Reservations, Repairs, and Real RV Talk - RV LIFE 153

From Route 66 Plans To Leak Dealbreakers: Big-Event Travel Strategy, RV Buying Red Flags, Holding Tank Truths, and A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Manufacturing.

Planning a trip around America’s 250th anniversary, the Route 66 centennial, or major World Cup events? John DiPietro talks with Woodall’s Campground Magazine editor Ben Quiggle about what’s coming up, why pricing and availability may get wild, and how to plan smarter by booking early, and looking beyond the most obvious campgrounds.

Then, Jim and Rene sit down with master certified mobile RV technician Zeb Hahn, for a clear-eyed breakdown of what goes wrong most often in both new and used rigs. They cover repeat problem areas, what to look – and listen – for during a walk-through, the maintenance that prevents expensive damage, and the dealbreakers that should make any buyer walk away.

For The RV Entrepreneur segment, Rose and Glynn welcome Ricky Stewart from Unique Camping + Marine for a surprisingly fun and very useful conversation about holding tanks, and the business behind this leading additive manufacturer. Ricky explains why some popular “old school” advice can backfire, what actually causes smells and sensor issues, and why their number one recommendation is simpler than people think: use more water.

Bob Zagami wraps the episode with Willie Miller, General Manager at Forest River Plant 410, sharing what it looks like to expand product lines while protecting quality, how manufacturers think about the customer journey, and why follow-through after the sale matters more than the branding on the front cap.

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Transcript

Welcome And Segment Roadmap

SPEAKER_05 0:01

So it'll be interesting to see if camping remains uh an affordable option.

SPEAKER_07 0:07

Whenever you come down to Water Leagues, all of a sudden the the the price to fix it is just astronomical.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

You still have these people being like four pines tall down your toilet, four bleach down your toilet, four fabulosa down your toilet. RV life, RV life, RV life, RV life, RV life, RV life, I'm not sure.

JIM 0:27

Welcome back to the show. I'm Jim, back at the wheel here for RV Life.

RENE 0:31

And I'm Renee. We have an exciting ride for you with this one, so hang on tight.

JIM 0:35

This week we're covering a lot of ground, literally and figuratively. First up, we've got John talking with the editor of Woodall's Campground magazine about a big year of RV travel planning with once-in-a-lifetime events and why early reservations matter more than ever.

RENE 0:51

Then we're getting super practical with our own lifestyle segment. We're sitting down with Zed the RV Tech, a certified RV technician we trusted to repair our own awning. We talk about the issues he sees over and over again, what to watch for when you're shopping for a rig, and what regular maintenance really pays off.

JIM 1:08

For the RV Entrepreneur Profile, Rose and Glenn talk with Ricky Stewart from Unique Camping and Marine. They're tackling one of the least glamorous parts of RVing and somehow making it interesting, useful, and even a little funny.

RENE 1:20

And then Bob wraps things up for us with Forest River General Manager Willie Miller, talking about quality, production growth, and what it looks like to build better long-term relationships with both dealers and customers.

JIM 1:33

All right, lots of ground to cover here, so let's get into it.

Why Early Reservations Matter

RENE 1:36

Kicking things off, here's John with our RV travel segment. If you're thinking about Route 66, America's big birthday celebrations, or even World Cup travel, you'll want to hear this before you start planning.

JIM 1:46

Okay, here's John with Ben Quigle, editor of Woodall's Campground Magazine.

JOHN 1:52

Hey everybody, welcome back to the RV Life Podcast. My name is John DeVitro. It's a pleasure to have you with us today. And today is a special day because rather than just talking about a one-destination podcast like we do normally, we have the editor of Woodall's Campground Magazine with us, Ben Quiggle. And uh we want to talk about a wide variety of RV camping opportunities that are coming up this year, Ben. And uh first of all, welcome back to the uh, or welcome to the RV Live Podcast. We've had you on so many different uh publications and presentations that it's always nice to have you back with us.

SPEAKER_05 2:32

Yeah, I think you're the only ones that want me back all the time.

JOHN 2:36

So, Ben, this year is an amazing year because it's the 250th anniversary of the United States. It is the 100th, the centennial anniversary of Route 66, and there's World Cup soccer taking place all over the United States and North America for that fact, which open up a wide variety of camping opportunities that are really once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Is there any um any tips that you would give to our listeners about um making those reservations for camping nearby these big events?

SPEAKER_05 3:16

I mean, I think, yeah. I mean, I think I was just on Route 66 a couple weeks ago, and I think if you're anywhere new near those areas that are gonna be doing any big celebrations, I know I think Yosemite is doing like a huge firework show they're doing out there, and of course Mount Rushmore and stuff like that. I think you're just gonna have to book early. Um, you know, uh some of those sites might already be completely booked up for those celebration periods. So I think the name of the game is booking early and um uh trying to find uh maybe some parks that you know are maybe less known or less popular, I guess.

JOHN 3:55

Exactly. You know, Route 66 is that iconic road. A lot of people say, Well, where is it? It goes from Illinois to California, right?

SPEAKER_05 4:04

Yeah, yeah. I believe. I mean, I've never drew have you drove the whole thing? No, I haven't drove the whole thing.

JOHN 4:09

Never even stepped foot on it, but you know, we're seeing all these new opportunities this year to do something different that really you get one shot at. And um, you know, it's funny we're saying the America 250 was a one-time opportunity thing. Well, America 200 back in uh you know 1976, um we thought we'd never get another big one, but if you live long enough, you get enough uh enough major uh events to go to. Um this may seem that with this with the size of these events, um you may have to be carrying a toad with you with your RV, depending upon type of what RV you have, um you know, from camping and and staying at a campground maybe farther away from the venue, but having that car or rental car or motorcycles to uh to get to the venue.

Shuttles, Pricing, And Event Strategies

SPEAKER_05 5:02

Yeah, I mean I don't yeah, and I know they're depending on the venue and the event you go to, I know there's campgrounds that definitely offer shuttle services and things like that. I imagine there will be some of that happening, especially I wouldn't be surprised like around Mount Rushmore with everything going on around there if there wouldn't be shuttles or something. So you could definitely do your research on that end. I mean, I'm kind of interested on the pricing, you know, what what's going to happen on the pricing side. I know for the World Cup, those hotel rooms and things near World Cup games are just skyrocketing. So it'll be interesting to see if camping remains uh an affordable option or or what goes on on that front too.

JOHN 5:43

So and then there might be those adventurous people that uh just want to go right to the venue and and pay a little bit more to park their RV in the uh in the stadium parking lot for that particular night. I know that uh here in New England, the stadium that hosts the New England Patriots is the same venue that has soccer, and they have an RV lot that's adjacent. And I think so many of the NFL stadiums do have uh accommodations for RVs. It's just a question of number one, what will the price be? And uh are they sold out yet?

SPEAKER_05 6:18

Yeah, I mean I I know the the pricing for World Cup stuff is just exorbitant at the moment. So we'll have to see um what's going on with that. And I imagine for the the birthday stuff for the US, I mean, some of those events are gonna be pretty expensive and they're gonna be extremely popular. Um so I don't know when booking opens for like Mount Rushmore events and stuff, but it's our if it's already open, I imagine it's probably already sold out.

JOHN 6:46

So yeah, and then you'll have a wide variety of events in the major cities, especially in uh you know Philadelphia and Washington, which um seem to be the um main areas that um 1976 presented as challenges for um for traffic, etc.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

But and I and I think one of the interesting things about the especially US the America's birthday is that uh every community I think is going to have something going on. So it's not like you have to go to the big events to have fun. Um there will be communities all over the U.S. that are hosting things, and there may be campgrounds that are doing even unique things. I haven't necessarily heard of specific campgrounds that are doing unique things, but I imagine um there will be campgrounds doing unique events. So it's definitely worth just looking around and seeing what fits uh the type of travel experience you want to have. If you want to fight the crowds to try to get into Mount Rushmore, then go for it. If you want a little bit more of a quiet celebration, then I'm sure there's definitely parks and communities out there that will offer that.

