off of the hose and off of the fill port. And then we have, we found, you know, after market, this little plastic cap that we'll screw in there because the cap that came with it won't, won't reach that new elbow. So we have this cap that screws into the bottom of the elbow on a silicone leash, and it's just a very handy way to keep everything neat and clean, but keep that elbow on there so that we always have it for use.
Tony
One more water gadget, uh, is this flow meter. What this is, is it just basically tells you how much water you're using, and this is useful. So let's say you're filling your tank, and your tank is 45 gallons. You can monitor this so that you don't overfill, which is bad. Let's say you want to only put 10 gallons for the road.
Peggy
Then you know how many gallons you've put in.
Tony
Yeah, it's just a little inexpensive gadget that I think is, is... It's not essential, but I like having it.
Peggy
Is it battery operated?
Tony
It is battery operated. It uses the 2032 battery, like half of everything else.
Peggy
Oh, like everything else we own.
Tony
Yeah. And one of the neat things, I picked this one because there's a button on it, and it'll, you can see the display either way. So if it's-
Peggy
Either way
Tony
... upside down-
Peggy
Oh, upside down.
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
Oh, interesting.
Tony
And then you can do, uh, different, like-
Peggy
Liters instead of gallons
Tony
... total-
Peggy
Or something
Tony
... yeah, liters. Uh, you can do the flow rate, like how many gallons per minute.
Peggy
Oh, nice.
Tony
Uh, you can measure, like, an accumulated, you know, like, oh, at this campsite we only used five million gallons or whatever. So anyway-
Peggy
That's this campsite
Tony
... it's just, yeah, it's just a little gadget, but I like this kind of stuff. And I can even see Mary and Shelly and Dave.
Peggy
Oh, Romper Room.
Tony
Our next gadget- ... is our new gravity sewer hose from our friends at Prime RV. Prime RV used to be Liquified and Liqua-Shine, and now they're Prime RV. They still have Liquified and Liqua-Shine.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
But now they have this new gravity sewer hose. It's really high quality. It's, uh, it's-
Peggy
We've been using it for a couple weeks.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
It's been really good
Tony
It's designed to be crush-proof. There's an elbow that comes with it, and there are caps at the end of the hose. And we have one of these hoses attached to our kitchen tank and one acro- uh, attached to our black and gray tank, and the h- the cap just kind of is for in between.
Peggy
I love that it has the cap on there because there are, of course, bugs everywhere. There are little, like, ground squirrels or something that run around here, and the last thing I want is for one of them to decide that that's a burrow and be up inside there. I guess we'd be flushing it down the drain when we... But any- I don't want that. So the other end, of course, is attached to the valve, and this end would otherwise just be sitting there on the ground open. So I love that these came with caps for both ends of both hoses.
Peggy
So you've got kind of four caps all together, and that way whatever happens to be laying out on the ground, or when you're done using them, you can close them off so that they don't leak that little bit of water that's left in them
Tony
Another thing I noticed is that the plastic they use for the bayonet fittings-
Peggy
Oof
Tony
... seems to be like smoother or I don't know. It's just really easy to attach and detach. So whatever that plastic is, it's got like some good slipperiness built into it.
Peggy
Yeah, whatever it is, it's not as hard as most brand new hoses. You know, you've gotta have like a wrench and four strong guys to help you turn that,
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... to get that bayonet over those little tabs, and this one has been going on really easily.
Tony
Yeah, we're, we're super pleased with this. Well, so far everything from Liquified-
Peggy
Oh, absolutely
Tony
... or now Prime RV, has been really good, so.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So these are flap jacks from Weigh Safe, and Weigh Safe is the company who makes the hitch that we like so much. But they'rere a new jack, you know, you put it under your jacks, and look at how easily they just fold up. It's a magnet. There's a magnet, and they're like some super industrial plastic, and bing, bang, boom, they just fold up really nicely.
Peggy
Anyone hungry for a flap jack?
Tony
And they come in a case, so there's a case that will hold all of those. We have five, uh, four for the jacks of the trailer and one for the tongue jack. And our tongue jack, I mean, according to the Weigh Safe hitch, it's about 1,100 pounds of tongue weight. So it's, they're super strong and you just easily put the, the thing in with the magnet. So it just like slots right in like that.
Tony
The other end, then you put them under your jacks and you are set.
