The RV Maintenance Schedule I Give Every Customer

Every customer asks the same question after a big repair: “How do I keep this from happening again?” My answer is never a product. It’s a schedule. RVs leak a little, dry out a little, and loosen a little, trip after trip, until a skipped check becomes a floor, a wall, or a roof.

Here’s the schedule I give everyone. It’s built around one fact I repeat until people are tired of hearing it: manufacturers recommend checking roof sealants every 90 days. In Florida sun and humidity, that’s not conservative. That’s the minimum.

Before every trip: the 15-minute walk

Do this in the driveway, not at the campground. Check tire pressure and date codes, look for sidewall cracks, and torque lug nuts if a wheel has been off. Test every light, run each slide fully out and back in, and listen — a slide that hesitates, pops, or leads on one side is telling you something early. Run the water pump with no faucet open and listen for cycling; a pump that kicks on by itself is hunting a leak. Sniff inside after the rig has sat closed. Musty means moisture somewhere, every time.

• Tires: pressure to the sidewall spec for the load, no cracks, no bulges, age under control — replace by age, not just tread.
• Detectors: test smoke, CO, and propane alarms, and check the fire extinguisher gauge.
• Seals at a glance: walk the roof edge and slide seals for anything obviously torn or pulled away.

Monthly when you’re using it

Once a month in season, wipe down slide wiper and bulb seals and condition them. I use 303 Aerospace Protectant on rubber and vinyl — it’s UV protection, not grease, so seals stay flexible without collecting dirt. Clean the air conditioner filters, exercise the generator under load for about two hours if your manual calls for it, and dump and flush the holding tanks properly instead of letting them sit.

Inside, open low cabinets and look under sinks. Most plumbing leaks I find dripped for weeks while the owner checked the roof. A dry paper towel under each trap tells the truth in ten minutes.

Every 90 days: roof and seals — the big one

This is the appointment that saves RVs. Get on the roof safely, wash it, and inspect every seam and penetration on your knees, not from the ladder: cap seams, vents, skylights, the AC shroud, antennas, and every screw head. Look for sealant that’s cracked, peeling, pinholing, or pulling away at the edge. That’s not cosmetic. That’s the door water uses.

Touch up only what’s failing, with the right material for the roof. On most EPDM and TPO roofs that’s a self-leveling lap sealant on horizontal surfaces — I keep Dicor 501LSW Self-Leveling Lap Sealant on the truck for exactly this. Don’t bury cracked sealant under a thick new blob and call it fixed, and never put silicone on a roof seam. Clean it, prep it, seal it thin and right. While you’re up there, check the AC gasket for compression and the gutter channels for debris that dams water at the cap seam.

Same day, walk the walls: window frames, compartment doors, corner moldings, and slide top seals. Water that starts at a window ends in the floor below it.

Every six months and once a year

Every six months, do the full version: reseal anything questionable instead of flagging it for later, sanitize the fresh water system, test every appliance, check battery water and terminals on flooded batteries, and inspect brakes and wheel bearings on trailers that see real miles. Yearly, plan on a professional look if you don’t do your own — bearing pack, brake check, propane system test, generator service, and a hard look at roof age.

• Annual reseal mindset: if sealant looks tired in October, it will leak in January. Replace it on your schedule, not the rain’s.
• Slide service: keep tracks and mechanisms clean, check cable or gear condition per your system, and never force a room that’s out of sync.
• Underneath: look at the underbelly wrap, brake wiring, and any spot road debris could have torn open.

The Florida add-on

If your rig lives in Florida, add humidity control to the schedule, not as an afterthought. Keep inside humidity under 60 percent in storage, vent it, and check for mold in cabinet backs and around windows monthly in summer. Sun here eats sealant, plastic vent covers, and tire sidewalls faster than the national averages in the manuals. Your 90-day check matters more, not less.

If you only do three things

Do the 90-day roof and seal check. Keep slide seals clean and conditioned. Fix any soft spot, stain, or musty smell the week you notice it, not the season after. Those three habits would erase most of the structural work in my calendar — the rotted slide floors, the delaminated walls, the roofs that went from a $150 reseal to a full replacement because nobody looked for two years.

Print this, tape it inside a cabinet door, and write dates down. A log beats memory every time. Fix it right the first time is a repair rule. This schedule is how you need fewer repairs.

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