A ROADTREK HAS TO BE DRIVEN

 There is not a lot new to learn from this article other than what its title states - a Roadtrek has to be driven.  Like any car, van, or truck if it is not driven it will not run well especially when you are ready to head off on a long trip. 

This winter the weather here has been a steady weekly snow storm - some small, some large and a lot of salt put down on the roads and the road salt is not something that you want to drive your Roadtrek over as it collects on the bottom of the chassis and will corrode what is under there. (There is a way to deal with this but it takes to waiting until the Spring and warm weather as it involves cleaning off the bottom of the chassis with a garden sprinkler placed under the chassis - between the middle and the front - let it run for a half hour or more, then move it to between the middle and the back of the chassis and let it run another half hour or more to clean the salt - but if it still going to freeze outside you don't want to turn on the water for the outside of your house.)  So what I have been doing each week - and I do this all year around is start the Roadtrek sitting on the driveway and let it run for half an hour. I sit in it the whole time and read a book. Generally this happens on Sunday afternoons.   This not only runs the engine but the engine battery keeps the Roadtrek house batteries charged.  In good weather we take the Roadtrek for a long drive. That has not happened in months - until this past Sunday.

In the past few weeks I have been noticing when starting the Roadtrek that it is getting hard to start. There is a hesitation between turning the key and the engine catching and starting. Usually, it starts right up.  So I have been getting concerned. My plan had been that a week ago Sunday we would take it out for a drive - but a week ago Sunday it was pouring and not a good day to drive the Roadtrek. I figured OK the next week the long range forecast was good so we would take the Roadtrek out then. 

When we take these drives I want to drive for at least two hours and drive as close to one hundred miles as I can.  We live on an island. The island is 100 miles long end to end, west and east and 23 miles wide, north and south.  We are closest to the south shore and about 80 miles from the eastern most end of the island.  The island is well developed and a mix of suburban and country. The drive we take is usually the same - 50 miles east which takes about an hour with the 55 mph speed limit  and 50 miles back west for about another hour.  There are only two limited access roads that the Roadtrek is allowed to drive on due to its height. The height limit on "parkways" here is 7 ft 10" -  the our Roadtrek is 8 ft 10". On the limited access roads we cannot go on there really are low overpasses. (More about this later.) One limited access road goes south to north. The other limited access road goes along the north shore west to east. So this was the plan for Sunday, March 10th! At least until we heard the news on Saturday that the high winds we were experiencing resulted in brush fires on he East End that was burning in four different areas - and moving.  In fact, it was burning very close to where we would be heading.  So we started figuring out an alternative destination and back that would cover almost 100 miles of driving - and would likely take longer than the usual two hours. 

Any time we have to back the Roadtrek out of our driveway it can take a half hour.  We live on a suburban avenue with two lanes each way - which is located just past a curve in the road north of us that is just past a traffic light. This avenue is a very busy avenue any day and any time - and many cars like to drive it as if it was a practice run for the Indy 500.  😉  Meryl stands in the parking lane (which is in addition to the four driving lanes - one parking lane on each side - with a walkie talkie and I have a walkie talkie in the Roadtrek. I turned the key to start the Roadtrek and it hesitated again and then started. The engine sounded a little rougher than usual and I was hoping that good long drive would get it back to its steady and strong engine sound (which during the trip is evened out to normal). I backed down the driveway to almost the sidewalk and wait for her to say, "IT IS CLEAR NOW - GO NOW!!!" . To which I hit the gas and get into the street and hope I don't hit the car that parks too close to our driveway cut from the house next door. This was a particularly busy Sunday on the avenue we live on and it took about 20 minutes to get it into the street and another 10 waiting for it to clear again to get into the lane and drive.  This is one reason why we don't take the Roadtrek out more often and use it locally.

SO we drove east on the nearest avenue that heads eat to the north/south expressway, got on there and  headed north to its end. It was quicker than I had figured it would be and did not put many miles toward the hundred into the trip We then headed east on a four lane road that goes from commercial to country and back to commercial. We got to a main north/south road - and I did not want to head north  as that would take us toward the direction of the fires which people were saying a number of miles from the fire zone the smoke was coming into. So we headed south which was far enough west from where the fires were burning. People in the fire zones were being told to evacuate. The wind was strong - even as we were driving I could feel the Roadtrek being pushed from the side by the wind as I drove - two hands on the wheel and attention to keeping the Roadtrek straight and not moved by the wind. We got to about where the miles driven were about 30 and I knew we were going to have to repeat the trip twice to get near 100 miles all together.  As we got further south the sky which was bright blue everywhere else we had driven was a brown color from the smoke which was many miles to the east of of us. I pulled into a Walmart  parking lot and turned around and headed back the way we came. Because we were driving on commercial road and there was traffic we had driven at that point almost two hours. We went north to the road we got of the expressway to, got back to the expressway and got on it going south. At where we got on when we stared,  we got off and I said "ONE MORE TIME!" and I turned toward the expressway north entrance and got back on and drove the whole thing again!  When we got back home - after almost four hours of driving - we had driven just under 88 miles - not 100 miles but good enough. On the news the three of the fires were out but a fourth was only half under control.  

 As to what happened with the fires - 600 acres were burned, one fireman injured and taken to the hospital,  two businesses burned to the ground, no one else hurt, no other property damage. An investigation has found that the fires started when a family was int their backyard making s'mores and the wind took the flame and set the ground and trees (which have been very dry due to lack of rain here - snow we get - rain not enough) on fire and the wind spread the fire. There was a fire alert warning put out by National Weather Service for the island.

 The Roadtrek used about an 1/8th tank of gas on this trip and had used 1/8th tank of gas running the engine every Sunday afternoon so I stopped for gas before we took it home. While I am putting gas in, a man from the pump on the other side of us came over and said. "Where do you drive that?" which we were not quite sure what he meant. We asked - you mean today? No, he said, "Where can it be driven?. OK - odd but I smiled and  said "Anywhere one wants to drive it!" which I realized later is not really true as around here there are many roads that you cannot drive it on and if you need to park it, it is too tall for any indoor parking garage.  Anyway, he kept asking - what's inside - I don't know why I was not giving straight answers - but around here one is safest if one does not provide too much information to anyone you don't know (I call this "healthy paranoia") - so my answer was "Everything is inside!" --- he asks - "a bed?" - "Yes and more!" Then he is looking all around it - where do you get one - is it custom built?. I told him that there is no place on the island to get one - we went to Pennsylvania to buy it. He asked how much - i said now they are a lot more than when I bought it and that they are no longer built on a Chevy chassis. And told him it is a Roadtrek  (there is no Roadtrek name on our Roadtrek)  and that he can find them online and if he searches Class B RVs he will find several makes and models.  By this time the woman in the car behind us at the gas pumps wanted to leave and I was blocking her in so we had a convenient way to end the conversation and we got into the Roadtrek and left. And since I had not tried to start the engine since we left on this must drive the Roadtrek drive - when I turned the key the Roadtrek started right up and the engine was steady, strong, and sounded as it should sound!

So - you came along for the ride on this trip! How exciting! Sometimes it is more fun to write an article like this than the usual "how to". What you should take away is not the trip but the need to take these trips when the Roadtrek has been sitting. The van has got to be driven to keep it in good condition to be able to take you on the real and important fun trips! I do plan on getting two cans of Seafoam and putting them into the gas tank to keep it running strong. While the temps have been good this week here. just a week ago they were freezing at night and in the 30s during the day - and that is likely to happen again before the weather stays warm! (Seafoam - one ounce per gallon of gasoline - one can is 16 oz. The Roadtrek gas tank is 31gallons. The extra ounce won't hurt.)  

Ah yes - I said more about the roads here the Roadtrek can be driven on. During the trip we saw a sign at a parkway entrance we have never seen before and then we saw more of them. It said "NO, BUSES, TRUCKS OR RVS ALLOWED ON THE PARKWAY" - usually there is a sign that says "No Commercial Vehicles" and the height limit. It seems that in New York they are cracking down on RVs getting on the parkways - and the Roadtrek is an RV -  is not allowed on the parkways! So it is Expressways only. 

ADDENDUM:

 A few days after we took this trip, we drove our car to the route that we take to leave the island with the Roadtrek. This includes a parkway that has had only a posting about no commercial vehicles and not even a height restriction. This parkway is run by the city and not the State so we always felt it was OK to take the Roadtrek on it. There are no overpasses that are posted at the Roadtrek's height or lower and we have always been fine - and even have been past by highway police that just go by. What we found when we got to the entrance that we take was that same sign we saw on Sunday.  "NO, BUSES, TRUCKS OR RVS ALLOWED ON THE PARKWAY". Now we cannot take any chances any longer going on there. The alternative route is on the north shore of the island which is often busier in the mornings with truck and car traffic but also will add about 45 minutes or longer to just the part of the trip that gets us to "the mainland".  Ugh!

Driving In New York State

Meryl suggested that I write an article about what it is like to drive in New York State. What I will share with you is based on years of actual observation and experience. When we are traveling every so often we encounter people who say that they are planning to visit New York - not necessarily New York City - and we share with them what I will share with you all in this article. What I will write may be humorous but I assure you it is all real.  I am sure some of you have started reading this and are thinking well I would never go there anyway - and I will say right up front, I can't blame you for that. I can't avoid driving in New York - I live here.

