There are many services I can provide to assist with updates, renovations and restores of older RV’s

Electrical.

Updating RV lights to LED’s is the single most effective way to improve energy efficiency of your 12 volt electrical system.  LED’s use 1/10 the amount of power compared to older lights.  LED’s also will last many times longer.  You probably will never have to replace an LED. You can often simply replace bulbs, or entire fixtures.  Most people prefer warmer color temperature (reddish-3000° K) to cooler (blueish-6000° K).  “Daylight” is somewhere in the middle.

Updating an old linear or ferro-resonnant power converter to a modern solid state converter.  (you can usually tell by the loud humming or buzzing they make ALL THE TIME.) These old designs are very stressful to your house battery bank.  The newer converters will add multi stage battery charging that will increase the life of your battery bank.  Also, the more stable power supply will be better for electronic devices powered from the 12 volt system.

Enlarging battery banks, or upgrading to AGM or Lithium batteries.  Replacing battery cables with larger gauge wiring.  Adding battery monitoring.  The Victron BVM-712 battery monitor is very popular due to its ability to communicate with a smart phone app through Bluetooth.  I also can install the Bogart Engineering TriMetric battery monitor or add the Battery Monitoring Kit (with shunt) to an existing Magnum Inverter/Charger.

Replacing an old style DC Distribution panel (with glass cylindrical fuses) with a modern style with ATC automotive type fuses and more current capacity.  The Progressive Dynamics 6000 series comes with LED’s to indicate if a fuse has blown.

Upgrading a 30 amp AC electrical system (3 wire plug) to a modern 50 amp (4 wire plug)  (actually 100 amps total). No more turning off your air conditioner to run your microwave oven. This requires replacing your main 120 breaker panel with a new panel, and new wiring to the shore power cord.

Adding or replacing an old Black and White back-up camera with a Color, high resolution camera.  This is the best driving safety improvement I can recommend.  They also have models that have side view cameras that is connected to the turn signal, so you can look to your left or right as you are signaling to change lanes or make a turn,

Plumbing

Many RV’s manufactured in the early 1980’s to the mid 1990’s use gray plastic tubing for the fresh water plumbing.  This tubing is called Polybutylene and it is extremely prone to leaking.  It was installed in new houses for this time period and when it’s weakness were discovered in the mid 1990’s there were many lawsuits as millions of homes needed to be completely re-plumbed.  Water leaks are very common in RV’s of this vintage.  This type of tubing should be replaced with modern PEX pipes (white or blue for cold and red for hot water).  I can either replace all of the plumbing, which is a very big job, or replace all the parts that are easily accessible.  When transitioning from Polybutylene to PEX it is very important to use the right fittings.  Standard PEX fittings LOOK like they will fit, but they won’t.  The outside diameters of the two types are the same but the inside diameters are different and the transition will leak without the correct parts.

Updating kitchen and bathroom faucets to more modern and better quality fixtures. Most RV faucets can be replaced with residential faucets (making sure that there is sufficient room to turn handles, etc). Most original RV faucets are cheap plastic junk.

Updating an old plastic RV toilet with a more home-like ceramic RV toilet.

Adding a bidet attachment to an RV toilet. (works with some RV toilets).

General

Propane regulators and high pressure hoses should be replaced every 5 to 10 years. (see label on device).

Carbon Monoxide detectors and propane detectors should be replaced every 5 to 10 years. (see label on device).

Tires

(I am not set up to replace tires but I need to mention it as an important safety issue).

Tires should be replaced after five years.  RV tires don’t usually have the same kind of milage and driving that a passenger car or truck have, so they normally need to be replaced before the tread is worn down.  An RV tire should last 5 years.  After 5 years it may be OK–It should be inspected each year for two more years.  After 7 years they should be replaced no matter how good condition they appear to be.  The rubber in tires deteriorates over time due to sun, stress, salt, chemicals, and air exposure.  Most RV tires “age out” long before the tread is worn down.

All tires have a date code of manufacture.  Near the edge of the rim there is a code that says DOT (letters&numbers)  XXXX.  The strings of letters and numbers refer the manufacture plant and dimensional information.  The XXXX refers to the week and year that the tire was manufactured.  If the number is 1315 this means it was made on the 13th week of 2015. If it is a three digit number it was made before 2000.   If you can’t find the number it probably means that the tire was mounted backwards, either inadvertently, or intentionally to sell you a tire that had been sitting on the shelf for a while. When buying a new tire it is wise to ask to look at the date code before you have it installed to keep the seller honest.