Disaster: 4th of July Boondocking, Badlands - Page 2

dward51 · 07-09-2019, 02:43 PM

I have a question. In a situation like this, would it be better to keep the truck hitched up?

Extra weight of truck to prevent shifting and lifting of the trailer and 4 (or 6 if a dually) more contact points to the ground. I'm thinking if you have the info of wind direction and are boondocking with little other options, hook up and point the truck/trailer into the wind with the truck facing first would give the most resistance to lift or flipping of the trailer. This would be assuming you have enough prior notice and the space to orient the truck/trailer into the wind direction. I would think hook up with WD engaged and re-deploy the stabalizers for as many contact points to resist wind shifting as possible (WD would tend to make the truck & trailer act like one unit as it's supposed to). And pull in the slideouts to give as little a flat surface exposed to the wind as possible

The other camper was truly lucky! Glad every one survived what could have been a very bad situation.

pdqparalegal1 · 07-09-2019, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormer

7/4/19 - 5 days of Boondocking in the Badlands. This will be a 4th of July we will not soon forget! The day was beautiful. Nice cool weather. Scattered clouds most of the day. Then...Our first night, 4th of July... we had a super powerful severe storm come through. On radar, we were in the "red" for almost 20 minutes! The wind gust were hitting 70+ mph! The combo of rain and hail hitting the roof of the trailer along with the winds was soooo LOUD! The whole trailer was rocking and then finally, LIFTOFF!! The front of our trailer moved about 2 feet. This was a "Pray out loud moment"!!! The winds beat against the trailer so hard the kitchen slide was being "pushed in" which caused rain to enter through the top of the slide. (yes, we attempted to bring the slide in, but it was too late, it wasn't moving on battery power.) Our hearts were beating like crazy!! We stood in the kitchen slide (by oven) to add more weight to it to keep it from pushing in for 15 min. (praying the whole time) Unknown to us till the morning, another camper up the road from us, his camper got pushed over the cliff! The guy had just opened his door to his trailer to check on things and when he stepped out of his trailer, whooosh... his RV went over the cliff! I'm sure he is rethinking his life status now. (as we all were!) To be honest, at one point, I thought, "Well, this is it". It's a strange calm feeling. Wife asked if we should run to the truck, but the winds were so bad, I don't think we would have gotten there unless we were crawling. The winds were just that powerful along with rain and a bit of hail hitting horizontally. This was day "1". LOL! We are wiser now. The trailer is hitched to the truck and facing into the direction of any future storm. RV's are meant to handle high wind straight on. (driving down the road). That night we were getting hit broad side. A lesson learned without injury or death is always valuable! We only had damage to a solar portable solar panel which did cartwheels and also our latch for the storage on the wind side is not functional. Very minor compared to what could have happened!

So... if anyone has tips/tricks/advice/council/rants... I'm all ears. I'm sure others would benefit from input as well.

The monster:

This is how far the front of our trailer moved.

Stabalizers were dug into the ground from sliding.

Rain was "shooting" through the areas where the yellow arrows are!

He was camped just up on that ledge, not far from us.

No coming back from pancake!

That looks like a warranty claim. Fastener failure

hkreck · 07-09-2019, 04:09 PM

We were camped at Hill City in the Blackhills that night watched as a Wall cloud pasted about 1/2 a mile from the camp. Thing was there was a tornado warning but didn't hear any sirens sounding. We figured that the area around Wall S.D. was going to get some bad stuff.

simiHal · 07-09-2019, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dward51

I have a question. In a situation like this, would it be better to keep the truck hitched up?

Extra weight of truck to prevent shifting and lifting of the trailer and 4 (or 6 if a dually) more contact points to the ground. I'm thinking if you have the info of wind direction and are boondocking with little other options, hook up and point the truck/trailer into the wind with the truck facing first would give the most resistance to lift or flipping of the trailer. This would be assuming you have enough prior notice and the space to orient the truck/trailer into the wind direction. I would think hook up with WD engaged and re-deploy the stabalizers for as many contact points to resist wind shifting as possible (WD would tend to make the truck & trailer act like one unit as it's supposed to). And pull in the slideouts to give as little a flat surface exposed to the wind as possible

The other camper was truly lucky! Glad every one survived what could have been a very bad situation.

Might be better to unhook, deploy stabilizers, place tow vehicle on windward side to act as a wind break? If your trailer is light enough having it connected to your tv may not keep it from flipping. Similar to big rigs in in a crosswind on the highway.