New York State has all of the traffic laws that most other states have. You can make a right on red - AFTER a full stop. There are stop signs. There are traffic lights. There are speed limits. In fact in much of the state the speed limit is a maximum of 55 mph and not the usual 65 mph that is found in other states - and in some of those states some interstate highways have been increasing that to 70 or more. There is a "handsfree" cell phone law - you can't drive with a cell phone in your hand. There is also a "no texting" law while driving - which one would figure is just common sense but no, that is not the case. So what makes driving in New York State a problem? Well, most New Yorkers look upon the traffic laws as ONLY A SUGGESTION.

Huh? What? Yes. Let's take an obvious law - stopping at a red light. Why do you stop at a red light? Because there are vehicles going across that intersection non-stop while that light is red. In New York, red lights are taken by so many drivers as just a suggestion to stop - and so often they don't. This has led to a number of red light cameras that are placed to stop this but apparently also paying the traffic ticket received in the mail is also just a suggestion.  The same thing happens with stop signs - and not just with "rolling stops" where a car comes slowly up to the stop sign, hesitates, and then keeps going. Here some feel that the stop sign really does not apply to them and they just keep on going - no hesitation, no looking - no stopping.

Speed limits are another suggestion. While few actually drive at 55 mph, driving within the 5 mph "allowance" over that is not enough and it is not uncommon for cars to be going at 70 or 80 or faster - and sometimes doing 70 on a residential avenue. (The four lane avenue that I live on is one example of that.) Not only do cars speed on the limited access highways but they also race - weaving in and out of traffic. Generally in groups of two or three cars - when one car speeds past you and weaves between the lanes, expect at least one and likely two more to follow. And it does not matter if this is during the day, during the evening, at night, or late night - during the week or on a weekend. "Accidents" are constantly in the news here about deadly collisions, cars flying off the road, etc. Some may be attributed to driving under the influence of alcohol but not all - and more often they are the result of driving way to fast on roads that were never intended for that type of speed. It continually surprises me when there needs to be an investigation about what caused these accidents. A quick look at the photo of the destruction immediately says someone was driving way too fast. Yes, these types of accidents happen everywhere - but in New York the attitude of - "these laws do not apply to me" and that the laws are only a "suggestion" result in so many.

Now, combine this with someone with a cell phone in their hand. Whenever you see a car driving radically in New York, if you come up close to see the driver, there is either a cell phone in the hand at the ear or the driver is looking down from the wheel at a phone with both hands on it with fingers running across the phone keyboard texting. It happens that we were in a serious accident a few years ago stopped at a corner in a left lane to make a left turn with traffic coming toward us in the opposite lane. A car came speeding up behind us - well over the 40 mph speed limit - and slammed us from behind. We were lucky to be able to walk out of the car. Our car was totaled with the rear of the car crushed into the backseat. Had anyone been sitting in the rear they would have been dead. I am still not sure - right to this moment - how we got out of that car alive. The young driver of the car that hit us was also able to get out of his car that was crushed in from the front. He said - "I didn't see you." Really?    A bystander who saw the whole thing came over from the sidewalk and asked him - "Were you on your cell phone?" Some hesitation and stumbling of words - "I have Bluetooth." The police came - and made no note of my suggestion that he was on his phone. A few days later speaking with someone in the neighborhood who knows the family of this driver, I was told that the guy was texting while he was driving when he hit us. We let the police know - but that did not seem to matter.

It all sounds crazy or maybe not. The other day we were on our way to go to the post office. Next to the post office there is a bank and there were police swarming all over the bank's parking lot, around the bank and in the bank. We went to the post office and when we came out we saw that the police were still at the bank - two police cars just in from the street exit (one way only out) from the bank's parking lot and they had put up Crime Scene yellow tape across the exit of the parking lot.  While we were getting ready to leave the post office parking lot - separate from the bank's lot - we watched not one, but two cars at different times try to pull into the bank's exit from the street and through the crime scene tape. We had to laugh because, you see, in New York crime scene tape is JUST A SUGGESTION.

It is also important to know that if you are going to come to New York - anyway - be aware that there are many limited access roads that you cannot drive on with an RV - even one as small as a Roadtrek or other Class B. In New York State - the description of motorhome fits the description of the interior of a Roadtrek or other Class B. The laws about these roads are very specific and if you are on one of these roads and come upon a "State Trooper" - the NYS police who cruise the state highways to enforce traffic laws - you will be stopped and likely go home with an unwanted, souvenir, NYS traffic ticket.  NY is not an RV friendly state - there are few RV dealers, few who even know what an RV is, and fewer who have actually seen one up close. There are also limited access roads designated "parkways" that have posted maximum heights on their entrances. Here on Long Island both the Southern Parkway, which runs along the South Shore of the Island, and the Northern Parkway, which runs along the North Shore of the Island, have signs posted at no entrance for vehicles over 7' 10" - which by the way stops even non-converted Sprinter vans from going on these parkways. The problem is on those two roads there are overpasses that are lower than 7' 10" including one posted at 6' 8". But you don't have to worry about this - unless you have the attitude that no motorhomes are permitted on parkways is just a suggestion, you won't be on either of these roads and risk ripping the roof off of your 8' 10" or taller Roadtrek or Class B. And please be aware that regular car GPS units will direct you on these roads - and in my brief experience with a Rand McNally RV GPS that will take you right on these restricted roads also. (I say brief experience because the first thing I did when I got one was have it route my on Long Island and it went right onto the Southern Parkway. The GPS was returned the next day.)

I have focused on motorhomes here - as for trailers - if it is not a truck limited access road you cannot go on it with any trailer or if you are towing anything.

What roads can you go on - local roads that are not posted with any height or weight restriction, roads, bridges, and tunnels that are not posted with propane or hazardous material restrictions, "Expressways" are OK, "The Thruway" is OK, a "Turnpike" is OK. a "Highway" is OK.

Unfortunately if you are in New England or are going to New England there is no way to completely avoid New York State - short of going west, going up to Canada and coming back down around NYS - but you are going to have to go back the same way. Just be careful. Just be alert. And expect the unexpected. I won't even go into the condition of the roads but I always know when we are traveling that we are either out of New York or back in New York because in New York you bump, bounce, shake and rattle as you roll in a Roadtrek (or I am sure other Class Bs or motorhomes). So if you come, welcome to New York!

NEW COPILOT REALLY RV SPECIFIC GPS APP PART 2

PART 2

Back to using the app -

Okay, we will continue now as if the problems never happened (or as will hope will eventually be corrected as to routing and we are ready to head off on our trip. The app navigates by GPS.  My Android 5.1 OS is different from my older phone. There is no GPS button to click to turn on GPS. In settings there is are "Location" settings. This sets to one of three settings - GPS, Wifi and mobile networks (which is the default setting), Wifi and Mobile Networks, or GPS only. Set "Location" to  "GPS, Wifi, and Mobile Networks" or "GPS only".  My phone defaults every time Location is turned on to the default GPS, Wifi, and Mobile Networks. I generally keep it off to save battery power. So, with GPS/Location on, you then open the app - if you have not entered your destination as we discussed above, do that and if you have, click on Continue Driving (shown when there is an active route in the app). The map will open to your current location. This photo is borrowed from the Copilot website. The image will move down as you drive with the big red arrowhead designating your RV as it travels along the route. When you are stopped that big red arrow turns into a red circle. You can also set the display to scroll in the actual direction you are going. The speed limit is shown on the display. You can also have a compass show on the display showing your direction. (Since my Roadtrek has the compass on the dash display, I turned this off in the app settings.) At the bottom you get - (left to right), total miles for the trip, the direction and miles to the next turn, and the estimated time of arrival which has been pretty close to actual drive time. Below that you have the next turn you will come to. On the right, the green line is the traffic monitor. Green is clear, yellow is a slow down and red is a traffic standstill. You can set this monitor to up to 100 miles ahead. As you get into any of the yellow or red areas, you will also see that color on the map on the road you are on. The profile that is in operation (which you have chosen) is shown by a symbol on the bottom. In this photo, it is set to a car profile. If this was set to an RV profile there would be a picture of an RV there. (See the photo below this and you will see the RV profile icon in that same place.)

 You can set points of interest to show up along the roads on the display. These appear as icons and the new Copilot RV GPS has redesigned icons from the other Copilot apps that are clearer in what they are. To identify what icon is which category go to the POI More Categories screen and look down the list of categories to see the matching icon.  Below is one of my photos of the app and you can see a restaurant icon in yellow on the display. Oh boy! See that traffic bar there is a slow down that goes to a standstill and back to a slow down ahead before we get to clear road!  You will also see Road Restrictions on the map - either for your specific profile settings or you can see all Road Restrictions including those that don't apply to you.

 The parkways here are No RVs  or trucks allowed and some of the overpasses are 7' - and on the display there are No Trucks Icons all along those roads - and you will not be routed onto those roads - unlike a popular RV specific standalone GPS unit that put us right on those roads! All entrance ramps on these roads are also marked as restricted with a different No Trucks symbol. There are plenty of low clearances on these particular roads but since they are marked for RVs as no entry and are not routed onto them, they do not show up on the display as low clearances. BUT - all other roads that you could be driving on - if you ignored the routing, they do show up marked at that spot with  "Low clearance" and the height. I was not seeing these as I have the Roadtrek height set for ten feet and they are over ten feet and the Road Restrictions Notices set to my profile only - but when I set the Road Restrictions setting to show all on the display - they all appeared - all around me here on the streets and RV permitted roads. Roads are also marked on the display if they are weight restricted and show the weight limit.

TEST: I wanted to see what would happen - driving in my car - with the Copilot RV app if I just happened to ignore the route and got onto a parkway. (This is a different test than detailed above.) I was hoping for an audible warning but it did not do that. It did direct me to get off every exit that I purposely passed in an attempt to get me off the road that I should not have been on. There are low clearances that I went through - in the car - that would have been a serious problem for the Roadtrek - even at ten feet. It did its job. Now one of those exits it told me to get off on was another parkway, but there would have been an exit on that parkway before I had gotten to a low clearance and would have directed me off before that.  Bottom line is, don't ignore the routing. It is set that way to keep your RV legal and safe.

As you approach a turn on a major roadway you will get an image come up on the screen that shows you what the exit looks like and what lane to be in to turn. You can set when this display comes up and how long it remains on the screen. You will also get lane arrows and what they call "Clear Turn" that you see in advance the lanes you need to be in and what the exit will be like as you approach it so that you are prepared in your not so easy to change lanes in suddenly RV.

Let's talk about traffic. As I have said, after the first year of free traffic (that you don't have to activate as soon as you get the app but when you want to so that it would last further into the next year, there is a one year subscription fee of $10 and it will use your data service and your data to alert you to traffic and route you around traffic. In addition to the traffic bar on the side of the screen, when there is a change in traffic along your route you hear "Traffic: X minutes added to your estimated time of arrival" with a screen that says keep driving or choose an alternate route around the traffic. You can just choose that alternate route without seeing it or you could have your partner look at see where it will go. DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS YOURSELF WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING. Frankly, I have found this annoying - and the Copilot car app does the same thing. I tend to ignore it and in less than a minute the screen goes away and you continue to drive into traffic. On a test trip - again in the car - we had this running and I had another feature set to ON - "Active Route". I did not really know what this is and have since found out. I ignored the alert that BIG traffic was ahead and as we got right up to where the traffic was starting there happened to be an exit and the app told me to turn off at the exit. I had not told the app to take an alternate route with the traffic warning that came up on the screen, but it was telling me to get off. I had never had this feature set on with the Copilot car app so I could not understand why it was taking me off onto a street. Well, I sometimes think that I know better than to follow some silly GPS onto a street in Queens, NY so we ignored that too. It tried to get me to go off at the exit following that which was close by. What it was doing was taking me onto the service road which was moving. We for the most part were standing still and we spent 45 minutes in that traffic jam. We should have listened to the Active Route alert because what it does is put you onto an active route that is moving that will get you to where you want to go. It would have taken us back on the freeway after the problem causing the traffic was past. This is a nice little feature - if you trust it - and it is on the Copilot car app.

Test: I have propane restrictions set on my RV profile to ON. This means use no road that says propane is not allowed. This is often some bridges and most tunnels. I had the Copilot RV GPS app route me from home into Virginia. The problem section of this trip are the two tunnels that go through Baltimore that do not permit propane. The app routed me on Route 695 which takes the Francis Scott Key Bridge around Baltimore and south - and that bridge allows propane. I had no influence on this route. It is the route that I have taken with the Roadtrek when I have routed myself with a map to Virginia down I95.  Good job!

Does it drain your phone battery as you are using it? Yes. It would have to, as any GPS app will do. It keeps the screen on all of the time while you are routing. There are settings that you could turn this off. I want to see the display and the route as I go.  If you have a phone screen that does very well in direct sunlight and does not glare, then you can leave your phone display setting dim. My phone, and my past phone have a lot of glare in direct sunlight - as does any GPS standalone unit I have had - and I need to set my screen brightness to 100% which - as a function of the phone and not any app - will drain the battery even faster. BUT, this has never been a problem for me with this or any other Nav app as I have a 12 volt adapter for my phone and plug it into the accessory socket on the dash when I am using a GPS app while traveling. When I get to my destination the phone is fully charged and I have not drained the battery at all along the trip with the GPS app running.

Alright. Let's compare this app to what else is out there for RV GPS routing. Other than RV specific GPS units there is not much - other than the current Copilot car app that currently includes an RV profile with limited settings. There is a Rand McNally RV GPS app which is basically the same software as in their standalone units. It is for Iphone only. There is no Android version. It sells for $99.95. If I thought that $59.99 was high for an app, that is way out. Plus I have used the Rand McNally RV specific GPS standalone app and that routed me right onto all of those parkways where I live that do not allow RVs and have low overpasses that would rip the roof off even a Roadtrek when the RV height on the unit was set to 13 feet and should have routed around everything.   I don't trust the Rand McNally RV GPS. It is one of the alternatives to this app. It sells for $314.00 with a seven inch display screen. It is the Rand McNally RVND 7730 LMRV. It does route around propane restrictions. It does not have traffic routing and a setting for hills (inclines/declines). As I say, it took me onto a road not meant for RVs. There is a TomTom RV specific GPS standalone unit. It is the TomTom VIA 1605M RV GPS Navigator. According to Amazon it is currently not available - and that tells a lot. I don't like TomTom GPS in general. There is one built into the dash of my Roadtrek and up until now I have used the Copilot car GPS app set to RV instead. The most recommended RV GPS is the Garmin. It is the Garmin RV 760LMT Portable GPS Navigator. It sells for $317.48 on Amazon. It also has a 7" screen. It includes lifetime maps and traffic. It has voice commands. It knows known tunnel restrictions, though it has no propane restriction settings. It has an elevation map that can be displayed on screen with steep grades and verbal warnings. When this came out I contacted Garmin and asked why there was no propane setting. They told me that they did not know that was important. They said they might consider it in the future. That was a long time ago. There is also a truck GPS line by Garmin called the DEZL and this has a truck profile and also an RV profile. The truck profile includes a setting for hazardous gas - not specifically propane but it would route around those propane restricted roads. The RV profile settings in the DEZL, like the Garmin RV GPS has no setting for propane restricted roads.  The DEZL sells for $369.99 on the Garmin website store. It is not available new on Amazon. When the DEZL was on display at Best Buy stores I tried it out. It routed me onto the no truck parkways when it was set to the RV profile. Problem!

Let's compare and talk money. What you get with the Garmin and the Rand standalones are the sharp turns and elevation warnings. They are 7" screens. Other than these warnings, the Copilot RV GPS app does all the rest that these do - perhaps better. With the Copilot if you want a 7" screen install it on a tablet and you now have a large display. My new phone has a five inch screen - as most phones now do - and that is large enough to clearly see in the Roadtrek or any RV on the dash (or car towing a trailer). Price for these RV standalone GPS units are both approximately $320. The Copilot RV GPS app sells usually for $59.99. $320 for either standalone minus $60 for the Copilot RV is $260 savings. After the first year, if you want to continue the traffic annual subscription at $10 a year you can buy 26 YEARS of traffic for the Copilot with the savings of $260. That makes it look even better to a budget limited me. You can move the app to a new phone when you get it so your display keeps improving and there will be updates for this app adding new features and correcting any problems.

What can't I do with the Copilot RV GPS app that I could do with the Garmin. I could create a routing with stops on my PC and transfer that to the Garmin. I can't do that with the Copilot. I would have to create the route right on the Copilot app and save it there. This is also what would need to be done with the Rand McNally RV GPS - this gives you 50 stops to route, and the Copilot also gives you fifty (if that featured worked more smoothly on the Copilot RV app).

As to other apps that do the same thing, other than the $100 Rand McNally RV app which is only for IOS and the current Copilot car app with RV profile, there are none. All other GPS apps are not specific to RVs. They do not route you around low overpasses or take RV specifics into their calculations of a route - and for an RV - especially a large RV these are very important. I have seen comments on forums that any GPS is OK for an RV, just download low clearance POIs and it will alert you to low overpasses. Well, I know a number of roads that have no exits right before low overpasses and I would hate to rely on a warning that I am about to hit a low overpass when there is no way to avoid it other than stopping in the middle of the road. Low clearance POIs are not going to work. You don't want to be routed on that road from the beginning. I have read in some forums that WAZE is a good GPS app - well, WAZE may be good for traffic alerts, but again, it is not routing your RV on roads that it needs to be - nor is Google maps. Plus WAZE needs a data plan actively running to work as the maps are on their server and not on your phone. WAZE also does not shut down in the background with its off button. It will still be using your battery unless you close it through the phone.

One of the most important things to know and understand about any GPS - not just this app - is that no GPS routing is perfect, or perfectly safe. Whenever you route a GPS, look at where it is taking you - you can do this by looking at the "Directions" - and then when you are driving, if something does not look right, if a turn it is telling you to make would take you off the side of the road - just ignore that turn and keep going in a safe direction. I am sure you are all intelligent enough to know and do this, but there are so many reports of drivers turning when the GPS told them to turn into a river or hazard that evidently some just follow orders and do what they are told. It sounds funny, but it can be deadly. (Just a little public service announcement - and now back to our scheduled program...)

Do I like the Copilot RV GPS app? I want to like it. There needs to be a resolution to all of the problems that I am encountering with this app - as detailed in this article.  As it is I cannot recommend it - especially since there is no trial version before you spend $50 or $60. It may be that this app has problems with Android 5.1.1 which is a very recent Android version and while there is now an Android 6, few phones other than very high end phones have it. It may be that it has problem with my particular phone. Perhaps other phone models and other versions of Android or the IOS version of the app have no problems at all. BUT, if it is happening with this Samsung phone with Android 5.1.1, what other phones will it have problems installed in? My concern is this - even if the problem occurs only once in awhile, can you put trust in the app to not do it when you might need the app's help the most?  As I have said, 97% of the time when setting the destination into the app and having it route OUTSIDE or in the RV or car, it has worked fine. Since the app is for RVs and once on your trip, you will be meeting that condition of being either outside or in the RV, the app works as it should. If you are willing to pay the price that is asked for this app, knowing this, then the app meets many of the needs of having an RV specific GPS navigation app.

