RV podcast 380 - Exploring RV tech of tomorrow - today
Exploring RV tech of tomorrow - today
What is the RV industry doing to make our lives easier, more relaxed and make our camping StressLess? We got to spend a week looking at the newest, most innovative and really unique new products and processes. There’s actually a lot that will make our RVing lives better and we can’t wait to get into it.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
We spoke about the Furrion Chill Cube RV air conditioner which we had on our own RV
We now have a Coleman-Mach Everest VS-18 RV air conditioner
Our review of the prototype of the Teleos travel trailer
Our review of the new Rockwood Reserve pickup camper
We spoke of the Tekmodo RV panels
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 380
Peggy
What is the RV industry doing to make our lives easier, more relaxed, and make camping more stress-less?
Tony
We actually spent a week with the RV industry looking at new product and processes.
Peggy
There's actually a lot that will make RV-ing better, and we are here and excited to tell you all about it.
Tony
We have this week's podcast along with the notes, links, stories, tips and tricks- ... at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy
Thank you so much for being here, for liking, for sharing, for subscribing, and just for hanging out with us for episode 380.
Tony
Stressless Camping.
Peggy
Stressless Camping.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
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
We are back on the road. Uh, maybe you notice that this is a different campground.
Tony
Yeah. After-
Peggy
I'm not sure if you can tell, but we don't have the screen tent u- around us.
Tony
No, after two months in, in-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... uh, Indiana, holy smoke
Peggy
We were in Indiana for two months, and now we are on the road. We are starting our Route 66 adventure.
Tony
Woo-hoo.
Peggy
Yeah. I know what you're thinking, "Wait a minute, Tony is parked in the trees?" Well, okay, to be fair, we are parked near the trees, but you see a lot of trees in these pictures, but we're actually parked in front of where the trees are overhead. We're parked very far forward in the site. And in fact, we have so much room on the back of the trailer, we could probably host, I don't know, 20 or 30 of you and project a movie on the back of the trailer for a big old fancy movie night.
Peggy
Wanna join us?
Tony
Already we're starting to post on our journey journal. Our calendar is starting to fill up. Some of you have said, "Hey, you keep talking about this secret calendar. W- where are you?" Like, well, we didn't really have anywhere to, to go.
Peggy
We didn't really have-
Tony
We do now
Peggy
... anywhere to go.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So now the secret calendar is back to being in use. We will be making our way from Chicago to Albuquerque pretty much during the month of October. Now, some of you are excited that you're gonna get to learn more about Route 66 and follow our trip and spend the next three weeks hearing about Route 66. Good for you. Some of you are like, "Oh my gosh, more Route 66?"
Tony
I know.
Peggy
"Are you ever gonna stop?" Well, we are- ... at the end of October. So just buckle up.
Tony
Buttercup.
Peggy
Put on a happy face and just deal with it for a few more weeks.
Tony
Yeah. While we were in Indiana, we got to revisit our friends at ABC Upfitters.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And what we did is just had 'em look over our system, make sure everything was dialed in and-
Peggy
Yep
Tony
... turned on and all of that, and it was. We saw them doing some really interesting upgrades, and learned that they can do everything from simply, like, oh, do you just want a better battery, just a simple drop-in replacement, or do you want a Ludicrous system or whatever? And one of the neat things is how easily you can go from one step to the next.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So let's say you're like, "Well, I wanna dip my toes in the water of off-grid camping," and then it's like, "Well, I wanna get my knees wet." They, they will really work with you to create a system where the new stuff works with the old stuff.
Peggy
Right. And then when you're ready to dive in fully and take a complete and total swim with- ... swim with the solar system, uh, they are ready to help you with that as well. So as Tony said, whatever size, whatever bits and pieces you're ready for at the time, they will help you design exactly what you need and what you want for how you want to off grid.
Tony
Yeah. So, uh, if that's the kinda quality and serviceability and customer service that floats your camper- ... give our friends at ABC Upfitters a call at 574-333-3225.
Peggy
That's 574-333-3225, or wherever the QR code fits on this screen for more information.
