The intent of this thread is to document my experience attending the 10 week Recreational Vehicle Service Academy (RVSA) course in Palmetto, Florida. https://www.rvsa.net/ The hope is these notes will help someone else who is "hands on" to decide if taking RVSA's course (or a similar course) is something to consider.

13 Sep (Day 1)
Nothing cosmic on the first day. The morning consisted of orientation and introductions. There are 24 seats in the class, but not all of them are expected to be filled. There are 21 in the class that includes three women. Two of the guys are fellow Grand Design owners, both of them in Solitudes. The attendees range in age from two young men in their early twenties to retirees like me in their sixth decade. The experience of the attendees range from none (one guy was a chef and some don't even own an RV!), to retired pilots (military and civilian), to an automotive mechanic, to former business owners and then shadetree RV mechanics like me.

I'm glad I got signed up early for this fall class--the next two classes are already full with a waiting list.

What I think I gleaned from this morning's session is that RVSA is a well-recognized trainer in the RV industry, but RVDA/RVTI is the industry recognized certifying body. The instructor encouraged attendees to consider getting the RVDA/RVTI certification via testing after completing the RVSA course, stating that if we can pass the tests of the course we're taking we should be able to easily pass the RVTI test. Something to check into later. An RVSA Master Technician Certification is available after 1 year of experience in the field and recertification is required every 5 years (administrative hoops to jump through showing that you're still working in the industry).

Many of the attendees are planning on opening their own business. Since many were former business owners that wasn't surprising. Most of the younger attendees were sponsored by someone (who has a business or interest in the RV industry) and already have a job lined up.

After the introductions we watched a clip of the classic "Who's on First" by Abbott and Costello. The instructor said the comedy routine mirrors what happens when people talk about RV systems. Having been on forums for a number of years I couldn't agree more.



We then covered the syllabus for the class. I was pleased to see the agenda topics closely mirror the channels on our Technical Forum. The only exception is that hydraulics and slides do not have their own syllabus objective, they are lumped into one session entitled "Accessories".

The first two weeks will be almost exclusively devoted to electrical theory starting from the very basics to advanced. Some of the class members don't know anything, so this will be good for them.

After lunch the instructor went through the history of RVs, defining exactly what an "RV" is, and then went through the different configurations and their designations. In a room with broken air conditioning (it was 91 at one point) it was rough paying attention.

I don't expect much (if any) feedback on this thread, but if something isn't clear or an entry generates a question, feel free to post it. Otherwise, I'll try to provide a short update each night for the 10 weeks of the class.

Howard

P.S. Shout out to Rudy and Andi. Rudy attended the course last year and was the one that told me about the school.