Mobile rv tech. Notice

[Wrknrvr]

   I have been doing mobile rv repair near Glacier National Park since 2009. Until about 5 years ago I did do roadside assistance. Was really busy with normal work so I mostly did not do it anymore. Called Coachnet and told them to take me off there list.

 

    About two weeks ago I started getting calls for roadside assistance jobs. Some times 3 a day. From different companies.   Now what the heck happened to the other service techs out there. There was 4 or so other people doing roadside assistance.

 

  I have not been in one rv dealership in Montana this year. I have only been in a campground to do Aquahot repairs 5 times this summer. I have had several phone calls about repair work that I  turned down and I could tell the customers have called around other techs also.

 

 

  I am curious if other rv mobile techs have Covid. Or did they finally realize there contacts with the public is in question.

 

  Think about this for your safety.

 

  Vern in a T-shirt 

[hemsteadc]

Interesting.

 

Format.

 

Take care

[bobsallyh]

Vern, while in Kalispell a couple of weeks ago I asked a friend, who works in an RV Park in the area,  about mobile service in the area. This is what he told me after I mentioned that there was a mobile repair person besides you that would come into the Elks. That person had a black Mercedes/Sprinter van and somebody else was in while we were there but I don't remember the vehicle. The friend said that one of the mobile guys had set up a repair shop for service saying that they could get more work done in the shop. Along with Bish's buying out Gardner's and Blue Dogg taking over Pierce's north of K-Town at Evergreen, no telling what is going down. 

[Wrknrvr]

  Bob, I do know where the tech  that set up a shop is located.

 

   But what I noticed happened in the last two weeks. I have not really had many calls over the last several years. I declined the work since I was so busy. 

  Years ago I was going to nascar tracks with Coachnet. To did work for them, but in recent years I was not on there list.

  Once I was at the Dirt track at Charlotte motor speedway watching the World of Outlaws at the dirt track. My phone rang. Roadside service company heard I was there. Yep out to the parking lot fence and service company had a golf cart pick me up to go to service call.

  Back then I did a lot of that kind of work.

 

  Since the covid situation has evolved I have tried to understand what was happening with the customers thoughts on possible exposure to it. Or me.

   Not one customer mentioned covid at all.

   So the last two roadside service calls I mentioned about covid and they understood what I meant. And they said no hard feelings about declining the work. I get the feeling they are hearing more of this from company’s.

 

    Just something I noticed,    Vern in a T-shirt 

 

   I am guessing that Bish’s or Blue Dog dealerships do not do mobile repair. 

[Ray,IN]

You are thinking right! No-one cares more for your safety than you. Stay safe out there.

[bobsallyh]

Vern, we see what happens in about a month and half in Yuma. A few mobile guys are there year round. But about the beginning of October the guys that go north for the summer start coming back and set up business. I will have to keep a watch on the situation.

[Wrknrvr]

  There were 5 deaths in a care facility in Whitefish Mt this week. Several more tested positive at the facility. There are just over 100,000 residents in the whole county that is about 100 mikes from north to south. From west of Whitefish Mt to almost Browning Mt.

  I just came from a service call at a big rv park. Rv washer business person thinks covid is a joke. I am thinking it mite be time to stop visiting rv parks altogether.

 

   Vern in a T-shirt 

[bigjim]

1 hour ago, Ray,IN said:

No-one cares more for your safety than you.

I think I hear a choir.  A good one.   I am considering giving up or being more selective about volunteer for the future.

[bigjim]

9 minutes ago, Wrknrvr said:

I am thinking it mite be time to stop visiting rv parks altogether.

Can't blame you.  At least be highly selective of who you deal with and I am sure you can get a sense of who is willing to be careful and work with you to keep both parties safe as possible. A big problem is the close "walk-ups" even with a mask on both.  I am an  old coot and when out or sometimes working in the office people will walk up way too close before I can do anything about it.  Sometimes of course it is other older folks that have hard time hearing me when they ask for information or directions.   Thinking about getting a small megaphone.🙃

[Wrknrvr]

 Cattle prod on a extendable cane. Or really load whistle. I just thought of that. And I have one on my key ring

 

  Vern in a T-shirt 

 

 

 

[Chalkie]

Let me tell you what, recently I have found that mobile RV techs are overrated and charge too much.

I had a problem with the electrical panel in the RV and the mobile RV techs were 2 - 5 weeks out. Fortunately I had a place to stay but seriously? Called a normal residential electrician and he came out on a Saturday, fixed the issue in about 1.5 hours. He charged me a normal service call charge (Saturday, mind you) and no silly trip charges which would have been almost as much as his total bill. 

Never again will I call a mobile RV tech if the issue can be solved by a regular tech without the mobile tech "premium".

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Chalkie said:

Never again will I call a mobile RV tech if the issue can be solved by a regular tech without the mobile tech "premium".

It has been my experience that your 120V electrical service is not a strong knowledge area for most RV techs. I suspect that there are many reasons for this but the two likely ones that I think of off hand are that having looked at the curriculum of several RV training courses, most do not spend much time on basic electricity and RV techs usually do not get a lot of practice working on 120V service. 

[bigjim]

Per Kirks comment. I am a little surprised and a little taken aback to hear this. I am certainly no electrician but in general I know the basics. When I can remember.😀

[Kirk W]

27 minutes ago, bigjim said:

I am a little surprised and a little taken aback to hear this.

Most RVs have very little service done on the 120V systems. None of the appliances needed it but the microwave and the air conditioners until quite recently. Until recent advances in solar and battery technology, the design thinking for nearly all RVs was to be able to operate where no 120V was available by using propane as much as possible and battery power for the lights and control circuits. In all of my years of RVing, I can't remember ever having a 120V failure other than replacement of an occasional circuit breaker and later an GFCI. 