Tony
So we spent a week at this thing called RV Open House or RV Dealer Expo, and it's a invitation event where the RV industry shows off the newest rigs-
Peggy
To the dealers
Tony
... to the dealers.
Peggy
So the idea is to bring dealers in, show them all the upcoming models or, you know, the upgrades to the existing models, and have dealers decide, "Well, this year I'm gonna buy 10 of those and 20 of those," and whatever, whatever.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Right? And so it's kind of a chance for dealers to pre-order so the RV industry knows how much to build-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... and a chance for the dealers to know what's upcoming, and so they can be on the cutting edge of new models. And, and as Tony said, it's by invitation. They mostly invite dealers, but they do invite content creators-
Tony
Well, and-
Peggy
... media people, whatever
Tony
... we're also brand ambassadors for Rockwood.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
So that's how we get in.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
Although we're also brand ambassadors for Ereksel, which is how we got into that side of the display. So anyway. On the subject of Ereksel, I remember two years ago or so at RV Dealer Open House, the first time I saw a Furrion Chill Cube, and it was like, wow.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
That was remarkable.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And it was such an unusual piece of gear. It's a, it's a really efficient variable speed compressor air conditioner.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
And there was, at Keystone, there was an Outback with it, and I remember talking to this guy and saying, you know, like mid-sentence, I'm like, "Wait, your air conditioner-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... is running." I, I was-
Peggy
Having a conversation and then stop, "Wait, wait."
Tony
It's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What? Uh, it was so quiet, and then I learned more, and then, uh, if you've been following us for any length of time, you know we're, we're fascinated by the Chill Cube and had one installed on our rig.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
Well, now- The ChillCube was everywhere. It was all over the-
Peggy
Yeah, yeah
Tony
... RV industry. Big rigs, little rigs and now they have heat pumps, which provides heat and air conditioning. They have smaller versions for, like, van life.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
Uh, in fact, ABC Upfitters had a whole pallet of those that they were, uh, using to install on vans.
Peggy
Oh.
Tony
The good news is these things are all over the RV industry now, and as you know, we also have the Coleman Mach Everest VS18, which is Coleman's version of a variable speed compressor air conditioner and now we're seeing that more. So the good news is if you shop carefully, and we encourage you to-
Peggy
Mm-hmm
Tony
... you no longer have to have the old rattle trap noisy air conditioner.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
You can get something quiet that you could run off battery power, depending on your batteries and all of that.
Peggy
So I've said this before, I'll probably say it again. In the last, you know, six years or whatever that we've been kind of really in the RV industry, we have seen lithium batteries become almost totally mainstream. And once that kind of renovation happened, then all of a sudden, uh, refrigerators were all changing over to 12 volt. And now it's almost difficult to get a not 12 volt refrigerator, like a propane electric refrigerator. They're, like, the whole industry has moved to 12 volt.
Peggy
And now we're starting to see, thank goodness, the air conditioner industry get into the game, make things that aren't noisy and aren't inefficient, th- that can actually be run on battery for a fair amount of time, right? So you probably could run your old air conditioner on your lithium battery-
Tony
Yeah, if you had a-
Peggy
... for 20 minutes or something
Tony
... locomotive's worth of battery.
Peggy
But now it's just becoming pretty mainstream that you can get an air conditioner that you can run off your lithium and solar system for a significant amount of time, enough to actually cool your RV.
Tony
Yeah. Another thing we did is we visited Truma, and Truma is a German company, but they make a lot of innovative RV stuff.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
And one of the things we saw was the Truma Saphir. It's S-A-P-H-I-R. So I thought-
Peggy
Like sapphire with no E
Tony
... yeah, yeah, which is probably the German way of saving, saying sapphire. I don't know. This is a air conditioner that does not go on the roof of an RV. Um-
Peggy
What?
Tony
Yeah. It goes, like, in a compartment or something like that, and it's also very efficient. It's very compact. It's only 8,000 BTU, so it's not a lot of power, but it's certainly enough. For example, the new, uh, Teleos, which is a prototype travel trailer from Coachmen, uh, that's all the air conditioner it has 'cause it's so well-insulated. So again-
Peggy
And it's not tiny, right?
Tony
No, no.