Peggy
Okay, the sixth part of the five part flap jack is this shoe scraper that you can put outside your steps. It's just a plastic folded, very nice, sits here so it provides a little bit of a step, but mostly a shoe scraper so that if you're walking through the mud or something, you can get that stuff off before you go up and head up into the camper. Okay, don't tell Tony I'm here, but I have a little honorable mention. We have had this Lippert pop-up picnic gazebo.
Peggy
We just call it the screen tent, right? It is from Lippert. It is a six-sided screen tent, just pops together and apart, like folded and opened. Super easy. I can do it all by myself as long as I have one step stool to reach the center and pop it up. Uh, we have it screwed down with lag bolts. Now, all that stuff is pretty standard. What I wanna say is this baby, we've had it for a few years. We've used it off and on. We don't use it super extensively, but we do love it when there's a group that we're all together.
Peggy
Uh, maybe we wanna sit in 'cause there's a little drizzle. Maybe we wanna play a game of Swoop. And we u- u- underwent a pretty significant storm a couple weeks ago. The tent was folded inside out. It was a big mess. Uh, a couple of the D-ring straps at the bottom did rip out, but we popped it back outside, right side out, and screwed down the D-rings we've been able to, and as long as we don't have any significant wind, we're gonna be okay.
Peggy
But this thing, you know, it got a couple little holes in it, but bless its heart, it popped right back up. It's perfectly functional. Everything worked out great, and we really get a lot of use out it when we're camping, like I said, with a small group, 'cause we can all get inside there and hide from the weather. Well, we're gonna head indoors for a couple of things. Well, let's first just tell you, uh, we won't go in, we'll just make pictures when we get inside- ... about the Eriksel Pivot Fan.
Tony
Yeah, this thing is so neat. Many people have that high performance vent fan in their bathroom, especially if you have a Rockwood or Flagstaff, uh, instead of the little four-inch worthless, uh-
Peggy
Eh
Tony
... Fume Fighter fan that doesn't do anything but make noise.
Peggy
And usually over the bed is a vent, kind of that's the standard.
Tony
Yeah, unless you put a second air conditioner in.
Peggy
Well, a second air conditioner or you can usually opt, opt for a second vent fan instead of just a vent, you can put a vent fan-
Tony
Right
Peggy
... which we have always done with our Rockwoods. And then we got a call from Eriksel and said, "Hey, you should check out this new kind of fan that we have."
Tony
Yeah, so we gotta help 'em test it. And it's so neat because i- at its base form, it works just like one of those vent fans. It blows air out. But you can lower the fan and pivot it, hence the name Pivot Fan, so you could blow air out, you can blow air in, you can move the fan around to blow air on you or away from you. I- it's just really clever and it just fits in the same hole as an RV air conditioner or, uh, one of those MaxxAir fans that Eriksel makes, and it's just, it's well made.
Tony
We have just been thrilled with this thing. It works on 12 volt, so if you are off grid camping, you don't need anything special to make this work. It just runs off your battery. Hopefully you have a battery from ABC Outfitters- ... hint, hint.
Peggy
Another thing that we have inside, we, I don't know why we didn't do this four years ago or eight, six, eight years ago.
Tony
Hey, we're not the brightest bulb in the pack.
Peggy
Ah, good segue. We have a pantry, as many people do, and that pantry is pretty deep and it has three shelves. And so the back of every shelf is really dark and there's a lot of stuff back there 'cause it has to be stacked to make things, everything fit. And so we finally got a- Instead of puck lights that you have to pop on and off, and because we always seem to break those 'cause we're cheap and we don't get the best ones, anyway, we finally got motion sensored, battery operated, little LED, kind of a nightlight.
Peggy
Tony put 'em in the ceiling of each shelf, so they are set to come on, light up the shelf as soon as you stick your hand in or sometimes even when we open the door, and they have been such a help.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
It's ridiculous that it took us this long to do that.
Tony
You know, something we didn't talk about or put on the show notes, the battery powered lights, we've been using these pale blue rechargeable batteries-
Peggy
Mm-hmm
Tony
... in them, and they're just, you, you... They have their own USB connector on them, and you just plug them into USB A or C and they recharge the battery so you don't need a special charger, and they have been really good. We've bought quite a few of those pale blue batteries, and I've been very pleased with the longevity, and gosh, they're easy to charge.
