Top 10 Videos
- Don't Waste Your Money On A F450! What Truck Is Best For Pulling An RV?
In this video, we have a special guest appearance from "The Ford F450" as we tackle the often-debated question in the RV world of, "Do I need a F450 or F350 to pull my RV?" We compare all the stats of the F450 and the F350 and discuss all of the similarities and differences between the two trucks. We have a turning radius shoot-out and find out if the F450 really turns as good as we have all heard!
Next up, we do some unloaded driving to compare the ride and comfort of both trucks before heading to the RV park to hook up our Grand Design 397TH Momentum Toyhauler to do some real-world towing tests. To see which truck tows the best, we load the RV down to as close to max capacity as possible, before heading to the scales see what the true weight numbers are. We then tow the RV with both trucks and compare notes to see which one does the better job!
We have a parking contest with both rigs at the RV park to see how the turning radius affects maneuverability and wrap up the video with some closing thoughts on our opinions of both trucks. Make sure you stick around for the special guest appearance at the end of the video!
- Take A Tour Of Our Home! Grand Design Momentum 397TH!
Come along as we take you on a tour of our home, the Grand Design Momentum 397TH! In this video, we do an in-depth tour of our RV, showing you all the things, we did to customize it to make it work for fulltime RV living! We made a lot of upgrades in the basement and front storage areas to maximize the available storage. We also did a lot of upgrades inside the RV to make it function better for our family; especially in the Toyhauler area, which is used as our kids' bedroom!
- What Hasn't Broken? What Really Happens To The RV When Living Fulltime!
When we decided to live in an RV fulltime, we went back and forth on whether we should purchase a new RV or buy a used RV. Buying new would give us what we thought would be peace of mind of having a warranty and dedicated dealership to work with when issues were sure to arise, while buying used would give us the option of using the savings in cost to handle our own repairs. After much research, we realized that most dealerships don't care about your problems once you've taken ownership of your RV and that basic or extended warranties aren't always money well spent.
We continually saw owners giving up their rigs for weeks and months at a time to have warranty or repair work done by their dealer. This made the decision for us, since we would be living in our RV fulltime and traveling the country and wouldn’t have the option to be out of our rig for any length of time. We decided to buy a used rig knowing that things would need repaired, but felt confident that we could handle the majority of issues on our own, with a little research. After 18 months of fulltime living, we have comprised a list of ALL the things that have broken during that time! Although the list is lengthy, most of the items were quick fixes, with minimal cost involved! We review every problem we’ve encountered in this video to show you what to really expect from fulltime RV life!
- How We Move This Huge RV! What Travel Days Are Really Like!
Ever wondered what all it takes to move a 43-foot rig? There's definitely a process when packing and unpacking your RV, and everyone has a different way of getting the job done! In this video, we show our process of moving from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Panama City Beach, Florida, and all that is involved with packing and unpacking our Grand Design Momentum 397TH up on travel days!
5, Big Camper, Little Spot! Scared The Neighbor!
We leave Trails End RV Park in Floral City, Florida to head to the east side of Florida, but not before navigating our way out of low hanging branches leaving the campground! Our destination is Flagler Beach, Florida, where we will be staying 30 yards from the beach, at Beverly Beach Camptown RV Resort! This is the most expensive place we have ever stayed, so stay tuned to see if it lives up to the cost!
Upon arriving, it becomes quite the challenge getting our big rig into the tight spots, especially since the site is all sand! We also address a common RV problem regarding the lights in our master bathroom, where a light is flickering non-stop! After a bit of research, we find what light is needed and how to order it, then share those details and a step-by-step process of how to replace the light. If you have these lights in your RV, we have included a link in the video’s description so you can order them easily through Amazon, without having to do a lot of the research beforehand like we did! Also, watch how to fix low water pressure issues at your full-hook up site, by using your onboard water pump!
- We Have A BIG Problem With Our Hitch! How Bad Did We Mess Up?
Our 2020 Grand Design Momentum 397TH was having major bed rail clearance issues with our 2020 Ford F350! After a few close calls of the RV crushing the bed rails, we finally did some damage to the bottom of the fifth wheel on the RV, when they touched each other. We didn't want to cause more damage to our rig or truck, so after researching different pin boxes, we finally decided on a solution!