JOHN 7:53

So I'm sure Fourth of July will be um uh a national, well, obviously it's always a national celebration, but this year even more with people going all out from that aspect of it. And you know, obviously July is always the July and August are the big um high occupancy months for campgrounds.

SPEAKER_05 8:15

Um so that'll be another overcome. Yeah, I mean you know, the July 4th, um especially July 4th and Memorial Day, and like even Labor Day weekend, I think they're already um really popular, and a lot of times July 4th already books up really early for most parks. So I would imagine um, you know, you've got to get on those early anyways. So this year it's definitely gonna be important that you get on booking that stuff early. So okay.

Industry Updates And EV Charging Outlook

JOHN 8:46

Looking on it from a more generic perspective, Ben, you've you've been um uh going to a lot of uh the national uh annual meetings of like possibly KOA and RVC and that type thing. Anything um headline news that you've been able to um see as far as the upcoming camping season, which from the campground aspect of it?

SPEAKER_05 9:10

Well, I mean I think yeah, I think the Canadian uh stuff is having an impact where the Canadians aren't coming down as much, especially as we go into the snowbird season here. Um I think there are certain parks that are definitely feeling the impact of that. Um park owners are still investing in their parks, but I think they've slowed down some. Uh uh three or four years ago, park owners were adding stuff like crazy, investing, upgrading. I think some of that have slowed down to some degree, but people are still really optimistic in the industry. They still want to add things. Um, and with the interest rates going down and the economic picture that we have nowadays, it seems a little bit better than maybe two or three years ago. So people are a little bit, you know, the park owners feel a little bit more secure. You know, the park owners I spoke with all said they're still looking and investing and upgrading um different areas of their parks. So I think that's exciting for travelers because um, you know, there's still new things going in and there's new experiences, and on the glamping side, things are still going pretty solid.

JOHN 10:16

So the final question I want to ask you um from the park perspective is the addition of charging ports for electric vehicles. Uh, you know, five or six years ago, Winnebago came out with an all-electric um motorized product, which um well it came out, I guess it was more of a concept vehicle. I don't think they ever came out with it. Um, but there's more and more talk about um uh uh RVs being pulled by electric vehicles and they have to recharge. And I know there was a lot of discussion within the campground industry about um are they gonna have to put up put in the upgraded charging facilities? What are you hearing about that?

SPEAKER_05 11:00

Um, I think that's really slowed down. To be honest, I spoke with some park owners at recent conferences, and um, you know, on the park owner side, I think that they've pretty much uh stopped focusing on that. There's other things that they've uh kind of shifted their focus to, um, like this AI stuff that everybody keeps talking about, and uh some of the other issues that are facing the industry. Um, you know, the electric thing was really big. Uh, you know, there was definitely a year, maybe a two years there where the EV thing seemed like it was gonna be huge. I think it slowed down, and you can kind of tell that on the auto manufacturer side too. I don't think you hear as much from the auto manufacturers. I I'm not exactly for sure what Trump's done. Uh President Trump has done on that end either. I don't know whether the mandates are still in place. I think those have kind of moved or lessened to some degree. So I think um, you know, they're still keeping an eye on it and they're still working on the infrastructure for it. But, you know, if you had asked me that question like two or three years ago, I think there were a lot of parks that were like panicking a little bit, trying to add a ton more of those. But now things have kind of evened out and uh, you know, it's not such a huge deal. I'm not saying that parks aren't adding those or trying to figure out ways to meter electricity and prepare for that, but I don't think it's as a huge a deal as it was like a couple years ago when it seemed like we were all going to be driving EVs here in the next 10 years or so.

JOHN 12:29

So I'm happy to say that I traded mine two weeks ago, and I'm very happy to uh be able to put the heater on and not have to worry about my range going down to zero. So especially in the case.

SPEAKER_05 12:41

Yeah, there a couple years ago. I th you know it seemed like we by 2035 we were all gonna be in EVs.

JOHN 12:48

So don't think that's the case. So I can't believe that our time has already expired. We are been talking with Ben Quiggle, the editor of Woodall's Campground magazine. And uh Ben, always a pleasure to uh have you on the show with us. And uh want to extend that invitation to come back real soon.

SPEAKER_05 13:08

Yeah, well, thank you for letting me on, and thank you for uh listening to what I had to say, I guess.

JOHN 13:14

This is the RV Life Podcast. My name is John DiPetro. His name is Ben Quiggle. We'll see you again real soon.

RENE 13:21

Oh, that's great advice from John and Ben. And if you're planning anything around those big event weekends, that book early message is going to come up again and again this year.

JIM 13:30

That's for sure. You just can't drive all day anymore and show up somewhere expecting to find a site like we used to. Oh, stop it. You're sounding old. All right, all right. Coming up next in our lifestyle segment, it's one we wish every RV er could hear before they buy their next rig.

RENE 13:45

We're talking with Zeb, the RV Tech, and he's breaking down the most common problem areas he sees in both new and used RVs. What's a real deal breaker, and what's actually doable for DIY maintenance.

JIM 13:57

Plus, he shares a simple way to read an RV when you're shopping, so you can spot neglect before you inherit someone else's problems.

RENE 14:04

Now, here's our discussion with mobile master certified RV repair tech Zeb Han. Hey Zeb, thank you so much for being here today. It's really nice to see you again.

SPEAKER_07 14:14

Yeah, certainly. Great to see y'all's faces. It's been uh quite the time. Yes, it has. Yeah, we have a golden up there in California.

RENE 14:23

You know, it's it's lovely, and I have to say we're quite spoiled out here in the in the wintertime. Hi, I'm just thrilled to introduce you to our audience because finding an excellent RV technician is so difficult. And we found you at a KOA campground. Yeah, and you just you have it all together, and we just loved how you helped us out when we needed the assistance with our awning. And tell our audience how you got started in the industry and a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_07 14:57

Well, it was actually uh my grandparents owned a campground in Missouri, and uh I grew up there ever since I was two years old, spent about you know, twenty-three years of my life there. And so that was kind of my introduction to the RV world. It was like one big family there. So everybody's great. So that kind of really instilled with me and kind of always put camping as a priority in my life. From there I went to building houses and just kind of wasn't my jazz. So I applied to the camping world as a as a salesman, and thank God the service team got a hold of me. You know, it was definitely life-changing, you know, at that point. And I did that for about four years there in Columbia, Missouri, and then applied to some places out in Colorado and finally landed a job at Lazy Days out here in Colorado, and came out here and worked as a technician for about another four years at one of the high-end dealerships, you know, pushed a lot of big units out. That's kind of was was my experience in the RV industry. You definitely learn a lot through the through the years at a dealership. There's a lot of things that go on. I I transitioned from doing that and then growing up at the campground, I it was a lot of running my own business because I eventually took over when I was 16 doing you know the paperwork for the corporation. So I was always kind of running my own business, whether it was lawn care or you know, we had a Christmas lights gig that we done years ago. So, you know, running my own business was kind of always instilled with me. So I kind of put put everything together and decided to bring this to people at the campground, you know, and I feel like my services are a lot more appreciated by the customer in this aspect as you go into the campground and you know, they get honest advice, you know, which is hard to find in the RV industry because you you go on the service counter and you know that most of the people don't know what they're talking about, or they may think they do, but you know, it it takes a lot of time and training uh in the industry to really be confident in what you're telling the customer.