Vince and Charlette · 07-09-2019, 08:17 PM

As you can see from many previous threads over the years, during severe weather, especially tornadoes, the last place you want to stay is in the camper. Find out where the designated shelters are in your campground e.g. restrooms, before a storm hits. However, if you're staying in the camper, slides should be in to reduce the aerodynamic signature, i.e. less surface for the wind to push against. Stay tuned to local weather, and happy camping.

jbrobson · 07-09-2019, 09:28 PM

Memorial day week we had to abandon our 2906WS when tornadoes and high winds were near the campground we were at in central Illinois. At midnight we had fire and rescue knocking on the door to tell us we should seek better shelter. Spent the next two hours in the cinderblock bathhouse with a flashlight by ourselves. Evidently everyone else slept through it in their campers. I didn't think our 8000# camper would move, but thanks to your post I now know it will.

elchilero53 · 07-09-2019, 09:44 PM

What the op experienced was a "derecho" or a straight-line outflow wind event. We get them every year in the April - May time frame and they shift north during the summer. The outward bow of the storm front in the direction of the storm's direction of travel is the characteristic signature. Winds in excess of 75 mph are common with a rare 100 mph straight-line wind accompany these storms. They are also accompanied by an outflow boundary ahead of the main storm. If you are camping or towing and see this coming turn and face into it or get behind a large building to break the wind.

We had a similar experience near Quanah in 1983. A huge supercell thunderstorm developed to our southeast and and proceeded to send out a nasty derecho. It had straight line winds in excess of 110 mph. We were camped at a small RV park on Lake Pauline (now gone). The outflow hit us and we had just enough time to position our F350 on the windward side of the trailer, climb into the truck and ride the the storm. The 5er behind us was flipped on its side. Fortunately it was unoccupied. Two mobile homes on the far side of the park and the store/office weren't so fortunate. Both mobile homes were blown over and the store lost part of its roof. We made it out of that situation by using the truck as a windbreaker and it helped.

I'm glad the man in the destroyed RV was OK and you survived your experience. RVs are very poor shelters in severe thunderstorms.

stormer · 07-09-2019, 11:23 PM

A follow up on this post. I called zamp solar yesterday and told them my story about how this was the "1st day" of use of their panels and how it did cartwheels. The leg had bent and I had to remove it. I just wanted to buy replacement stands/legs. They are going to send me out a new set of upgraded legs, no charge. (sent them pics of the panels) I'm very impressed with that! He said it was warranty. I think their warranty is awesome. (it includes human stupidity!) Yeah, I should have stowed those solar panels. This was human error on my part. So hows that for very cool customer service??

James

rlh1957 · 07-10-2019, 07:52 AM

Good customer service is like that. It costs them little but pays them back in actual user spreading good words. Worth more than any professional ad agency could get for them and charges them out the wazoo for their college boy chintzy advice. Customer Service used to be like that everywhere. Customer wasn't always right but you became an attitude adjuster, PR man, troubleshooter and sympathizer with that customer. The customer didn't always leave with what they wanted, but they truly knew that someone cared, listened and tried to do something for them. You can't buy that.

5picker · 07-10-2019, 08:03 AM

yep, your post about Zamp has done more goodwill for the company than 100 times the cost of those legs. That is awesome.

Enjoy... it's all about the journey!

salwolfe · 07-11-2019, 01:49 PM

I'm glad noone was injured in the storm except for "things" which can be replaced. In 17 years of RVing we have learned to always try and be aware of weather, and where and how far safe shelters are. Probably 10 times we have left the campgrounds for more sturdy shelter or gone to brick and mortar buildings in or immediately around the camp ground, always with our dogs. Had a guy one time tell us you can't come into the restroom with your dogs. Hide and watch, bubba. Thanks for telling us about your experience.

rlh1957 · 07-11-2019, 02:26 PM

Being hooked to the truck won't necessarily keep the rig from going over. Look at the accidents where towed rig rolled over while attached to tow vehicle and TV still upright.

WOW I guess ol boy was in church the next Sunday. Hope he had a spare pair of drawers in his truck.

Dang, He steps out the door and whoosh trailer gone! Can't think of a better movie script.

stormer · 07-11-2019, 06:10 PM

Update: Ok, today we were at the National Grasslands Park Visitor center and my wife had brought up this story of the guys trailer that got blew off the cliff on 4th. The ranger said she knew about that. Here is an update:

The guy's door was facing the cliff side. He opened his door and then the trailer "rolled over on him" on it's way over the cliff. He suffered a badly bruised shoulder and a few broken ribs.