Peggy
Like, this would be a great for small units as well.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
But also for really well-insulated units or, uh, you know, things that d- aren't going to require that giant amount of air conditioning.
Tony
Right, but it's neat 'cause it doesn't go on the roof.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So it allows either a lower RV or a taller RV within the same space, so.
Peggy
Yeah, or you can get under that 11 foot eight bridge.
Tony
Yeah. Right? Without shaving off the air conditioner.
Peggy
There's one other way to, mm, not, not cool but heat, right?
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
The inside of your RV.
Tony
Yeah, Alde, uh, which is a part of Truma now. Uh, Alde, but not the grocery store with the-
Peggy
That's a good, not with the I
Tony
... quarter-operated carts.
Peggy
It's Alde with an E.
Tony
Alde, yeah. Um, they have a new device that's a furnace but also a water heater all in one, and it can run on either propane or electric. So, like, if you have a van or smaller trailer where space is really a concern-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... this thing is neat 'cause it's all in one. It, it's a water heater and a space heater, uh, and again, propane or electric. So they have different models of it, but that was kinda neat. And then we saw at Truma while we were visiting, their climate chamber, and-
Peggy
Oh, yeah
Tony
... gosh, that was neat.
Peggy
So they have this chamber. It's inside the warehouse, but it's a big enough thing that you can pull an RV into it, and they can control the temperature. So they had that temperature at, I wanna say, 30 or zero-
Tony
Yeah, it was very cold-
Peggy
... degrees
Tony
... when we were in there
Peggy
... it was very, very cold. It was, you know, a winter day kind of. Um, but a steady cold, like steady temperature. And then they had a travel trailer in there, which is they, which is their kind of test vehicle, and it's how they test their heating and air conditioning systems. They pull it in there. They put the temperature outside in the chamber to some extreme number, and then they run their heating or cooling system inside the RV to test and see.
Peggy
So we, we walked into this chamber and we're all freezing. It's, like, freezing, literal freezing.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
And then we go inside the trailer and it's, like, 70 degrees.
Tony
So they-
Peggy
It was fantastic.
Tony
Yeah, what they do is they use that chamber to measure how effectively their heating or cooling systems are, and it's only for Truma customers. Ember gets to use that chamber all the time 'cause they use a lot of Truma components. But they pull it in, like, let's say they pull the trailer in and then they freeze it, and then they see how quickly the furnace can recover. And I know Christopher from Ember said they actually had to make a few changes to some of their models because it wasn't getting universally hot-
Peggy
Oh
Tony
... inside, so they had to change where some of the ducts were. So it's a neat thing and, and Truma has it.
Peggy
In that chamber they have, they weren't using them, but w- I have a photo that I'll show you that was a whole bunch of, like... I'm pointing at our camera tripod as if you can see it, but-
Tony
Uh
Peggy
A whole bunch of, like, tripods that would hold sensors so they could put 'em in different parts of the RV, you know, higher and lower, so they could really not just walk through and say, "Oh, my feet are cold," but they could literally have temperature numbers that said, "Here it's this temperature, and here it's that, so you need to even this out somehow."
Tony
Yep. Yeah, it was, it was super neat.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
They can also test the air conditioner's effectiveness, but 'cause they can heat the-
Peggy
Right, the chamber can be heated-
Tony
Yeah, it can be hot
Peggy
... to a terrible temperature too
Tony
And then, yeah, and see. You know, it's like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm in, you know, I'm in-
Peggy
"I'm in Phoenix in July"
Tony
... Las Vegas." Yeah, right? Okay, the next section, composites are coming.
Peggy
Composites are coming.
Tony
Bum, bum, bum.
Peggy
What's a composite?
Tony
Well-
Peggy
I'm kidding, I know. That's just the lead in.
Tony
Well, here's the thing. A lot of us have RVs. Well, it's common that RVs are damaged by water, right?
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
I mean, that's the, the whole goal of seals and all of that is to keep water out-
Peggy
Mm-hmm
Tony
... because water gets in, and things get damaged. Well, these new composites that are starting to really become popular are, uh, really becoming popular.
Peggy
Imagine.
Tony
For example ... Yeah, da, da, da, da, da.
