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Old 03-30-2014, 09:23 AM   #21
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Just watch the Movie RV with Robin Williams I think it pretty much covers the anything that can happen will aspect.
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Old 03-30-2014, 09:28 AM   #22
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How do you forget beer on the first trip out!
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Old 03-30-2014, 09:29 AM   #23
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First trailer we had and first night out I had the 23' Traillite hanging with all 4 stabilizing jacks cranked up enough to have the trailer off all 4 tires. Luck someone advised me to lower it so the tires were on the ground before we went to bed as I'm sure we would have ended up with a permanent bend in the frame the next morning.(won't explain how that could have happened)
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Old 03-30-2014, 10:28 AM   #24
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The sway control comment reminded me of my absolute hairiest moment I've had. The ex was following me in her wrangler, I was pulling my TT with my first truck, a Ram 1500, which did the job well but wasn't a 2500 if you catch my meaning.

Going down the highway headed home from a week out she was spotting for me with family radios, all I heard was the first half of watch out left!

Guy in a 24' box truck passed me going probably 80 to my 55. That set up a wave, it shoved me over and then sucked us together, the ex said we couldn't have had but a few inches between us. I'm usually pretty calm but that set off all my alarms.

Same trip, outbound leg. Rainstorm like you wouldn't believe. Go to get gas, take the off ramp, hit the brakes and nothing. The truck ABS is going nuts trying to stop this, the trailer brakes are soaked and not home right now.

Up the ramp I decide to just shoot across and take the on ramp, get back on the highway and figure this out. No bueno, there's a concrete divider there in the center of the intersection. Still gradually slowing down I go for broke, I turned it, left across the intersection, across the bridge, get it slowed down and pull into the gas station. I'm not sure, but if you told me the inside trailer tires lifted off the ground I wouldn't be surprised.

Steam is literally boiling out of the trailer brakes. Thank God that there wasn't any traffic coming, he really does look after children and fools. The rest of the trip up I'd drag the brakes a bit before the ramp to dry them out, that cured it.

That trip was the second or third time out with the new TT back in 2002.

Odds are I'll come up with some more suppressed memories of near disasters!
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Old 03-30-2014, 10:45 AM   #25
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First trip out when packing up all was going well. The DW in side and me outside when we bring in the slides. Forgot to check to make sure all the draws are completely close. Heard a noise, to late, caught the front of the pot drawer. Minor repair but the noise sure is scary.
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Old 03-30-2014, 10:47 AM   #26
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Can I tell you about our first 5th wheel we bought in 2004 we go through the pdi and all good so the wife and I start for home it is a very windy day we are going down the white mud at a 100 kl when this lady pulls up beside us waving her hands and pointing to the roof of the RV so I pull over and see my awing blowing in the wind over my RV so we try to get the awing with no luck thank God this couple stopped and helped us
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Old 03-30-2014, 11:13 AM   #27
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So we have been camping all weekend and dealt with heavy heavy rains. Last night one of the kids woke up in the bunks and said their pillow was wet. I go to check and water is pouring down the wall and corner. So it looks as though our bad luck is continuing. Leaving somewhere but haven't pinpointed it yet. Looks like our punch list for the dealer is getting pretty substantial. Please tell me we haven't got a lemon, and that this is all normal for the breaking in of a new coach.
Hang in there. Our punch list was 27 items long. Mostly minor and cosmetic but not all. Still have a few we have to go back hopefully one last time and get taken care of.
Sounds like your leak may be higher up but thought I would mention that most of our window gaskets were installed upside down. This would cause them to catch on the arms that crank the window in causing the gasket to pull up. Those window gadgets should lay flat and not touch the arms or at least not enough to pull them out of position.
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Old 03-30-2014, 11:38 AM   #28
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Most recent learning experience. The step support I purchased from OC. It is strong enough to be used as a tongue jack Unfortunately the steps are not designed to hold the weight of TT. I spent an hour prying and pushing to get the steps back in so we could leave.

Just one more experience in the learning curve.
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Old 03-30-2014, 11:55 AM   #29
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On a recent trip to Los Angeles my daughter and I got out to fuel the truck the wife said she was staying in the truck she got out and did not tell me she was going into the store my daughter and I got back in the truck and drove off about ten minutes later I got a very angry call from the wife to come back and pick her up she now refuses to sit in the back seat
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:02 PM   #30
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On a recent trip to Los Angeles my daughter and I got out to fuel the truck the wife said she was staying in the truck she got out and did not tell me she was going into the store my daughter and I got back in the truck and drove off about ten minutes later I got a very angry call from the wife to come back and pick her up she now refuses to sit in the back seat
That is a good one.
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:15 PM   #31
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This was my first Winter as a seasonal camper. When cold weather was approaching I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets except for a few necessities. Our campground is open year 'round for the hale and hearty and I was planning on visiting on warmer Winter weekends.

My last trip up I found that a brand new bottle of Texas Pete had frozen and exploded in the cabinet - not cracked and leaked out - but blew up.

The few other jars and cans I'd left were OK.

I would have figured the last thing to give was a bottle of Texas Pete....
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:16 PM   #32
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Let's see... 2nd trip out, trying to dewinterize for the first time (we left it winterize for maiden trip), we enlisted the help of a neighbor. When we were filling the hot water heater we wanted to make sure there was water in it. We didn't know how to accomplish this so DH and I had a brilliant idea....loosen the drain cap just a little to see if water drips out. Bad idea. (We did this before the neighbor could stop us). The drain cap shot off like a missile across the campsite, water flew out sending chairs flying and soaking DH. The city water was still on. The neighbor flew around to the other side to shut it off. The neighbors wife was laughing hysterically and it was all we could do to convince her that was not his idea to try.

