RV 211: New Technology from the RV Capital of the World

This episode comes to you from Elkhart, Indiana, the RV Capital of the world. We talk about what we’re seeing here this week at RV Open House, recorded on location at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart and featuring a comnveration with Darryl Searer, the president of this awesome museum and exhibit center. Also, in our interview of the week, we talk about some innovative new technology being shown by Roadtrek and the Erwin Hymer Group of North America. Jim Hammill comes by to tell us what the new WATT Fuel Cell technology will mean to RVers. Plus your questions, comments and much more. RV NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER California woman falls to death taking selfie at Michigan's Pictured Rocks Another sad story of someone dying at a national landmark while taking a selfie made the news last week. This time the location was Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The victim? A California woman who paused to take a selfie on a 200 foot cliff overlooking Lake Superior. The woman apparently slipped, fell into the lake, and died. So sad. MIKE Vail, Colorado, setting aside local tax dollars to pay for federal workers to monitor U.S. campgrounds, trails We have been writing for some time about the maintenance backlog in our national parks because of shortages in the federal budget. But a story I saw last week was the first I've read of towns near popular tourist destinations taking local tax dollars that would normally fund roads, police or fire, and instead giving it to the federal government to pay for federal land expenses. The story focused on Vail, Colorado, setting aside $120,000 to pay U.S. Forest Service employees to monitor federal trails and campgrounds, and discussed several other cities throughout the country also taking their local taxpayer money to pay for federal land care. JENNIFER Airstream Hotel is coming to Yosemite A California start-up called AutoCamp has teamed up with Airstream to create a “glamping” experience for visitors to Yosemite National Park who can book accommodations in 80 Airstream trailers. The company promises luxury camping with the same amenities found in many boutique hotels. Besides all those Airstream trailers, the development features a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse with meeting space, fire pits, and a marketplace for food options. Other amenities will include a rooftop deck and an outdoor swimming pool. The Airstream hotel is just outside of the park and will have shuttles running back and forth all day. I warn you, when it opens next ear it won’t be cheap: Nightly rates start at $225 MIKE This camper trailer folds into a box that fits inside a sprinter van - and comes out when it is time to camp A story about a new kind of camper that fits into the back of a van caught our eye last week. The camper is a modular box, with extensions, that fits in the back of a sprinter van. Only unlike a Class B, the van is still a van - the camper fits inside of it, and comes out at a campground, with several slides until it has the shape of the letter "L". It is then a normal camper trailer, complete with beds, a kitchen, TV, storage and more. To read more about the unusual European made ioCamper, click here. JENNIFER Man walks up to Old Faithful, looks inside and urinates into it Yellowstone National Park sure has had its share of stories recently of people doing foolish things. This week the park was in the news when a man went off trail and walked up to Old Faithful, appeared to urinate into the geyser, and then appeared to lay down and looked into a cone. The whole thing was captured on video. Later he apparently led police on a chase in town for driving recklessly. The man is now facing many charges. This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers looking for places to camp; Harvest Hosts, a unique membership service that allows members to stay free overnight in wineries, farms and attractions across North America; and Overnight RV Parking, a subscription service that provides details for over 12,000 free or nearly free RV overnight parking locations. All three services offer greatly discounted rates to listeners of this podcast JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK Some time ago Mike and I filmed a video of the personal touches we added to the bathroom of our Roadtrek. We did this in response to a reader's request. We showed everyone the magnifying mirror we added for me to apply make up in the mornings. We showed some containers we added for soap and toothbrush holders. And we showed some hooks we added for towels - both his and hers, and other such things. In the video I mentioned that one thing I would like is a retractable clothes line. I wanted one because I wanted to have a place to hang our more personal items to dry when we are driving down the road. Commercial dryers are so rough on clothes, I am very careful when I use them. I wanted a private place to hang some things to dry so we wouldn't have our clothes strung out throughout the RV as we traveled. Well, I am regularly asked by viewers who see this video for the first time if I ever got my retractable clothes line. And, I am happy to say, that yes I did and I love it! We found the retractable 8-foot long line on Amazon for $12.99. I like it because it did what we needed - provide a way to hang our light weight more personal items discreetly. The clothes line is nylon and it retracts into a stainless steel container that is mall, roughly 3.5 inches by 2 inches, and mounted to our shower wall. When not in use it takes up very little space which I like. I will include a link to our original video in the shownotes, along with a link and picture of the retractable clothes line we use. Here is the original video: https://youtu.be/NqXO6vrIXOY Here is the retractable shower line we bought: https://amzn.to/2MXduZQ Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK We answer the following questions this week: I've owned 4 motorhomes and 1 travel trailer over the last 25 years of enjoyment with my family of 6. But now there is only the wife and I with retirement next year.I am between motorhomes currently and will be purchasing a Class B for my next one. Having never owned a Class B before (3 class As and one class C) several issues are concerning my wife and I: * How to maximize the storage in a minimized space? * How to improve our cell and wifi capability? * Which chassis is best (Sprinter, Transit, Promaster)? - Doug We’re shopping for a Class B van and we have been warned that the disadvantage is they have refrigerators that only work if the unit is perfectly level. Is this true? -Kathy Here’s a story we ran on our Roadtreking RV Lifestyle blog about the differences - https://rvlifestyle.com/fridges-freezers-oh/ This part of the podcast is sponsored by Steinbring Motorcoach, Roadtrek’s newest dealer and a third generation family business in Minnesota’s beautiful Chain of Lakes region built on quality motorhomes and excellent pricing and service. INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK At RV Open House in Elkhart this week, we saw some very promising new technology being shown for the first time by Roadtrek and the Erwin Hymer Group of North America. Jim Hammill came by for a chat. Here’s a video version of the interview: Here's a transcript of the video: Mike Wendland: Hey, everybody we are in Elkhart, Indiana. And we are attending an annual event called RV Open House. Now, it's not open to the public, it's just dealers and people who sell RVs and buy directly from the factory. They're the ones who are here. Jen Wendland: And this really is a big deal. It is estimated they will buy, order over two billion dollars worth of vehicles. Mike Wendland: Elkhart, Indiana is the RV capitol of the world. More than 80% of global RV production is based throughout this area. That means if you see an RV rolling down the road anywhere in the world, chances are it was built in or around Elkhart. Jen Wendland: And the place is booming. The jobless rate is close to zero. That's because the industry is building and selling RVs so fast that it can't keep up. RV manufacturers here have 9,500 job openings right now that they are looking for people to fill. Mike Wendland: Technology plays a major part in RV innovation these days. And at RV Open House something called WATT was unveiled by Roadtrek and the Erwin-Hymer Group, that takes off the grid boondocking style camping to a whole new level Mike Wendland: What is this? WATT representative: So, this is a battery charger, but it's a hybrid power system. So, what it does is it will keep your batteries topped up throughout the evening, just like you'd consider a normal generator. However, it runs on a fuel cell. So, we have a propane powered fuel cell at the heart of it. And the hybrid piece of it incorporates solar panels. So, we can actually run on solar and on the fuel cell. And depending on how the solar situation is set up at that time, it could be the evening or whatever, the fuel cell will kick on and fill in the gaps. Mike Wendland: So, what does this mean to me and my RV out boondocking in the middle of nowhere? WATT representative: It means you get power when you need it quietly. So, it's running right now and you can't hear it in the background. Mike Wendland: Wait a minute. It's running now? WATT representative: It's running right now and you can't here it in the background. You get no generator emissions. So you can actually breathe the exhaust. It's safe. Very quiet, clean, safe. And it runs when you need it. So, you don't have to go start your generator or shut your generator off. It's just working all the time in the background. So,