Peggy
So a composite is, a- a- and maybe there's different ways, but this is what I've most commonly seen. You know if you look at a, a, the cut end of a piece of cardboard, for example. You've got, like, two pieces of paper with a ruffle, a wedge-
Tony
Ruffles have wedges
Peggy
... wedgie shape in between, right? And that's kind of what a composite is. But it's not made out of paper, it's usually made out of, like, recycled plastics and stuff.
Tony
Not necessarily.
Peggy
Oh. Oh, okay.
Tony
It's also basically compositing materials, uh, so that you have, like, the strength of this material-
Peggy
Oh, sure. Okay
Tony
... the flexibility of that, and you kind of blend it. And there are laminates in composites. But anyway, uh, we saw the, again, back to the Tellos. I'm fascinated by the Tellos- ... if you couldn't tell. The whole roof, walls, and floor are all composites. There's no ... Like, in our trailer, there's aluminum ribs.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
Sort of. And then, uh, there's the fiber ... Uh, there's the insulation, which is like Styrofoam, and then on the inner and outer wall are, uh, a laminate of, it's Azdel and then, uh, fiberglass. But it's all human-made stuff, right? I mean, if water gets in, it's not gonna-
Peggy
It's not wood
Tony
... it's not necess- right, not wood. And this Tellos is just all composite. There's no aluminum in the structure, but they're thick walls, and they're all composite, and so water cannot damage them, and that's kind of the future. It's, there's more flexibility. There's, it's stronger. It's really well-insulated and all of that. So that's, and that's why that, uh, Truma Saphir works so well, 'cause it doesn't need to, need, it doesn't need to provide a whole lot of air conditioning power because it's so well-insulated.
Peggy
So part of the composite is a feature that is insulating material.
Tony
Yeah, it can be, but then-
Peggy
And, and especially if you get a, a couple inches thick of composite, that-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... that's gonna automatically just kind of be insulating and noise-dampening.
Tony
Yeah. So, um, there's all these different kinds of composites. Another one is a thing called Techmoto. We'll put a link to it in the show notes, but Techmoto is, is a material, and that's what Rockwood's using on the new Rockwood Reserve, which is a pickup camper that we got to see.
Peggy
Pickup camper.
Tony
The first pickup camper from Rockwood. And so they're using this Techmoto, which is apparently better than the rubber roofing material because it's less susceptible to damage, and it's a one-piece thing, so.
Peggy
Now, one thing I don't, I don't remember you saying, uh, and something that has been, like, since the first time I heard "composite," I also heard "screw retention."
Tony
Oh, well, s- okay, so let's talk about that.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
One of the reasons you see a lot of wood, of course, some of it is cost, naturally.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
But also, like, when you have the floor of an RV and it's made out of wood, the screws, when you put a screw in, the screw stays, right? That's the whole idea, screw retention. Well, now there's a new material called SuperSeed. SuperSeed is a composite because it's made up of different types of plastic that each have their own properties, and this SuperSeed is that wavy thing that you saw.
Peggy
Oh, okay.
Tony
And it's used in the floor of some Coachmen trailers, and it, they claim better screw retention even than wood. And it's completely plastic, so it's waterproof, right? It's a human-made material. The other neat thing about the SuperSeed is, you know, everywhere on the floor of an RV, they have to cut a hole for, like, a pipe or a vent or wires or whatever. Well, they can take all those biscuits, all those pieces they cut out, ship 'em back to SuperSeed, and they just make more SuperSeed out of 'em.
Tony
It's good in that there's no waste.
Peggy
So the way I picture that stuff is it's kind of like, it's all made of plastic, but it's kind of woven, right? And so you've got kind of a weave of, of plastic materials, and so that weave kind of is how the screw retention happens 'cause the screw goes into that woven and then just gets, like, embedded in the weave.
Tony
Yeah, basically. And the other nice thing about this SuperSeed product is that the manufacturer has to change none of their processes. So instead of wood coming in, they get a sheet of this SuperSeed, and they just use it to make the floor of an RV. But there's some different things, like with some glues and stuff, but it's, like, really no, no training, no change of process.
Peggy
It's just like getting a piece of plywood.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Now you're gonna get a piece of-
Tony
Except you get a piece of Superseed. We saw lawn furniture made out of it, too.
Peggy
Yeah, we did.
Tony
That was really cool.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
So, so anyway, again, more composites. I mean, you may have already heard of Azdel or, or other things that's used in walls. It's just, I like this composite because less wa- damaged by water and that kinda thing.
Peggy
And what about weight? Does it ...
Tony
I don't know if it's-
Peggy
Okay
Tony
... significant. I don't, you know, I don't know.
Peggy
Probably not extremely heavy, or else the RV industry would not be embracing it at all.
Tony
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? I mean, everyone wants, I mean, this is a mini-light. It's neither, but that's what the sticker says. Let's talk about our trip to Patrick Industries.
Peggy
What a fun trip that was.
Tony
Oh my gosh.
Peggy
We got to go on a little field trip.
Tony
Yes.
Peggy
There is a team at Patrick Industries. Now, Patrick Industries, you may have heard of. Uh, they recently merged-
Tony
No, they're in the process
Peggy
... I don't know if that's the word, uh, with Lippert.
Tony
Right.
Peggy
And everyone's heard of Lippert, right? And it seemed like Patrick wasn't, like, a household word, household name necessarily.
Tony
Right.
Peggy
Well, I think it will be now because now everything was made by Patrick or Lippert. Now everything is made by Patrick Lippert.
Tony
Well, yeah.
Peggy
Yeah, in, as this merger continues.
Tony
LiPatrick? I don't know.
Peggy
LiPatrick. Well, anyway, Patrick has a division of printing that we got to tour, and it was fascinating.
Tony
Yeah, so basically what they're doing ... Okay, so typical RV wall is oftentimes Luan, which is a, a wood product, and then they somehow put a sticker on the inside to make it look like wallpaper or whatever, or fake wood, or whatever it is. So this Patrick process takes Luan, and it sands it super smooth, and it basically prints the pattern on the wall, and the advantage is it can be anything you want.
Tony
We saw wood. We saw brick. We saw, like, you know, wallpapery pattern.
Peggy
Yeah, any kind of texture. Stone.
Tony
Yeah, stone.
Peggy
The wallpaper, like i- in your RV, you know, we all have that kind of woven print wallpaper. They were printing that directly on the Luan, so there's not, like, a separate piece of paper. Now, one of the advantages I am thinking is when we all use our Command hooks, they're not gonna rip that paper.
Tony
Well, okay.
Peggy
Right?
Tony
That's a ... Certainly.
Peggy
Uh, people, you know, use suction cups or something, and it suctions the paper off of the wall ig- that exists. Well, when it's printed directly on the wall, that is not gonna be a problem.
Tony
This process, after it prints the image, then there's another process after that that creates a texture. So it could be a wood texture, or it could be a brick texture, or it could be a brick texture with wood prints, or whatever.
Peggy
That would be so weird.
Tony
Right? So it's a neat process, but here is the advantage. At present time, they can only print four-by-eight sheets.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
Makes sense, right? But they have this enormous facility where they're building, they could print up to-
Peggy
Uh, an eight, no, nine feet by 40 feet sheets.
Tony
Yeah. These are n- ... So the whole wall could be one sheet. No more seams.
Peggy
The whole floor could be one sheet.
Tony
The whole floor could be one sheet. The whole ceiling could be one sheet, which is their goal, and the advantage of that is that let's say you print a wall piece, and you're like, "Well, here's the backer for the TV. Here's the backer for the washer, dryer," whatever. All of those things can be printed right on.
Peggy
Instead of a sticker that might eventually fall off.
Tony
Or be misplaced.
Peggy
Or be misplaced. That's can be printed right in the exact spot that they always put that backer.
Tony
Right. So that's one of the advantages. The other advantage is let's say three years down the r- road you damage a wall panel, and you go to, you know, they've now changed to some new design. Well, Patrick just keeps the data on file. They could print you a whole new wall panel three years, 10 years down the road.
Peggy
Right, and they've still got your, your pattern on file.
Tony
Right, so that's, that's another. And then each company c- I mean, since it's just printed, each company could really specify their own interior and their own patterns and all of that.
Peggy
Another big advantage I see of being able to print things like here's the TV backer is also here's where, uh, the workers will drill a hole for this electrical outlet or this plumbing feature or whatever. So there's no guesswork. You know, we have noted in s- a lot of RVs that a, let's say a pipe is gonna go through the floor, and the pipe is a two-inch or three-inch diameter. Well, there's a seven-inch blob diameter hole under that pipe because, th- well, I mean, you wanna have room for movement, right?
Peggy
Because that pipe is gonna move while you're in transit, but you could really decide how big that hole has to be and get a circular saw and draw a circle that's in the print, like here's where you draw a hole, uh, make a hole. So there's no more guesswork in making giant blobs of holes-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... to make sure that you hit the one thing that you needed.
Tony
Right. So there's a lot of advantages in manufacturing. Uh, there's advantages in warranty service, and while it's not a cheaper process, it will be advantageous in that you have fewer seams, and seams are where issues can happen, so.
Peggy
There's less maintenance, less warranty, less problems, and like you said, less, like, well, we can't match your wall, so you're either gonna have an unmatched wall, or you're gonna, you know, whatever.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Like, that long-term benefit is gonna start becoming a big deal.
Tony
Yeah, it was pretty cool. So at this process, you know, we were like, "Well, how long is the lead time?" Like, right now if you're a RV company and you wanna do a prototype, it could be months before they could do this. Well, at the beginning of this process, they took our picture. At the end, they had already printed a wall board with our pictures on it.
Peggy
Yeah, a four-by-eight piece of wood with our, we were, like, almost life-size. Well, we were a little-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... less than four feet tall. But it was the printed picture. It was, I mean, I was up in that picture looking. It's very, very clear.
Tony
Oh, yeah. It was-
Peggy
Like, it was-
Tony
It was impressive
Peggy
... you know, just an, a, a phone camera, whatever, so it's not like some expensive camera equipment, but the printing was just so detailed. It was really, really good.
Tony
It was remarkable.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
I, I mean, essentially, you know, we all have seen Inkjet printers. Think of an inkjet printer big enough to print the entire wall-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... of an RV.
Peggy
And the cool thing, the other thing that, um, uh, struck me, they take that original rough luan and they put a primer coat that they, um, UV light seal it, and then they sand it down, and then they put another base coat that they UV seal. So it's all ... It's not, it ... You know, it's not gonna fade. It's not gonna get wet and, and chip and all that stuff.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So it's a good quality printing as well.
Tony
Yeah, but here's the other thing. Patrick is also moving forward with, uh, composites. There's that word again.
Peggy
Yep.
Tony
So it won't have to be luan. It will, it can be ... Well, it, Azdel is a proprietary brand. It can be a product like Azdel-
Peggy
Right
Tony
... or other composites down the road. So, uh, simplifying manufacturing is not a bad thing, and fewer parts, and it's an improvement, so.
Peggy
Because what they're printing on now is luan, which is wood, right?
Tony
Right.
Peggy
It's kinda like a very thin-
Tony
Yeah, it's-
Peggy
... plywood sort of
Tony
... and it's imported from... And there's issues with rainforests and, uh, there are geopolitical issues with luan, so. We saw a lot more trailers with no slides.
Peggy
Yes, we did.
Tony
I mean, it was a lot.
Peggy
And industry, industry-wide, I think they're starting, a lot of different manufacturers had at least one no slide travel trailer, which is all Tony thinks about sometimes.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Now, we love our trailer. Don't get us wrong. I love the amount of space that we have with a slide, but we sat in a few no slide units just to see if it would fit our lifestyle, and with a few minor modifications we definitely could do it. And so it is becoming a thing, though, I think.
Tony
Yeah. Apparently people are looking for a simpler, less expensive-
Peggy
Mm-hmm
Tony
... less mechanically complex RVs. Not everyone, obviously. We also saw a lot of new really high-end fifth wheels-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... that ... So it's kinda like both ends of the spectrum are getting attention.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
They're getting some love. Well, speaking of love, we love our AirGear water hose.
Peggy
Oh. I wondered where you were going with that. Yes, we do love our, what, like, five-year-old AirGear water hoses.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
We've had them for ages. They don't freeze, they don't split, they don't hurt if you run over them. They're all, like, the metal ends. Uh-
Tony
Yeah, they're stainless steel ends.
Peggy
Stainless steel. They coil back up. Those of you who are old enough to remember phone cords that coiled- ... and if you stretched the cord all the way to go talk in your bedroom, then it got stretched out, and then sometimes it would just all get all tangled up and it'd take you hours to, like, twist the ... Yeah, this doesn't do all that.
Tony
Yeah, right?
Peggy
This thing just coils itself right back up-
Tony
Well-
Peggy
... and right back into the bag every single time
Tony
... I mean, attribute is we had ours out the entire time we were in Elkhart-
Peggy
Yeah
Tony
... just out in the sun running the entire time, and then when it came time to pack it up, boing-
Peggy
Yep
Tony
... and it just went right back in its little bag.
Peggy
Right back in its bag. And then we got to this campground, and we're traveling with our friend Kate on our Route 66 trip, and they don't have water hookups at the sites. And so we had to go to a, a common, uh, water spot, and so we just got the hoses out and filled our trailer, and Kate got in line, and we just, we pulled out and she pulled in and used our hoses.
Tony
We, we stretched them pretty far.
Peggy
We did stretch them pretty far for our trailer because the fill port is way at the back.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
And Tony would have to park right in the road, but Kate's fortunately is at the front, so it was a lot easier for her to reach.
Tony
But anyway, if you're looking for a water hose you're not gonna have to replace and that just is a quality product, we, we love the AirGear water hose, and we have a link in the show notes, and of course Peggy'll put a QR code.
Peggy
A QR code that's up here somewhere.
Tony
Yeah. So there you go.
Peggy
So one of the things that we saw at the dealer open house or dealer expo was Rockwood's brand-new, never been done before pickup camper.
Tony
Yeah, the Rockwood Reserve, and this is a fairly large, as far as pickup campers go, pickup camper.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
Has a single slide on the camp side. It's your typical Rockwood, good cabinetry, attention to detail. Uh, this one is really designed to be able to camp in very cold weather with the gate valves and everything within a heated compartment. Our friends Tony and Tina were there with us, uh, on the ... We literally, Tony and I, were, like, not running, but almost running-
Peggy
Almost running
Tony
... to be the first- ... uh, to debut this thing, and we do have a video and a story about that.
Peggy
Tony made a video before I even knew Tony had the camera out. I thought we were waiting for power to come on, and he's like, "Done. Filming."
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
He was so excited to get in there.
Tony
Like, "Nope, gotta get this out."
Peggy
Now, one thing that, uh, I thought you were gonna say with Tony and Tina being there, um, Tina's six feet tall.
Tony
Yeah, that's what I, that's where I was going.
Peggy
And a lot of times a pickup camper, you know, the, the bed is over the cab of the truck, and sometimes that's a very limited amount of space. But Tina was sitting fully upright on that bed and not touching her head against the ceiling, so it's a decent height of camper, even.
Tony
Yeah. And I was amazed at how many outside and inside storage compartments.
Peggy
Storage galore-age.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Man.
Tony
It was crazy. Um, so a lot of storage. You are definitely gonna want a one ton truck with this.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
That's where they were showing it. And it was just typical Rockwood quality. And again, like I say, it had that Techmoto roof and their vacuum laminated walls. And-
Peggy
And if you're listening and not watching, it has a full wet bath. So-
Tony
Yeah, it has a full proper bath
Peggy
... it's got a bathroom with a shower.
Tony
And we could fit in. I had to kinda sneak through the door- ... to get in, but I do displace a lot of water in the pool, as many of you know. So, uh, but, uh, yeah, a, a new product from Rockwood, and they're still working out who's gonna be a dealer for this. So-
Peggy
Right
Tony
... uh, we, we were right there at the bleeding edge of looking at this, and so check out our review.
Peggy
If you're a dealer, is it gonna be you?