Peggy
Our newest indoor gadget upgrade is a new shower door that is not made of glass.
Tony
Oh, yeah. How did I forget that?
Peggy
I don't know.
Tony
We, yeah, it's a nautilus shower door. Essentially, think of, like, your grandma's window shade-
Peggy
Bit
Tony
... kind of, but instead sideways as a shower door. So what I like about this is it's a flexible material, like a plastic type of thing, on a roller shade, so when you go in the... Well, first of all, it opens that whole shower door space.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
Uh-
Peggy
So usually the glass doors, if they're in, like, panels of three, you always have at least a third of the shower kind of blocked off where you can't get into it. It's makes it harder to clean and everything.
Tony
Right. These things, uh, it opens the entire s- opening, and the plastic has sort of a squeegee on it so when you open the shower door, it just squeegees itself off.
Peggy
Mm-hmm. Oh, hi.
Tony
Installing it couldn't have been easier. Now, truthfully, I didn't do it. We had a friend-
Peggy
We had a friend do it for us
Tony
... do it for us. Uh, because he's installed a lot of these. It's just, like, a metal frame, and it's got that VHB tape on each side. You stick up the sides, you cut the horizontal bars to fit, snap them in place, and you are done, son.
Peggy
Nice.
Tony
It's a really quick, fast, easy installation, but it's lighter than glass, it... And we have an article about this. One of our people in our mini light group, their shower door just randomly shattered. They are not unique in that. A lot of those-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... seem to.
Peggy
We hear a lot about that.
Tony
Yeah, and this isn't gonna shatter. It's a plastic shade material, so.
Peggy
So the good thing is we changed it when we didn't have to, you know? I- if, if you're at all concerned about your glass door ever shattering, don't wait. This is for straight walls. This is, I don't-
Tony
Yeah, y-
Peggy
I don't think that they have anything, they, they could never figure out the curve to a corner cut shower, but for straight wall showers, doors, this is such a fantastic upgrade.
Tony
We're super pleased, and there's link to an article with y- well, you see the pictures of the broken shower door.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
As a, when I m- handled warranties, I handled a lot of those shower doors that just randomly imploded, so.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
I don't like big pieces of glass in an RV.
Peggy
Eh.
Tony
Did you find anything you gotta get?
Peggy
We hope that we help spend your money as we love to do. A, uh, as we went through these things, there should've been a QR code, a link in the show notes for all the different items of where we got them. A lot of them are on our Amazon store. We love when you shop on our Amazon store. If you are gonna shop Amazon anyway, if you can go through our website and click to Amazon, we get, like, a penny a piece or something. We don't-
Tony
It's a tiny, tiny percentage, but-
Peggy
We get a small percentage, but that percentage all adds up, and by the end of the month we can share a cup of coffee.
Tony
Yeah. And it doesn't cost you any more.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
So.
Peggy
It's the same for you.
Tony
That's the good thing.
Peggy
We have not really an RV review because this is a one-off, although apparently it is a floor plan that is available, but the... She said it was.
Tony
No, I know. I'm just being-
Peggy
Oh, okay
Tony
... making stupid faces.
Peggy
Okay. Maybe Tony will d- has or will do a review of KZ Connects, but this project, Chassis to Classy, was done by the RV Women's Alliance, and what a beautiful, beautiful trailer, and if you are in the market for a beautiful, beautiful trailer, they are doing, I don't remember if it's called a raffle, and I don't wanna say the wrong word 'cause some things are not legal. So go to their website, here's a link, and check it out, and if you would like to be in that drawing or whatever it is for, they are going to be giving that trailer away in March of 2027.
Tony
Yep.
Peggy
Uh, it's so beautiful. I would love to have it, but, you know, where am I gonna park it?
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
I have just spent the most fun afternoon with the Women's RV Alliance, uh, with a, a group of women, but, uh, particularly Susan and Tracy. I'll have you introduce yourselves. Uh, we talked to Susan not that long ago in episode whatever I write up here. Um, forget the number.
Peggy
But Susan kinda hinted about a project called Chassis to Classy, and guess where we're sitting? We're sitting in the project Chassis to Classy. Please tell us who you are.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
I'm Susan Carpenter, and I am president of the RV Women's Alliance.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
And I'm Tracey Englemeyer, and I'm chair of the board for the Women's Alliance.
