Rookie Mistakes

SDPadsfan · 04-01-2016, 12:48 PM

Ok, so I did something stupid on our maiden voyage this past week and it gave me an idea. I thought it might be fun to start a thread where everybody shares their rookie mistakes.

Here's mine.
Everything had gone great on our camping trip to Carpenteria State Beach. We were packed and ready to go. I stopped at the dump station to empty the tanks and then we were on our way back home. About an hour into the drive south a woman flagged me down to tell me my sewer hose was dragging behind the trailer. I pulled over and quickly realized why. I forgot to put the end cap back on my bumper when I put the hose back. Now it's time to buy a new stinky slinky and end cap. Fortunately it wasn't too expensive of a mistake

**Mr. Dan** · 04-01-2016, 01:08 PM

You might enjoy the posts in this existing thread:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...es-101279.html

karrun · 04-01-2016, 01:21 PM

Not really my error, but on our maiden voyage to the local cg with our brand new Roo, my DH pulled too close to the guard house and took out both our slide topper and several feet of siding on the house. Seems he was still thinking he was pulling our popup. Luckily other than trashing the slide topper, no real damage to the camper or the guard house.

greymedic · 04-01-2016, 02:51 PM

On various occasions we have: forgotten to secure inside doors/cabinets/ drawers with resulting spillage and damage; left bag of shoes behind in our driveway; totally forgot to pack diapers and forgot to pack underwear.

2015 Silverado gas ext cab 2500
2014 Flagstaff 8528IKWS🇺🇸
PA-0034-339

SDPadsfan · 04-01-2016, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

You might enjoy the posts in this existing thread:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...es-101279.html

Thanks, there are definitely some good ones on that thread. I thought it would be fun to have this thread devoted to those mistakes made the first time out.

hrlyguy2 · 04-01-2016, 06:44 PM

We were packing up and ready to go.Wife asked me to do something .Forgot what I was doing

Started to raise the 5'ver up to load it on my truck.Hydraulics front legs kept sounding like a gear was busting.All of sudden the 5'ver shifted and rolled back a bit

Remembered then I forgot to put the rear jacks up

Thank God for the wheel chocks not letting it roll backwards .
Learn from our mistakes and don't listen to the wife while your doing your walk around

Knightrider · 04-01-2016, 06:57 PM

1st trip out I got all backed into my spot at the cg on Labor Day weekend while 2 others were waiting on me to clear the road. Didn't go too bad got all unhooked pulled the truck across the road to park, got all the stabilizer jacks down, electric hooked up, and sewer hose. Dw gets ready to roll the slide out and then it hits me..... Didn't leave enough room for the slide to clear the electric pole. SMH

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

2015 ram 2500
2016 Cherokee 274dbh

nomad297 · 04-01-2016, 07:09 PM

We brought or son's friend along on a week long trip to Lake in Wood Campground in PA. Instead of a suitcase or duffel bag, his mother had put all of his clothes in black plastic bags. Well, nobody told me. I was wondering why we had so much trash to throw in the dumpster on the way out. We didn't realize what had happened until we got home to Virginia and his mother came over to pick him up. That's one way to take care of the laundry.

Bruce

Stormrider151 · 04-01-2016, 07:35 PM

When I had my hybrid we got everything set up. Slide out, beds out and made up, awning out and jacks down. Sat down and looked under the trailer and realized we (I) had not leveled the trailer. Checked it and it was way off side to side. Had to close it all back up and start over. Momma wasn't happy.

Asrabbit · 04-02-2016, 06:33 AM

I will admit my mistake and I hope someone will feel a little sorry for me. My wife was taking off pulling the camper for the first time and without me along. I went out and got everything hooked up for her and set the sway bar on the back bumper of the truck, (who knows why I did that). Got everything ready. We did a light check, brake check, walk around etc. Well, she took off and all was happy. About 3 minutes later I remembered what I had done. I called her and she was only 4 miles from home. She looked and no sway bar on the bumper. I told her to just pull over and wait so I could drive down the road and see if I could find it. Two trips down the road and I could not find the bar. The earth ate it. So, I had used the sway bar on only one trip and had to buy a replacement. I guess I will not set anything on the bumper again. I am still waiting for someone to set up a go fund me page, but it has not happened yet.

KingFisher · 04-02-2016, 06:57 AM

I drove about 30 miles with the tv antenna all the way up on the jayco 23rb I used to have.
Going down I64 outside of St. Louis and a guy passed me and was waving at me and pointing up.
I felt pretty dumb but there wasn't any damage.

RangeMaggotBob · 04-02-2016, 07:04 PM

I don't consider myself a rookie.

