Having owned a 42 foot ocean going sailboat and having crossed the pacific in it from Seattle to SE Asia, as well as many other shorter trips it strikes me that many of the high quality products made for sailboats (and power too) are very well suited for Travel trailers.When I bought my boat (USED Cheoy Lee) I tore out all of the wiring and plumbing and started over. I put more than 1000 feet of wire back into that boat and installed all of the systems myself. I am a firm believer that this approach makes one much more self reliant and less dependent on shops and repair facilities that charge exorbitant prices for basically simple repairs. As a rule I would say that for many of the marine products both electrical and mechanical the quality is higher and the price about the same or in some cases even lower than the same Equip. made for RV's.In fact the marine versions of some electrical parts and accesories are clearly superior to the RV stuff that is sold in my HO.Now some of the RV equipment is good and is in fact made by the same companies and I dont mean to disparage the makers of all RV equipment. But before you go out to buy that new converter or inverter or 12 volt lights or almost anything try looking at places like this:http://www.fisheriessupply.com/http://www.westmarine.comhttp://www.defender.com/And THE absolute BEST book I have found on Marine/RV electrical/Plumbing and Mechanical issues is Nigel Calders "Boat Owners Mechanical and Electrical Manual"http://www.amazon.com/Nigel-Calder/e/B000AQTEW4I hope this helps and gives yet another source of information and products that we all need and use from time to time.

I agree also, many marine parts are easily adapted to RVs and are superior.

I agree as well. We've owned RoadAbode ten years now, and have done a few upgrades and repairs, especially on the "coach" portion. When we do it, We learn how it works, and what needs to be done if it ever happens again.

Some marine parts are better (not all) but to buy them take the inflated RV prices and double them for "marine grade".If you are bored, stripping out the RV electical system may be fun but an RV isn't nearly as rough on systems as a boat. Plus a $20k RV corresponds to a $150k boat. It may make sense to dump $20k into retrofitting a $150k boat's systems...not so much a $20k RV.

I can see renovating a boat but I can't see renovating the majority of the junk RV's on the market. The bones of the majority of RV's I have seen just do not seem to justify the time and money to renovate them.I do believe in replacing things with the high quality parts instead of replacing junk with junk.

Sailboats and Travel Trailers-a lot in common | Good Sam Community

Bajahaha
Explorer
Nov 21, 2014
I have owned 4 ocean going boats and two trailers
We owned the first trailer for over 20 years which was used for trips to Baja California (Mexico)with considerable off road travel for exploration and remote camping.

As would be expected we often had "problems." Any and all times we has to replace items it was with marine quality units, which once installed never gave any problems.

Some installations were not sanitary but they always functioned in the wilds of Baja, where it counted. The marine grade replacements were truly "Baja Tough and Baja Proven"

I now have a modern Keystone trailer which is apparently made to self destruct after a few years..what a piece of junk!

SDM
Desert_Captain
Explorer III
Nov 20, 2014
X2 on the Calder book, hands down the best book of its kind. As far as Worst... I mean West Marine, if there is a difference between them and CW I have yet to see it. Overpriced product and some very questionable business practices are what you can expect. For the record I worked in Marine retail for nearly 20 years, watched Boat US go under for all of the same reasons (membership based, selling as much junk insurance as relevant product, horrendous customer service etc., etc..) CW is doomed to ultimately fail.

If you are seeking quality marine products from knowledgeable folks at a fair price contact Downwind Marine in San Diego (and yes I worked for them for years and was a customer for years before that's).
westend
Explorer
Nov 20, 2014
I've done both RV and boats and there are a number of reasons marine hardware and electrical gear are better quality and, usually, higher priced. Nothing wrong about using marine parts in your RV but the terrible news is that your RV isn't going to be worth anymore after ten years and your boat will hold more value.
GrandpaKip
Explorer II
Nov 20, 2014
rtate wrote:
I have owned quite a few boats including a Morgan 38 foot that I totally rebuilt. My experience is that marine equipment is far superior to rv junk. Generally speaking the craftsman ship on a ocen going boat would put any rv to shame.

I guess it is the wanderlust that turns sailors into rv owners.