[RV_]

Off topic Covid comment. We have a lot of folks here not wearing masks except in stores. When neighbors approach I ask them to please wear a mask if they want to talk. I have a bunch of computers I want to sell but do not want folks in our house. So I'm waiting until next year as they are not in our way. But unless misinformed folks get serious we may never be rid of this. <sigh>

[Chalkie]

On 8/28/2020 at 7:13 AM, Wrknrvr said:

  I am curious if other rv mobile techs have Covid. Or did they finally realize there contacts with the public is in question.

 

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

Off topic Covid comment. We have a lot of folks here not wearing masks except in stores. When neighbors approach I ask them to please wear a mask if they want to talk. I have a bunch of computers I want to sell but do not want folks in our house. So I'm waiting until next year as they are not in our way. But unless misinformed folks get serious we may never be rid of this. <sigh>

I don't see the comment as off topic as that is basically what started this thread. I don't think we will ever be rid of it no matter what we do. Why should we think we will? We are not rid of a lot of other diseases that are corona viruses. There are 7 different corona viruses that can infect humans and we are no closer to ridding ourselves of the 2 more recent ones. From the CDC:

Quote

People around the world commonly get infected with human coronaviruses 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.

Sometimes coronaviruses that infect animals can evolve and make people sick and become a new human coronavirus. Three recent examples of this are 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV.

 

[kurtsara]

4 hours ago, RV_ said:

Off topic Covid comment. We have a lot of folks here not wearing masks except in stores. When neighbors approach I ask them to please wear a mask if they want to talk. I have a bunch of computers I want to sell but do not want folks in our house. So I'm waiting until next year as they are not in our way. But unless misinformed folks get serious we may never be rid of this. <sigh>

You want them to wear a mask outside?

[sandsys]

27 minutes ago, kurtsara said:

You want them to wear a mask outside?

If they want to stop and talk to me, yes. When people stand 6-feet apart they tend to speak louder which then carries potential germs farther. Social distancing can only do so much.

Linda

[Ray,IN]

2 hours ago, sandsys said:

If they want to stop and talk to me, yes. When people stand 6-feet apart they tend to speak louder which then carries potential germs farther. Social distancing can only do so much.

Linda

Therein lies the rub. It's 6' minimum WITH a mask per CDC guidelines. When a person coughs, sneezes or yells without a mask, spitum droplets and spray has been measured up to 21-27' away. Your mask protects other from your spitum, it does not protect you from the virus, UNLESS you always wear an N95 mask every time you are around others than your household.

 

We wanted to sell our house and property this year, but we are not allowing anyone into our house until this virus is conquered; maybe next year.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Ray,IN

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, Ray,IN said:

We wanted to sell our house and property this year, but we are not allowing anyone into our house until this virus is conquered; maybe next year.

If I needed to sell a house this year, I would move into an RV the day before putting the house on the market and be sure everyone knows they need to wear a mask to closing and the closing itself needs to be in a large enough room to practice social distancing.

Linda

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, sandsys said:

If they want to stop and talk to me, yes. When people stand 6-feet apart they tend to speak louder which then carries potential germs farther. Social distancing can only do so much.

In the senior community where we live, the standard for visiting outside without a mask is 10+ feet. 

[RV_]

K

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

In the senior community where we live, the standard for visiting outside without a mask is 10+ feet. 

Kirk,

If there is any breeze it can travel across a football field from an infected person symptomatic or not. I check the wind and always stand upwind in outside conversations with with a masked person. I will ask unmasked folks to please put on a mask as I back peddle into my Garage. We have had a guy stop by to ask about our car and I asked him if he could put on a mask and he said yes and then came back with it on then pulled it down to talk???? He said he was coming back but I knew better.

You guys can do whatever y'all decide is comfortable for you. What we have decided is that we don't mix anymore with anyone maskless, and I am fine if anyone decides we are not friend material because of that. We have only a friend or two and one does not wear a mask except for visiting us outside. We actually had from my arrival here November 1st - February visiting with our kids and their kids, our only grandson and third granddaughter. So the unpacking, the holidays, the house painying and customizing ran over into the pandemic. They are going overseas with the military as civilian nurses in the next month! They get tested regularly so we aren't worried about them and masks but even that is a risk but one we are willing to take.

We aren't cowering in fear, just taking only what we consider worthwhile risks. We hardly ever go out to eat and get take out only a few times a year. We cook better than most. And are not big socializers under any circumstances anyway. So meeting new folks here we just put on hold.

[Randyretired]

17 hours ago, sandsys said:

If I needed to sell a house this year, I would move into an RV the day before putting the house on the market and be sure everyone knows they need to wear a mask to closing and the closing itself needs to be in a large enough room to practice social distancing.

Linda

In Colorado they are doing curbside closings in many locations.  The title company rep comes out to the car and sits outside while the buyer or seller sit in their car.  They also have some outside tables if that is preferred.  Some title companies won't let anyone inside but winter maybe  a different deal.

[RV_]

We did our closing on our Colorado home all by computer with us in Louisiana and the closing company in Colorado in Mar. I did have to mail a certified bank check for the whole amount of the house I was buying. There are secure realtor websites for this very thing. Then the house sat empty until we met the movers here in May to start the unpacking process. Then Lynn was in Colorado from May alone, and I was in Louisiana until I closed the sale of our old place October 29th. So I had her send me a Power of Attorney So for the time it took to do the closing I was sole owner. So the bank our buyers used had the check made out to just me so I could deposit it to our San Antonio bank from Louisiana.

Check with your realty company and bank if they are involved.

Edited September 1, 2020 by RV_

[kurtsara]

I can't believe how worried some of you are.