The outcome of any poll depends on several factors like; what type of poll it is, how the questions are worded, who is asking the questions and of course who does and does not participate in the poll.
Each week we conduct an RV poll in our e-newsletter. The RV poll is not a scientific poll, a political poll or a marketing poll. It is basically used to give me some idea of what our newsletter readers are interested in, how they use their RVs and just for the fun of it. I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of our past RV polls and see how the participants responded.
Here’s what I found out.
- 85% travel with the refrigerator on and 15% travel with it off
- 53% prefer diesel and 47% prefer gas
- 79% eat more meals in the RV and 21% eat more meals out
- 89% conduct a spring check-up on their RV before using it and 11% don’t
- 67% said the recession won’t change plans to use the RV and 33% said it will
- 72% said their average RV trips are one week or less and 28% said their average RV trips are two weeks or longer
- 54% own motorized RV’s and 46% own towable RV’s
- 91% plan two or more summer RV trips and 9% plan only one
- 63% store the RV on their own property and 37% make other storage arrangements
- 82% check the tire pressure before each trip and 18% don’t
- 24% said a hybrid RV chassis would affect their buying decision and 76% said it wouldn’t have any affect
- 90% said they use environmentally friendly holding tank chemicals and 10% don’t
- 63% use their RV in the winter and 37% don’t
- 51% RV green and 49% don’t
- 100% have taken advantage of free overnight parking at one time or another
- 70% have stayed in a friends or relatives driveway before and 30% have not
- 77% were against the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations and 23% were not
- 86% are not fulltime RVers and 14% are
- 83% use a GPS in their RV and 17% don’t. Of those, 62% were led down the wrong path one time or another, but 93% would still recommend a GPS to other RV owners
- 81% were prepared for the digital TV switchover in their RV and 19% were not
- 19% frequently stay at state or federal campgrounds, 34% stay at private campgrounds, 5% stay at public campgrounds and 42% stay at a combination of all three
- 49% have experienced at least one tire blowout with their RV and 51% have not
- 81% have stayed in their RV during severe weather and 19% have not
- 70% have experienced rude behavior from other campers and 30% have not
- 67% use a pre-departure checklist when they RV and 33% don’t
- 98% have one or more slide outs on their RV and 2% don’t have any slide outs
- 60% shower in the RV more than the campground bath house and 40% shower in the bath house more than the RV
- 88% winterize their own RV and 12% have it winterized by an RV dealer
- 34% take bottled water with them, 14% use filtered water and 52% use both bottled & filtered water in their RV
- 92% take pets with them on RV trips and 8% don’t
- 59% wash their RV as needed, 30% wash it after each trip, 7% wash it before storing and 4% never wash it
- 71% pack as much food as possible before leaving and 29% buy groceries when they arrive at their destination
- 30% pre-cook meals before leaving and 70% don’t
- 30% traveled by RV last Thanksgiving, 36% traveled by car, 1% by plane and 33% stayed home
- 36% have weighed their RV and 64% have not
- 33% have used their RV as a guesthouse and 67% have not
- 84% have cleaned their RV roof at some point and 16% have never cleaned their RV roof
- 78% perform routine maintenance on their RV and 22% take it to a dealer for maintenance
- 72% have dry camped with their RV and 28% have not
- 81% have camped in a national or state park and 19% have not
- 31% have had problems with rodents in their RV and 69% have not
Happy Camping,
Mark Polk
RV Education 101
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Alexandre tarcitano
By the way, Mark, I’m enjoying your restoration on the Yellowstone..Congrats
Alexandre tarcitano
This is a very interesting RV poll. I’d like to have the same experience here in Brazil, but we are so little. Considering that we have about 10,000 equipments (rv’s and trailers) and scattered along this big country it’s very difficult to get an overview. Only now, after waiting 12 years to correct a mistake due a wrong translation from american traffic code we are able to drive trailers with regular driver license. They considered travel trailer as a 80,000 pound cargo trailer. Chances are that now rving can grow again after years watching our manufacturers closing down.
Ken Shearer
Nice to see we are average . Should have also put the Canada Motorhome Triple E Empress Elite DP. Lived in it with temps down to – 40 last winter with no other type of winterization. I would have voted for it. Great site. Thanks. Ken & Liz
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CSM MacKissock
Great survey: I’m average. Stay alot in state and national parks and because I’m retired Army, I use the military campgrounds when ever I can. I think it was Riggarob that said that he was a tincan sailor. I started off in the Navy and was on tincans (USS Dashell (DD659) 1955-1957). Like the site.
CSM Mac
Geoffrey Pruett
We are out of the majority is a few areas, about the only time we have full hookups is in our own driveway. The experienced when we bought it 25 ft class A was purchased to avoid slide outs, less things to break on the road. Have full filtering on the water we use, even when hooked up, the trots is a real pain when on the road.
Our major usage is dry camped at events such as Air Shows and Square Dance festivals.
The next two upgrades are a new water heater, 6 gallons does not cut it at shower time and an automatic switching 110 system. Have already run the wiring but so far lack the loot to purchase a new one. Tried used and it did not last and repairs were more than a replacement.
Enjoyed the survey, try it again in a few months and compare results!
Geoffrey Pruett
Stan Zawrotny
It’s nice to know that we are average right down the line.
riggarob
You forgot to ask how many people stay in military camp grounds.
Alpenliter
Thanks for assembling this very interesting and revealing information Mark!
Barry Zander
How many RVers wish we could fit more into the fridge?
Norman Severin
THE WEB SITE IS GREAT AND VERY HELPFUL. BEEN A CAMPER FOR MANY YEARS AND THEWEB HELPS ME TO REMEMBER THINGS THAT I FORGOT. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND HAPPY CAMPING
David McCracken
This web site has helped so much being that me and my wife are new at R.V.ing
Thanks