Here’s a list of our maintenance-related gear. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot, but will populate as we use items (or remove them from our rig). Oh! If you’re interested in a month-to-month maintenance checklist, then click here!
Click on the PICTURES for links!
Milwaukee M18 Blower with Battery & Charger – While all of our tools were 20V Porter Cable from back in 2017, we knew we’d probably have to upgrade to newer tools eventually. So we bought this with it’s own battery. We use this for cleaning off our roof, moving leaves in an area, blowing out our shopvac filter, and even getting a fire roaring (its like a blowtorch, ha!). Not absolutely needed, but definitely handy.
(Feb 2024) – We’re using this mostly on the vertical pieces of the camper now – places where you’re sealing fiberglass edges. This is great since you do want to periodically remove and replace that caulk and removing this is fairly easy.
Gary doesn’t recommend to use this on the roof (he uses ProFlex for that). He also mentioned that if a lot of sealant is used, this doesn’t seem to cure fast/well – again he’ll use the ProFlex.
And as far as dirt accumulation goes, everything collects dirt and I just need to get over it or just replace the caulk when it starts looking bad.
(Aug 2023) We learned about this stuff during our lengthy stint at Penpac. This is what they’ve been using on other Host Campers so we decided to try it while we were here. We used to use Geoflex, but it seemed to retain so much dirt. I’m hoping this will look better after a few months but time will tell! This stuff is also available at Home Depot & Lowes.
Geocel Proflex RV Sealant (White) –
(Feb 2024) – After some work with Big Stretch and this, Gary is using more of a blended approach for sealant. He will use ProFlex on the roof and also when you need a bit more caulk to seal a larger section. He also still uses this on the roof rail. This seems more like a permanent seal vs the Big Stretch.
(Aug 2023) – We decided to go with a different style of sealant. For some reason, this tended to collect all kinds of debris and made the camper look really dirty. It was also pretty difficult to remove once you needed to recaulk. We’re now trying the caulk that was used at Penpac – Big Stretch Caulk
This is what Gary used to re-attach the jack plates to the camper. We tend to use this in other areas so white is a bit more versatile.
RV Rubber Seal Conditioner – Gary used this when installing the jack head and to the new seals we received from Reico. Always a great product to have around!
PB Blaster – I swear Gary uses this on darn near everything. And it works, so why change, right? We will always have this with us on-hand and likely something you may want as well. Perfect for getting bolts off that won’t budge and more.
Goof Off Pro Strength – Similar to PB Blaster, this thing works everywhere. We like the pourable version so we can put it on a towel (or paper towel) and wipe on so you don’t get spray in areas you don’t want.
I will say that we typically will try the cheaper option – 1 part olive oil to 1 part baking soda. This makes a nice paste that you apply to what you’re trying to get off (think labels off plastic jars, etc.). Leave it sit for several minutes to loosen and then remove. I will sometimes use a plastic scraper to assist.
Butyl Tape – Another one of those items that we continually keep around for regular maintenance needs. We used this during our AC install, our MaxAir fan installs, when mounting our electrical box on the roof for our solar install, and probably many others I forgot!
Eternabond 2″ – Great to always have some of this if you encounter leaks. We also used the 4″ version of these to secure our flexible solar panels.
Silicone Seal Strip – We are using this to help keep water out of the slide-out tray. So far, it’s been doing a great job but we had one side come off after about 6 months. We just bought more to replace. It’s very malleable so it hasn’t broken to pieces like other stuff we’ve tried. We also used this for a short while on our door since there always seems to be a larger gap there (letting bugs and outside-temp air in).
Dicor Self-Leveling Lap Sealant – This is an essential product for ANY RV – use this on your roof to protect leaks from anything that’s drilled into your roof – air conditioner units, solar panels, vent fans – you name it! We try to keep one of these with us at all times because you never know…
Corner Seal Tape – We used this when we were sealing the openings for our refrigerator and from what I understand this is used on a lot of other rigs. We’re also planning on using this on our door rework (though that’s in progress right now).
Pittsburgh 7-piece Screwdriver Set – We bought these at Harbor Freight, which would likely be a lot cheaper than Amazon, but this was the same screwdrivers that we have. Not sure whether they include the case though (it’s not on the link). These are great for smaller screws around the camper – any switch screws or small electrical work seems to ALWAYS need these tiny things. We use them a LOT more often than expected!
Propane Tester/Sniffer – We had our propane leak detector start going on every few days so we bought this to check our LP connections. Thankfully, we didn’t have any and we replaced the detector and everything is happy again. Though, this is something we needed anyway to periodically check our LP connections. It was inexpensive and seems to work.
Rockpals Power Washer – This small portable electric washer can actually do a decent job of cleaning your truck, camper, or boat when not at home. You use a bucket of water (not a hose) that feeds the wand. This allowed us to clean our boat and truck camper with a much smaller amount of water and was great in between Blue Beacon washes. Check the video we made about this.
Torklift Camper Stand – We used this stand when we were working on the camper prior to going full-time. It was sitting for 3 months while we updated the batteries, inverter, solar, etc. while we were working. These were great but heavy (but guess they have to be to handle these kind of rigs).
We don’t take this with us (not enough room) but we do leave these at Gary’s parents house since that’s where we tend to do most of our regular maintenance. These are really good – we were living in the camper while working on the jacks this past visit.