As an RVer, you may have noticed that some fellow campers put the reflective material known as Reflectix in their RV windows. This is actually a fairly common practice and for good reason. There are a number of great benefits to putting this shiny material in your RV windows. In fact, there are so many awesome benefits to covering your windows with this stuff that we highly recommend trying it for yourself.
Need a bit of convincing? Here are some of the things Reflectix in your RV windows can do for you.
Regulate Temperature
Because of poor insulation, keeping an RV cool on the hottest days and warm on the coldest days can feel like an impossible task. Of course, the single-pane windows found in motorhomes and travel trailers don’t help anything.
Fortunately, you can help remedy this situation by covering your windows. A set of Reflectix window coverings will keep heat and cold from entering through your single-pane windows and keep the air at the correct temperature inside. It’ll also help reflect sunlight away from your rig, helping keep you comfortable when the sunshine is unrelenting.
Block Out Unwanted Light
Speaking of sunlight, there are times when you simply don’t want sunlight streaming into your home on wheels. In the early morning, for instance, it can be nice to sleep through the sunrise. Likewise, nobody likes artificial light from the campground or parking lot lighting peeking through the blinds while they’re trying to sleep at night.
Reflective window covers help improve your RV sleep by blocking out all this unwanted light, leaving you with a dark cave of comfort and rest.
Protect from UV Rays
If properly cared for, RV furniture can last for years. This is especially true if you use your RV only for weekend camping. Unfortunately, the UV rays in sunlight can wreak havoc on your upholstered furniture by causing it to fade. This fading is usually uneven, with the lightest spots being where the sun shines most. This makes the fading even more obvious.
To avoid this fading due to sunlight, you will want to keep your windows well-covered, especially while the RV is in storage. Reflectix covers do the job very well indeed, helping preserve your furniture for as long as possible.
Prevent Excessive Condensation
As mentioned before, RVs are made with single-pane windows. This can lead to a lot of condensation on the windows if you do any cold weather camping at all. Unfortunately, condensation can cause all kinds of issues, including mold and mildew, as well as wood rot and rusty metal.
Reflective covers remove this issue by acting as a second window pane, providing a barrier between the cold glass and the humid air. This prevents condensation—which is created when warm, moist air touches cold surfaces—from forming on the windows.
Gain Extra Privacy
Finally, we should discuss privacy. We all know that RV camping doesn’t offer a ton of privacy. That said, there’s no reason you shouldn’t do what you can to improve upon this.
Reflective covers can offer increased privacy. These covers are cut to fit your windows, providing a covering that is free of gaps. This removes any potential of fellow campers seeing inside your rig. These covers also help buffer sounds, meaning your conversations are less likely to be heard by passersby.
Surely by now, you will all agree that reflective window covers are an excellent investment. Now, because you will need covers to fit your specific set of windows perfectly, pre-made covers simply won’t work. Instead, you will need to purchase a roll of Reflectix and cut your covering to size.
If cut just right, these should wedge into your windows, holding themselves in place and giving you the ideal RV window cover.
About the author: Chelsea Gonzales
Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family.
You can join her adventures through her blog, Wonder Wherever We Wander.
Amanda J. ~ “I’m a single mom of 6 kids and every time I call, I feel reassured that I’m not alone and Coach-Net will do anything to help and make things as easy as possible for me. I’m extremely impressed and grateful.”
Believe it or not, watching after your mental health is one of the keys to keeping warm in winter. I learned that after our first tornado scare in the RV. That’s when I became obsessed with checking Weather.com when a storm was predicted. And while it’s important to stay current on changing conditions, it took me several years to finally realized that looking at the forecast (and googling things like “can RVs blow over in high winds?”) is not going to change anything. In fact, it makes the weather seem colder and nastier than it is. Don’t blur the lines between worry and preparedness when the weather forecast looks bleak. Be prepared, but accept that no amount of whining or fretting will change the weather headed your way. Deal with it and suddenly the cold won’t seem so awful.
Since the holes were in the very top of the tank, they would have been hard to detect had we not performed a thorough pre-delivery inspection (PDI). We had to remove and replace the black water holding tank. I often tell technicians about this event when discussing the importance of thorough PDI work. But it’s also a reminder for owners to make sure that both used and new coaches are properly inspected and maintained.