Tech school

[Reinigm]

Has anyone out there attended the National Recreational Vehicle Training Academy (NRVTA)? And was it worth it?

 

[Rene T]

I guess it all depends on what you expect to get out of it. Do you plan on just using what you learn to fix your issues or do you want to go on and make a living at it.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Looks like their technician course is only a week long. I think one would have to already have the mechanical skills, not to mention electrical skills in order to be effective.

The Master Technician course appears to be 8 weeks long. I went to A&P school for 2 years. Ahh... I see you can't sit the Master Exam without 3 years experience - don't know how you document that...

In A&P school we punched a time clock.

OTOH - I think any blue collar trade is worth doing if one is not going to college.

It's a bit misleading - The Educated RV owner training is touted as 5 days - but that's just the fundamental course and not the generator and solar course.

Here's a link for anyone interested.

NRVTA-Training

 

[Kirk]

The question you are asking depends both on what you know now and what you want to learn, as well as what course you wish to take. I live near Athens, TX and am familiar with the location of the business as well as having known 2f people who have attended courses of theirs. If you have no knowledge of RVs and how they work that basic owner's course can be very helpful. The only person that I know who has taken that course, did so before he bought his first RV because he was planning to become a snowbird and after attended the attended the basic course and seems to have done well with it. He attended in 2015 and last that I knew he still had good things to say about it. The other person that I know is an RV service tech who works for the dealership that I use. I asked him once about the course and he seemed to consider it good but he was a tech in the USAF before attending the school so had a good understanding of basic electrical & mechanical principles before attending. I have sent an email to my RV dealer who is located near Athens to see if they will share an opinion.

 

[Reinigm]

I have worked on classic cars since the mid 60s, so on the automotive front I am fairly skilled. I worked in the construction business for 40 years. Now that I am into my first RV, I see some differences that I would like to be more skilled at. The basic course sounds like it would fit the bill.

 

[Henry J Fate]

Tech schools are great. I recommend them to anyone who has the time and dollars to go. I have been to many over the years. The best one was HVAC. That really helped me understand many other things out of the HVAC loop and included learning in other trades as well. As it turned out, I never used any of the tech schools for a specific profession. I just enjoyed learning about many things and applied all of them to my work. The most fun thing I did was a lifeguard course along with pool operation. That was lots of fun. Not really a tech course I guess but it was fun. Learning how to make open ocean saves or swimming pool saves. I never used it but employed a team of lifeguards at one point. It made things easy for me as I had to schedule ongoing training and awareness programs. I did night courses for microwaves, washers and dryers, computers. I enjoyed all of it. Never thought about a RV course. That could be fun too I bet. Probably learn something there for sure.

 

[Kirk]

The basic course sounds like it would fit the bill.

It probably would and that is a nice area to spend some time. Another alternative that you may want to consider is the Escapees RVer's University which has online courses and would likely cost you less.

 

[Reinigm]

It's pretty amazing how many schools there are around the US in areas we all might be interested in. There's a PGA Pro school in Florida that is 2 years long. Used to cost $40K. The objective being to train a person to run a golf course. I would dearly love to attend this one, but haven't managed to work it in yet.

Thanks for the info everyone. Kirk, I will check out the Escapees school.