Is it worth the money - if it worked 100% of the time as it is should? Complicated question depending on whether or not the Copilot car GPS app continues to include an RV profile. If it does not - then had I not gotten this app as I did, and I knew what I know now - which I have just shared with all of you in this article, I likely would buy it just to gain back the ability to route around low overpasses and propane restricted roads. Right now, for a Roadtrek, the original Copilot USA Premium app for $10 does all that I need it to do. If I had a Class A or Class C or a Travel Trailer, I would look to buy this app over Copilot USA Premium as it will meet the needs of an RV specific GPS app much more for such an RV.  I will add that I would be annoyed as all heck that the original Copilot after costing me ten bucks no longer had what I bought it for. I did not need a GPS app. I needed an RV GPS app when I bought it. And as I say, a Class B van RV, the Copilot car app set to RV does just enough to keep the Roadtrek off where it should not go. And, again, for an RV of any larger size, I would definitely want this new Copilot RV app. You can set in any height, length, width, and weight (up to 26000 pounds). BUT this is all contingent on if it it gets updated and fixed so that it works - regardless of phone or OS version.

Does the Copilot RV GPS app need some improvements? OH YES, and I have noted them all in this article as I see them right now. I know that Copilot will be reading this (and I told Copilot I would tell it like it is) and I am going to be looking for updates and a MAJOR FIX that will make some of these changes. Add tight/sharp turn warnings and elevation warnings and there is no question that this app would be the best and most reasonably priced choice for an RV GPS- IF it works. Unfortunately, there is no free try it before you buy it version. You can get that with the car app. You have to decide for yourself.

I will be making comments to this article when there are updates, especially the fix for the main problem  - and perhaps even amend this article if there are changes and improvements made with any updates that come out. As soon as I learn from the techs what they have found about this app based upon my experiences with it, I will share that with you. 

If you would like to visit Copilot's website and see this app here is a LINK to the RV app page.  If you go to the Play Store and look at this app, there is a video about the app. 

This has been a very long article that had to be split into two parts - another of my epics. Much longer than I had intended and it was intended to be one article in one part, not two. When I saw when I printed out the entire article that it was 19 pages single spaced, there was no choice but to split it into two parts.  And the problems kept adding more and more to this article. I looked to see an appropriate place to split it into two parts but there was no spot that would not have interfered with the flow of the article.  One of the things that I saw while using this app and in particular setting it up is that it really needs a manual specific to this app. There is a Help section on the app and this will take you to a "Users Guide" which is a manual type of guide for the generic Copilot collection of apps. It is not specific to the RV Copilot app and having a specific manual for this app would be useful particularly since there are settings and features to the RV specific app that are not on the car Copilot app. At one point a notice appeared on the app that said to click to see how to set RV settings. It basically said fill in the measurements in the boxes for your RV and save that. As I have always looked upon this site as a place for step by step how to's for the Roadtrek and RVs in general, as I went along writing this article I tried to include how tos within it for the Copilot RV GPS app in addition to opinions, tests, and a review of its functioning or lack there of. With this you should have a solid starting point to getting the most out if it, should you decide to buy it. And to Copilot - a detailed and illustrated manual to download from your website specifically for this app would be a nice addition.And please get this app to work as it is supposed to.

NEW COPILOT REALLY RV SPECIFIC GPS APP PART 1

Right here at the start of this article I want to make something to my readers very clear and be right up front from the beginning. I have received this app without charge for the purposes of reviewing it here on this site. When I was offered the app for free, I told the company rep that contacted me that if I accepted the app for free and I reviewed it, my review would not be influenced by the manner in which I received the app - I told her that on this site I tell it like it is and don't hold back. I have never taken anything in return for an article on this site in the past and this is a first, and it will not become a habit or the norm here. Some will understand very clearly why I am going on with this explanation. I will also share with you how this all came about. I received an email at our Meryl and Me Hit the Road email address a few weeks back from the  Copilot US rep about their new RV specific GPS app - at a cost of $59.99. Two things went through my head reading this - 1) $59.99 is a lot of money for an app - any app and 2) Did this mean that the CoPilot regular USA app was no longer going to have an RV mode profile setting?.  I replied to the email - which also thanked me for the article that I wrote here in May 2014 about the CoPilot US car GPS app with RV mode included. So evidently, the article had been noticed by the company. My reply expressed my two concerns above - lots of money and what about the current app. I received an answer (which I actually did not expect to receive as so many companies don't want to hear the problems as they are launching something new) which said

"as of right now CoPilot has remained the same with the basic RV functionality" and the offer of the app was made so that I would install it, try it first hand, and review it here. So - "as of right now" tells me maybe in the future, if you want RV mode with Copilot USA Car app you either don't update the version anymore or you move to the RV specific app.  I will also add - which has nothing to do with this app - that when I received this email I was within a couple of weeks of getting a new cell phone, replacing the one that I have been using since just before we got the Roadtrek in 2011. (No contract cell phone plan that requires you buy the phone.)  So, I waited to get this new phone to download the Copilot GPS app and I have been learning the ins and outs of the phone as I have been testing this new app. But this is a good thing because I can also relate some of the differences with this app over the Copilot USA Car app in how it relates to a phone with Android OS 5.1.1.

Unfortunately, I have to also tell you something else before I start this article in regard to my testing of this new Copilot RV GPS app. I have been testing the app since early April. My intention was to post this article for you to read two weeks after I started testing, but I was finding a very significant problem with the app, that never occurred in my two years of experience with the Copilot USA Premium car app. I even installed Copilot USA Premium to my new phone to see if it was the phone or the Copilot RV app. Copilot USA Premium worked on the new phone as it always has on my former phone with no problem. That and the testing of two other GPS apps in the new phone did not result in the same problem the Copilot RV app was having. WAZE and Google Maps Nav worked perfectly.

Here is the problem. If a destination is put into the Copilot RV GPS app and calculated by the app inside a structure - in this case inside my house (as opposed to outside including out of any structure and being in the RV or a car) - when the phone is taken outside to start driving a trip, the app does not re-establish the GPS signal that the app had when the destination was set into it inside my house or a building, and when we started driving, the app did not detect any movement - at all. The screen icon that shows the location of the RV which is a solid red circle when stopped and becomes a red arrow when the vehicle is moving - showed the red circle at the initial position as stopped as it showed when it routed and that screen never changed. We did tests in which we drove for ten minutes and the screen never changed - and the app was not navigating as we drove. For a GPS app this is very serious. It is its main purpose. And it happened intermittently. Same circumstances repeated would not always result in the same thing. Sometimes it worked and navigated, but most of the time it did not. I looked at many different variables, tried different settings - thought for a few days that I had found the correct settings to resolve this - but no, then it happened again, and again and again. NOW - if you are outside or in the RV or a car and you always turn on the app there for the first time for a routing, set in your destination, and start to go, the app works as it should - about 97% of the time. BUT - there have been many times with the Copilot car app that I have set in my destination in the house the night before or even that morning before we leave and the next day, turn on the app as we are heading out the door, and tell it to continue the route it established when I set it, and it always worked. This new app does not. With the Copilot car app, if the app has a route calculated in it,  you could shut off the app for days - even shut off the phone -and when you got into the car or RV with the app and turned it on, it found the GPS signal and picked up the route exactly from where you are at that moment - instantly.  I even downloaded a GPS satellite app that locates all of the GPS satellites overhead and shows how many GPS satellites the phone is connected to at that moment. Inside my house there were over 13 GPS satellite connections. Outside that only increased to 14 or 15 satellite connections. The phone's GPS was locked onto satellites with a "3D" GPS fix. The phone's GPS is functioning normally - and as I have already said, it works just fine with the CoPilot USA Premium car app in the new phone. At that point I decided that I wanted to be fair to this company and contacted the person at Copilot who first contacted me and was then put in contact with a tech. The tech, who is on the app's development team, took all of the details that I had of what was occurring including a screen photo, and was going to consult with other techs. A few days later I was told that they were going to obtain the same phone that I am using with the same Android 5.1.1 OS and see if they could duplicate the problems I was finding. I told the tech that if I was informed of no resolution to this problem and what to do to fix it - or if there was to be no app update to correct this in the next two weeks when this article was rescheduled to be released, I would release the article noting this serious problem. Here is the article with no resolution yet. As you read the article I will detail some other problems encountered.

OK - here we go. This app is available for Android phones (all the way back to Android 2.3) and also IOS  (Iphone 3Gs or later and IOS 6 or greater). It is purchased at Google Play or the Apple App Store. The price for the app is $59.99 and at this moment, the app is discounted to $49.99 as an introductory offer and I do not know how long that offer will last. The app includes one free year of a subscription traffic service which will then cost $10 per year which is the same as is offered with other Copilot apps. Traffic is powered by INRIX which is apparently a big deal in traffic GPS services. To use traffic when traveling you do need an active data connection. From my experience with the Copilot car app on a four hour trip with the traffic service turned on very little data was used.

The Android app installs to your phone in a matter of a few minutes and can be moved to your SD card. In my Android 5.1.1 phone that means the external SD card which is a function of the OS and not the app. You start the app and go right into set up of the app which includes submitting an email address and password which is used for an included backup feature should you decide to move the app to another device and don't want to lose some - not all - settings. You are then asked to download maps. Maps are FREE just as they are in other versions of Copilot. This RV app includes maps of the US and Canada. You are downloading the maps to your phone so that you need NO data to use the app while on the road to navigate. Set the maps right off to download only using wifi. These map files are very large files and will use a lot of data to download should you use your data plan to do so. This is no different from the other versions of CoPilot - there is ONE very major difference. At the top of the maps list it says - Download to Device/Download to SD card!. This is something that Copilot users have been asking for for years. It was not included on the last update that I got of the car Copilot app. I decided to download - at the moment - only the Eastern states map which includes Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia. This was a 430 MB download. I did not install the Southern States that includes the rest of the East Coast. That would have been an additional 700 MB download. From here you could also install - any or all - Midwest, Plains and Rockies, Southwest, Northwest, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rick. You can install the entire US all at once if you want with one click. or all of North America. All of North America is 2.36 GB, all of US is 2.14 GB, and all of Canada is 386.9 MB. With the ability to put these on the external SD card with a 32 or 64 GB card you are not going to be overwhelmed if you want them all. I checked after installing the maps and they are in a folder on my external SD card. Perhaps this is because Android 5.1 allows this - I don't know. I do know that there is no such choice in the Copilot car app. You can add or remove any maps at any time. There are map updates during the year - and these are free. You can also submit map corrections through the app.

You will now want to set up an RV profile which is easy to do - and you can set up several different ones if you wish - each able to be saved with a different profile name. I named and saved mine as Roadtrek. You will go to this screen and select Vehicle Routing Profiles.

Next on this screen - select RV and then at the bottom of the screen select "VIEW/EDIT" and you will come to this screen -

You can see here the settings you have to enter. You can display Road Restrictions on the map - either all or only those pertaining to this profile based on your settings or none at all. This is a feature of this RV app.  I will talk about these further in this article. Enable Active Routes that you see on this screen will work with the Traffic feature. I will also talk about this further on when I talk about traffic routing. At this point the app is very close to the Copilot car app settings when setting up a profile for an RV - but instead of having only two height restriction choices you now have an entire screen of RV specific settings.  

What you see in the photo above are the default settings for the RV profile. You can change every one of them. Total weight is has a MAXIMUM of 26000 pounds. I read a criticism of this from someone BUT I have to wonder what RV is over 26000 pounds. Perhaps the largest class A. If you are reading this and own an RV over 26000 pounds you cannot set he weight any heavier. For most of us however, this should not be a problem. I filled in these settings with numbers that applies to my Roadtrek. My Roadtrek is 8' 10" tall. I like to keep at least one foot over that for any overpass I am going to drive under so I set this for my Roadtrek to 10 feet. I used the specs from Roadtrek for my 2011 190 and entered the rest of the numbers. 

As we are are going through this - see the left pointing arrow on the top left of the photo on the display. Only use that arrow to go back to a screen before or back in the app. If you use your phone's back button, you will get a screen that asks if you want to close the app. This is something that Copilot added in their apps since I first got the car app. It is a good thing as before this, if you needed to close the app you needed to scroll through screens on the app to find an off button - now there are more of those and all you really have to do is go to your phones back arrow and shut off the app. If you shut off the app, when you turn it back on it will go to an opening screen that will say "Continue driving" or "New destination". You will go right back to the current route. And this works even if you shut the phone completely off. 

So go back with that left arrow and you come to the screen two photos above again for RV settings. What is not visible in the photo is a selection at the bottom that says "ROAD PREFERENCES" which takes you to this screen. 

Above you see what is on that screen and the screen scrolls down further to show "Local Roads". With these settings you get  - strongly favor, favor, neutral, avoid, strongly avoid - and this will be taken into account when you are being routed. Never want to go on a freeway - if it is possible to get where you are going without one, set it to strongly avoid. I like freeways so I set this to Favor.  You have to try these settings for each road type yourself and find the combination of avoids and favors or neutrals that you like.

These are all of the RV settings. There is also a Car Profile - yes you can set this RV GPS app for a car - which is very good if you are towing a trailer and want to then use your car when you get to your destination or if you are towing a car and will be using your car to get around. There are also a Motorcycle, Bicycle, and Walking profiles that you can set up and select.

What the RV settings do not have that some other RV GPS stand alone units have  - there is no setting to avoid or not avoid sharp turns or to avoid or not avoid steep inclines or declines. HOWEVER - the RV routing does take these into account and will route around them on the Copilot RV GPS app. It does not warn you that there are sharp turns ahead or a steep incline or decline ahead. I tried to test this on one of my test trips. The route that the app set for me to drive routed around an area that I knew had sharp curves. I turned down that road anyway. It did not warn me - and there was no way off this road without going through more sharp turns so it kept me going to the main road that I knew was at the end of this area. Was I going around hairpin turns - no. The road was posted with curves ahead. Interestingly, I have discovered that there is a European version of this RV app - or rather in Europe it is called a "Caravan" app ("caravan" is RV or Travel Trailer in Europe) and that app does have settings for sharp turns and inclines and does warn when you are coming to them. The European app is not on Google Play and it is only mentioned on a chart comparing Copilot apps on their own website. When this app is updated, hopefully they will add these alerts to the North American version also. For the time being, follow the route that it tells you to take and you will not be on a route with sharp turns or inclines (unless there is no other way to go).

There are other non-RV settings. There are several map styles - day and night to choose from. You need to select the voice that it will use to tell you turn by turn directions using street names. You first select your language and then that takes you to voice selection. Choose your phone's own voice for turn by turn with streets spoken directions. If you choose one of the other voices you will get only turn by turn directions with no street names. This is common to all GPS units - not all voices speak street names. Tweak the phone in your phone's own settings - you can also choose other voices there if your phone's manufacturer provides them or install a different voice engine to your phone for other voices. You can also set the distances you want to be alerted to turn. Go through the menu for various other settings.   

With your RV profile set you are ready to hit the road. Before you start routing make sure that GPS or "Location" is turned on in your phone BEFORE you start routing - and also when you are traveling using the app.  You can route by address you enter, points of interest,  places that you have saved, addresses in your phone's contacts, by selecting a point on the map, or by entering coordinates. With
"My Places" which is places you have saved, it puts them into one of two categories of your choosing - one is HOME and the other is WORK. You can have several in each of these categories. It really is not like a "favorites" list in structure but it functions as one.

Routing and Points of Interest -

I have had problems overall with searching for points of interest and with some of the routing that this RV GPS is doing. When you select Points of Interest this is the first screen that comes up - 

The scroll lines are camera artifacts from the phone display. Here you see Truck Stops, Campgrounds, and RV Services.  If you want the other standard POI categories that are not RV related select More Categories and they will all come up. I have looked in areas that I know the campgrounds and all have been on the list that comes up. I did the same with RV services and here there was a problem. My Roadtrek comes from a large RV dealership and service center in Souderton, PA. - Fretz RV. It is not on the list! Not good. Another RV dealership in that town does come up and it is just down the road from Fretz. I tried this - I entered Fretz RV into Search All which searches all categories - and there is was! I don't really understand this and it is listed under auto dealerships. I don't know who controls what POIs are included or what categories they go in. It may be done by the map service company that supplies the maps or it may be Copilot. This is an RV specific GPS app and it needs to be as complete as possible in its RV POIs.  I tested routes to several local places that did not come up on the POI listings which surprised me. We were going to a COSTCO store in the next county. This is one of the oldest COSTCO stores on Long Island. It did not have this specific COSTCO included in the POIs. I searched COSTCO in the town it is located and it did not come up on the list. Every other COSTCO for miles and miles around came up. I looked at the map at that location - not there. OK - simpler. I went to the Municipal categories - entered our local post office - not there. Other post offices came up all around this town. Not this one and it has its own zip code.  I went a step further and pulled out my old phone with the Copilot car app on it still. I searched POIs for this COSTCO - there it was, but the Copilot car app has been updated and now the POIs that are missing on Copilot RV are missing on CoPilot USA Premium as well.  I did the same for the post office - no post office prior to the update on the car app. There was also no POI for a popular children's amusement park on Long Island - Adventureland in Farmingdale, NY - it is a small park but an attraction here for families. It does also does not know a large county operated museum village restoration which is one of the few attractions and well known museums in this county. I also did a test drive with POI alerts set to tell me that gas stations are coming up. On a main road we past ten gas stations that were not shown on the map and therefore no alerts. On another more major road we passed four gas stations and no alert with no POI shown for those gas stations. On another major road we did get gas station alerts for 2 out of 3 stations that we passed. I realize that it cannot know all local gas stations, but it seems to know every little cafe we pass - all shown with POI icons on the map. POIs are lacking. Some of the categories POIs that are there are odd.  If this is determined by Copilot they need to adjust some POIs - especially the RV services and add some. If something is found in the same category on the car app, if it was the map company's fault it would not come up on the maps in the other CoPilot app.  I do not see a way to add POIs to a category yourself. You can make a My Places listing if it is someplace not in the POIs. You could also add it to your Contacts with the address on your phone. This is only fine if you know of the POI to add it in advance. If you are traveling and need gas, you need to know that there is a gas station coming up and from my test, it may or may not be there on the map. You can also add POI categories full of POIs of your choosing through third party POI websites - poifactory is a good one and they have directions there on how to add POIs to Copilot. You can set the map to display POI categories of your choosing and you will see icons on the maps for locations of those categories. There is a way to set alerts to POIs ahead at a specified number of miles. One problem is that the alert says "Point of Interest" instead of "Rest Area Ahead" or "Gas Station Ahead". It does now show the POI icon on the upper left of the screen for the alert. I asked Copilot on their website forum for this to be changed a couple of years ago for the car app and they said maybe. So far it is the same, though now with the RV app there is the Icon. Why is this important" If you only have one POI category alert set, it is not a problem as you know whenever it says "Point of Interest" there is a Rest Area coming up - if that is the POI you have set to alert, but if you have more than one POI set to alert you to you will not know which one is coming up - unless you look closely at the screen to identify the Icon - which is a VERY dangerous thing to do while you are driving. One other thing to be aware of is that there is a Speed Camera and Traffic Light Camera combined POI but it is greyed out in settings and this apparently is specific to USA installations. When I asked Copilot about this with the car app I was told that it is not legal for them to include this feature on USA maps. I was surprised at that then and still am, as all GPS US units have this feature - some charge extra for it and some include it. You can download traffic light camera and speed camera POI files from, poifactory for free IF you participate in their forum for a specific number of posts and discussions.

One other thing about POIs and this app - when you get to the POI screen of POIs AFTER you select a category. If you just search you are searching locally and what you see when you get to that screen are local POIs where you currently are per the GPS. At the top it says "Search Nearby". If you click on that you will see a list - pick "In another city" - and enter the zip or town name and state. You will then be searching in that location. 

You can also set up a trip with up to 50 stops - or 50 places you want to travel through on one trip with one routing. This sounds great - just like the big RV GPS units have - but getting a setting for a route is a little tricky. The first stop that you set on this app is the current location that you are in. On the original Copilot USA Premium car app with limited RV mode, the first stop that you put in is your first stop and the GPS automatically starts from wherever you are. This does not seem to do this. You have to add that or it starts from the actual first stop you want to stop at. It does not take you there - at least in my tests it has not. You can add up to 50 stops all together. If you click on options you get a menu that lets you load a route, save a route, or optimize the stops. If it optimizes the stops it will take you to stops in distance order rather than the order you may want to go to them in. You can also tap on each stop on the list and another menu comes up on the screen allowing you to re-position that stop to whatever order you would like to move it to or if you wish delete it all together. You can also change a stop to a waypoint - meaning that you will be routed to pass by this stop rather than stop at it. If you do not plan to actually stop and go right to the door of the location you have put in, make it a waypoint. Be alert to this when planning a trip. Also, always remember to save and name any route that you put in. I did a few test drives with routes planned.

I made several test drives with routes planned. On one, I started driving and it was sending me to Walmart which was the first actual stop I wanted to go to. I did not set this to a "waypoint" - and perhaps I should have.  Once I got to the Walmart parking lot I turned where it told me to turn to get into the parking lot and it started directing me out the exit. It wanted me to go around and come back in again. I did not drive up to the door of the Walmart and it did not know I was there. I decided to follow what it wanted me to do - perhaps it was now directing me home. I followed its first two directions and as I past the Walmart entrance where it had told me to turn in to Walmart the first time, it now directed me to go in again. I gave up at that point and decided to proceed to the next stop which was my home. I passed that entrance to Walmart and figured that the route would now move on to the next and last stop - home. It kept telling me to turn around. I kept going toward home. At every street I passed it was telling me to head back to Walmart. I pulled over and shut it off and went home on my own. I repeated the planned trip again, this time setting Walmart to a waypoint - no need to stop - and when I got into the parking lot it started all over again telling me to go around, come back in, the whole bit it did the last time - but this time I drove through the parking lot - passed all of the parking spaces and drove up to the front door of the store. At that point it finally recognized that I was at Walmart and it started to route me to the next stop - home. I have never had a GPS with a planned route do this. They always recognized any place in the parking lot or the property as the destination. This is something that happens other than with planned trips. You destination is reached in a specific spot that it decides is the end of the trip. For most places, you know you are there, stop, get out, and clear the route, but with this, if you don't clear the route it wants to keep going to get you to that unknown exact spot. While a 50 stop trip planning and trip editing feature is good to have, this app needs some work in how to plan a trip and how it actually gets you to those stops.

Using normal routing, you enter your destination to where you want to go, it will find it and then you will see Go - there may also be up to three alternative routes to choose from. This is important because it may like to go in a way that you may not want to go. Each alternative route will be one based on your settings as well as the original is. Here is my test - take me from Long Island to Lancaster, PA. For some reason, RV and truck GPS devices want to take a route heading north off of Long Island and into the Bronx and then into New Jersey. Perhaps this is the shortest route, but it is not a way that I want to go. I want to avoid the New York City as much as possible. I like to go by the Long Island Expressway if I am in the RV to the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway (yes, in the city but familiar - and there is no way off Long Island without going through some part of NYC) and then over the Verrazano  Bridge, through Staten Island and over another bridge into New Jersey onto the NJ Turnpike. One of the alternate routes went just that way! I selected that and I had a route I liked much better. You can also go to the route map and it will say Drag to Edit. Zoom in close to where you want to change the route and put your finger on the current route and drag it to a road you want to use. It will recalculate the route that way. Also - if you look on the list of directions you can click on any one and say avoid - and it will calculate a route avoiding that part of the directions.

Another test - above is what the route screen looks like before you accept it and tell it to go. I put this route in to Charlottesville, VA on Meryl's suggestion. At the very end to get to the campground, the campground website says not to come in onto the road the campground is located on from the west as the section of that road on the west end is very curvy. Frankly, we have been on that road from both directions and it is curvy but not terrible - at least for the Roadtrek. Perhaps it was taking the Roadtrek's settings that I put in into account but the route RV Copilot routed brought you in from the west. I looked to see how to prevent this and the way that I could do it was to drag the route to the east end of that road and it then took a completely different route down in this area to the campground road so that you can come in from the east. I tried resetting routing to the default RV settings - it still went from the direction that the campground says not to take. Again, a sharp turns setting would be valuable for this app. This combined with incline/decline warnings would be an important update.

When you have a route in, you can see your route by tapping on the lower left corner of the screen where you see six blue squares. With a route set, you will see a place, "My Route", to click to view the route  on a map as shown in the photo above. You will then see the entire route on the map. With this there is a GO on the bottom that takes you back to the main screen and the road you are on. There is also a place on that same menu to see all of the directions along your route - all of the turns from start to finish. Click on any turn and you can tell the app to avoid that and it will send you around that. Here is a problem with going to the Directions screen - you can't go back to the main driving  screen unless you click the blue boxes on the bottom again, go to that same menu that took you here and then click on "3D map" to get back to the driving screen. Too many steps when a simple MAP button on the top of this display could take you back to the driving map. This MAP button is on many other screens BUT not this one! Minor annoyance but it took me ten minutes to figure out how to get off that directions screen.

Map view can be turned off and you can have the list of directions with the next turn shown bold and large if you don't want the distraction of the moving map. You can also freeze map motion if it distracts you. There is also a choice of 2D maps or the usual GPS display of 3D maps.

While you are stopped you can do local searches through the app to Yelp, Wikipedia, or Google. While driving it is best if a passenger does this for you with the app. You can also access local weather reports. It will also find nearby parking, but not necessarily RV parking. These all do require that you have data service. How could they work otherwise?

Some of this app's routings are marginal. It will get you to about the correct place but then will tell you to turn left when the destination is on the right. I never encountered that with the Copilot USA Premium car app before - but while testing this RV app, I loaded that on the new phone and downloaded maps - and the POIs that were there before on the last map on the car app are not longer there on this one - just like the RV app - they would have to be the same maps and POI listings. Copilot gets its maps from a know GPS map source and they should be better than they suddenly are. In the past they have always kept up with road changes and new additions. A navigation GPS app is only as good as its maps and Copilot's have been excellent in the past. I do not recall any trip with Copilot USA Premium telling me our destination was somewhere other than where it actually is.

Routing is also a big issue, especially with an RV specific GPS app if it is sending you somewhere incorrectly or in the wrong direction. On two tests the app was sending the RV to a location that is reached on a large local road. Both times I was directed to "Turn right on "ramp" to X Avenue" (which is the road that the destination is on but not the road we needed to turn on to get there). It was sending me onto an entrance ramp for a local parkway - which happens to be a ramp that has two exits from it not onto the parkway, but still not to "X Avenue". And that parkway ramp is clearly marked NO Vehicles Over 7'10" and "X Avenue" is never mentioned on the sign. The road we should have been directed to turn on comes right before that ramp and runs parallel to the ramp. This is all happening with the app set to RV profile! I knew enough - because I live nearby - to not get on there with the RV - BUT I did repeat the routing in RV profile while driving the car and followed where it was saying to go and what it was saying was so confusing as nothing mentions "X Avenue" until you actually get onto the Parkway itself - and then it was too late since as soon as I got on had I been an 11 foot tall RV I would have ripped the roof off on the 11 foot overpass that was right after that entrance. Bang! I am sure that the app did not intend one to get on the parkway itself, but it never identified either of those two ways off that ramp correctly - and those two exits never intersect "X Avenue" but take you to the road that I would have turned on to begin with. With any GPS and especially an RV GPS one cannot always know the area that it is routing on or through. I know what to avoid here because I have been there before. You are not supposed to have to know every area and road you will get on that the app is sending you on. And if you need to check each turn it is taking as you drive with a map, just use a map and forget the app. I well understand when using any GPS be aware of the route before you start - but this takes that to too much of an extreme.


END OF PART 1
PART 2 IN TWO WEEKS...

Taking the Roadtrek for a Drive...

We have been having some odd things happen in the Roadtrek going back to our trip this past August. When I wrote about that trip I talked about the coach batteries not starting to drive when we started the engine to leave for the trip. It took about twenty minutes of driving when we stopped to check to see that the charge LED had come on the battery monitor. This has been happening since then. The engine is started and the charge LED does not come on to show the coach batteries are charging when the "test" button is pressed. After awhile it does come on, but this is not how this was before and this is not right.

I have been doing some research and asking some friends on the Roadtrek Owners Facebook Group and have learned some things about the relationship between the engine battery and the coach batteries and the Separator unit that is installed between them. It seems that the Separator connects the systems when one or the other voltage is 12.8 volts. So if the engine battery is below 12.8 volts it is not going to be connected to the coach system to charge the coach batteries  until the engine battery comes up in charge. And conversely - I am told - if the coach batteries are below 12.8 volts the engine battery will not be charged until the coach batteries come up in charge. I am not an engineer and I really do not understand all of this but others who are knowledgeable about these things have it explained it this way to me.

While the battery is a 12 volt battery, apparently that does not mean that at 12 volts it is OK. I am told that it should be up around 12.9 or higher to be charged and that at 12.1 it is at half charge. This holds for the Roadtrek's coach battery system as well - 12.1 is half charge and with the Roadtrek batteries (likely all batteries) you never want the charge to go to half as it shortens the charging life of the battery - or so I am told.

Had the Roadtrek been just a regular van without the Roadtrek conversion, I would not think anything at all about the engine battery at this point.  Turn the key and the van starts right up with no hesitation. In a car or just a van, that is all I would care about. In the Roadtrek, the inter-relationship of the van's electrical system with the Roadtrek electrical system was what was giving me concern and alerting me to give this attention. The system with the Separator and the Roadtrek's inverter/converter/charger - in my Roadtrek the Tripp-Lite 750 - is designed to charge all batteries when driving, running the generator, or plugged into shore power. This system if not functioning as it had always functioned before.

A few days before Christmas I decided to take an opportunity of good weather and unseasonably warm temperatures and plug in the Roadtrek to shore power at the house to charge all of the batteries - coach and engine. Before starting I checked the charge with the digital meter and the engine was around 12.3 volts. I plugged in to shore power and the digital meter in the 12 volt vehicle socket in the dash did not indicate that the engine battery was charging. I checked four hours later and it was with a reading of 14.5. So I left the Roadtrek plugged into shore power for almost 24 hours. The coach batteries charged fine. The engine battery about a half hour after pulling the shore power cord was reading only 12.1 volts! Not good. I had two thoughts - the engine battery was going bad - it is just going on five years old - or the separator is going bad which I have read they do and that when there are odd things happening in the electric system it may be an indication that the separator has gone bad. I did not know which. I went back to the Facebook group with that question and what I got back was that five years is long for the engine battery. What I did was start the engine and let it run at idle on the drive way for one hour and it did charge the engine battery up to 12.65 volts. The vehicle alternator was charging the battery. A day latter it had dropped and it dropped more after a few more days. The engine battery seemed to be on its way out.

I had been talking with Meryl before this all took place that we should change the plug in schedule for the Roadtrek from charging once a month to perhaps charging two or three times a month in addition to the generator exercise of 2 hours a month - which, if all are working correctly, will also charge all of the batteries. I also said to her that we really should take the Roadtrek out for a drive every so often. The only reason that we don't do this is the difficulty getting it off the driveway and into the four lane avenue in front of our house. That road is full of traffic day and night. It can take as much as 45 minutes when backing out of the driveway to wait for a clear and safe spot to back  the Roadtrek into the street and then get to the curb so that Meryl can get in. She has been out in the street during this maneuver with a walkie-talkie telling me when it is clear to back out into the road. We knew this before we started out with the Roadtrek and it is a pain but the price to pay to be able to have the Roadtrek so we put up with it.

I had been thinking that on Sundays during the day the traffic is less than it is at other times and that was an idea for taking the Roadtrek out for a drive. We did not do this the Sunday after Christmas. I did decided to try on New Years Day when there were very few cars (or trucks) passing by the house. I wanted to drive for at least two hours on a highway with the Roadtrek which should when all is well charge all of the batteries to full. So for New Year's Day 2016 we took the Roadtrek for a ride!

Even with the little traffic going past it took ten minutes for a clear spot to back out and be on our way. I had to get to the North Shore of Long Island to get to the Long Island Expressway and if I wanted to drive a hour each way out and back I had to head east toward the end of the Island. To get to the LIE I had to head north and I wanted to not take streets to do that I headed to the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway that the Roadtrek is permitted to drive on due to height restrictions on other highways (parkways). This is Route 135 - an expressway built to cross the Island around mid-way that was intended to join a bridge that was never built that would cross the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. That idea ended a long time ago along with the expressway ending abruptly into a field. You see on Long Island we have something called NIMBY - "Not in my backyard!" and some decided they did not want a bridge in their backyard - so we don't have one. Anyway, we drove by streets to the 135, headed north and joined the 495 - the Long Island Expressway eastbound toward the end of Long Island that is shaped like a fishes tail into the Atlantic Ocean.

The 495 is not a very scenic drive. Mostly what you see are barricades along both sides of the Expressway that block the road noise from the backyards of houses, industrial parks, and shopping centers that line the road. Of course, those barricades have to be there or the NIMBYs would rise up and demand that there be no main highway that almost runs the length of the Island. So we talked and drove and I wondered if things related to the batteries were actually working. Around the village of Shirley we got off at an exit and looked for a place to stop to check to see if the coach batteries were charging.

We seemed to pick the one southbound road that had no place to easily stop. We drove for 15 minutes south before a shopping center came up to our right and we pulled in. Yes, the coach batteries were charging. The Chevy has a volt meter on the dash and all along I could see that this was up above the middle (14 volts) mark indicating that the engine battery was charging. I left the engine running while we were stopped. Pulling out every exit was going the wrong way. The road from the parking lot that led to the road we had come in on was no left turn onto that road. We went straight and crossed that road and had to drive to a parking lot to the left down the road to be able to pull in there and eventually get out by the single exit that allowed a right turn and then back up to the main road to make a right to head north back to the Expressway. Isn't Long Island wonderful?

So a half hour lost on this stop but a half hour added to our trip as I was determined to do an entire two hours at highway speed so we while we were more than an hour driving, I wanted to drive for two full hours at highway speed - just to give the van and the battery charge a workout.  It had been almost two months since we had driven the Roadtrek before this. I got back on the 495 and kept heading east. I glanced at the clock which in my Roadtrek is on the GPS screen and it said that it was after five. I could not believe that we had been driving that long - and it was not getting dark out. Meryl scrambled around to reach her cell phone to check the time and it was only just after four. I then realized that the last time we were in the Roadtrek was before the change to Standard Time and the clock had never been turned back. Well, this was a good time to gain that extra hour...

It has been awhile since I have driven this far out east and I did not remember that the LIE actually ends when it comes to the split of the two east end forks - one to Montauk Point on the south and the other to Orient Point on the north. The town where the forks meet is Riverhead. Signs came up that the Expressway was ending. It ended and I headed to the North Fork and and shortly we had come to  the hour of highway driving that I was looking to do. So did we stop and look around? Nope! I found a shopping center and turned around. When we got into that parking lot, Meryl announced that this must be the new Walmart that was a big controversy in the local newspaper. It was to be the first Super Walmart 24 hour store on Long Island. Why is that a big deal? NIMBY - a few didn't want a 24 hour Walmart near them. Well, here it was, but its not a 24 hour Walmart - it closes at Midnight though that is better than the rest here that close at 10 pm, but that does not do much for us as it is an hour away. We pulled out and now headed west toward home.

The Roadtrek was back now on the 495 heading west. An interesting thing about US 495 is that the number does not fit with the standards for federal route numbering. As 495 it should connect someplace with US 95, and it doesn't. The intent may have been that a bridge would be built to connect it to 95 in Connecticut but, of course, that bridge never happened. As we drove home I realized that I was getting close to half a tank of gas and with the need to run the generator to exercise it for the next several months, it would be a good idea to stop for gas. In Huntington I pulled off to head for a BJ's Wholesale Club with a gas station that we know. Gas was $2.03 with no extra to charge it - the lowest gas is here and the lowest that the Roadtrek has gotten gas at home in NY. Of course, out of NY we have found gas lower and that has made a difference in the cost of travel this past year with the Roadtrek. I am still waiting to see gas fall below $2.00 here. It would be a pleasant surprise but the last time gas was approaching that here, it went right back up again. After filling the tank, it was back to the 495 West to connect shortly to the 135 South and home.

When the trip was over I waited three hours to check the charge on the engine battery. It read 12.65 volts. The next day it was 12.47 volts. Two days later it was 12.2. It was time to speak to the mechanic who has taken care of my Roadtrek's vehicle side since we got it. He wants me to bring it to him to check the battery and I will do that in the next two days - if I can back it out into weekday traffic and get there.

I will let you know what happens...

ADDENDUM:

My mechanic load tested the engine battery with a load of 300 amps and the result was 9.5. He told me that this number should be higher than 9.6 and that this indicated that the Chevy Roadtrek battery was low. He replaced the battery with an equivalent and it only cost me $155 including labor.

When I got home I left the engine running and I checked to see if when I put the battery switch on, the LED would go to C (Charge) when I pushed the test button. The coach batteries read 12.4 volts. I had expected to see that top green C LED light. I am guessing that this coming season I am going to need to replace the two AGM coach batteries as well - or have my Roadtrek dealer service check out the Separator.  When plugged in the C LED immediately comes on so I do not thing there is any problem with the Tripp-Lite 750 inverter/converter/charger.

While I was with the mechanic we were talking about the engine charging the coach bateries while driving and it is his opinion that the alternator in the Chevy will only put a surface charge on the coach batteries and would not charge them from low to full. He does not know anything about the Tripp-Lite which has the function to charge the coach batteries when the engine is running. He said that when there were generators in old cars' engines instead of alternators they would be able to charge the batteries from low to full as they put out much more power - but they no longer exist in cars or vans.

Finally - Keeping the Drawer CLOSED! Closed!

If you are a regular reader you know that we have had a big problem keeping the one drawer that we have in the 190 closed. There is one, small, plastic catch at the bottom corner of one side of the drawer face and the inside of the drawer space and this is supposed to keep the drawer closed - but since we have had the Roadtrek - that's four years now - that drawer flies open at the most inopportune times. At the beginning we brought it back to the dealer and they said they "tightened the catch" - since both sides of the catch are plastic I am not sure how they did that but it did nothing. it is very exciting when driving on a high speed interstate and you go around a turn and hear "CRASH BANG" behind you inside. Of course, I can look so Meryl turns around from the passenger seat and says "Drawers open again." and we keep on driving because there is no place to stop to do anything about it. And then as you drive, the slightest bump now jumps whatever is in the drawer and that makes a loud crash. Then with a turn in the other direction the drawer goes back across the aisle to the drawer opening, but that is not enough to close it, so with the slightest turn it comes sliding back across with another "crash"! As I say, very exciting.

We have been looking for four years for a way to keep this drawer closed. Several things have been suggested - none have worked. The suction cups on the counter top with a string around the draer pull worked for awhile but then didn't. The suggestion to install a hasp on the drawer front did not work and resulted in four screw holes that will never go away - even if filled they will be obvious (covering them with a charm or sticker may be the solution for that). The reason the hasp did not work as the cabinet front next to the drawer is - surprise to us - hinged in place so that when the hasp was closed and secured with a pin - when the drawer tried to open it pulled the cabinet front down. As I said in another article we are not sure why this panel is hinged as there is nothing accessible to utilize behind it. So we have been looking for a solution - and with a visit to an RV show an idea started to perk...

We went to an RV show just for something different to do. We went into all types of Class As, Cs,  B+s, Fifth Wheels, Toy Haulers, and Trailers. I was interested in seeing what kept the many drawers inside a Class A closed. The most common catch was a spring loaded hook that was caught when pushed into the drawer by a mating piece on the other side. It took a very hard pull to get one fo these drawers open. A similar catch was used on cabinet doors. I took some photos and kept this in mind. We also saw something that was unrelated. Many of these Class As had house refrigerators with large doors and freezer doors. Many of these had a velcro strap that went across the door to the cabinet or wall on the side and with this put in place the door would not open. I did not think much of this - but this was the seed that was planted.

We went to dealer service for work and they have an RV parts and accessories store. They had these catches that we saw at the RV show, but looking closely at them there was no room in the Roadtrek drawer or drawer frame to install one. The drawer front top goes under the granite counter top ledge which sticks out about a half inch or more past the drawer front when it is closed. No catch can be attached above the inside of the drawer because you would be screwing into the granite - or whatever the granite is backed with - and you take a chance of cracking the counter top. No way was I going to attempt that. We left that catch on the rack and looked around for something that might fit and other than the standard catches one sees in Home Depot there was nothing - and none of those standard ones were going to hold this drawer in - which is weighted by whatever is inside and picks up the side momentum of the van.

But there was still this idea percolating at the back of my head. I made a trip to Home Depot and Lowes and looked at various possibilities. I passed a display of Velcro and that refrigerator stap came back to me - what if I created a similar Velcro strap for the drawer? I had an idea like this about a year ago - making a catch with Velcro but I was seeing it in my head at that time all wrong and there were reasons why that way would not work.  Now when put together with the strap around the Class A fridge - this would work. I went home to examine the inside of the drawer.

What I saw were several obstacles. The most logical place to put the strap was across the bottom of the drawer as this would cover all of the edge of the lower drawer front - but on one side was the catch that did not work and that would have to be removed - but if removed and when living inside the Roadtrek on a trip, nothing would keep the drawer closed - and if on a slight angle it would open unless strapped. The top edge had room for installation but I was not sure enough of the top edge of the drawer would be covered enough to hold the drawer closed. Meryl gave her opinion and said, if you can do it without removing the catch do it that way. OK - as I have said often - "Meryl is always right." (Well almost but we won't get into that story right now... though I will tell you that she insists the map was wrong.) Anyway - here is how we did it.

What to buy - Velcro strap - 3/4" double sided Velcro that comes on a roll of 12 feet of strap to make cord ties, wraparounds, etc. One side sticks to the other side. We found it in Walmart at the cheapest price ($7) in the electrical department. It is in Home Depot and Lowes for $10.

You will also need two screws  3/8" - 8 and two matching washers. I had stainless screws this size and bought a package of matching washers - both come from Home Depot (or Lowes). You also should have metal eyelets and an eyelet setter. The eyelets will prevent the screws from ripping through the Velcro - while this Velcro is strong and thick, the drawer exerts force when it opens as it has been. A simple setter complete with eyelets is a few dollars at any sewing store. As a leatherworker I had a supply and the setter already.

First step - we measured from the inside side of the top of the drawer just above the drawer side going inside three inches to outside around the drawer past the drawer pull. Longer was better than shorter and we decided on 14".  I cut two lengths of the Velcro 14 " long and I set on eyelet on each of these lengths one inch from the end of one end. I wanted the rounded side of the eyelet to be against the wall of the drawer opening so I made sure the Velcro was oriented in the proper direction for each strap. When the strap is installed it must be soft side out on the outside of the drawer which means inside - soft side against the wall of the opening.

Next came the actual install - easy as long as you remove the drawer. There is a catch on each drawer slide. Pull the drawer out all the way. Go to mid-slide sticking out and look for the black lever - one side goes up and the other side goes down. Push those and pull. The drawer slides off the track. If you don't empty the drawer (I didn't) support the drawer well as it comes off and sit it aside.

One more step - VERY important to remember at this point (and not later). If you have the sliding cutting board inside the drawer that slides out and sits on top of the drawer for use - PULL IT OUT NOW! The only drawback of this whole solution is that the cutting board will not fit inside any longer - well, it fits inside but it will never pull out (don't ask me how I know...). Just put it aside and it can sit under the sink or under one of the cushions. We have never used this in four years anyway. It still sits on top of the drawer once the drawer is open. We have it under a cushion for the moment and I will look to see if there is a way of modifying it to bet it back in and out. With this install the screw blocks its path out and in.

Now you are ready to start putting the straps on. These are installed right along the top edge od the slide against the inside of the drawer opening. Measure three inches from the front edge and mark that spot - do this on both sides. Do not drill a pilot hole for the screw. The wall is only 1/2" thick - and despite Roadtrek's claims that all of the wood inside the Roadtrek is real wood - the side of the drawer against the end of the kitchen sink woodwork from the counter top to the floor is plywood covered in laminate and not solid wood. The sink side of the drawer space is real wood. (The cabinet doors and SOME of the trim are real wood - in mine, cherry, but that is the extent of the real solid wood.) Put the strap in place and mark around the inside of the eyelet with a sharp pencil. Use a nail or awl with a gentle push to make a small starter dimple for the screw in the center of the eyelet that you just marked in pencil. Put a washer on one of the two screws and put the screw and washer on the end of a magnetic screwdriver - if the screw does not stay use a piece of Scotch tape and wrap it around the screw head securing it to the end of the screw driver. Put the strap in place - soft side to the wall and push the screw into the dimple on the wall in the middle of the eyelet and start to screw the screw in.Screw it in so that it is well in but not so tight that the eyelet won't rotate slightly on the screw. Do this on both sides. Remember - soft side to the wall - so that when you pull the straps out to around the drawer front the soft side will be facing out and what you feel if you rub against the straps.

That is it. Put the drawer back on the slides. Pull both slides out - fit them back onto the drawer. This is easiest done by two - togetherness is a prerequisite for traveling in a Class B. Once the slides are lined up and each is set into its mate, push the drawer closed and it will be as it was before. As you close the drawer keep both straps outside the drawer.

Now pull one strap over the top of the drawer snugly and hold it in place and pull the other strap over it and across and let the Velcro catch. It does not matter which strap you put over or under - they will hold both ways - this is how this Velcro is designed. The top of the strap will cover just about all of the top edge of the drawer. Give a tug. That drawer is not going anyplace.

Now when you are stopped and are going to use the drawer - opening and closing and opening again, just open the drawer by pulling the end of the Velcro strap on the top off the strap under it, open the drawer and just put the two straps over the drawer sides inside the drawer. The drawer will open and close normally and those straps will stay inside until you are ready to lock up the drawer again for travel.

It works. No more crash bang! The drawer stays closed until you want it open!

FIELD TEST REPORT:  It works perfectly. We have been on the roughest roads and the sharpest turns with the strap closed on the drawer front and the drawer does not budge. At night and stopped, the strap ends go inside the drawer and the drawer opens and closes normally and they don't get in the way.