JIM 17:03

So I can vouch for that because we saw you working on a rig, you know, you have your own rig set up with your logo on it, and you were obviously on site working on something, and we had an issue that we needed, and I went over and talked to you, and within a couple days, you were fixing it. And you knew obviously knew what you were doing. I mean, we could have done the DIY route and possibly. But you ran into some issues with the awning that were a little looked like a little of a struggle, and I'm glad we found you. So, my question that I have though is when you're looking at working on either new or used RVs, are there any like top three problem areas that always come up again and again, regardless of brand or how much someone spent? Is it the appliances, the systems, the structural? Is there anything particular that comes up a lot that you're working on?

Top Problems: Electrical, Plumbing, Sealants

SPEAKER_07 17:49

Yeah, I mean, there's several things I see, you know. Um, there's a lot of problem areas all over the RV, but you know, I see a lot of electrical issues, new and used. You know, you'll see where wires have worked themselves low loose from the connector. Maybe it's it's been rubbing against something for so long that it's it's broken off. So you know, I see a lot of a little electrical issues like that. Granted, you're they're hard to find until they they show up. You know, that's one of the things where it's kind of hard to uh know what's coming, you know. Electrical issues just happen, you know, and that's a lot of things on RVs that way, they just kind of happen, you know. They don't have rhyme or reason to it. Another area I see quite a bit plumbing. I've had a lot of issues with some of the plumbing typically the newer coaches. You know, your older units that are from you know the 2000s to 2010, you know, those were plumbed pretty well, but you know, you get these newer units within the last 15 years, they they've used a lot of flex lines, and so these flex lines, uh they're not really great with the connectors. So they're using too big of lines that they've ordered from China, and you know, they're too big for the connector. You know, it's just they're not they're not made for them. So, you know, the the plumbing, if I I look out for flexible lines in a lot of these units, and it honestly, if I was buying a new coach from a manufacturer, I would I would take off the the the panel on the backside and see if there's a bunch of flex lines. If so, I'd say I want all that stuff replaced with actual PEX water lines and fittings because I I just I I wouldn't buy it because I know there's gonna be issues down the road, it's just a matter of time. Well they they do have to be a little bit more than a lot of things.

JIM 19:32

So those things might work in home, they might work in home, but things are moving around all the time. Is that the issue with those connections?

SPEAKER_07 19:38

Right. Well, yeah, and they're not using the correct fittings for them. You know, on a hose connection, you want to use a thick barbed fitting on it, and they're you know, the pecs fittings that they're using are designed for PEX line, you know, so they're mixing mixing their, you know, pieces together. And I see so many water leaks it's it's pretty discouraging. You know, because it's like I you know, you you want to have this thing done right for the customer. And a lot of times I'll say, you know, we've got to remove all this rubber stuff or try to adapt the fittings one way or another, it's a labor-intensive job, you know. So, you know, try to hold them accountable before uh before you buy it, especially on the new ones, you know, because you can say, hey, you know, you put all this flex stuff in here, and I don't want you even if you've got to pay a little more out of your pocket, it's worth it in the long run, you know, to have Do you see any differences or common tr uh problems in trailers versus class A rigs?

JIM 20:35

You know, what are some type of things that might go wrong in the bus that doesn't go on a trailer, or is it all the same?

SPEAKER_07 20:40

You know, I've always noticed that with the bigger the unit, the more problems you're gonna have, you know, and that's just the beast. Um, especially with the big rigs, there's you know, a lot of cost, especially with the engine side of things and the drivetrain that you're not gonna have on a travel trailer or a fifth wheel. So as long as you're budgeting for those different options, that's the most important thing is you know, you've you gotta realize, okay, well, even if you're towing a trailer, you've got your vehicle that you've got to take care of. You know, that's you know, you gotta be uh prepared for that as well, you know. So it's not necessarily just the RV or the the unit, but you'll find a lot of problems all over. But in general, the bigger the unit, the more problems you're gonna have. You know, on the little on the little stick and ten units, there's a lot of more cosmetic issues. You know, they use you know, they use very minimalistic items, so they're gonna have less problems. You know, when you get into the bigger rigs with the touch screens that operate everything, you know, you're just throwing another level of sophistication and things that could possibly go wrong, you know, and you know the biggest I gotta the biggest thing is the sealant, you know. And that's the big thing where you know I see issues. Everything else on a coach can pretty well be fixed, but whenever you come down to water leaks and rotten walls and ceilings and floors, well, all of a sudden the the the price to fix it is just astronomical and usually outweighs the coach. So your biggest thing is making sure you don't have water leaks from the exterior and internal water pipes.

RENE 22:19

That sounds like a pretty preventable situation as far as the owner's maintenance habits go.

SPEAKER_07 22:25

Definitely. You know, and it's it's something to always keep an eye on, especially in used units, you know, that I see a lot of neglect on maintenance. And most of it comes down to the sealants, is you know, they're neglected and you know, all of a sudden they've got a rotten wall, and that's why they're selling it, you know. So something that we're, you know, really keep an eye out for.

Inspection Checklist And DIY Boundaries

RENE 22:46

Well, that's that's great to know, and it definitely reflects our experience when we were RV shopping um two years ago. What are some of the warning signs that I should be on the lookout for when I'm RV shopping? Something that maybe might not be a deal breaker, but that I might want to dig into further.

SPEAKER_07 23:02

Mm-hmm. Sure. Yeah, I mean, a lot of times, you know, I'll do a I'll listen. I'll use my ears, I'll use my eyes, um, you know, I'll go through the mechanical stuff, you know, your slides, your awnings, your leveling system, and I'll listen for any irregular noises. But is the slide popping or screeching when it shouldn't, you know, is your leveling system does do you have any do everything stay down? You know, does it go through it its functions correctly? Um, you know, is the awning roll in and out okay? Those are, you know, just things I like to keep an eye on. Usually when I do an inspection, I'll go through everything. You know, I'll listen and touch and do everything. I'd be the same way if I was a buyer. You know, I'd go through and touch everything and make sure it's working properly. You know, go through your all your appliances, make sure everything's working 100% the way it should, you know, turn your furnace on. Does it go through a full cycle on the furnace? Are you hearing loud vibrations from the furnace on your air conditioner? Same way, you know, is it is it quiet? Is it blowing cold air? Is it going through a full cycle without any issues? You know, so usually if I'm looking at a coach, I'm gonna touch everything and use everything exactly as if I was the customer. I'm you know, look at the drivetrain. What are the tires looking like? Do you have any unusual wear on those tires? That's a pretty big safety concern, you know. I I think it gets overlooked more often, you know, is that the the drivetrain can have several issues that people just don't look at. You know, they're looking at all the bells and whistles, and you know, you're not looking at the ins and outs of everything. So, you know, make sure your springs, you know, your leaf springs aren't flattened out or cracked, especially in your you know, if you're buying something used, those are things you want to you want to look at is the drivetrain and the bearings, you know, when's the last time the bearings have been packed? A lot of times you can't.

RENE 24:49

I think I see a uh a checklist here.

SPEAKER_07 24:52

Yeah, yeah. If you see weird tire wear, you know, um a lot of times it can lead bad to a back bad axle. You know, you could have a bad axle that's just slightly off camber, you know, they hit a big bump, the spindle's bent, you know. So keep an eye on the tire wear, you know, that's always, you know, so look over your mechanical issues, your appliances, your drivetrain, and obviously all your sealants, and just make sure everything's working the way it should.

JIM 25:21

You know, you mentioned some major things there, and and I'm really glad we found you when it came to our awning replacement. But I'm a DIY guy, and there's RVers out there, and there's YouTube, and lots of people think they can do it all. Where would you suggest people draw the line? Like, what's an easy fix that people might take on for themselves, or what do they start getting into when you suggest, hey, you better talk to someone who's certified and knows what they're doing?

