King Black Jack TV Antenna

[Creativepart]

When we got home from our shakedown trip on Sunday I drove our 3051S into our driveway and saw a few small branches hanging over the drive but thought nothing of it. So, I powered on thru only to hear a real ruckus on my RV's roof. Too late to do anything but go on and park the RV and check for damage.

It turned out that most of the tree branches were tiny little things - but one was about 2 to 3 in in diameter. Ouch. When I got up on the roof I found that the big branch didn't scrape the roof, thank goodness, but center punched the King TV Antenna.

OK. I figure I'll see what parts broke and get some replacement parts and parked in our driveway for the night.

Did I mention that this has been a really wet summer in Texas? Because it started raining. Hard. That's when it occurs to me that the TV antenna goes from the roof to inside the coach. And, a hole in the antenna mount - which was all that was left of the antenna - would funnel rain water inside the RV.

It was a sorry sight with me in my rain gear on a ladder in a huge thunderstorm (did I mention the lightening) putting a bucket over the Antenna base and then a big rock on the bucket to keep the high winds from blowing it off the roof of the RV.

I got it covered within about 10 mins of the start of the rain. When I went into the RV I saw no water. But I removed the inside portion of the King Antenna and found a bit less than a teaspoon full of water on the parts inside. Had I not thought of this issue I would no doubt had a LOT of water in the RV in the morning.

King is sending me parts to repair the whole thing.

While this is a real hassle, it would have been much worse if the tree limb had taken out one of the skylights right before a big rain. Or worse yet taken out the A/C unit.

We have a lot of trees and a long concrete driveway through those trees. You'd think it would have occurred to me BEFORE taking my brand new RV down the driveway that this could be an issue. The older I get the more I learn. I guess I'm just not old enough yet.

[OldCoot]

I would guess a tree trimming is in the near future?

[Creativepart]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

I would guess a tree trimming is in the near future?

Oh, I had to trim the trees yesterday before moving the RV to its storage place about 2 miles away. And, as I went my wife watched for areas that I missed during my trimming. We did some on the spot work to insure that branches didn't scratch that full-body paint, too.

[brookstone345sa]

You are not alone. The first winter I had King Jack I put a cardboard box over it before I put the cover on. We had lots of snow and the weight crushed it and broke the base of the antenna. They sent me whole new base with coax and all. I now have a few extra parts. The putty is a pain. I used self leveling. Be careful not to tear the rubber if you have rubber roof. Good luck with repairs

[Creativepart]

Yeah, I dread the caulking. The base broke just enough to need to be replaced. Luckily, I have a fiberglass roof. The rest of the parts are pretty much OK. Just one large removable center connector broke.

[Creativepart]

Circling back on this. King Controls asked for photos of the broken parts. Then they called me and told me what I needed. $26 and two days later I had my parts. I put it all together today, removed the old base and bingo all fixed.

Very good customer service.