Reference
Twelve Long Reads on the Problems That Cost the Most
Twelve in depth guides covering delamination, roof systems, slide mechanisms, insurance claim sequence, estimate reading, paint and color match, water intrusion, LP and electrical systems, storage, fleet down time, pre purchase evaluation and total loss arithmetic.
These are written for the owner who reads before deciding
There is a kind of RV owner who wants to know how a laminated sidewall is constructed before agreeing to have one repaired, and every guide here is written for that person. Construction detail, failure mechanism, diagnostic sequence, the operations involved, and the parts channel each one depends on. No guide ends by telling you to call us, because a guide that exists to generate a phone call gets written differently and reads worse.
Length is set by the subject. The delamination guide is long because the subject has four distinct failure modes with different repairs and one of them is frequently misdiagnosed as another. The storage guide is shorter because storage is mostly a sequence of nine things done in order.
Where the guides and the service pages diverge
A service page answers what something costs and how long it takes. A guide answers why the problem happens and what the alternatives are. Both are needed and they are not the same document, which is why we did not try to make one page do both jobs and end up with a page that does neither.
Each guide links to the service pages for the operations it describes, so understanding the problem and pricing the fix are one click apart. If you already know what you need and want a number, skip the guides and go to the prices page. Nothing here is a prerequisite for anything.
12 guides
Pick a subject
4 sections
The First 72 Hours After a Collision
What to photograph at the scene, when to call your carrier, and why naming your own shop before the carrier assigns one changes the parts channel you end up with.
4 sections
How an RV Insurance Claim Actually Moves
First notice of loss through final payment: who the adjuster is, what teardown proves, how supplements get approved, and where your deductible lands in the money flow.
4 sections
How to Read Your RV Estimate, One Line at a Time
Labor rate types, blend time, paint and body supply lines, the two parts markup tiers, betterment, sublet, and why sales tax hits parts and materials but never labor.
4 sections
Finding a Roof Leak Without Guessing
Moisture mapping, a full penetration inventory, why the ceiling stain is almost never under the entry point, and how sealant chemistry decides whether the repair holds.
4 sections
Delamination, Void Mapping and Injection
How to map a void, when vacuum bag adhesive injection is the right repair, when the panel has to come off instead, and roughly where the two cost lines cross.
5 sections
Slide Out Troubleshooting by Mechanism
Schwintek in wall, Lippert through frame hydraulic, rack and pinion, cable and BAL Accu Slide all fail differently. Identify the mechanism first, then read the symptom.
4 sections
RV Electrical, 12 Volt and 120 Volt
Converter, inverter, transfer switch and shore power in plain terms, what 30 amp versus 50 amp really limits, and the parts of a lithium conversion nobody quotes up front.
4 sections
LP Systems and Certification Gated Work
How a two stage regulator works, what a timed pressure drop test actually proves, how direct spark ignition appliances fail, and which LP tasks require a certified technician.
4 sections
Refinishing a 40 Foot Coach
Booth length constraints, panel mapping on a body with no factory seams, blend strategy across gel coat and paint, and the cure windows that set the real schedule.
4 sections
Interior Remodels and Payload Math
How to read GVWR, GAWR and cargo carrying capacity, what solid surface countertops actually weigh, and which cabinet substrates buy back the pounds a remodel spends.
4 sections
Storing a Coach in Southern California
UV load, LP shutdown, battery strategy, tank and plumbing prep, tire flat spotting and rodent exclusion, in the order that actually matters for a coach parked inland.
4 sections
Fleet Body Work and Downtime Management
How box truck dock damage gets triaged, how units get sequenced so a fleet keeps running, and how municipal and county purchase orders change the documentation we produce.
Questions
Questions on this
Are these written by technicians or by a marketing department?
They come out of the shop and get edited for readability, which is why the construction detail survives and the sentences are shorter than a technician would write them. Where a guide states a torque value, a cure window or a moisture threshold, that number comes off a procedure rather than out of a paragraph.
Can I use a guide to do the repair myself?
Some of them, partly. Sealant maintenance and storage preparation are genuinely owner workable. Delamination, structural, LP and refrigerant work are not, and the guides say so at the point where the line is. Certification gated work exists because the failure modes are severe, not because the trade is protecting itself.
Already know what you need and want a number
Skip the guides. The prices page carries every published band and the estimate policy page explains how a band becomes a scope.