Could an RV problem really ruin a marriage?

A few months ago, I read about a couple whose marriage broke up after months and months of dealing with a frame flex issue on their newer Grand Design RV.

Then last week I read about a different man who was seriously considering divorcing his wife over missed repairs to his grand design trailer.  Apparently while he was gone, he asked his wife to go through the entire list of repairs with a service tech. They had waited months for an appointment. When she failed to go through all the repairs with the tech, that was apparently the last straw.

You might think he was posting in jest but it sure didn’t sound like it at all.

Could these kinds of issues really lead to a divorce?  Well, I suppose it somewhat depends on the situation.

Owning an RV that has major problems, is stressful.  If you’re living in it full time, that becomes even more to deal with because if you need to make arrangements to live somewhere else while its being repaired.  We all know how long that can take. So now add more stress over the costs of being without your RV.

Paying the loan, renting a hotel, eating all your meals out. That could cause a lot of problems.

My personal feeling is that most couples can weather this kind of storm. I admit, I know nothing about the couples that these posts were about.  So, I can’t speak in anyway about their situation.

However, if you already have a fragile relationship – this could perhaps, be the perfect storm. A broken RV, the financial stress, living in temporary housing…maybe, just maybe, it would be enough for one partner to say “Enough, I didn’t sign up for this”.

My feeling is there had to be a lot more going on in these relationships than frame flex or other repairs.

Let’s face it, if you can work together to back an RV into a camping spot, and still stay married, you can probably survive anything. However, that’s not to say that towing a portable house around the country isn’t without its stressors. Mechanical things can and do go wrong. Even finding a suitable gas station can sometimes be stressful. For example, our Coachmen Captiva 288FKS was very hard to maneuver at gas pumps. This led to an elaborate two-person process. First to decide if the station was right for our trailer and then dealing with getting it back out. I absolutely dreaded fueling up with the Coachmen.

In additions, campgrounds sometimes are a disappointment, and even navigation apps can sometimes lead you astray. However, personally I would much rather deal with these issues with Tammy than without her.

However, if you are so stressed out to the point where there is no enjoyment in having your rig.  Sell it, even if it’s at a loss, and work on your relationship.  RVing should make your time together happier. If that’s not the case, then it’s time to look for something that does.