Epic Rookie RVer Fails !!!!

[trueweb]

Let's see:

- Installed tonneau cover, didn't realize it changed clearances to the bed rails. Ripped the tonneau cover rail off backing into a spot. Fortunately that was all it damaged.
- Entered a parking lot I knew I shouldn't have. Broke both rear stabilizer jacks and took off the bottom step of the ladder.
- Apparently didn't fully empty the water pump, frozen pressure valve cracked and created a mess when I put pressure on the system in the Spring.
- Left BAL stabilizers locked, twice, ripped them out of the bottom of the RV frame and likely caused the motor in the landing gear to fail early. (Solution: I put a 3M hanger right above the landing leg control switch and would hang the wrench to loosen the stabilizers with from it after locking them. I couldn't hit the switch without removing it)
- Left the rear stabilizers down while lifting the front to connect the truck, looked back to see all my tires in the air... maybe that helped kill the motor early too.
- Got caught off guard dry camping on a nice grassy hill when a rain storm hit. Trying to leave the trailer slid down the hill sideways, jack-knifing the truck, dented the cab with the front cap.

I know there's more. Now I have a new Momentum for this year. I'm sure I'll have something new before the end of the year. I'm wondering when the 2" more height on this unit than my last one will get me.

[D2Reid]

I went to a campground that had hills and nicely terraced sites. Drive up the hill, back into level spot, well designed. Except the neighbor across the street moved in. Long 5th wheel, 2 cars, and the 1 ton dually. Not enough room on the sight so their truck sticks out into the road about a foot. Just enough to block my swing during departure. Then they take the cars and go on an adventure. I am ready to pull out, nobody home. Can't leave the normal way. So I decide to swing out downhill, didn't do too bad, the odd angle exceeded the play in the hitch and the play between the truck bed and the RV. RV came to rest on the truck bed, tore up the railing for my skirting, tore up the railing on my tanneua cover.

2 rookie mistakes.
1. Recognized the problem the night before and didn't go talk with new neighbor while they were home. Thought it would wait until morning, but they left early.
2. I new the twist going down the hill was going to challenge the clearance, I just underestimated how much.

[SkiSmuggs]

We had a travel trailer before our fifth wheel and were making a 2 week trip from VT through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We found a campground in NS on the approach to Cape Breton. It was days end, the campground was mostly a field with hookups and there was only one tight spot left and in was on a slope. We pulled in fine and I started unhitching the trailer as it was nose down on the slope. As the ball came off the hitch, the trailer started moving toward me and the truck. No chocks! The trailer hitch fell off the truck hitch, bending the jack, BUT jerking the still connected safety cable which brought the trailer to a stop.
The bent jack was the only damage. We chocked the wheels and other campers helped use raise the nose and straighten the jack. It could have been a lot worse.

[Second Chance]

I wasn't a rookie when this happened, so no excuses. We went camping with the grandkids the end of last summer at a faith-based retreat/resort/campground at the top tip of the Chesapeake Bay. The place was very nice with the exception of the campground. The sites were, shall we say, rough and ill-planned. Our site was at least 8" out of level side-to-side and we had to use quite a few board feet of 2x8 to get level. Anyway, five days/nights of camping with kids from 1 year to 15. Grandma did all the meal prep (what a job!) and the rest of the time the kids ran us ragged. We enjoyed the time, but we were glad to be able to head for New England when it was over.

So... the site was supposed to be a pull-through, but it turned out that "pull-through" meant pulling through an abandoned/unused campsite in front of us on the way out. We had to make a very tight left turn exiting the site but did the calculations and had adequate clearance to the trees on the left side and the unused electrical stanchion on the right. All was going well until the right-hand wheels on the trailer dropped into a hole just as the rear of the trailer was about to clear the electrical stanchion on that side. You guessed it - the trailer rocked to the right and we have a nice foot-long crease in the skirting at the back right of the rig (behind the curb-side slide). There was no functional or structural damage so, at the next stop, I put some of that good old 2x8 on the outside and took a rubber mallet to the inside to flatten things out. Since we full-time in the rig, I've not bothered to take it into a shop for proper repair - but it's "only noticeable if you look at it."

Rob

[LV Naturist]

Not really a newbie mistake, just a wasn't paying attention mistake. We were camped at one of our favorite campgrounds back in the Colton CA canyons. This campground is in the hills and has several levels. On the way out, the driveway is gravel and is rather steep. I didn't want to slip or spin a tire in the loose gravel, so I popped the truck into 4X4 to get up the hill. We stopped at the gate and checked out, and out the gate we went. The road down to the interstate is curvy, but they are long gradual curves. Got on the interstate, set the cruise at 70 MPH, and headed home. The drive home was uneventful, and I don't recall the truck acting any different. Got off the interstate and made a right turn down our major road toward our neighborhood, and the steering felt really weird! Looked over at the 4X4 knob and, you guessed it, drove all the way home still in 4 wheel drive!

I immediately put it back in 2 wheel drive, like the 2 miles to the house would make a big difference after driving 250 miles at 70 MPH. The next day, I drained the transfer case and found the oil kinda glittery but no big chunks. I did do 2 more drain and refills to clean it out. I also drained and refilled the front diff oil. It smelled a bit burned, but seemed okay. We were lucky in that from what I could tell, there was no significant damage. We drove that truck for 3 more years before we traded it on the one in my sig.

