Sailboats and Travel Trailers-a lot in common
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.com
http://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/B000AQTEW4
I hope this helps and gives yet another source of information and products that we all need and use from time to time.
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.com
http://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/B000AQTEW4
I hope this helps and gives yet another source of information and products that we all need and use from time to time.