Peggy
And we, you are ready to reveal this big project.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yes.
Peggy
This must be a big relief for you. But, uh, I know it's been-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
It's a burden, yeah
Peggy
... I, I know it's been hard and exciting and every other adjective on Earth. Uh, but tell us a, just a, a brief kind of what, what am I, what am I, what do I mean, what project? What this project is.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Go ahead.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
So, you know, well, I think we need to go back a step to Drab to Fab.
Peggy
Yeah, five years ago.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, yeah.
Peggy
That's the first time I met this group.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah. I, I think we go back to Drab to Fab, and Susan had just a brilliant idea to take an RV, rip it down, and take all the ladies in the industry, all different segments of the industry ladies, um, and put it back together. And that was a, a great project. It really put RVWA on the map. Um, united the industry, as I say, because it was all different sectors, whether there was a dealership working on it, a supplier to the industry, uh, an OEM as we call it, manufacturer. You know, we had transporters.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
There was all different segments that came in. Media. Um-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Every walk of life within those companies.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yep.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yep. Whether it was, you know, somebody on the line, somebody that was uh, a CEO to-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Customer service
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
... customer service to-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
... you name it. I mean, it just was-
Peggy
And they all learned how to pick up a screwdriver and-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Saw-
Peggy
... knock out a wall
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
... they did.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
There was a lot of teaching that went on.
Peggy
Uh-huh.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Um, a lot of teaching from us to, to them, and then them to the next person, so it passed down, which was, which was great. That was, that's the fun part for me. It's kinda that teaching, you know, and giving back and, you know, they take it out and then they teach another one, right?
Peggy
Yeah.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
So makes the industry better, it makes camping better, and-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And people-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
... people in general.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
We, we got taught-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Oh, yeah
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... of who they were.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, sure.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
On a personal side of things, so the networking and getting to know people that we probably would've never met before.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Never.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And now, you know, when we see each other it's like, "Hey, how are you doing?"
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
So, um, I think, you know, we taught them how, what went into an RV.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
They taught us all about what they do and what company they work for. And it was a lot of people coming together, even competitors working side by side in a common goal-
Peggy
Yeah
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... and walking away really good friends and-
Peggy
Nice
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... enjoying what they did.
Peggy
Nice. So this project, instead of calling it Drab to Fab-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Susan comes up with the best names
Peggy
... in which, in which they took an, an older RV and-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yes
Peggy
... kind of gutted it and made it-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah
Peggy
... fabulous.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
And that was, like nothing negative to say about that RV.
Peggy
Oh, no, no, no.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
It was just, you know-
Peggy
It was just a little different
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
... it was something different.
Peggy
It just needed an update.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah. Yeah.
Peggy
And now this project is called Chassis to Classy.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Peggy
So I'm gonna say you kinda started more at the base level and worked your way up.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, so the concept vehicle. Again, I, you know, I wouldn't go by just the name of Chassis to Classy.
Peggy
Oh, sure, sure.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
I would go, you know, it, it came in to be a vision vehicle, right? So the suppliers could showcase, um, all their latest and greatest, you know, gadgets, widgets. You know, what's, what's out there? What's new? What's innovative? You know, so we could take a great base shell, right? And put all the things in that the industry wants to, to showcase.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah. And KZ RV stepped up to the plate, Thor Industries, and said, "We'll donate an RV to RVWA." And, uh, so they took it through the line. Didn't put everything in it, because we didn't need everything in it.
Peggy
Okay.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Handed it off to us. We partnered with Genesis, and Lippert is our, you know, gold and silver sponsors. And then we had I think 12 other sponsors that all came together and donated their products to make what you see today.
Peggy
Okay. So are we in a floor plan that I could buy today? And-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yes
Peggy
... and maybe it wouldn't be this pretty, but-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yes.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Peggy
I mean-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
It may not have... We're missing a set of bunks back there, but I think-
Peggy
Okay
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... that's the only thing we actually took out and didn't replace.
Peggy
Okay.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
But they, the basic floor plan-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
The basic floor plan
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... is the same.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yep.
Peggy
And so the floor plan's basically the same. I'm guessing that you didn't change, like, the wood that they make the cabinets out of.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
We didn't.
