Why Maintenance Is So Important

When you essentially live in a vehicle, you have two sets of maintenance issues to consider -- the household systems (plumbing, electrical, air conditioner, appliances) and the parts that actually keep your trailer moving forward (tires, axles, brakes, etc.) In the grand scheme of things, our Airstream requires much less attention than either a house or a car -- we don't need oil changes or transmission checks or emissions testing because there is no motor, and we don't have to worry about roof leaks or the furnace going out on us or a flood from the plumbing bursting (all problems we faced with a house!) But there are still a few things we have to do to keep our tin can in good working order.

And it is absolutely imperative that Matt and I stay on top of our regular maintenance tasks, because the consequences are much more dire if something in our Airstream craps out and requires a major repair. It's not the cost that concerns me, because everything is less expensive in an RV than in a house -- but the inconvenience would be huge! Think about it -- if something breaks in your stationary brick-and-mortar home, you call a repair guy and he comes out to fix it. If something breaks in our little rolling home, we have to take our entire house in to the shop and leave it while the repair is done. And in the mean time, Matt and I either have to shack up at a friend's (and hope they don't have a problem with cats) or get a hotel. We are without the majority of our supplies for daily living, evicted from our comfy little living environment, and  stuck with two incredibly cranky animals -- not a situation we want to find ourselves in very often!

Our Maintenance Schedule

When we first got our travel trailer, Matt and I read through the Airstream manual, scoured the RV-ing websites, read a dozen different books on full-timing. It seems that everyone has a different idea of what you should do to keep your rig on the road! But we consolidated the information and developed the following maintenance schedule -- which seems to work pretty well for us. Once a month, we tackle one of the following lists (and to help you out, I've linked to tools and supplies you might need to complete these tasks) -- then once a year, we take the trailer in for the work we can't do ourselves:

Not too bad, actually -- each round of maintenance takes less than half a day, so we can't complain!