You Purchased a Rv and are Picking it up. Now What?

A little Reading - A few of the manuals that came with the Roadtrek

Once we have made the committment, selected the product we want and made the order, or selected it from the showroom floor, there comes the day that payment transfers hands, and a lot of papers are to be signed.

Wait a moment!

One of the big parts of this handoff ceremony is getting a walk-through of the features of your new rig. Be it a Roadtrek or whatever, these are complex vehicles. Your walk-through will serve two purposes:

1. Provide you with training and education about your new RV
2. Provide you with a demonstration that all of the features and accessories are working. 

Some of these vehicles are really complex. If this is your first RV, or if you had one which is more than 10 years old, you might be shocked by some of the technology in today's RVs.

Please do a very thorough checkout.

Once you take delivery, then all of the issues become "warranty issues." These are treated differently than point of sale issues. So it is best to identify any issues before taking delivery.

Once you do take delivery, you may find yourself in a long queue of people wanting service.

Some Good Ideas

Arrange for the full feature demonstration. However, also arrange to stay in the RT overnight so you get to try it and make a list a questions that occur to you during that overnight stay. You will find that the "walk-through" is fast paced. If you want a good trekking experience there are things you will need to do, and things the dealer will have to do. This post is directed to Roadtrek purchasers, but the points made work well with all RVs.

Keep in mind that the moment you drive off of the lot, you should know enough to connect to "shore power", spend the night and a day at a campground, be able to connect to fresh water,  fill the onboard fresh water tanks, switch between city water connection or tank water and operate the hot water heater. You should know how to dump gray and black water tanks. You should know what the various readouts and displays mean. You should be able to operate the refrigerator, and cook your meals. You should know how to use the thermostat and select furnace or heat pump or AC, assuming you have these. However, a lot of this will require you reading the various appliance manuals that came with your RV.

Be prepared to spend some time reading all of these manuals, and you will have to do some experimentation. That will be a wonderful exercise during your first trek. I suggest you plan one for mild weather.

So how to accomplish this in a short walk-through? You might think this is trivial, but a couple of weeks after taking delivery of our 210P we headed south to warmer weather. En route the weather changed from 50F during the day to about 5F at night. We found ourselves winterizing in a gas station as darkness fell. "Be Prepared" is a good motto for kids (Boy Scouts) and if 13 year olds can master this, so should adults. But it might be a bit more intimidating than you expect. Your walk-through is your opportunity to be educated and to be prepared.

1. Before going to the dealer make a list of everything you ordered and every accessory. Every appliance, option on the RT, etc.
2. If you can, download and print out a copy of the current manual from the RT website and bring it with you so you can mark it up with notes. Keep the one provided by the dealer as a clean backup. 
3. At the dealer, review all of the documentation. Do you have manuals for all of the features and accessories of your RV?
4. Have the dealer demonstrate everything completely to you and take notes when they do. This includes battery systems, generator, any "auto start/stop", DC power systems. 
5. Discuss the DC fusing and the AC breakers. Look at the propane detector and CO monitor and know how to reset and test these.
6. Ask them to show you the batteries and ask about "resets" and so on.
7. Ask them to show you the DC contactor and point out any DC circuit breakers or other "hidden" fuses.
8. Ask them to show you the battery isolator so you know what it is.
9. Have any solar panel system including controller demonstrated and understand the readouts.
10. Have any inverter demonstrated and ask about "resets" or fuses or circuit breakers it might have. 
11. Fill the water tanks both from city water and via the door mounted fill points. Partially drain the tanks and note the operation of the tank level indicator.
12. Have the valving demonstrated to you for operating from inside fresh tank or exterior tank (210P). Note the positions of all of the valves for this.
13. Run fresh water via the tanks with pump and via city. Have them tell you how to isolate the hot water heater and describe and show you the anode in that heater.
14. Ask about how to winterize and the procedures.
15. Try absolutely everything including the macerator and dump both gray and black tanks, so you open and close the gate valves, etc.
16. Run the propane appliances be it hot water heater, furnace and range top. Have them show you how to open and close the propane valve and where it is.
17. Try the stereo and TV systems; bring DVD and Blue-Ray discs with you, assuming your RV has a blue ray player.
18. Know how to switch the TV antenna from roof top to cable, or Satellite, is so equipped.
19. Try all interior lights and all doors and latches.
20. These are complex vehicles and treat them accordingly.
21. Also ask about a list of optional, user provided "accessories" including water pressure regulator, water filter, and even a shore power protection device. Get their knowledgeable opinion.
22. You don't have to jump in and buy anything until you are confident but not before taking a trek. I understand Roadtrek says you don't need a120V power protection device. Ask wny.
23. Have some fun.
24. Once you have taken delivery, make a list of all of the accessories. 
25. Download pdf files of all of the accessories; furnace, hot water heater, roof fan, air conditioner, microwave/convection oven, refrigerator, water pump, macerator, TV, DVD player, TV powered antenna, etc. If you can, look for "Owners Manuals" as well as "Service Manuals" and "Parts Manuals". These will serve you well in the years ahead. 

Now you have the  basic information, head on down the road and see how knowledgeable you are.

Have Fun!

Note:

The above is based upon a September 2017 post I made on Facebook