James

Major Oz · 07-15-2019, 07:38 PM

As a long time boater, I apply lessons learned to my RV's.

When severe weather threatens, HOOK UP........that is, attach your TV, toad, or whatever makes your rig complete.

Bring in all slides, secure all hatches, remove chocks, lift jacks, etc.......button up.

HEAD INTO THE WIND !!

If it's a tornado, just do the "bend over, grab your ankles, and........" maneuver. Otherwise, being "fully dressed" always minimizes all damages.

......and you are ready to run......

Carolem · 07-15-2019, 07:46 PM

Wow - what a frightening experience. I’m so glad you are ok. You didn’t really say but did you have any/much water damage from the areas where the rain came in? I’m glad I read this because I don’t know if we would think to put the slide in when a storm pops up. We put the awning in but from now on we’ll also be sure to bring in the slide.

jwfrede · 07-15-2019, 10:44 PM

I was in the KOA Badlands that week. There was a heavy thunderstorm at night on July 2,3,4, and 6. On the 5th the thunderstorm was light and in the afternoon. I think the 4th was the worst, I looked at the radar, it was green, yellow, red, pink and white in the middle. I think we only got up to the red area at our campground. The campground is just a bit south of Interior, BTW they had a pretty good fireworks display in that little town.

The thunderstorms happened to be moving NE that night if I recall, but I don't think you can position your trailer ahead of time because you don't know the exact direction more than an hour or so in advance. Other nights I think they were moving SE.

If you are boondocking on the open prairie there is not much you could do except leave the trailer hitched to the vehicle with the stabilizers up and be ready to move the direction you are pointed.

cinandsheri · 07-16-2019, 07:31 AM

I'm glad everyone is ok as well. June 15,2019... Clinton OK same exact thing you described especially the part about "this is it" and having a calm feeling about it. I felt God's presence and i just asked him to make it quick.
We have a class c sunseeker. We were wondering (before and after) if we should have gotten in the cab and buckled up? I suppose we run the risk of debris hitting glass (which our windshield did get cracked) but maybe better than getting thrown around inside... Which thank you, God! Did not happen this time.
Certainly the scariest exp of our lives and that was our 2 nd night heading to our destination in Colorado. I'll be honest, i wanted to turn around and go home!
3 wks later after heading east again, we made quick work of getting out of E Tx...OK... And Arkansas!

jgiarrus · 07-16-2019, 08:54 AM

Glad your all OK we where in campground in Wall that night , wow what a storm, I was preparing for a tornado flag pole across from us was horizontal so was the rain which was hitting the RV with tremendous force. I haven't seen a storm that bad since the tornados in Tennessee a few years ago. We looked at that ridge the day before but we decided because the road was muddy not to try it we have a class A just didn't want to chance it. the next morning I said to my girlfriend I'm sure glad we didn't go up on the ridge we might have gotten blown off , I said I hope everyone's OK up there.

stormer · 07-16-2019, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgiarrus

Glad your all OK we where in campground in Wall that night , wow what a storm, I was preparing for a tornado flag pole across from us was horizontal so was the rain which was hitting the RV with tremendous force. I haven't seen a storm that bad since the tornados in Tennessee a few years ago. We looked at that ridge the day before but we decided because the road was muddy not to try it we have a class A just didn't want to chance it. the next morning I said to my girlfriend I'm sure glad we didn't go up on the ridge we might have gotten blown off , I said I hope everyone's OK up there.

Yeah, it was pretty bad! There were 2 RVers that towed out as soon as the worst passed. I couldn't believe it. I mean, the road was a total mud slosh. Hard enough when you are 4x4 and just a truck, let alone towing out on that muddy road at night. They probably looked at their situation and decided to tow out... On the 5th, there were quite a few folks who had to be towed out of the mud trying to get to the main road.

We were able to take a helecopter tour and flew over where we were boondocking.

This is where the RV blow off the ridge...

And just a little bit further is where we were boondocking:

James

stormer · 07-16-2019, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carolem

Wow - what a frightening experience. I’m so glad you are ok. You didn’t really say but did you have any/much water damage from the areas where the rain came in? I’m glad I read this because I don’t know if we would think to put the slide in when a storm pops up. We put the awning in but from now on we’ll also be sure to bring in the slide.

No water damage, thankfully. Our storage compartment latch got beat up and broke on the wind side. (on the kitchen slide facing the wind). I had it duct taped for a week. I just fixed it yesterday. Just a little tweaking of the mechanism and it's all fixed.

James

You may also like: