RV LIFE Podcast

Top Laughs and Lessons from RV Mishaps: Essential Tips for Avoiding Common Blunders

• Dan & Patti Hunt

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Have you ever found yourself in a sticky situation with your RV, wondering how it all went wrong? Join me on the RV Life Podcast as I share my own cringe-worthy tale of a black tank hose disaster that rivals a scene from National Lampoon's Vacation. From there, we journey through a series of funny yet insightful mishaps recounted by fellow RVers at America's largest RV show in Hershey. Imagine the chaos of a rock explosion in a propane fire pit or grappling with a broken door handle in the middle of nowhere. Through these shared adventures, discover the importance of preparation and awareness to avoid these common blunders on your own travels.

And while these stories bring plenty of laughs, they also teach us invaluable lessons about RV maintenance, especially during the chilly winter months. Learn how products like Tank Fresh can keep your water flowing clean and free of contaminants, and hear about how Airskirts can be a lifesaver to prevent frozen pipes. Alongside practical tips, I'll recount a personal experience of a black tank flooding incident that turned a family visit into a cleanup operation involving bleach, humor, and a lot of patience. With guest stories further highlighting both the challenges and solutions, this episode promises not just entertainment but also education, helping you embrace the RV lifestyle with confidence and a good dose of humor.

Thank you for listening to the RV LIFE Podcast, I would love to hear from you, please leave us a comment or question here on the podcast page or on our social media channels.
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Speaker 1:

What are some of the worst RV mishaps? I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. Mishaps happen to all of us and while I was at America's largest RV super show, I walked around asking people to share their stories. Yes, I've had my own mishap, which is actually really difficult for me to admit, to Think about a scene from National Lampoon's Vacation. That's what this mishap looked like. So, like us RVers need to do, we need to dump those tanks every once in a while. Right, and there I was outside dumping the black tank and while dumping the black tank, the hose sort of got backed up because it was slightly uphill, even though I didn't quite notice, and I went to lift the hose which was connected. So there were two hoses connected together and I made the big mistake of lifting that hose and the connection came apart. Now, luckily for me, the tank was almost empty, but I say almost because, yes, lactate got all over me and I got to say it was horrible. Don't do this. Is what I want to let you know. And please, please, somebody tell me I'm not the only one this happened to. Now, as I said, you're listening to the RV Life podcast and it was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest. Today, I hope you're both entertained and educated on what not to do when you hear my friends sharing their mishaps this week on what you Need to Know. It's brought to you by Open Road Resorts and they now have six incredible locations. Their newest location is in Santa Fe, new Mexico. It's called Santa Fe KOA Journey and it is in an amazing location. It has all the amenities we, as RVers, usually look for, but the location is incredible. I've had the opportunity to be in Santa Fe and saw so many unique and different types of places, met a lot of incredible people. The one place that I loved in Santa Fe was called Luray Chapel and this has this amazing staircase. If you've never heard about it, I actually have a video on my YouTube channel called Exploring Through Our Lens and you could see that video. But Santa Fe has so many cool things to do.

Speaker 1:

So what you need to know, let's talk about tips on dumping your gray and black tanks. This is a good what you need to know. After the story I told First, what I'd like to do is close both tanks and then open the gray tank first and here's why tanks and then open the gray tank first, and here's why you open the gray tank for about a minute to make sure everything is flowing through properly, there are no leaks. Then close that gray tank. Don't dump it out. Close the gray tank and then open the black tank and let that dump. Once that is all dumped out, open up your gray tank, and your gray tank helps to flush out everything that's in your hoses and in the system. So that's a great way to finish with the gray tank getting all of that stuff out of there.

Speaker 1:

That's your, what you need to know today and that is brought to you by Open Road Resorts To find out all about their amazing location. You could go to openroadresortscom and there is a discount being offered to my RV Life podcast listeners. Now this episode is again a very different episode. I was in Hershey at America's largest RV show, and my social media people, kurt and Melody of RV Plus 3, walked around with me while we interviewed some of the vendors just people walking around, some influencers and asked them to share their mishaps. Let's listen to some of those mishaps.

Speaker 2:

So when I rented an RV it was one of my first times and I accidentally broke the door handle off of an owner from RV Share's RV and I was so embarrassed because I worked for RV Share and they knew that I rented from them and I went to the dealership down the street and got the part replacement and fixed it and then tattled on myself and they were just so thankful that I fixed it and told them but it really was not that big of a deal.

Speaker 3:

We did a tow first time towing. It was a little travel trailer. I got a whole tutorial and then my brain shut off when the owner left and we couldn't figure out why the water wouldn't work. So I called my owner who was very helpful, by the way, for a newbie and I said hey, this is really weird. Why isn't the water working? We see that the tanks are full and he goes. You remember that button I told you to hit in order to make the water work. And I was like, yes, the one right one right by the door. He goes, go ahead and hit it for me. And then I hit it and all of a sudden the water works. So that was my first time. Luckily, the owner was super helpful, super available and within about 30 seconds of having a blonde moment, my RV was now water accessible. So but it was great all around.

Speaker 4:

one of our camping mishaps was we decided to break out our propane fire pit and have a nice campfire in the evening. We didn't have enough of those rocks that come with it, so we decided to collect rocks from the campground. We got the girls. We're like go around our site, collect some rocks to throw in there. We started the fire. All of a sudden we hear like popping. It's like pop, pop and we're like oh, what was that? The rocks started catching on fire and flying and breaking and cracking and flying.

Speaker 5:

In half.

Speaker 4:

And one flew past our daughter's head onto our mat and burned a hole in it and we were like, okay, guess I shouldn't have did that.

Speaker 6:

Those rocks were not meant for that.

Speaker 4:

No, so there are a difference between propane, fire, pit rocks and rocks you find on the ground.

Speaker 6:

So lesson learned we are Type 1 Detour. You can find us on all social networks Facebook, instagram, youtube and TikTok.

Speaker 7:

Our greatest RV mishap was James was cleaning the back black tanks once, so we flushed it all out and we're rinsing it, and the one time he did not set.

Speaker 8:

But why didn't I set a timer?

Speaker 7:

He didn't set a timer because our daughter what did she do?

Speaker 9:

I don't remember what she did now.

Speaker 3:

What did?

Speaker 7:

she do. We just talked about this. I don't remember what she did. Now what did?

Speaker 3:

she do. We just talked about this.

Speaker 7:

I don't remember she, I don't know she did something she wasn't supposed to and it was like a big deal. So we had to like take her around and have a big talk with her and then all of a sudden one of the boys comes out and they're like there's water in the bathroom and james goes, oh, running around and I'm running inside. Luckily we had rinsed it very well, but that was like the 17th rinse, luckily and um but we still had to take the whole underbelly down because it leaked down into the bottom.

Speaker 7:

It cleaned all that out. It was a mess. It went into the vents in the bathroom. It wasn't the worst case scenario, but it was a bad case scenario.

Speaker 3:

And the lesson is the lesson is set a timer Always set a.

Speaker 8:

Timer Always set a timer, even if you're scolding your kids.

Speaker 7:

And who are you guys.

Speaker 5:

We're the road ravers.

Speaker 3:

Hi, my name is Alyssa Chartier, I'm with Harvest Hosts and my RV mishap is that one time I was stuck in Montana and they were doing road work all the way down, so I got caught in my Airstream on a dirt road, rattling back and forth. I came in and I had left one of those scent diffusers out and it had spilled all over my couch. And it had spilled all over my couch, so for the next week my couch smelled like white rain. That's something that I don't do anymore, but it's good to know that you need to pack up everything in your RV beforehand and just don't have liquids, just don't drink water, just completely go dehydrated. It's for the best.

Speaker 1:

Those were some crazy stories and we have more to come, but first I wanted to share some more tips with you. First, talking about the black and the gray tanks, let's talk a little bit about the fresh water tank. We want to keep that fresh water tank clean because our water needs to be clean and fresh and, most importantly, safe. The best way to keep your fresh water tank is using Tank Fresh by Clear 2.0, and you could go to clear2ocom to find out about Tank Fresh. Tank Fresh cleans and deodorizes your fresh water holding tank, your water supply lines and the fixtures, preparing your RV for storage. Right now, this is a great time to clean those tanks. The nice thing is Tank Fresh is so fast, it's easy and for me, I really like the fact that it has no odor. I cleaned my tank. It took less than an hour. I could do it myself. It was that easy and for my listeners, check the show notes for a discount code. Now also, if you're thinking about putting your RV in storage NIRVC National Indoor RV Centers. They have six locations and they have concierge motorhome storage made easy, convenient and safe, which is the principle NIRVC was founded upon and what they strive for each and every day. Storage is available in five of their locations and you don't have to worry about winterizing your RV or doing anything. Nirvc takes care of your RV in storage. Go to nirvccom for all the details.

Speaker 1:

Now, for those of you who are not putting your RV in storage and you're thinking about being in those colder areas, you have got to check out what my friends at Airskirts are doing to help keep you warm during those cooler months. Now, airskirts are these torpedo-like gray inflatable tubes that fit all the way around your RV. They are made to fit any type of RV, any size, and they do a complete seal around the RV. These air skirts are easy to inflate. They are inflatable and then you deflate them with this little machine and they are easy to set up, easy to take down, easy to store. You can get a discount by going to airskirtscom and using code RVPOD for $100 off your kit order. So thank you to all of my sponsors who provide great services as well as great discounts. Now let's hear more of those mishaps from my friends at the RV Show.

Speaker 10:

Hey y'all, jordan from Air Skirts here, always so happy to see Patty and the team. I wanted to just share a quick story about a story that one of our customers told us. They were at a campground and I think there were about 12 or 13 sites, maybe 14 sites. They had a cold snap and everyone in the park froze, except for this older couple I think. They were about 75 years old. They had their air skirts tube set up around the perimeter of their RV, underneath the frame, nice and close together. They had a nice warm pocket of air under there and so their pipes didn't freeze. The rest of the park came over and she made everyone hot chocolate, which is lovely. You know, of course you know RVers, everybody's got the same kind of heart right, but the air skirts really helped her set up. So reach out with questions anytime. Airskirtscom, we're happy to send you a quote or anything like that. And yeah, we'll see you out on the road. Have fun.

Speaker 5:

Okay. So one time in 2019, we were new to RV life, it was winter we had family visiting my brother, who's in the Navy, and his girlfriend at the time, joey was excited to have my brother come and visit and right before they got there we started the black tank process. He ran it down and then he closed the valve. They got there, we were all excited and it's like freezing negative below, like negative there and water. You know, like an hour later we just started seeing water come into all of my daughter's homeschool supplies, all over my brother and his girlfriend's stuff, and turned come to find out he forgot about it. So then we like offered to pay for them a hotel.

Speaker 5:

We got it all cleaned up, thank goodness he had already let most of it run, but, um, it was a process. We ended up having to treat all of the lines with bleach because it was coming through every possible clean water line. It could too. It was bad. I wanted to burn the whole thing down, but he fixed, fixed it and that's our RV mishap. Who are you from? I'm Andy from Nuclear Nomads. We're just on Instagram as nuclearnomads.

Speaker 6:

Sam, what kind of RV mishaps have you had on the road?

Speaker 11:

Well, we've had quite a few, but the one I'm going to tell you about is about the black tank. Now, our tank was okay and our hose was okay, but when we went to dump, the actual tube you dump in wasn't okay and we didn't know that when we started and it wasn't one you could screw in. So I had to. I stuck the hose in there and I stuck our weight on top. There was a rock there and then I let it rip, just like you always do. Well, about a foot down. Inside that tube was a rock and, like I said, it didn't seal in with a screw on.

Speaker 11:

So what happened? Well, let's just be thankful this is in the past, because it was very gross. My wife was freaked out, lily was freaked out. I, of course, was freaked out. I had on gloves. Thank God there was a square receptacle that it all went into, but it did. It went into that square receptacle. I shut it off as quick as I could, but by then it was too late. Well, we just had to deal with that for another hour and I'll never forget it, but I never want to do it again.

Speaker 6:

All right, sam. What's your social and where are you at?

Speaker 11:

We are Happy Travel RV Adventures and we are on all of them. Youtube is where we like to go first, but we're on everything you can find, so happytravelrvcom.

Speaker 9:

We had to replace our slide floor recently because when we changed all of our furniture out to residential furniture, there's peg legs on our couch, and peg legs have like a hammer effect on an RV when you're going down the road and like the hurricane earthquake effect, right, and so we basically hammered our floor out by making it look prettier, but it cost us a lot of money. Yeah, so maybe that. So tip for that. Instead, put something like a cross arm or a cross beam underneath as a support of any furniture you're going to put out that's going to have like peg legs or anything that isn't going to have like a solid surface. Or you could be like us and spend three grand replacing your slide floor. So there's options.

Speaker 6:

Yep, I'm Trevor. And I'm Leah and we are Llama, llama Adventure.

Speaker 9:

Facebook, instagram, tiktok and YouTube.

Speaker 6:

Hi, I'm Kurt with RV Plus 3, and well, my biggest RVing mistake was forgetting something after doing something. Let me give you an example Don't close your slides until you've done your full walk around and made sure you haven't left anything setting around like the blower.

Speaker 8:

Hello, my name is Melody. I'm with RV Plus 3. And you just heard from my husband, kurt, a minute ago, and one of our RV fails was I forgot the broom in the slide and when we closed the slides up I bent my broom. It was the same day we left the blower on top. So it's always great to do your walk-arounds once, maybe even twice, to make sure things are where they're supposed to be.

Speaker 1:

Great to do your walkarounds once, maybe even twice to make sure things are where they're supposed to be. Well, some more great stories, and I hope you laughed and you learned from them. Right now, it's time for the question of the week. This question of the week is brought to you by OpenRoads Innovative Toll Solutions. This toll pass covers all 48 states. Yes, one toll pass covers all 48 states. It costs $24 a year and if you should ever have a problem with this toll pass, you could either go right to your app they have a great app that just shows you everything you need to know or you could call for their concierge service to help you deal with any difficulties you might encounter. That is myopenroadscom. There's a pull-down menu for innovative toll solutions. Now, while you're on myopenroadscom and you want to save money on diesel fuel, you want to check out the Open Roads fuel card. This fuel card is free to sign up for and you save money on diesel gas each and every time you go to the gas station, every single time. I have been using this pass for well over three and a half years and it has saved me so much money. Go to myopenroadscom to find out all about the fuel pass and the toll.

Speaker 1:

Now this question is for you, my listeners, and if you've been listening to the podcast, you know each and every week I ask my guests a question. But today I'm asking you, my listeners, in the comments in the podcast, whatever platform you're listening on, I would love for you to share what mishaps you have done. Come on, we've all had mishaps. Maybe mine's a little more embarrassing than some of yours, but we all have them and I'd love for you to share a mishap that you have had in the comments below. It is now time for today's featured campground of the week, and this is brought to you by RV Life.

Speaker 1:

This week's featured campground is Voyager RV Resort and Hotel in Tucson, arizona. It's an Encore campground and you do not need a membership to stay at this campground. It has 667 sites. This RV resort is 55 and over, so at least one person has to be 55 and over. Voyager RV Resort and Hotel is all-inclusive and has received awards, making it one of the top rated in the area. It offers full hookups, pull-in sites, cottage and cabin rentals and it has an 8.7 rating. That's a really solid rating on the RVLifeCampgroundscom website, with 231 reviews. If you want to go to check out this campground, just visit campgroundsrvlifecom and go to Voyager RV Resort and Hotel. Once you get there, you'll see a great big red book now button and you could click that button to stay at Voyager RV Resort. You could also see plenty of pictures, tips, a full list of their amenities.

Speaker 1:

Rv Life Campgrounds is part of RV Life Pro and it is the most comprehensive source of campgrounds, rv parks, city, state and national parks, corpse of engineer, properties and so much more. Visit campgroundsrvlifecom to find out everything you need to know about campgrounds and so much more. Now, today, I'm asking you, my guests, to visit again us on social media at RV Life Podcast, on Instagram or Facebook, or you could post in the comment section on any platform you're listening on. I answer every question, I respond to every comment and I really love hearing from you, my listeners. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow. Thank you.