slide hit tree on extending

[MI.MARK]

    I guess it was only a matter of time before the slide hit a tree while extending. It continued to push for a few,10,sec. before the switch was released. For the rest of the 3 week trip it seems to operate normally. It might be a little out of square when open ,but still seals good. Has anyone had a similar problem?
any things I should be looking for? 

 

[pdq]

one of the first tings i did in buying the motorhome....

- measured the extended distance of the three slides
- cut a piece of one-by-one to the length of the slide that extended the most
- painted the stick white
- marked the other two slide distances on the stick
- put a felt "dot" at one end of the stick (didn't want to scratch the new motorhome)

due to the great fear of extending a slide and hitting something - I use this stick to measure before extending the slides
(I guess it was that old carpentry thing of "measure twice, cut once" was in my brain...so came the idea of making this stick)

regards, peter

 

[rbell]

A long time ago I had unhooked and leveled our trailer only to find out the slide was going to hit the electrical box. So I had to hook everything up and move it a couple inches. That after a long day of driving & me wanting to rest a bit. So now I use Peter's stick method.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

any things I should be looking for? 

More trees. And power pedestals and water pipes too.  : Get in the habit of looking before opening the slides, and don't forget to look up by the roofline too.

Like pdq & Dick Bell, we carry a piece of wood dowel marked with the length of our three slides. If in any doubt at all, we measure.

 

[Betty Brewer]

When we park our motorhome, I always drive to the site before  Terry follows me in rig.  I get out of car and spot him into the site.  I've gotten pretty good at estimating the distance for our slide.  Bigger obstacles for me to judge are the bay doors.  It's good to be able  to open them!  I look at  sewer location, electrical post and slide obstructions.  Then I hope he can get level and that the trees don't block the southern sky views for satellite.  Yep we like clear cut areas! 

Idid back him into a tree years ago when we had our first rig.  Bent the heck out of the ladder.  I was looking down at curb he was inching close to and failed to see the  BIG tree right behind him.  Never did that one again .

I'll bet you won't hit another obstacle when opening your slide.  Lessons are all learned with experience and  problems solved with money!
Betty

 

[Orick]

Haven't (yet) opened a slide into a tree, but I have a number of dings to my full body paint and every one of them is a story and a memory!  There's the "open the plumbing bay door right into the hook up hose bib" story... and the ever popular "lean my sand wedge against the picnic table (head up) and watch in horror as it falls in slow motion, slamming into the back of my coach" story.  I learned early on that we need to be careful but can't take it all too seriously or we'll drive ourselves (and others) crazy!  ;D

 

[RollingRock]

We have two slides on our 5er, bunkhouse and a superslide...I keep a tape measure and always measure before unhooking.  2 weeks ago, I backed in to a nice tight spot...measured my superslide...unhooked and got level, open the slides and within a few seconds, the rear slide stopped...I went out to check...whoops...tree .  I was 3" inches too deep in the site...had to hook it all up and pull forward 3 inches.  It was 107 outside too...but anyway, I just use a tape measure to make sure I am clear...now I check both! 

 

[Stewie Griffin]

So far the wife an I use the "team" method, one of us stands outside and watches, even if their aren't any obstacles, you never know what can happen with these things.  Also, make sure you check obstacles inside, there is a kitchen drawer that likes to slide open during transit, if it does and we don't push it in we can kiss it goodby, that slide will take it right off, Bedroom slide has  things that can get in the way too.
Oh yeah, of course you have to check when closing the slides too, branches can land on top of the slide and not be seen.

 

[MI.MARK]

      Thanks for the advice. Itook an old broom handle &cut it to length + an inch or so. We always use the team method for getting into a site. It's just that some of us are better at estimating distance than others. Hmm.