Peggy
Okay.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
We didn't.
Peggy
All right.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
At all. The c-
Peggy
So it's, uh-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
The door is changed, the wood changed-
Peggy
We'll look at everything that's changed
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... all the cabinets changed.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Changed.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, so.
Peggy
Okay.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Peggy
Interesting.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Now, are they in the same spot? Yes.
Peggy
Okay.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Um-
Peggy
But they don't look the same.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Correct.
Peggy
No.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And the door location may be a little different.
Peggy
Sure, sure.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
You know?
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
But, um, this much part. Um, the back end-
Peggy
So-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... would be a little different there.
Peggy
Yeah, we put-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
But-
Peggy
... accent walls up in the back bedroom, accent wall in the front bedroom. We changed the-
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
There's a weird cabinet that wasn't there before and a rear overhead.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
But you have bunks up there.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
We put a desk.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
A desk back there, which could be either a gaming room or a desk. Um, the front bedroom has lit closets, you know, with a nice color, deep green color. So, you know, the color concept in here is totally different.
Peggy
Okay. Great. And, and all of these, like, fancy things, like, like you said, any innovative company-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yep
Peggy
... that wanted to show off something new that they're trying out, you'll probably find it in this unit.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Peggy
So are you gonna start camping in it?
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
No. So it's, it's...
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Would.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
I wish. I would if I could.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
I would.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
But, um, you know, it's debuting on Monday during open house.
Tracey Anglemeyer - RV Womens Alliance
Expo.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
We have open house expo here. And then after that, starting Friday of next week, it will be in the hall of fame right here in Elkhart, Indiana. Anybody can come take a look at it. They can come walk through it, check it out. And you can also buy a raffle ticket for as little as 10 bucks.
Peggy
Okay.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And you can win this thing, so in March of next year there'll be a drawing- Some lucky person's gonna win this thing
Peggy
That's fantastic. This is a great, it really is a great floor plan. It's got a front bedroom. We're in the slide out that has a sofa and a dinette. Bathroom is straight across from us, and the kitchen, and then there's a second bedroom with a door that normally has two sets of bunks. But this is beautifully renovated, so it's got a set of bunks and, like you said, some kind of desk space, work space. Maybe good for home s- homeschooling or something. Or even just office space.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Office space.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
On a rainy day if the kids wanna be in the back gaming, which, you know- ... it's been a rainy day.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
That's right.
Peggy
Okay, so you're gonna raffle it off, and then you're gonna have a bunch of money.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
I'm hoping so. So it goes to our 501 [c] 3 charity, and it goes, that money goes towards... So the General Foundation is our education arm of, um, the RBWA. And it goes to our tech classes. It'll go to, towards a symposium. Um, there's, Hit Show goes in there.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Um, we do a lot of things that are, um, to better the industry, to better the workers and our members that are in this industry. And so a lot of education programs.
Tony
I love that.
Peggy
We have the Bill Stewart Scholarship-
Tony
Scholarship
Peggy
... Foundation, too.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Right, right.
Peggy
So we give scholarships out for, you know, people that can't afford to go through our BTIs technical training that we do, um, ourselves. So that's where all the money's going.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
I really love to see people that work in the industry l- learn a little bit more about what it is that they're representing, what they're selling, what they're building, what they're-
Peggy
Yeah
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
... designing. Um, and to actually get in there and use a screwdriver and take the cabinet door off, then you understand why cabinet doors are what they are.
Tony
Exactly.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Exactly.
Tony
And that's exactly what the two builds have inspired, is people that have never been in an RV before, and has never put a door on or put a cabinet in or ran electric, you know, solar system or anything else like that, they get the opportunity to learn what it's like. That betterment for the industry, because now they take that back to their job, and they have a better understanding of if their customer's calling or if they're designing a product or anything else like that. It just gives them a wealth of knowledge.
Peggy
Well, ladies, thank you so much for sitting with me and explaining this project. Uh, for the afternoon, I don't know if I can, uh, if, I, I, I'd like to, I'd like to have you say what we did today and, and how that's gonna be in the world maybe.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, so Peggy here- ... volunteered to be an actress.
Peggy
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Um, we did skits all last two days.
Tony
Yeah.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And basically what it was is if you were a sponsor of this, um, coach and gave us a product, we did a skit about the product. It wasn't a sales pitch, it was just a fun live skit.