On our first week long trip, we went to myrtle beach in June 2011. We had managed to hook the battery up backwards and didn't know it. We drove all the way there without knowing this and wondering why our fridge wasn't working. The lights were not working right and outlets and AC were out as well when plugged in to shore power. After several panicked posts to rv.net forums we were diagnosed and on our way to hunt for some fuses. Turns out that AutoZone carries some fuses we needed when camping world was out. After spending a whole day dealing with this we learned to mark our wires and carry extra fuses of all types that we need.

That same myrtle beach trip, a cabinet popped open and our liquor fell from the top shelf to the floor. A bottle of whiskey and a bottle of sour mix broke and spilled all over the floor. Man was that a sticky mess.

On another trip DD (3 1/2 yrs old @ the time) locked everyone out of the bathroom so DH had to disassemble the doorknob to get in. (This was 9 pm and we had just finished setting up camp after a long day at work).

One night I decided to switch from drop in packs for my black tank to the geo system. I read the packs, no mention of formaldehyde. With the geo method, you can use bleach from time to time so I thought I would start fresh with it. Turns out I was playing amateur chemist. I got a mist like gas rising from the black tank. It was after dark in a storage lot with no dump station or water and 30 min from home. Local state park had a dump site but in nc they close and lock the gates at dusk. I flew home, filled every bucket i could find with water, loaded it up in the back of my armada and flew back to the storage lot. Dumped all of it in the tank and then emptied the tank the next day. I got lucky, no damage.

The final one was bringing my mom along. My mom was being nice and making pancakes for us. She shook the bottle (shake and pour bottle) to the point it exploded. We had pancake batter everywhere... the ceiling, floor, carpet, sofa, vignette, cabinets, stove etc and she was covered. Man was DH peeved. I spent the next day at home with handheld carpet cleaner getting that stuff off of everything. My poor mom felt so bad. It was funny later.

Most of these issues occurred in our first year of camping. We have grown wiser with each one. I thank my little trailer everyday for surviving our blunders. You will learn to laugh at yourself and eventually you can laugh with the other newbies at their mistakes.
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:23 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by iceblaze580 View Post
On a recent trip to Los Angeles my daughter and I got out to fuel the truck the wife said she was staying in the truck she got out and did not tell me she was going into the store my daughter and I got back in the truck and drove off about ten minutes later I got a very angry call from the wife to come back and pick her up she now refuses to sit in the back seat
that was a good one
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:46 PM   #34
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that was a good one

She's still mad at me for that one I told her just be glad it didn't happen while we were in Mexico
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Old 03-30-2014, 01:07 PM   #35
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This was one that happen to me with my dad.This isn't my first time camping either.I had a pop up back then we set up camp which I did a hundred times I forgot to put the back jacks under.When my dad went to bed he laid down and the trailer went up in the air I thought he was going to roll out of the camper.God Bless Him .Lost him in Nov 2011
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Old 03-30-2014, 01:16 PM   #36
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First trip out with our new fiver, dh forgot to close tailgate on truck. Nice hole in brand new front storage of camper. Truck okay.
Do they sell just storage compartment doors?
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Old 03-30-2014, 01:23 PM   #37
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First trip out with our new fiver, dh forgot to close tailgate on truck. Nice hole in brand new front storage of camper. Truck okay.
Do they sell just storage compartment doors?
Yes they do, any chance you could reskin it with some diamond plate or something like it?

Try a RV salvage outfit if you have one in your area (yellow pages)and then there is the dealer as a last resort.
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Old 03-30-2014, 02:21 PM   #38
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Here's one that happened in my parents tent trailer. We were camping at Coles Creek State park on the St. Lawrence River, while we were there a warning went out about high winds. All the campers seemed to go to their tents, trailers and head for cover. My father did the same chased all of us into the trailer. Winds then began and in a distance a water spout could be seen heading our way, for those who never saw one a water tornado. There was this one guy sitting in his tent screen room in a lawn chair and then his screen room was gone. Next was our turn and the tent trailer lifted a couple of inches off the the ground then slammed back down on the ground. Just as fast as it started it was over and the guy in the screen room was still sitting there soaking wet and his screen room was on the other side of the campground. Our Tent trailer had moved over about a foot.
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Old 03-30-2014, 04:22 PM   #39
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It doesn't get any worse than this. Been camping and RVing for years all over the country and you don't have to be a newbie to make a dumb mistake. We had spent several nights in a park that didn't have full hook ups. Only water and electric. There was a dump station on the way out. I pulled up to it. Got out the plastic sewer line and removed the cap on the black tank discharge pipe. I was instantly soaked from above the ankles down to my toes with some VERY nasty brown colored water. Could only blame the idiot who had last dumped the tank. Me. I had forgotten to close the shutoff valve. Believe me, you only forget once. I hosed my feet and flipflops off and then stood in a bucket of water and bleach hoping to kill anything that might invade and destroy my entire body.
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Old 03-30-2014, 04:39 PM   #40
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It doesn't get any worse than this. Been camping and RVing for years all over the country and you don't have to be a newbie to make a dumb mistake. We had spent several nights in a park that didn't have full hook ups. Only water and electric. There was a dump station on the way out. I pulled up to it. Got out the plastic sewer line and removed the cap on the black tank discharge pipe. I was instantly soaked from above the ankles down to my toes with some VERY nasty brown colored water. Could only blame the idiot who had last dumped the tank. Me. I had forgotten to close the shutoff valve. Believe me, you only forget once. I hosed my feet and flipflops off and then stood in a bucket of water and bleach hoping to kill anything that might invade and destroy my entire body.
LMAO only because I did the exact same thing. I only had the pair of tennis shoes I was wearing so I ended up buying a horrible cheap pair from Walmart until we got home. Like you said, it only happens once...especially that one.
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