Brad Worrell

EDITOR’S NOTE: Now in its 14th year, the RVBusiness Top 50 program celebrates those North American RV dealerships that, in the eyes of an esteemed panel of independent judges, best exemplifies dealer excellence in customer and community service. Winning dealers will be recognized during a presentation Nov. 13 during the RV Dealers Convention/Expo at Paris Las Vegas.

The Top 50 program is made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of the following organizations: Airxcel Inc., Brown & Brown Insurance, Cummins Inc., GE Appliances, Genesis Products, Northpoint Commercial Finance, NTP-STAG, Performance Brokerage Services, Protective Asset Protection, RV Trader, and Wells Fargo.

RVBusiness will publish a profile of each Top 50 sponsor leading up to the RV Dealers Convention/Expo.

Airxcel Inc.

Airxcel’s sales tagline is: “Better Brands, Better Experiences.”

That succinct description understandably just scratches the surface when attempting to communicate the breadth of the company’s offerings and the quality that goes into all of its products, according to Piar Adams, Airxcel vice president of marketing, aftermarket and international sales.

“Airxcel oversees 15 of the most well-known brands in the RV industry. From heating and air conditioning to interior and exterior systems, all products under the Airxcel umbrella are highly engineered to deliver stress-free customer experiences,” he says.

The Wichita, Kansas-based company’s premium brands include Aqua-Hot, CAN, Clear Vision Windows, Cleer Vision Doors, Cleer Vision Tempered Glass, Coleman-Mach, Dicor Products, Elkhart Composites, Maxxair, MCD Innovations, Suburban, United Shade, and Vixen Composites. Notably, Airxcel late last year introduced two new brands: InVision and Velarium.

InVision supplies a variety of residential-style RV appliances, including microwaves, refrigerators, ranges and range hoods, available in stainless-steel or black finishes, as well as washers, dryers and small personal appliances. Velarium provides a full range of awning products, including 12-volt models, slide toppers, box awnings, replacement canopies, and awning accessories.

Adams says Airxcel launched its InVision and Velarium product lines, both of which are located in Elkhart, Indiana, in response to requests from RV manufacturers, but he says the brands also are finding success on the aftermarket side of the business. And to continue to support its dealer partners, Adams notes that Airxcel offers a variety of online and in-person product training opportunities for RV technicians, as well a variety of merchandising materials including store displays.

“We pride ourselves on the comprehensive support we provide dealers before, during and after the sale,” he says. “With the number of premium brands we bring to the table, we’re proud to deliver more selling opportunities, better aftermarket support, and product expertise when dealers need it. This is a distinction that we believe drives sales and increases trust between our partners and their customers.”

Adams says Airxcel is a proud sponsor of the RVBusiness Top 50 Dealer Awards because the awards recognizing top-performing retailers reflect the company’s own values of being a premium brand that delivers superior service.

“We think it’s a unique program that has grown its prestige. And it’s something that I know dealers really value, being recognized as a top 50 dealership,” he says. “We are honored to sponsor the event because it aligns with our values and desires, to continually find new and innovative ways to serve and engage with consumers to elevate the RV lifestyle.”

The post RVBusiness Top 50 Dealer Awards Sponsor Profile: Airxcel first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

The founders of Remote Vans have been logging lots of miles on their adventure vans as of late, showing off their newest models at RV shows and overland expos across the U.S. to generate consumer buzz and support their growing dealer network.

“We just launched … our 2025 van series, so this roadshow had a couple of goals. One was just to make sure all our customers, potential customers and dealers knew all of the exciting changes on the 2025 series models,” said co-founder Tony Alexander. “It was also done to help train the dealership salesforce. We take that very seriously. We just want to make sure that — especially as a new-ish van builder that’s still expanding our footprint in the country — that we’re not just shipping these units out there into a vacuum. We want to know every single salesperson that is out there advocating for our products.”

Next up for the camper van maker: Elkhart Open House Week.

The Cincinnati, Ohio-area based company is actively looking to expand its dealer network. Currently, Johnson RV in the Pacific Northwest, Vogt RV in Texas and Campers Inn, with locations across the U.S., are retailing the company’s Class B models, which includes the Friday, the Oasis and the Aegis, with 2025 base MSRP pricing ranging from $189,500 to $244,500.

“We’ve got our production line really tuned in and working nicely and our customer base is growing quickly,” Alexander said. “So, we’re hoping that Elkhart is part of that puzzle to (helping us grow) and we’re looking forward to meeting quite a few of the major dealers around the country.”

As of late last week, Remote Vans was still firming up plans for a specific exhibit location, but it had confirmed meetings with representatives for about a dozen dealerships, he added.

Remote Vans occupies a fairly unique space within the luxury adventure van segment, offering premium features with a specific focus on power, comfort and connectivity. In particular, Alexander touts the company’s Cyber Shower, a recirculating, stowable shower system capable of offering seven 10-minute showers on its 32-gallon freshwater tank; the Vanhalla Seat, a two-person swivel seat offering 90-degrees of turn, allowing it to face forward, face toward the van door, or to recline to become a bed; the MoPoWa Power System, featuring a 51-volt Lithionics NeverDie power system and 16.8 kWh 100% reusable battery storage; and a 48-volt Nomadic Cooling A/C, which the company says is the most compact and efficient system in a Class B adventure van. Additionally, all Remote Vans come standard with a Starlink satellite system, allowing high-speed internet service from almost anywhere in the country.

Beyond that, company co-founder Daryn Hillhouse said Remote Vans has made a number of specific upgrades to its all of its models for 2015, including an upgraded suspension system featuring a heavy-duty leaf spring pack plus newly designed 17” wheels.

“Our vans have gotten a lot more beefy, as a whole, so it was important to improve the ride for the customer,” he explained.

Other 2025 Remote van model updates and improvements include an upgraded hydronic heating system; an updated MoPoWa housing system providing easier access to the water and power components; an upgraded stainless-steel kitchen sink with collapsible faucet; and an updated Pennyworth Van Control System, which now includes a “Lighthouse” safety mode feature that turns on all of the van’s external lighting.

Even with those many features and upgrades, Alexander said Remote Vans has been able to price its models competitively, where they would come in $10,000 below a comparably featured model.

All of Remote Van’s models are built on the premium Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis and the company produces its own upholstery, cabinetry and soft goods in-house.

“We vertically integrated almost our entire supply chain. We either do things in-house or we go directly to a trusted fabricator partner that builds to our specs,” Alexander said. “It’s been a harder road and it’s obviously been a more expensive road, but I think what that allows us to build is a much better van than the competition.”

The post Remote Van to Showcase 2025 Models at Elkhart Open House first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

Garnet Instruments started modestly in George Fraser’s garage in 1993, with the business name coming from the street where Fraser’s home was located, Garnet Avenue.

Today, the Edmonton area, Alberta, Canada-based company is a major supplier of holding tank monitoring systems to some of the RV industry’s largest manufacturers, including Grand Design, Jayco, Keystone RV, Tiffin and Forest River.

The company’s holding tank monitor product line, called SeeLeveL, today accounts for about half of Garnet’s total business, according to Fraser. It’s an accomplishment that is perhaps even more impressive given that the company didn’t originally set out to serve the RV market.

Garnet got its start by manufacturing devices designed to detect fluid levels in oilfield transport trucks, said Fraser, noting that the gas and oil industry is big business in Alberta. The company also makes tank monitoring systems for other liquids transported by tanker trucks, including chemicals and septic and wastewater.

To grow its oilfield business in the United States, Fraser said company sales and marketing rep Don Shapansky traveled cross-country in his RV to promote the company’s products to oilfield representatives in various oil-producing states. Shapansky quickly identified a problem with his RV that he believed Fraser could help rectify.

“As he was doing his sales work in the field, he realized that the holding tank gauges were very poor in the RV industry,” Fraser said. “He asked, ‘Is there anything you can do to make this work better?’

“Of course, when you’re living in an RV full time, it’s a fairly major inconvenience when you have no idea how much water you’ve got, or if your sewer tanks are full, and so on,” he added. “And the big problem with the sewer tanks is they always get gummed up with toilet paper and with refuse, which makes it difficult to get an accurate reading.”

Building a Better Mousetrap

Making use of his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering as well as his expertise in creating holding tank monitors for other industries, Fraser set out to design a better mousetrap, so to speak.

While other tank monitoring systems rely on probes fitted inside of the holding tanks to gauge liquid levels, Fraser designed a monitoring system that is externally mounted. He said advantages of that system include no debris buildup on the sensor to cause false readings, simple installation via self-adhesive sensors and existing wiring, and versatile compatibility that allows the monitoring system to be installed on various size and shape tank configurations. Additionally, Garnet holding tank monitors are digital and include more sensors for more accurate readings.

“With a lot of other systems, the probes given you a very rough indication of the tank levels, like the tank is one-third full or two-third full, whereas ours gives you a percentage that can be within 3 percent,” Fraser explained. “That’s because with our system, for a typical 12-inch tall tank, you’ve got 32 sensing points, which gives you about a 3 percent resolution.

“So, with an old (monitoring) system, when you drop below one-third, you’ve got no idea—am I almost empty? Or am I just under one-third? Well, in our case, you actually know right down to that 3 percent what your holding tank level is.”