SPEAKER_07 25:46

Yeah, certainly. You know, I think it it all boils down to knowing your own skill set, you know, and and where you're comfortable. You know, there's a these systems can get very complicated, you know. The electrical systems, you know. I always like to use the example of the electrical engineer, you know, they've been an electrical engineer and they want to come in and rewire the coat. You know, it's a lot different than you know, knowing all your high voltage stuff than all the 12 volt systems. You know, there's so many different ways some of these appliances work. And even some of the simple appliances like a furnace, you know, they they can get very complicated in their schematics and the way the the 12 volt flows. As far as DIY stuff, you know, I would say roof sealants is something you know a customer can get away with, you know, as long as they're comfortable climbing on a roof. Your exterior sealants get comfortable with a caulking gun, you know, because you're gonna need to be able to clean and seal all these little areas that get cracked from driving down the road or the sun hitting it, or they just missed it from the factory. The amount of units I've seen missed straight from the factory, all the ceiling, you know, cracked. And when I was at a dealership doing inspections, I would many things I would write up would be dealing with the sealants. So, you know, get comfortable with a caulking gun, you know, minor water leaks as far as faucets and little fittings, you know. If you see a fitting dripping, you can try to tighten it. A lot of times they just didn't tighten it enough, you know. So you know, put your hands on it, and if it's still dripping after that, well, you may have a crack crack fitting or something of that nature.

RENE 27:18

These sounds like uh it sounds like these are really good maintenance tasks that um people should stay on top of. Just learn how to do these basic things you mentioned, like especially when it comes to roof ceiling.

SPEAKER_07 27:31

Right. Yeah, and then you know, cleaning and lubing your slides, you know, get familiar with things like that and your jacks, your leveling jacks. You know, I see a lot of people that overlook their leveling jacks. Now you're supposed to, before you raise your hydraulic system, you know, you're supposed to clean off that that tube and and spray it with some silicone. That way dirt doesn't pull up inside of that jack. Now that's a maintenance tip that can go a very long way. Because, you know, people will complain there a year later that, okay, my my leveling jacks now are, you know, they're drifting down or something. Well, that has to do with fluid bypassing in that jack portion. You know, the seal's damaged now, it had debris drawn up into it, and the seal fluid is now bypassing in that jack, and it'll pop and make all sorts of noises, or it'll just drift on you. You know, you'll have a slide that may drift out, you know.

JIM 28:25

So cleaning those, you know, those hydraulic rams can be very so Renee's looking all shocked and looking at me here, but she this kind of comes back to knowing your equipment. He's talking about pneumatic ram type hydraulic landing jacks where we have more actuated motorized ones. So there's still maintenance and things to take.

RENE 28:49

Touche.

JIM 28:50

Touche.

SPEAKER_07 28:51

I mean, certainly. I mean, it it goes with all your mechanical items. Anything that's gonna be rolling in and out of each other. Um, you know, if it's a tube inside of a tube, you know, you're gonna want it clean. Um, you know, silicone's a a great thing. You know, that spray it, there's a spray silicone that you know we're using a lot of lubricants for most things on an RV, the the the silicone spray will work great. You know, clean it and then put that on it and move on.

Deal Breakers And Buying Leverage

RENE 29:19

Okay, I like that. If it's got a tube within a tube, you better pay extra attention to it. Yeah, that so Zeb, what is a deal breaker for you? Like if if you were shopping for an RV and you saw something that was concerning, what would you say are like two or three of the biggest deal breakers where you would just walk away right now, no matter what that thing cost?

SPEAKER_07 29:39

I mean, that's that's pretty easy for me, and that's big water leak, big, big water damage. Anywhere, you know, if you see a front cap that's looking like it's partially fallen down on like a class C or you see warping in the walls, you'll a lot of times on the exterior, if you're looking down that sidewall, you can see you can see where it's kind of warped out, and they call that delamination. That's due to water intruding from improper improper sealing. You know, people haven't been sealing it. And there's there's no good, quick, easy remedy for that stuff. You know, you got mold living in there, it's a long process, and getting it back to looking the way, you know, everything uniform and looking correct is very difficult. You know, it it takes a long process and a lot of a lot of man hours to make stuff like that happen, and it's usually not feasible within the price range, you know. So a lot of those units they they've been neglected, you know. That's the biggest thing I look for is neglect too. Usually you can walk in a coach and say, okay, well, you know, they didn't take care of this thing, you know. You see holes in the wall and panels falling off, and you know, but dirt everywhere, you know. All of a sudden you you look at that and you say, Okay, well, they didn't really do much of the maintenance, it doesn't seem, you know. They I imagine if they didn't clean the dirt off the floor, they probably uh didn't loop none of the slides or seal the roof. They should have, you know. So those are little telltale signs is, you know, look for water leaks and and the overall condition of the coach, you know, because you'll be able to tell if a cuss if it's been maintenance or a professional's been through it and fixed it.

JIM 31:17

So regarding those leaks, I can definitely attest to that. When we were shopping for a used rig, I got on the roof and my deal breaker was feeling a big spongy area of plywood. And that roof was literally falling apart, and I stepped back and it fell down about a couple inches, and that was definitely a deal breaker. But if you were talking to, say, a friend who's considering a new rig or a new trailer, and you were standing next to him at the dealership, what's like the one question to ask the seller? Whether it's, you know, on open market or at the dealership, what do you ask the people? How can you kind of gauge, I don't know, maybe their honesty or, you know, what do you want to know about a rig before you make the deal?

SPEAKER_07 31:58

Well, I mean, simple questions about the RV will tell you pretty quick whether they're familiar with it or not. And, you know, ask them simple questions. And has all the maintenance been performed? You know, if if they can list all some maintenance items that they've had completed, okay, you know, okay, well, they've at least had some stuff done. If they can't list anything off to you, I'd be real leery if they've done any maintenance at all to it. You know, have you had the air conditioners cleaned? You know, did did they lube the slides? Has all your appliances been gone through and checked, you know, and have you had a third-party inspection done? That's the biggest thing is getting third-party inspection. Is, you know, whether it's a dealership or just a person selling it, um, get the third-party inspection, you know, because all these things I've listed is what guys like me will go through and and give you a full list of okay, these are things that we think need to be done and haven't been done or whatever. And you'll be surprised on new units how much stuff I find. The fifth wheels, you know, I could find 50 items on the big buses that pushing a hundred, you know, it's brand new, straight from the factories. You know, don't dismiss that there's not problems. And a lot of times you can do that before you want to do this, before you sign your paperwork. Don't sign the paperwork until you've said, okay, here's all the problems that my mechanic found, and these need to be addressed before we're ready to move forward with signing the paperwork on this. And they're gonna they're gonna go through their due diligence and try to get these jobs done. I've even done second inspections and they failed the second inspection, you know, because you know, where you know the dealership said they done this, they done this. Well, uh they must have missed it because they didn't find the correct part. And you know, I so it it's kind of you really gotta hold them accountable on and used units, you know, you obviously don't have as much leverage with the customer, but other than price, you know, say, okay, you haven't done all these maintenance items, you know, there's gonna be hidden things that pop up and we know it. Um you know, instead of like a used car where you maybe you got five hundred dollars um of leeway price, you better be, you know, electing two to five grand of leeway price for the RV repairs because there could be something very simple hiding behind the lines that can cost you. I've had many customers where they'll buy a used coach and all of a sudden their roof's messed up, their leveling system's not working right, their slide, they've got a slide that's not working.

JIM 34:39

You know, on the other side of things, this is great advice for sellers too, right? I mean, this is great advice for sellers because if you have an inspection there and you have like we once had a binder full of all the repairs ever done, when you sell that and everyone knows everything's just crystal clear on the table about what's been done with the rig, you're more likely to get what you want for it.

Leveling, Slides, And Annual Maintenance

SPEAKER_07 34:59

Well, I 100% agree that that can make a huge difference as far as selling it. Uh just like whenever you know you go buy a car, whenever they've got all the records of what it what it had done to it, that makes me a lot more comfortable typically. You know, when they've got the, you know, when they've went through and say, okay, we had oil change done then, and same thing, had my slides lubed, I had the roof resealed, you know. And those those roof sealants, I I would say with your roof and exterior sealant, I'd be looking at it once a year. At least. Watch, watch driving under trees and stuff, because it's say you went through a ground and drove through under some trees. You know, this is maybe just for the owners, you know. If you if you drove through something with low clearance and a bunch of trees, get up on there and check that roof because a lot of times you don't see where a tree is dragged along that edge line and made little holes and and that rubber. And it's it's not long after you get a you get a delamination, delaminated sidewall. Thanks.

RENE 36:04

Yeah, yeah. I think that happened with our first rig many, many years ago. But this is so helpful. I where can people find you? I I know you're locally based in Colorado. Can you give your your contact info so that if anybody in the area wants to work with you, they can?

SPEAKER_07 36:20

Yeah, certainly. Yeah, I'm in northern Colorado and serve all the surrounding areas pretty well from Denver to Estes Park and all the way up to Cheyenne and uh Fort Morgan. So I'm all over Northern Colorado. You can reach me at uh and I like to do phone calls, so 970-909-4372. If you want to talk to me and work through your situation, I'm also on the web at mastercertified rvrepair.com.

JIM 36:46

Excellent.

RENE 36:47

All right. Well, make sure to uh get the word out because I I wish we had known you when we were RV shopping. Let me tell you, we would have saved a lot of time. So thank you. Thank you. That conversation was packed. And if you heard sealants and immediately pictured your caulking gun, you're not alone.

JIM 37:04

Right, but we don't use caulk. Oh, whatever. All right. Up next is Rose and Glenn with another RV entrepreneur. And fair warning, this one goes straight into a topic most of us avoid until we can't.

RENE 37:16

They're talking with Ricky Stewart from Unique Camping and Marine, and yep, it's all about holding tanks, odors, sensors, and what actually works.

JIM 37:24

But it's also about building a real business that does not stink by any means. Unique may be solving a not so glamorous problem, but they're doing it with education, humor, and a lot of smart marketing.

RENE 37:36

And now back to Rose and Glenn.

ROSE 37:39

Hello, Ricky. Welcome to the RV Entrepreneur segment of the RV Life Podcast. Thank you so much for coming on today.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Hi, thank you guys for having me. I'm excited.

ROSE 37:49

Yeah, we are going to talk about your stinky family business, unique camping and marine. And I say stinky in air quotes because your business solves wastewater issues, something that many RVers dread. I know it's definitely not one of our favorite parts of RVing, but you really need to stay on top of it. So it needs to be totally.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Totally. Yeah.

ROSE 38:13

But before we kind of like get into all that, just tell us a little bit more about yourself, what you do.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Ricky Stewart. Um, as you mentioned, I'm kind of third generation of a family-owned business here. So uh the company's called the technical company is unique manufacturing and marketing because we actually do more than just RVs. Um, kind of if you really if you really kind of like stripped it all away, what I would say we really do is we produce bacteria-based cleaning products. So that could be safe drain cleaners, it could be septic system products, it could be stain removers. We have a lot of pet products and carpet cleaners. And then the RV side is just something that we do as part of this stuff. So uh if you kind of want the whole story, I can just give you the quick version of it.

ROSE 39:00

But yeah, we want to know how unique got started for sure.

Unique Camping & Marine: Origin Story

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah. Yeah. So it actually started not in the RV industry. So way back in 1993-ish, my grandfather Don, uh Don Stewart, he was a chemical supply salesman. He had a small distribution company here in Denver, and they sold just a lot of other people's chemicals on a wholesale level. So they sold to a lot of hotels and apartment complexes. And he was running up against this struggle where people would move out of an apartment and then they would leave behind all kinds of pet smells, a lot of pee. And the the apartment complexes were just getting frustrated because they were constantly having to pull the carpet and have to replace carpet. So they were kind of going to him saying, Hey, what can you do to help us out here? And really, at the core, it wasn't the carpet that was the problem, it was the pad underneath the carpet. The subfloor. The urine was soaking into those things. And even when they would fix the carpet, they'd replace the carpet, they would still get complaints of smells because it was in the subfloor. So he was kind of trying to figure out solutions. And I mean, you know, this was way, way, way before anybody was doing any significant bacteria-based products. And he kind of stumbled upon these things and had kind of started just playing with them and quickly realized that chemical cleaners and surfactant cleaners really just could not stand up on the odor control side of things compared to bacteria. So he started building these bacteria products because at the time, really, nobody sold them. He was just kind of sourcing all the stuff to make it himself. And it just ended up becoming so popular that he ended up shifting and moved away from the janitorial supply side of things and just started making bacteria carpet cleaners. And uh that kind of began his journey. And it's funny because now we do have a big presence in the RV industry, but really where it started, and it's so funny to think back to those days. But I mean, it was really kind of pre-cell phone. It was pre-internet. It was even the 90s don't seem that long ago for certain people like me, but you know, I guess it was three decades ago. So his model was he literally bought an RV, he threw his product in the back, and he just started driving around the country. And he would just go to local hardware stores, he would go to local um pet supply stores, and he was just selling his pet cleaners literally out of a box to people he would walk in and just cold call. So it really did, in a way, have a connection to RV right out of the gate because he traveled to pretty much the entire lower 48 states and just sold it himself one store at a time. And it's pretty wild because to this day, we will still talk to stores who are like, oh my gosh, I remember that day your grandfather came in. He was a pr he was a character, and it was kind of hard to forget him. And to this day, we still have customers from you know 1995, 1996 who have been buying this entire time, and they're like, Yeah, I thought he was crazy. He came in, he had his little bag of products, and then he started showing me how it worked, and I was totally sold. And, you know, we've been dealing with you guys for 30 plus years. So it started there, and then over time we started to realize my gosh, bacteria has so much capability. So, you know, a little primer, bacteria can basically break down anything that is organic. So if it's not synthetic, if it's not man-made, um, there's a type of bacteria that can break it down, and it's just the process of biodegradation that we're all used to. You know, you throw food out on the ground, you come back a couple weeks later, it's gone. It was the bacteria that was in that environment that broke that waste down until it really just kind of disappears. So we started taking bacteria and then started kind of separating them and formulating them to where we could take specific bacteria who are really good at specific tasks, and then we could send them towards a job. So we would have some that'd be really good at eating grease, or some that'd be really good at breaking down carbohydrates, or some that'd be really good at breaking down fats and oils. And then we'd start to kind of carve those out into different products, which is now how we have drain cleaners, septic system products, wastewater for RVs and boats, so on and so forth. And a lot of the companies that are out there kind of in our space who do bacteria-based cleaning products for RVs, um, they're not quite as advanced as we are. A lot of them, and and they're not wrong. Pretty much bacteria are incredibly um they're incredibly resilient, and man, they can they can kind of take whatever form they need. So you can technically put a bacteria into a septic system and it will release whatever enzymes it needs to to stay alive inside there, or you could put it inside of pet urine and it would do the same thing. But once you really drill down into this, there are different strains that produce different enzymes better than others. And this is one of the things that really separates us. A lot of our competition will have the same five strains call it. And they'll use it to open a drain as they will to clean a pet stain, as they will to treat an RV holding tank. And we really can drill down a lot more. So over the last 30 years, we've really perfected that process. And we have very strong specific strains, stuff that's proprietary to us. And then in the last, oh, I don't know, five-ish years, we've really leaned into um enhancing them with extracellular enzymes, which we can get into that if you want, but that's basically on top of the bacteria. So my grandfather, he actually never really retired. He just kind of stopped coming in when he couldn't. Unfortunately, he's passed at this point, but um he stopped working probably about five years ago. And then he handed it down to my aunt, and she was in the company for years, and then I took over about four years ago. So she's retired now at this point, and now um, as far as the family goes, um, I'm the one who's kind of at the helm. But I do make the joke all the time that our CEO, Brian, um, he probably has more family members working here now than I do. So I like to tell people it's a family business. It's just not my family anymore. It's now his family that works here. He's got cousins and aunts and second cousins and brothers-in-law and all kinds of people who work for us. So that's kind of the big story of it.

GLYNN 45:32

What a story, Ricky. Incredible. So you're you're basically formulating the gut microbiome for holding tanks. Yeah, exactly. Bacteria is fascinating. Bacteria is a wonderful thing. And in fact, if you if you technically, if you dump something like bleach that's chloride-based or even a surfactant, aren't you killing off the bacteria that you need to digest the problem? So you're actually making it worse.

The Science Of Tanks: Bacteria vs Bleach

SPEAKER_01 45:56

That's correct. Yeah. So, you know, when it comes to an RV holding tank, you guys had mentioned it kind of earlier on. Smells are a big problem. And smells are a problem. So is waste accumulation, so is paper buildup inside there. You can get clogs, misreading sensors. Um, smells are kind of the clear and present thing, but there's all kinds of problems that can come with it. And it's funny because um I I kind of talk to people, I'm like, you know, you have to remember if you've been doing the RV thing for a few decades, things have changed. And any ideas that you had when you first got into it in the say the 80s or the 90s, where you couldn't put paper in your toilet, you couldn't even use your toilet. I can't even tell you how many people I still talk to who just don't use their toilets. I understand why you did that back in the day. The products couldn't match the lifestyle. But if you're still doing those things today, it's kind of a relic of yesteryear. Now we have products that totally do work. But here's the rub. We know that bacteria and enzymes are incredibly effective inside of holding tanks, but thanks to the internet, you still have these people who have been doing it for 40 years. They're convinced nothing works, and they're just still out there with this bullhorn being like, no, you can't do that. No, you can't do that, no, you shouldn't use this, no, you should pour pine salt down your toilet, pour bleach down your toilet, pour fabuloso down your toilet. And I recognize that they are doing this because of a response probably to poor products that they were using in the past, but all of that has changed. And at this point, exactly what you said, Glenn, we want to create a biome inside this tank. We want active bacteria who are thriving. And if you're adding antimicrobials, you're only hurting yourself. You're just kind of shooting yourself in the foot because um, and if you want to, we can go into the science, but they think they're getting rid of odors by killing bacteria. But what they're really doing is they're preventing the breakdown of waste, which then means you get excessive amounts of bacteria and waste that build up in corners, and it's the stinky stuff. It's the bad bacteria you don't want. And now you're stuck with all kinds of smells and clogs and misreading sensors. So, really, if you understand the science, you want to keep that bacteria alive. Yeah.

GLYNN 48:15

Absolutely. The right side of that chemical equation, you don't want sulfur involved there. You want that bacteria to take care of that. Right. 100%. Yes. Yes, yes.

ROSE 48:23

We would love to get into science, but unfortunately, I did see or read where you are, where you do all this. You you've created holding tanks and you do experiments.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

What's your lab look like?

ROSE 48:35

Yeah, what's your lab look like? Sorry.

Clear-Tank Lab, Myths, And Rinsing

SPEAKER_01 48:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's funny because I just mentioned how we do all these things, right? PET and septic and all these things. But in the last few years, very much admittedly, the RV and marine side has just become kind of the core for us. So we never really had these grand intentions to build all the stuff that we've built and create all the stuff that we've created for testing. But you know, this is how running a business goes. You find an opportunity, you jump into that opportunity, and then if you're passionate about it, you're gonna keep pressing forward, you're gonna keep moving forward. And I often tell people what really separates us from all of the other guys who do similar products. I just tell them, you know, at the core, this is what we do. Bacteria treatments, this is what we do. You look at a lot of our competitors and they'll have 5,000 SKUs legitimately. Hard goods and electrical and devices and tools, and they just don't live in the world the same way that we live in the world. So not only do we have a dedicated lab here that's just constantly working on retooling and understanding and educating ourselves so that we can make better products, we've also developed all kinds of proprietary systems for testing. Um, we have several very, very expensive clear holding tanks. So they're at full spec, they're identical to what you would find in a standard RV. And with those clear holding tanks, not only can we see inside of them to be able to understand what is actually happening, not just with our products, but with other processes people are trying or things they're doing, experimenting with. But we also have the ability to crank the temperature up into the 140 degrees or take the temperature way, way down into, you know, close to freezing. We have hydrogen sulfide meters, we have uh oxygen meters, we have carbon dioxide meters. So we can see what's happening inside from a gas perspective. We have fan systems, we can move air in and out of these things. Uh I mean, they're they're pretty high-tech toilets. So we have quite a few of those. Most of them are unused, meaning no number twos are actually taken inside of them. It's more us kind of manipulating things inside there. Uh we use all kinds of fake poop for certain things. But there are some that our employees they're not super excited about, but we do ask them to use on occasion. And there are some. Yep. Yep. Some of them are the real deal. And I don't know what's worse having to use them and help us create the samples, or the person who has to go through and analyze all of those samples. Yeah. It's funny because they're both Jake who had tacos last night, you know. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So, but I can tell you this, it's really opened our eyes because you know, even though this is, as I said, quote unquote, the world we live in, you know, holding tanks are underneath in a dark little corner of your RV. And as much as you can extrapolate through a camera you send down there or you know, just your experience, you don't really get the full understanding of what's happening until you can fully see exactly what's going on. An example of that would be I can tell you with complete confidence, if you're using a tank rinser or a tank wand, it doesn't work nearly as well as just simply filling your tank with water and opening your valve for rinsing a tank. And we would have never been able to see that if we didn't have these clear tanks, where we could see how the waves and tidal waves of water move just from the movement of the valve opening, creating that flushing effect. We would have never seen that. You can't put a you can't put a camera in there because once the camera is wet, it just looks like it's all underwater, you know? So there's a lot of things that we've been able to kind of learn through the process of these things. And then beyond that, we have I don't even know, lots and lots and lots of other toilets that are not clear that we have every sensor probe imaginable attached to them so we can go in and figure out how to make them not work, so we can go back in and then learn how to make them work and so on and so forth. So we have we have a lot here. And then the other side of it too, from the lab perspective, we work very closely with enzyme producers and different sourcing for our bacteria. So we don't just kind of get it out of the box. We have kind of some from these guys, some from these guys, some from these guys. We mix some of these guys. It really is all very proprietary for us. And I can honestly tell you, um, we probably don't go six months without upgrading a formula. Uh, there's something new every six months or so, whether we say it to the customer or not. In fact, we actually just released a stick pack, which is a super exciting thing I can tell you guys about. But we actually retooled some of the formula for that like eight months ago. And the customer's been getting an upgraded version, just didn't even know it. But that's just what we do. We just keep working on these things and keep building these things. And it really is all through trial and error and just playing around, trying to keep that ball moving forward.

ROSE 53:38

So let's talk about marketing. How are you marketing this, you know, unmarketable thing? Yeah. I mean, you know, what are your creative sales and marketing strategies for this?

Marketing A “Stinky” Problem

SPEAKER_01 53:49

Yeah, so I can tell you, thankfully, anybody who's ever owned an RV knows that you're gonna do some dirty things. That's just the reality. So we've decided that, you know what, if you're gonna do the dirty things, let's embrace it. So we make a lot of fun content. Um, I would say at this point, probably oh gosh, 80, 85% of our marketing efforts are all centered around video and photo photos and all on the places that our vieers hang out. Facebook, Instagram, uh a lot of stuff on Amazon. And, you know, we've kind of come out with a new initiative recently. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but it's called it's a talking toilet named Gary. And um, so Gary is just kind of recounting the tales we've all been through. The most recent one is this big long diatribe on his time at Courtsite Arizona and what that was like. So we are trying to leverage kind of humor to make kind of a gross situation a little less gross. I can also tell you this, too, from a marketing perspective. There's it's kind of sad, but there's a lot of shame sometimes around this stuff. People get really ashamed that they have a clog or really ashamed that their RV smells. Or, you know, a full-timer who's like maybe in the same spot for years feels like they're the one who's the gross one down the way. So we try to kind of lighten that load a lot with our marketing to make it feel like look, like literally, we help thousands of people solve this every year. You are not a one-off. You are not the only stinky person out there. We can fix this, we can solve this. So we lean into our marketing a lot to kind of hit that angle too, being like, look, worse things have happened. Let's help you fix this. So a lot of Facebook, you know, as you guys probably know, there's a lot of the baby boomer generation who's still RVing. Um, in fact, they're very active. Um, sometimes they're a little too active on the commenting. They have a lot of opinions. Everyone does, but there seem to be some of the craziest ones. But we find a lot of them hanging out on Facebook. So we spend a lot of time on Facebook talking to them through ads, through social media. I would actually argue that we probably in our industry, you know, specifically holding tanks, easily have the best social media team out there. Uh we have a couple gals who run it for us. And most of our competitors put out stuff like, here, look at our products. Here's the features and benefits. The gals that we have are super creative and super fun. It doesn't hurt that they're like 25. So they're making the content they want to see. So it's fun, it's engaging, it's quirky, and then we mix in kind of the helpful stuff. And I would say that's what really separates us is we spend a huge amount of time making tutorial videos and how-to videos, and let's peel back the curtain videos. Um, we've recognized that there's just a lot of unknowns when it comes to holding tanks, a lot of misinformation, a lot of people struggling and trying to make their own home remedies. So we spend a lot of time, we actually have two guys, it's in their entire, that's why I'm in this studio. They do nothing but make videos constantly. And it's all geared around let me help you understand this, let me help you walk through this, let me help you get behind what's going on here so you can solve the problem. So the informational educational side is super, super important to us. And I would actually say it's very core to just our ethos. We really truly want to help people. Sure, we need to sell products, but I can't even tell you how many times a day we tell people that the most important product they have is water. We don't tell them to go buy our product. We say, get more water, use more water because information is just so critical for us. And I think it helps build the long game. There's a confidence and a trust there that when you talk to us, we're not gonna pitch you something that's not gonna work. Our goal is to get you to not need to call us again because we solved your problem.

ROSE 57:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

Precisely.

ROSE 57:44

You nailed it.

GLYNN 57:45

You nailed it. And you you you answered my questions. So which medium do you think gives you the highest ROI for marketing? Would you say it's like Facebook? Would you say it's the tutorials?

SPEAKER_01 57:55

You know, it's a it's a funny question because if I had to truly drill down an ROI, I would actually say videos on Amazon specifically have the strongest ROI. But it makes sense, it's bottom of the funnel. People are already there to purchase. You're not just catching them out of the blue. So if you're talking about full stack, where it's like, you know, literally just grabbing somebody who wasn't even expecting to see your ad and running them down the funnel until you just get them at the end to buy, I would say Facebook. Facebook, the met the meta platform specifically, but I would say Facebook is the most um successful. I can tell you the least successful is TikTok. TikTok is a it's a problem. It's a background problem. They can't figure out their own systems, they don't have good metrics. Um, if I had$100 and I was forced to spend it someplace, I wouldn't even go Instagram specifically, to be honest. I would go Facebook if I'm looking for ROI. If I'm looking for brand warmth and goodwill, I would probably go Instagram just because it's a platform a little bit more female driven, a little bit more emotionally driven, kind of connect on the heart level. But if you're talking dollars, it's Facebook. You're not the first uh RV entrepreneur to say that. Yeah. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I will say Google is good. But you know, if anyone's looking to do this on their own, Google is very good. But I will say Google is very much about a product. So if you're selling a service, it's a little harder, but Google shopping is very strong.

ROSE 59:25

Real quick, we wrap up here. Any advice for our listeners, the entrepreneurs out there that have an idea that could make and help our viewers in some way, but they they just they need to take that first step to launch.

SPEAKER_01 59:39

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I actually have a lot of thoughts on this, but I would say one of the things I've learned over the years, I have a formula in my mind for success. You need to create a product that is unique, it's special, it can be better than what other people are doing. There needs to be a huge market for it. If there's a thousand people, it might be the best product ever. But you're not going to make a lot of money. You need millions and millions, ideally tens of millions. And then third, if it can be something that's recurring, they need to buy a new one every three months, four months, those are the three things that make a successful product. And honestly, if you're focusing on something else, you're probably just creating a pet project for yourself. You're a hobbyist, probably. And I would recommend focusing on those three things. So then once you've identified that product, I would say a creative team is so critical because we live in a world that's very visual. And if you don't have good creatives, specifically video, and it doesn't mean you have to go spend thousands of dollars. You can do it on an iPhone, but you need to have a clear understanding of what your consumer's looking for. So focus on video and creatives. And then the last thing is don't be afraid to spend money on ads. I can tell you, we've launched incredibly good products that just stayed in the background and nobody ever knew about them until we turned the marketing dollars up, got the ads out there, and people go, Oh, these are great. Why don't you tell us about these? And it's like, well, we didn't want to spend money on ads. We learned that. So ad spend is important. And you know, focus on your ROAS, your return on ad spend, you know, know what your what your profit margins are. You know, if you have a three to one ROAS on Facebook, just dial that in. And then as long as you're hitting that, just keep that advertising cranked up. You know, don't set budgets, set ROASs.

ROSE 1:01:29

Great advice. So where can listeners find you?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:32

Yeah, so you can go to our website, uniquecampingmarine.com. You can find us on Instagram, YouTube. Honestly, if you really want to get to know our brand, I would say go to YouTube. Look at our channels because they're not the most exciting, but they are where we really focus on the education, the information. And there you'll see kind of the heart of our brand. Um you can find us on TikTok, you can find us on Facebook. We're literally everywhere. We're in 10,000 retail stores, so you can probably find us all over. And uh yeah, I will say this too. If you have questions, we love talking about this stuff. So if you do want to, you know, just hit us up, give us a call or shoot us an email. I mean, we'd be happy to chat personally with anybody who might be interested as well.

ROSE 1:02:13

Love that. Thank you so much for joining us. We so appreciate your time here. Thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Thank you guys. This is a blast. I appreciate it.

JIM 1:02:22

Okay. I'm still laughing a bit, but there was some genuinely useful in there. Get it?

RENE 1:02:28

Let's zoom out now and talk a bit more about the industry side of Arvine. Bob has a special guest to share a behind-the-scenes look into manufacturing.

JIM 1:02:36

That's right. Willie Miller is general manager at Forest River's Plant 410. They talk about what it means to expand product lines while keeping quality and warranty performance strong, plus what manufacturers and dealers are focusing on as show season ramps up.

RENE 1:02:52

For another look inside the RV industry, here's Bob with Willie Miller.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:56

All right, my guest today is Willie Miller, general manager at Forest River. But what is affectionately known as Plant 410 because it's one of the uh one of the best plants they've got right now. It's cranking on all cylinders, but uh rather than me tell the story, Willie, tell the story of what you're where you are these days and why why you're so happy.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:16

Yeah, I um, you know, as you know, uh with obviously your support, Bob, I'm never going to uh you know not thank the people that helped get me here, but uh really honored to be here at Forest River. Uh we are now 18 months at our, I call it our little lemonade stand in Middlebury, Indiana. Right. Uh Plant 410 is an amazing uh plant of humans that have just needed somebody that was going to bring them support, a vision, um, build them up because they were already doing fantastic work as it relates to quality. Uh, this little plant uh throughout the 60 plus brands that are made under Florest River uh is in the top five as it relates to quality and warranty. Now, that doesn't mean we're perfect, but you know, for me to be able to be given the keys of a plant that was already doing very, very well in the eyes of both dealers and most importantly, as you and I know, our shared retail customers. Um, it was very easy to just, you know, not get in people's way and just continue to build them up and allow them to do great work.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

Well, I think you did what you do well in terms of being the cheerleader and the leader, and you don't shirk your duties, you're down in the plant, you're talking to the people, you're doing the work, you're showing showcasing the product brands. Talk about the four brands that are under your responsibility right now.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:40

Yep. So yeah, when I got here, this plant has historically been known uh as the producers of the Columbus and River Ranch product. Uh, Columbus is a you know standard luxury fifth wheel, um, you know, with the identified, you know, competitors. River Ranch, I think, is a little bit different in a different shopping aisle. It has yet to be copied and pasted, uh, which surprises me in this industry, but it's one level living. So you have to, you know, some additional steps to get into the coach, but it's built really similar to like a motorhome, uh, that everything is one level. Uh, and we were doing really well with that product along this journey, about uh six and a half months ago. Uh, Todd Martin, I want to give credit to him and his team, the Puma um aluminum sided travel trailer division has done very, very well. Uh, so single axle, dual axle travel trailers, uh, destination trailers. And their brand has, you know, allowed them to drive more demand for other products in the category. So I think the smart thing for Forest River uh was to, hey, let's not drop millions of dollars and give Todd new plants. Let's let our little buddy Willie uh basically be the contract manufacturer for their expansion. So we are now producing a Puma Mesa and Puma Grand Mesa series of product all within their all within the um Puma brand.

Inside Forest River Plant 410

SPEAKER_04 1:06:03

Interesting. Um when we talk about branding, you know, one of the big things for our remanufacturers, of course, are the consumer shows that uh kick off with the Tampa super show in January. Uh, in terms of strategy, and and now that you've got this plant running at top efficiency, you're aggressively looking for new dealers. I know you've got a great sales team out there. Um, what do you look for, or what can consumers look for when they go to the shows next year?

SPEAKER_08 1:06:34

I think what they're gonna see is really the vision that Fred Hirschberger had with expanding the Puma line. Uh, we've all talked, we look at the industry just like any industry outside of RV. If somebody's starting their camping journey with a Puma single axle travel trailer and they have a great experience, what did they have to go to next? You know, typically, as we know, they start out with a single axle and then they maybe they expand to a double axle, then they want a laminated travel trailer, and then ultimately, you know, they're gonna want to get a bigger fifth wheel, and then the kids are all grown up, they're graduated, and then they want to go back, you know, down. Well, there was no continuity on the ownership journey to say, hey, we can keep providing you, you know, a great experience, a great product, and keep you in this family. And that's really what they wanted to do with the Puma lineup. Uh, we are not walking away from a great community of owners uh that invested their money with Columbus and River Ranch, but it's just allowing Puma to grow and expand to more markets throughout North America. We're along for the ride and you know, fulfilling our obligation to continue making high-quality product for that expansion. Um, and it just allows us to better serve the customers again. And we now have a chance to meet them on their journey when they're with a travel trailer, and it's really forcing all of us to be accountable to make sure we actually do care about them, not just lip service, but actions over words.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:05

Yeah, it's it's it's a good point. Do you want to keep them in the family and have them there for different types of uh RVs? You know, one of the things that you've done since coming on board, uh, you've certainly raised the awareness level of those product lines. And so even though the industry is kind of leveled out right now, and we hope to see it start to go back up in uh early next year, we don't worry about stuff like that because no matter how bad it gets, you can always go out and steal market share. So, what you what you've brought to the marketplace is some really fresh branding, some fresh products with unique designs, unique uh manufacturing capabilities built in there. And now you're setting up new dealers, so you're actually on a growth pattern, right?

SPEAKER_08 1:08:52

We are, but as you know, that's uh it's like the first kiss. I mean, now the work begins. As we get more and more commitments, the expectation, right? Heavy is the head that wears the crown. We now have to make sure that we are being consistent as we're expanding in more cities throughout North America. And the most important thing, all that branding, the vinyl stickers on the front cap, they don't mean squat if we drop the ball and we get we go in a bad direction of how we're serving people after the sale. So that can I can tell you right now, going into Tampa here in the next couple months, you hear it from Doug Getter every single day. He has two goals. And I don't care what the brand is. Number one, we want to be the best partner for dealers across North America. And number two, probably more importantly, we want to be the best manufacturer for a retail customer because obviously, outside of Forest River, there's other conglomerate manufacturers. We want to beat them in the relationship of how we're serving and supporting owners throughout North America. And hopefully, with you know, adding more dealers to further support on the service and fixed stop side, and we're choosing the right partners, you know, being strategic there, that we're making the good decisions, good partnerships to give customers that desire to go, hey, I want to stay in you know the Puma family or Columbus for a long period of time.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

And and and we can't talk about Forest River without saying you mentioned Doug Geddett, who is the new CEO, a fantastic person to work with, always available to the media. Uh, and he assumed that role with the uh untimely death of Pete Legal, who formed, you know, he was an industry icon. He started Forest River with, you know, basically one product and built it into this empire. So uh so we're we're talking to Willie Miller, general manager of Plant 410 for Forest River. Uh, why don't you uh wind it up with your comments on Doug and uh Pete?

Brand Expansion And Show Strategy

SPEAKER_08 1:10:58

The biggest thing I can tell you is um for the first time I've been in this industry four years, I have never seen so much servant leadership from the top down. And I'm not kissing somebody's butt. You hear it every day. Um you have leadership now communicating weekly, asking, how can we help? What do you need? What resources, support can we provide to again be the best supplying partner to dealers and be the best manufacturer for customers. So we're hoping to see that message get uh discussed at Tampa. We're hoping for good weather. Um, I'm trying to uh respect what my wife tells me to do regarding my diet and slim down a little bit for Tampa, but uh very, very excited to uh to get to Tampa and kick off show season.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:51

All right. Well, I'll see you up in Tampa and I'll put you on the scale and see how well you're doing with that. Willie, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you, Bob.

RENE 1:12:00

You know, this got me wondering what type of RV do you have? Maybe you have a quick travel story or an easy repair tip? Leave a message at podcast.rvlife.com slash contact, and we might just share it on the air.

JIM 1:12:13

Right. And big thanks again to all of our guests this week. Ben Quiggle from Woodalls with John on our travel segment, Master Certified RV Tech Zeb with us on lifestyle, unique Ricky Stewart with Rosen Glynn for the RV Entrepreneur, and Willie Miller at Forest River with Bob for more industry insights.

RENE 1:12:31

And as always, find links to any resources mentioned, plus photos and the full transcript on the episode page at podcast.rvlife.com.

JIM 1:12:39

You know, if you enjoyed this one, please take a second to follow the RV Life Podcast and leave a review. It really does help more RVers find the show.

RENE 1:12:47

And be sure to share this episode with your RV friends, especially if they're planning a big trip this year, shopping for rig, or dealing with some mystery smell they don't want to talk about.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:57

Remember, don't find those stickers on the front cap, they don't mean too much.

RV LIFE 1:13:02

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