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Some time ago, I, we offered the opportunity for you to call and leave us a voicemail about things that you've learned through Stressless Camping or great trips that have been stressless camping or-
Tony
Or stuff you don't like about Stressless Camping
Peggy
... or stuff you don't like about us, whatever. And, uh, we have, Eileen's gonna be very surprised that she probably thought I forgot that she called. She was our first actual voicemail, and I am finally getting around to playing her voicemail. So, uh, in just a moment, we'll play the voicemail that Eileen left us, but in the meantime, I want to remind all of you that if you would like your voice on the podcast, uh, you can give us a call at 707-739-6661.
Tony
That's 707-739-6661. It's a Google Voice number, and so just leave your message and whatever else, and who knows? We may play it right here on the podcast.
Peggy
That's right. So here's Eileen.
Eileen Brown
Hi, Peggy. Hi, Tony. This is Eileen and Brian, and my stressless story comes after hearing an episode with Dr. Mike about how to stay out of the ER while traveling. I can't remember what year that ran in, and I even feel like he's been on more than once, but either way, that content was right up my alley because in my retirement, I became an EMT. So it was a great episode for me. This story, though, takes place in Amana, Iowa, just this past May at a Winnebago meetup for small Class B and C's like our Winnebago Ekko.
Eileen Brown
Now, one of the great things about a Winnebago meetup is that the company often sends technicians, and you can sign up to have them come fix something, figure something out, whatever. You can imagine at a rally with over 100 RVers that the service list gets pretty long, and there's never a guarantee they will get to you, but they do their best. We didn't really have anything major to fix, just a question or two, but then suddenly an urgent problem developed in the middle of the night. Anyone who has ever had an RV awning with a wind sensor is probably familiar with the dreaded beeping noise that usually starts around 2:00 AM, and if you're not familiar with that noise yet, you probably will be someday.
Eileen Brown
We have actually never used our awning. We actually had the dealer even disconnect it, so the fact that the little wind sensor was beeping out its warning was driving me insane. We begged, and I mean we begged, the service guys to prioritize us so we wouldn't have to spend another sleepless night, and they did. Over one whole day, those guys spent many hours trying to troubleshoot our beep, and they were completely perplexed. They called into Forest City headquarters for advice, and finally, one young tech asked could he take a break and sit inside the rig, 'cause it was pretty warm out.
Eileen Brown
A few minutes later, he emerged with the beeping problem solved. He was carrying my portable AED, which was beeping out a low battery warning from the storage area under my bed. I have never, you guys, been so embarrassed in my life. We wasted several hours of their time. We kept them from fixing other people's rigs all over that AED battery. So the good news is that I took Dr. Mike's advice to heart, literally, and packed an AED to bring along with us.
Eileen Brown
The even better news is that the battery and the AED pads have now been replaced, and with any luck, we shouldn't hear another beep for several years to come. Take care. Hope to see you at a rally soon. Bye.
Tony
Well, that's what we have for you this week. Don't forget, we are on Route 66, and if you are an email newsletter subscriber, which of course it's free to be, uh, we have a link to our calendar where we're going to be when we know that we're gonna be there, which- ... we're planning this with a great deal of surrenderpity.
Peggy
Yes, absolutely. We are here for a couple more days in this campground that we're in, which is on the calendar.
Tony
Yep.
Peggy
But by the time you get the next newsletter, we'll be moved on. But that, as Tony said, that secret calendar link will be in the newsletter. W- as soon as we know where we're gonna be next, I'm trying to get it in the calendar. So if you have the opportunity to come by for a beer, come by for a dinner, come meet us somewhere-
Tony
Yeah
Peggy
... spend the day exploring a Route 66 town with us, camp with us for a day or two, travel with us for a week, whatever you can do, we would love to have you join us.
Tony
Yeah. Again, we sincerely appreciate your being here with us for episode 380 of the Stressless Camping RV podcast.
Peggy
That sun is getting bright.
Tony
It sure is.
Peggy
So please go and subscribe to the newsletter, subscribe to the podcast, and have a fantastic week, and hopefully you get to do a little stressless camping.
Tony
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.
Peggy
And so that screw retention, get out of the way, bee. You're right in the camera. And so that-