Tony
Fun. They were so fun.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Tony
Fun skit.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
And so those will be edited, and they'll actually go out to RV TV. Um, they will be putting it in their commercials, so it'll be fun to see, you know.
Peggy
Nice.
Tony
Look for Peggy out there.
Peggy
Peggy. And then will they play at the museum with, in, in the rig maybe?
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
I don't know if they'll play that. I don't know. They did that last time.
Peggy
Put them on a TV out there.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
They did that last time, and I didn't know they did that until I walked in. I'm like, I could hear my voice. Where is it coming from?
Peggy
That's funny. That was the weirdest thing, yeah.
Tony
We could take 'em and do that. You know?
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Tony
We could, with our marketing, and we could put 'em on a reel-
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah
Tony
... and just play 'em on the TV. That would be fun.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah, that would be fun.
Peggy
How fun.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Yeah.
Peggy
Well, again, thank you so much for a great afternoon, a great, uh, RV Women's Alliance, a great project, um, and just a great group of people.
Susan Carpenter - RV Womens Alliance
Well, we really enjoyed having you out here today.
Peggy
Thanks.
Tony
Last week you were stuck with me all by myself. And-
Peggy
I was stuck in bed all by myself.
Tony
Oh my gosh, right.
Peggy
I was sick.
Tony
Yeah. But anyway, uh, we talked about getting your RV r- ready for fall, whether that's, I hope you're not winterizing and packing it up.
Peggy
Mm.
Tony
But maybe you are. We asked on our Fun and Friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group about your tips for getting your RV ready, and it seemed to center around rodents.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Which is unfortunate.
Peggy
As many conversations do, sadly.
Tony
Ugh.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And so there were a lot of suggestions, things like, uh, glue traps, snap traps, uh, a barn cat.
Peggy
Barn cats, that was Eric's, uh, suggestion. And we actually had our barn, our garage in our home base had a pretty big rodent problem this year.
Tony
Oh my gosh, it was so bad.
Peggy
And we probably could have fed a few barn cats, but unfortunately those cats might have fed the coyotes.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
And had no way to get in and out of the garage. So it didn't work for us. We've tried other methods. Hopefully you're not winterizing, although Tony's ideas were really good, just for kind of the change of seasons.
Tony
Yeah, it's just-
Peggy
Right? There's some things that you should do seasonally. We have a checklist for that. And this would be, like, kind of the season. Even if you're gonna continue to camp, here's a good time. It's, it's, quote-unquote, "officially fall" now. Might as well just do those things and get them off your list.
Tony
So the question for this week is, what gadgets did we forget to mention that you have found particularly useful, and, uh, helpful?
Peggy
You know that we, we always wanna help you spend your money. Well, this is your opportunity to pay us back. If you have a gadget that we don't have or we don't know about and we really should have it, let us know, because we love a gadget.
Tony
I know. We certainly do. And you can find that at our Fun and Friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. You can also sign up for our once-a-week free, spam-free, except when we go to the spam museum- ... uh, email newsletter, and we never share your information-
Peggy
We didn't
Tony
... with anybody. That would not be stressless camping, but you can find all the links to what we talked about-
Peggy
Yep. I wanna-
Tony
... at our home on the web.
Peggy
Yeah, I wanna mention real quick that newsletter, in the newsletter, uh, right now is the time, if you're at all interested or able to meet us a- at all or part of our Route 66 traveling home from Chicago to New Mexico to Albuquerque, we will be starting on or about Aug- October, I don't know what it is, 3rd?
Tony
3rd, 4th, yeah.
Peggy
4th, somewhere around in there. And we would love to have you join us for some or part or all of that. So there will be a link to our sort of secret calendar. That'll be in the newsletter. And that, we don't wanna publicly tell the whole world where we're going to be, but we want you to know where we're gonna be so that you'll know where to join us.
Tony
Yeah, if you'd like to, and we'd love to see you and, and have you be part of our adventure.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And with that, we appreciate your being here. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, if I didn't say that already. Uh, and most of all, stressless camping.
Peggy
Stressless camping.
Mark Ferrell
We hope you learned a lot, and had some fun, and got some tips for your next stressless camping adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us, too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on the adventure, and we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.