John

[Cate&Rob]

An "almost" epic fail. Pulled into a park for an overnight stop and proceeded to the site just at dusk. A quick setup and settled in for the night. The park was basically an open field and the site was pull through . . . I never really looked up. Next morning, I see the TV antenna raised directly under the overhead power lines! No contact made and still a couple of feet of clearance, but a reminder to always look up . . . even when you don't think there is a need to .

Rob

[jkwilson]

Many years ago, we were at a campground that is very busy in season. Sites are first come, first served. You waited at the gate until somebody left and then they offered the site to the next person in line. This was a Sunday which was the busiest arrival and departure day.

We were tent camping in a little economy car, so we were in front but pulled off to the side because we were waiting for a site with no hookups. Several rigs went through heading to sites, until we finally got a site. As we were coming out of the office, one of the workers came out and signalled to the occupants of a conversion van pulling what was probably a 28ft TT to come inside for a site. Two men were in the front, and I guess their ladies had walked to the beach during the wait. The men both hopped out and shut their doors, and just as they did the driver swore. Apparently he'd left the keys in it assuming the passenger would stay in the van. What the passenger didn't know was that sometimes the power locks activated when you closed the door. To make matters worse, the driver had jack knifed the rig a bit in anticipation of the turn he was going to be making, and he had the whole inbound line blocked because there was a median that separated inbound traffic from the waiting line. The driver seemed way less concerned about the inconvenience he was causing everyone else than about his own inconvenience and was flat rude to people offering help. He wasn't a popular person.

I know the road coming in had 30 or more rigs of various types blocked in by the median and the locked rig. We went on to our site, but an hour plus later when we headed to town for groceries, the van was still there and cones were out moving the line onto the road. I'm sure backing everyone out of that mess was a real spectacle.

I learned two lessons that day that have probably saved me headaches. First, when you inconvenience others through a mistake, be apologetic. Most people want to help and can surely imagine themselves pulling such a stunt and will be sympathetic if you give them an opportunity. Second, if I leave my keys in the ignition, either I'm in the seat or the window is down.

[geonpay]

I usually pay close attention to my rv's systems. Unfortunately, I had an oversight that ended with me cleaning up a big stinky mess. Here is the story: Sometime ago I pulled a TT. While in a park with full hookups I decided to try out the black tank flush out feature on mt TT. I thought it would be best to close the black tank drain so the senors would get a good wash down. OK fine so far. I then hooked the city water to the black tank flush inlet and turned on the water. Well, I was with a large group of family on this outing and ended up visiting with several relatives. I forgot I had the water going into the black tank until I began to notice that foul septic smell. I told my relatives the camper in the site next to mine, and slightly downhill, must be using a waste macerator pump. About 10 more minutes went by and a fellow walking by said there was coming out of the roof of the blue and white trailer in back of us; my trailer. Oh no! the black tank had filled and the water and debris was blowing out of the vent. Well, as the story ended I spent about the next 2 to 3 hours cleaning up my trailer, sight as well as my downhill neighbors. Fortunately, they were understanding and really good natured people. On the other, my family has never forgot my mishap and it has become one of those really funny "remember when". When I flush out the black tank now I stand right next ti the city water spigot and am very cautious to not even getting close to the overfill point. There you have it and by the way that TT was the 4th RV I had owned; definitely not a newbie. Too darn funny; s__t happens.

[jneubig]

I had a similar situation to geonpay with my black tank. My mistake ended up totaling my last camper, an Open Range toy hauler. We were in Canton, TX and I forgot to bring my second long hose I usually use for black tank flushes. It was December and cold and rainy and the DW had not showered yet so I decided to use my onboard outdoor faucet to get the flush done. Everything was going just fine but the weather got worse and I completely forgot to turn the faucet off after draining the tank for the last time. I then disconnected city water, so no real issue yet. Just before we were going to pull out, my wife decided to make one more potty run. She turned on the water pump and in a rush forgot to turn it off. Would not have really been a big deal had I not left the faucet on. As we were driving down the road, the pump transferred all the fresh water tank into the black tank. We made a stop a couple hours into the trip for a stretch and potty break and my wife hollered that water was running out the door when she opened it. I immediately knew what happened and couldn't believe my stupidity. I quickly learned 80 gallons of water will not fit in a 41 gallon tank, imagine that. It came out around the base of the toilet and basically flooded the camper. We dried it up as best we could and when I got home I dried the rest or so I thought. Apparently, some of the water went in between the floor and plywood from the toilet area that we didn't know about. About 2 months later the floor started to peel up in the bedroom area near the walls and the floor felt soft. The basement behind the wall also had a deep sag. All of this could have probably been fixed, but we found black mold under the flooring. Insurance totaled it almost instantly after that finding. We purchased the Momentum a week after they picked up the Open Range.

[jneubig]

Had my first boo boo with the Momentum last weekend. We went to Cajun Palms near Lafayette, LA and Fridays are always crazy busy move in days. Making my way through the campground going to my site, I came upon a truck parked in the road with the driver side rear door open, taking up more than half the driveway. I scooted over to the left and went by. I was in a curve and didn't quite account for the inside swing of the camper. I heard an awful crunching sound and immediately saw the problem in the mirror. The camper caught the edge of the truck's door and crunched it pretty good. One of the screws on the slide apparently caused the majority of the damage to the door as I really didn't have as much damage as I thought I would. It destroyed the plastic wheel molding and a bent the lower metal trim panel but that's about it. Got off pretty lucky with the camper. The truck it hit, not so lucky. Going to need a new door skin, but my truck insurance is covering that. Learned another lesson. Stop, go find the owner of what's blocking the road and have it moved. Always an adventure.