But a few weeks ago we were out for the first time this year, and I went to empty the tanks, and the last one, the kitchen grey water, came gushing out like Old Faithful. Apparently I didn't close the valve after dumping on our last trip last year. Point being- it doesn't take a rookie to make a rookie mistake.

snskovacs · 04-02-2016, 11:37 PM

Our first trip (and my first time camping in anything other than a tent), we pulled in and started setting up. Couldn't figure out why plus weren't working, AC wasn't working etc. Turns out he thought I plugged it in. I thought he plugged it in. Now we have his jobs and her jobs and we check each other's jobs.

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

SDPadsfan · 04-03-2016, 10:33 AM

QUOTE

=Asrabbit;1149821]I will admit my mistake and I hope someone will feel a little sorry for me. My wife was taking off pulling the camper for the first time and without me along. I went out and got everything hooked up

for her and set the sway bar on the back bumper of the truck, (who knows why I did that). Got everything ready. We did a light check, brake check, walk around etc. Well, she took off and all was happy. About 3 minutes later I remembered what I had done. I called her and she was only 4 miles from home

. She looked and no sway bar on the bumper. I told her to just pull over and wait so I could drive down the road and see if I could find it. Two trips down the road and I could not find the bar. The earth ate it. So, I had used the sway bar on only one trip and had to buy a replacement. I guess I will not set anything on the bumper again. I am still waiting for someone to set up a go fund me page, but it has not happened yet.[/QUOTE]
The bumper is definitely a bad place to put things. That's where I left my bumper end cap.

SDPadsfan · 04-03-2016, 10:37 AM

I found another mistake yesterday while I was repairing the road-rashed slinky (I only had to cut off about a foot of it). When I finished, I decided to do a walk around and make sure everything was off because we won't be taking it out again for five or six weeks. I checked the control panel and was surprised to see the battery wasn't fully charged (We had only had the lights on for a few minutes on battery power as we unloaded). I looked around and found the culprit . . . we had forgotten to turn off the heater when we left the campground so it had been turning on whenever it got cold (Fortunately it doesn't get that cold here in San Diego). We really need to make a checklist.

Stetay · 04-03-2016, 01:13 PM

I too did that on our maiden voyage, only I was driving. Called the kids to drive part way but they never found it. The earth ate mine too. They cost $35. Pm me if you want to set up a go fund me account.

dmdomokos · 05-09-2016, 07:42 PM

Did this last weekend. Did a poor back in job the first time (slide hit pedestal), so only partially pulled up the electric tongue jack, frustrated, in a hurray. Plenty of room right? oops, no WDH hitch, had already taken that off. Big curb, bam.

Sierra360PDEK · 05-09-2016, 07:58 PM

Left a knife block on the kitchen counter and let me tell you those sharp knives make nice holes on the vinyl floor

Our last trip out backed into our site, disconnected the truck, pulled the truck around out of the way and realized didn't level side to side. Back truck up, jook up, pull forward, throw boards down, back up again, awesome level. Disconnect pull around again. Level front to back, get power cord out and stupid cord is 2' too short. Damn it, try this a third time back up, hook up, pull forward, move level blocks back four feet, back up, disconnect and pull around again. Finally good to go.

Wive comes back walking the puppies wondering what was taking so long. She still doesn't know to this day I was having a major brain fart

KDHfan · 05-09-2016, 08:06 PM

First time out by myself... Got backed in, set up, sat down and had just cracked my first beer. A guy pulls up beside me and says "Hey buddy. I think you're in my spot." Sure enough, I was the next site over. Fortunately for me, my site was much better, so he quickly agreed to swap me spots.

MaineCampingFan · 05-10-2016, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asrabbit

I will admit my mistake and I hope someone will feel a little sorry for me. My wife was taking off pulling the camper for the first time and without me along. I went out and got everything hooked up for her and set the sway bar on the back bumper of the truck, (who knows why I did that). Got everything ready. We did a light check, brake check, walk around etc. Well, she took off and all was happy. About 3 minutes later I remembered what I had done. I called her and she was only 4 miles from home. She looked and no sway bar on the bumper. I told her to just pull over and wait so I could drive down the road and see if I could find it. Two trips down the road and I could not find the bar. The earth ate it. So, I had used the sway bar on only one trip and had to buy a replacement. I guess I will not set anything on the bumper again. I am still waiting for someone to set up a go fund me page, but it has not happened yet.

Did a similar thing in that I left the short length of pipe I use on the WDH chains to lock and unlock. Left it on the bumper after disconnecting, never to be seen again and only noticed when getting ready to leave campground. Stopped at a big box on the way home and got two. There are some things that are best described as "2 is 1 and 1 is none". Love redundancy.

You may also like: