The effect if any of driving a new Boondock home and road salt

tonyo35 · January 2019

I am super close to buying a new Tab Boondock Lite and will be visiting the dealer this week. Hopefully all will go well and I will purchase the TAb. If they want me to get the Tab off their lot and drive it home (about 200 miles) I am worried what road salt might do to the under body of the Tab. I ride motorcycles and it is a mistake to ride with road salt as it pits the chrome. This is my first ever camper and very excited. Love the Mandy Lee videos. Great stuff.. Sound I convince the dealer to keep it til Spring?

Looking to do alot of Boondocking. Is the current system work well enough for three to four days.

Thanks Bohemian Bob

ChanW · January 2019

Bob, if you rinse it underneath after the drive, it should be ok. We drove our new Tab in the winter, and I neglected to rinse it when we got home. Come spring, I could see where the (very thin) paint on the frame and axle had not protected it from the salt.

Luckyj · January 2019

You will get the same effect as when you drive on dirt roads tye rest of the year, where dirt will act a bit like sand blast on any surface. Plus, salt will get on the pited surface and help with corosion. The axle tub is pretty thick and paint on it is really thin. So surface rust will show, with summer or winted dirt/sand/salt. But winter salt is worst with corrosion. But nothing that a good water rince can not help. Once it is rince out, would be better to dry, but it would not be to bad if you have to live it outside. I drove our T@G twice in a snow strom, and all was well in the spring and I could not rince it out or dry it out.

our ambulance that we are driving all year round, sleep in a warm garrage, we rince after most winter driving when in slush or snow (this is when we get salt/sand/stone on the road) and even if the painted surface that we can rince dry, the under carriage (steel) will only patialy dry out, but does not get rinced and will corrode over time.

But I dought that you will drive in those condition with your T@G as much as we do with the Ambos.

JanandDave · January 2019

@tonyo35, Hopefully it won't look like this.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/ax/dikokvozi503.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/o4/rt2f6si3d5kd.jpg

Thirteen months ago on Xmas eve, heading back north from Florida, our TV broke a CV joint just east of St. Louis, and the blizzard was just beginning. Got down to 15 below with 40 mph winds.

Spent three days in a hotel with the T@b plugged in and the Adle keeping her warm at the repair shop.
When the repairs were done and the blizzard passed, we completed our six hour northward journey and the T@b looked like this.

Fortunately, two weeks later the weather warmed and we were able to give her a good bath. The damage was minimal, some minor frame rust up front and some corroded nuts and bolts. This last summer we removed all the bolted on parts, sanded and repainted them with a rust inhibiting paint, and now she looks like new.

If you can hose it off once home, you'll be fine. Otherwise, I think I'd wait a month or two before making the trip.

db_cooper · January 2019

We don't have the plastic cladding underneath our T@b, so I coat the frame and axle with Boeshield once or twice a year. Ours had a bit of pitting when we bought it at 1 year old, hasn't gotten worse since. Love the Boeshield for lots of uses .

Homebodyatheart · January 2019

L@dybug arrived the end of January 2017. Due to a hard winter and a storage issue at my end I couldn’t bring her home till the first week of April. I did have “visitation rights” but she was closer than yours will be. There was no storage charge by the dealer and I’m sure other’s also stored till spring. Good luck!

Vikings · January 2019

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/y1/v36rejlw5gy4.jpeg

Great Basin Nat'l Park, January 2016

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/bm/qjyso70kn4sb.jpg

Alaska mud, photo in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, July 2017.

Bringing her home from Arizona in Jan. 2016, 2000 plus miles, pitted the aluminum cladding on front. Not a big deal and I don't have to worry about that "first scratch"...

She looks pretty good today. Relax, they survive nicely. Enjoy.

Luckyj · January 2019

Seing thosed pics, kind of reminded me that summer road dust, and dirt roads can also be really bad on any exposed surface to rock impact. Ofcourse salt creat corrosion, but dammage can be done any time of the year.

so again, hose it down as soon as you can after the drive, maintain or repair the dammage small ofr large as soon as you can, Fluid Film or equivalent (no wd40) any pitted metal spot until you can clean and paint and you will be fine for a long time.

i would not drive it around just for fun, but would not stop using it if needed, and I am north of the rust belt!

tonyo35 · January 2019

Thanks so much. I did put a down payment on the Boondock and Juniata Rv in Pa is OK with me picking it up in the Spring. I paid 18,000 for the Boondock Lite and to me that is a great price. Been torturing RV dealers all winter but consistently Juniata RV has given me the best price. I can see the advantages to deal with smaller RV dealers that have less overhead. Did go to several big dealers and found the experience less personal and their prices were not that great. They have several Tab's left and Travis is great to deal with. Cannot wait. Bob

The effect if any of driving a new Boondock home and road salt

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