Garnet’s holding tank monitors are a bit more expensive than competing products, Fraser acknowledged, but said they make up for it in quality.

“What we try to emphasize to them (OEMs) is that it’s not just about the (product) cost. It’s also about your warranty costs in terms of the expense of fixing these (competing) probe systems that break down constantly and how much customer dissatisfaction are you incurring,” he said.

New Models Being Showcased During Open House Week

Today, Garnet’s holding tank monitors come in a variety of configurations, including models that can monitor between one and seven holding tanks and an RV-C interface series. During Elkhart Open House Week, Garnet will use its exhibit booth (#121) to showcase two new products: the SeeLevel Soul, a data module that gathers tank level information from SeeLeveL senders and transmits it to a multiplex system via an RV-C bus; and the SeeLevel 709-BTP7, a Blu-tooth-enabled system capable of monitoring up to seven holding tanks.

Now in its third decade in business, Fraser said many things have changed for the company over the years, including expanded product offerings and the opening of a facility in the Dallas, Texas, area to serve the U.S. market.

One thing that has not changed, Fraser said, is the company’s commitment to keeping its manufacturing operations in Canada and its call center operations in-house, staffed by its own employees. Fraser said the company’s commitment to customer service also is unwavering.

“As a company, we believe in conducting ourselves with integrity and honesty and serving our customers well,” he said. “We’ve been around for over 30 years now and I think that philosophy has proven itself out.”

The post Garnet Instruments Making its Mark in the RV Industry first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Go RVing is partnering with DreamWorks Animation to promote the family-friendly, animated movie The Wild Robot, which debuts in theaters Friday, Sept. 27.

The Wild Robot is based upon a popular children’s book series about a robot named Rozzum Unit 7134 (“Roz” for short), which finds itself stranded on an uninhabited island that is teaming with animal life. Left on its own in an unfamiliar environment, Roz forms a close kinship with the island’s animal inhabitants.

“While there are no RVs in the movie, there’s this underlying theme of  getting back to nature, finding your nature and getting outside with friends and family and making those truer connections,” said Jeremy Greene, senior director of events and marketing for the RV Industry Association, which operates the Go RVing campaign with the RV Dealers Association. Additionally, the movie is based on a book series geared for children ages 8 to 12, so it meshes nicely with Go RVing’s marketing focus targeting young families with children, he added.

To promote the tie-in between film and Go RVing, the campaign has created a micro website (which can be accessed by clicking on this link) devoted to the film partnership with DreamWorks and is placing digital media ads that will target desired demographic groups, such as young families with children and people that are interested in the outdoors and/or travel, said Monika Geraci, RVIA industry spokesperson. Digital ads—including a mix of display ads, social media ads and video ads—began running on Sunday and will continue through Oct. 31.

“The first phase will be: see the movie coming to theaters. And then the second phase, once it’s in theaters, will be: go get tickets,” Geraci said. The Go RVing campaign has created a 30-second video that cross-promotes the movie and Go RVing, as well as shorter 15-, 10- and six-second spots. As part of that marketing campaign, a sweepstakes will run from Sept. 16 through Oct. 11 where consumers can sign up with Go RVing on the micro site to win prizes, including tickets for the film.

Geraci said the partnership with DreamWorks won’t cost the Go RVing campaign anything beyond what it was already spending, because the organization is simply redeploying existing media placements that were going to be used this fall.

“All of this is replacing what we already had in the market with new creative that’s also tying us to this cultural moment and really doubling down on the family audience,” she said. “So, it was a great opportunity for us to take what was already planned, switch up the creative and double down on an audience that we know is so important to the industry.”

So, how will Go RVing decide if it’s partnership with DreamWorks was worthwhile?

“There are a lot of metrics we’ll look at to determine how successful the partnership was on our end including microsite engagement and traffic from the microsite to GoRVing.com,” Greene said. “As Monika shared earlier, this wasn’t additional ads being placed by Go RVing; this was using existing inventory that we already had committed to, so I think the opportunity for ROI (return on investment) to be there is really strong because of that, especially given that it ties into a cultural moment that’s something families will be talking about.”

The partnership with DreamWorks came about after studio executives approached Go RVing, recognizing that it is a great brand to work with, Greene said. Officially, Go RVing is the ground transportation and outdoor hospitality partner for the film.

This is not the first time Go RVing has formed a promotional partnership with film studio, Geraci said, noting that the campaign previously partnered with Pixar Studios to promote Toy Story 4 (released in 2019) and with United Artists to promote The Addams Family 2 (released in 2021). She noted that RVs were prominently featured in both of those animated movies.

The post Go RVing, DreamWorks Partner to Promote ‘Wild Robot’ Movie first appeared on RVBusiness - Breaking RV Industry News.