Ha, ha, ha. If my boat had been built anything like my RV, I'd be sharing my Irish whiskey with Davy Jones.
rtate
Explorer
Nov 20, 2014
I have owned quite a few boats including a Morgan 38 foot that I totally rebuilt. My experience is that marine equipment is far superior to rv junk. Generally speaking the craftsman ship on a ocen going boat would put any rv to shame.

I guess it is the wanderlust that turns sailors into rv owners.
valhalla360
Navigator
Nov 20, 2014
4X4Dodger wrote:
valhalla360 wrote:
Some marine parts are better (not all) but to buy them take the inflated RV prices and double them for "marine grade".

If you are bored, stripping out the RV electical system may be fun but an RV isn't nearly as rough on systems as a boat. Plus a $20k RV corresponds to a $150k boat. It may make sense to dump $20k into retrofitting a $150k boat's systems...not so much a $20k RV.

I agree with you that RV's in general are nearly not as rough on systems as a boat. The important point is that on the ocean you cannot call the Good Sam Tow Truck to pull you out of a problem. So systems must be reliable and hardy. I also agree that the outlay must make economic sense.

I do disagree however that prices "double" for marine Equipment. Marine grade Equipment is often made to strict Coast Guard or international standards that do cost more to meet in many cases and thus the higher prices. But I have found the prices to be about the same or even less in some cases for many items that are compatible with RV's.

And just for the record I didnt spend anywhere near $20k rewiring my boat....(this does not include the Radar, Radios, Weather Fax etc etc.)

My point was do it yourself with high quality stuff and you will avoid a lot of small costly repairs because you will be able to fix it. And Calders book is good enough to walk even a novice through complicated repairs and installations....

My main objective was to offer good alternative sources that not everyone may have known or thought about.

Of course you don't call Good Sam, you call Tow Boat US. It's really very similar. (if you claim offshore ocean crossings, you have to compare to something equivalent like driving the Pan-America Highway and tell us how well Good Sam works in the Bolivian highlands)

Sure if you retrofit either yourself, you aren't spending $20k to rewire the boat but if you paid yourself a fair wage along with overhead, I would be surprised, if you didn't spend more than $20k if you do the job right.

A $20k retrofit on a boat is a light duty refresh not a total overhaul. It just doesn't make sense to retrofit RV's unless you are doing it as a for fun project.

I do agree with the calder book, I have that in with my electrical kit and for the most part it is applicable to either boat or RV.

As far as marine grade items, they fall into a few categories:
- Same quality same price.
- Better quality but much higher price. Typically stainless steel stuff that is rather pointless on RV's.
- Same quality higher price and this is probably biggest category.

I can't think of anything that is the same or lower cost and better quality. We've been splitting time between our boat and the RV since '07 and it's far more common for us to use RV stuff on the boat than the other way around. The rare times, we have used a marine item on the RV it was because we already had it in the spare parts bin.
seaeagle2
Explorer
Nov 20, 2014
We were boat owners for 20 years, I would agree that some marine stuff is way better. I'm amazed that the converter / battery charger set up on RV's is so goofy, any marine store has several choices of multistage, multibattery chargers that will charge and then maintain the batteries when plugged into shorepower, Unlike RV's where apparently we're hoping the battery charger does what they said it would ?.
rbpru
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2014
There are several factors when revamping a TT vs. a sail boat. First it is far easier to spend more money restoring a TT then the cost of a new one. Second the environmental performance required of the TTs materials is far less. Finally, the retail cost of comparable products may be similar, but the RV suppliers have spent decades supplying product at the volumes and costs needed in the RV industry.

Many trailer restorations are more a labors of love; similar to restoring old autos.
pa_traveler
Explorer
Nov 19, 2014
Wish I grew up around sailing ,think I would have loved it. Do plan on getting a c-dory to at least do some water camping.
GrandpaKip
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2014
When we had our ocean-going sailboat, I used both marine and rv stuff for repairs and upgrades. It all depended on what was available and how much it cost. I also used standard house materials when I knew they would work as well as the marine version. Doing the same now with the " land yacht ".
Instead of a hole in the water into which to throw money, now it's a shadow on the ground.