painting the trailer...

The artist can paint your rv too...

Yesterday for fun I did a little painting of our Camplite trailer. It has me thinking that, sometime in the future, there might be a little side business I could do to earn some gas money. I could offer my artistic services to do commissioned portraits of rv's. I could put together a portfolio "gallery" of examples & market the service primarily on the internet. Perhaps having a booth at RV shows would be an opportunity to line up some work. I would work from provided photos. If I met the client in person I could take my own pics if necessary. In the portfolio I could have examples where I swapped out the background so clients could have their rv in one of their favorite scenic shots. I could expand to the pet market?

Do you think there is any potential in this idea?

Regards, Ross  July 30, 2012

quickbite...

Years ago my uncle had a large utility trailer break free of his tow vehicle. The trailer careened into a car dealership taking out three new cars. They were write-offs. Thankfully nobody was hurt. The outcome could have been much worse. In the United States it is reported that over 15,000 lives have been lost to towing-related accidents since 1975 with many more injured. The death toll includes accidents caused by poor lane changes, where control was lost due to trailer sway, or tire blowouts. It also includes cases where trailers broke free of their tow vehicle - something that never needs to happen.

Found one at this price on EBay

The coupler is an important but often overlooked trailer component. Many trailer owners take it for granted that their cheap coupler will securely connect their valuable trailer to the ball on their tow vehicle. They never look up at it from below and see the flimsy mechanism that is supposed to engage with the ball. They don't check that it is properly engaged *every-time* before they pull the trailer. (Accidents have happened because curious kids at rest stops etc. have flipped up the catch without the owner noticing). Many don't grease the ball or the coupler to prevent wear & eventual mechanical failure because they find it messy (and don't want to ruin any more good pairs of pants). They simply don't think about their coupler. Besides they have safety chains. They don't realize that although safety chains help, you can still have an accident or significant damage if the coupler comes off the ball. Most realize that severe trailer sway can cause you to loose control. They don't consider how bad sway could be if the trailer is just being towed by the chains!

Better quality and much safer coupler designs are available...

on trend...

Our Camplite at home in Mermaid, PEI, Canada

Dang! Just when you think you are a free-thinking person you find out that what you've been thinking is right on trend with the masses! Like most people I'd like to think my choices bubble up from my own thoughts. I assume my choices don't just reflect some big trend. It is mildly frustrating to learn that my family's recent purchase of a small rv is right on trend. All those appealing "GoRVing" adds on TV & in magazines must really have brainwashed my wife & I. Along with almost everyone else! It would seem we are all lemmings...

built to order...

If you are really lucky, you visit a great rv dealership that is close to home and they have in stock the perfect rv at a great price. Most of us aren't that lucky. You are still lucky if they have something you like enough to buy. Most of us can accept a few compromises for the convenience being able to purchase without a wait. I'm sure many of us just get a general idea of what we want to buy, visit the rv dealer close to home, and pick from whatever is available. The offerings may have features we didn't really need. We'll have to accept paying for them anyway. The offerings may not have certain features we really desired. To buy is to accept living without them. Such compromises are par for the course. When at a dealer communicate what you like & don't like. It can help them find you your perfect rv. It also helps them know what their customers are interested in. The next time they order new stock they'll have a better idea of what options their customers are interested in and can order appropriately.

first steps with new blog...

Our new Camplite 11FDB

The blog is now underway! Starting yesterday with Blogger I was able to get a template modified and start creating some content. Please see the Welcome page that addresses what the blog is about. The Preamble page discusses how I got to this point. I also created a Why Designstop.com? page to address why the blog has that url. In the coming days I'll likely create a picture gallery page.

I'm still new to the "blog" concept and just getting my head around postings vs. pages. I have experience creating websites which have the navigation more like "pages". I'm used to how they allow the page creator to control how the visitors navigate the site. In contrast, "posting" seems to  lack control. A new visitor sees the latest posting instead of the 'welcome' stuff  - and that just seems odd to me right now. I'm sure as I get more into it I'll find it all makes sense.