In this video, we remove the pin box, which is a Lippert Rota-Flex, and upgrade it to the Gen-Y Executive. We complete the 1,000-mile break-in that Gen-Y says you should give the hitch and give you our opinion on whether it helped fix our problem or not!
- We Got KICKED OUT Of Our RV Park!
Think there's NO DRAMA in RV life? Think again! Our video highlights what happens when you choose the wrong campground to spend a week relaxing and unwinding! While we do give some consideration to user reviews, we don't always mark a campground off our list just because of a handful of poor reviews. Unfortunately, we paid the price this time and will now consider ALL reviews that pertain to power shortages and general upkeep! Let our mistake save you the drama of dealing with a park manager that thinks your "big rig is taking all the power” out of their park!
One highlight that came from this huge inconvenience, is that our next campground, just outside of Glacier National Park, was able to accommodate us four days early! Thanks to getting kicked out, we were able to visit Glacier three times, instead of just once, which we originally had planned! Oh, and our new campground had plenty of electricity for ALL of the rigs in their campground and was very well kept!
- We Weigh How Much?!?! Are We Overweight?
Have you ever wondered how much your truck and RV weigh and whether or not you are within the legal limits of your RV and truck's capacities? In this video, we show you how to find out how much your truck and RV weigh, and go over the steps of how to set your truck and RV up on the scale to get the proper combined weight of the rig. We go a step further, and weigh the truck by itself, to see what our true weights are!
While these numbers can be confusing, our step-by-step breakdown of how we got our weights and what the numbers really mean, make understanding the data easy, even for a novice! We break down the scale slips of the truck and RV combined and then the truck by itself. We go over each of the scale slip numbers, what they mean and how to determine the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of the truck, the pin weight of the trailer and the GVW of the RV! We show you how to use the numbers to understand where your weights are in relation to the legal limits of both!
We also share a pro-tip regarding how to save money and stress at truck stops by using the TSD Fuel Card to fuel up the truck when the RV is hooked up! This video is intended to help you in figuring out if your RV is loaded properly, and what you can do to maximize your payload capacity, while still remaining in the legal limits of the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of the truck and the RV!
- Not Such A Grand Design! RV Roof Problems
We are the second owners of our 2020 Grand Design Momentum 397TH, so when we realized our roof was in need of a major repair, going the traditional "warranty" route with the manufacturer, was not an option. When we began researching roofs, we found there are three types: vinyl (like ours), TPO and direct-to-deck. We considered making an insurance claim, but being full-time, this option brought some drawbacks. The first downside was that it would need to be inspected by the insurance company, then fixed on their timeline, which isn't easy to coordinate when you live in your RV fulltime. A few other drawbacks were that we had a hard time finding insurance companies that would insure a fulltime RV'er, so filing a claim seemed risky, since we are very pleased with our current provider. Additionally, the insurance company would want us to replace the roof with the existing vinyl roof, which, after researching, we had decided wasn't the best option for us.
That lead us to RV Armor, which we paid for out of pocket! This allowed us to avoid having to make an insurance claim, and was a product that we were confident wouldn't cause us any major problems in the future. It offers a lifetime warranty, that is transferrable, should we sell the RV in the future and was approximately half the cost of purchasing a vinyl roof like we had before. Paying outright for the vinyl roof would cost us approximately $12,000, and we had no guarantee that we wouldn't see future problems just like the ones we were already experiencing! We also liked that RV Armor sent a technician directly to us, so we didn't have to take the RV anywhere inconvenient to have it fixed.
Overall, the experience of working with RV Armor was great and we especially appreciate our RV Armor Technician, Nate, for allowing us to film, while he explained the process to us, along the way! He did a great job, was friendly and got the job done, as promised, and on time!
- RV Black And Grey Tank Cleaning and Maintenance
RV tank maintenance may seem like a daunting task, especially if you are new to the RV lifestyle! We've found a method for flushing and maintaining our black and grey tanks that has been surprisingly simple and effective. This method is called the Bio-Geo Method and involves using Dawn Dish soap, Borax and Zep Citrus Degreaser. We finish this process with a few scoops of Happy Camper! If you’re looking to change up your black and grey tank maintenance method, or want to learn more about how to treat your tanks, this video is a must-see!