What stupid things have you done to your new trailer?

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meternerd

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Joined
Mar 30, 2012
Posts
158
Probably lots of links to stories, but I don't know how to find 'em...so  Am I the only one who's done dumb stuff right off the bat?  OK, I'll start.  2014 Montana fifth wheel.  Forgot to close the fridge door , closed the slide for the kitchen and snapped off one of the cabinet door handles.  Left the table rotated 90 deg, closed the slide and smashed the table against the kitchen counter.  Lost the handle to one of the dump valves.  Must have been a loose screw.  Bent the bottom of the back ladder somehow..maybe backing into a hill?  Blew a tire and assumed the extra drag was because the engine was having problems....guy flagged me down and said my tire was on fire...mostly smoke.  Forgot to raise the front landing gear (twice) because I was too focused on making sure the slides were in all the way. Forgot to put the cap on the sewer fitting (3 times).  Tried to manually level on a really unlevel spot.  The auto level said too much tilt.  Pulled the lower trim loose due to frame flex.  But...mother of all stupid.  First trip, came out of a parking lot and misjudged the "cut the corner" issue.  Crunched a guys brand new rear quarter panel and smashed a BIG dent in the lower aluminum sheet by the trailer door.  I probably forgot the rest.  Just would like to know I'm not the only idiot.  If I am, tell me to quit posting.... :-[
 
Sigh, I have to confess to the last one too.  :'( That was an expensive mistake. Anybody that claims to be goof up free either never goes out or is a d**n liar. It sounds like you need a detailed pre trip list. Then you need to religiously follow it because Murphy shows up at the most inconvenient times.
 
Tearing up cabinet doors with the slides is common. I do it just for giggles. Caught the right landing leg on a high spot--bent it. Drug the side along one of those 2 foot high poles they put in campgrounds to tear up trailers. Did not want to disappoint whoever put it there. Forgot to look up and have taken off two fridge vents and I have forgotten how many tank vents. Have bent the ladder twice and put a hole in the fiberglass rear.  Almost all of my problems are self-inflicted.
 
In my last 5th wheel, I crushed a small plastic garbage can with the slide..... in my own defense, the button for the slide in the camper didn't work so I had to use the button on the motor itself in the basement.....had I been in the RV when the slide was moving, I might have caught the can before it got crushed....lol
 
Shortly after I bought my first camper, I installed an rv outlet on my garage and wired it for 220, because my friend told me the camper was 220v. Turns out the camper is 110v(had I looked hard enough I would have seen at least four stickers in various places telling me that), and when I plugged it in I heard the the power converter pop from 15 feet away. I killed the converter and the heating element for the fridge.... that cost me about $300.
I stopped at the dump station and when I pulled the gate to dump my black tank I discovered that I had not fully connected the hose and made a little mess.
Oh and I drove for about 60 miles with the door open. I only noticed it when I was stopping and happened to glance in my side mirror and saw it swinging open.
 
How far did it go in before the boat floated onto the roof? Inquiring minds need to know. 8)
 
As a newb, we once left our ZipDee awning on the airstream up in west South Dakota mountain country. Later our first night, we got hit with a massive hail/wind storm (almsot every night we got hit with something.. crazy weather!)...

Next morning, we could barely crawl out of the trailer as the ZipDee was destroyed and in front of the door.

Never, ever make that mistake again.
 
I was backing uphill, at an angle, on ice. Instead of of just stopping and staging the trailer in the overflow lot until the next day, I just kept at it. The trailer just kept following the same tracks each time and there was a snow drift on the side of the road opposite the site, so I was limited on my turning space. Eventually the trailer slid on the ice and of course I was on the throttle a little bit, causing a jack knife and crunched the corner of the bed on my Ram. $1200 damage to truck, and a scuff on the trailer. The scuff buffed out with Meguier's Scratch-X. The fiberglass caps on these trailers seem to be pretty tough. I ended up staging in the overflow lot for the night. We were only 35 miles from home, so we came back the next day. Ice was melted and trailer went into place 1st try with no extra effort. It just doesn't pay to be hardheaded. Looking back at it, I just realized that was the first time we used the trailer.
 
I now take my time getting the rig ready to go anywhere. I call it the "good luck factor". If I have done everything I can think of to put forth "good luck" then very little will go wrong. It still goes wrong, but not near as often, not near as much.

I double check so many things for the "good luck factor". I also do certain things very slowly for the "good luck factor".

I put water in my tank just to drive... in case I break down I have water. I like to keep my gas tank at over a half tank so there is generator gas. Matter of fact, I find that filling up at 3/4 full and only buying 1/4 tank makes for a speedy trip through the gas lines.

Well, last time I broke down, the tire de-treaded on I-95 in a high traffic area that was under more construction. I had watched all the videos at Univ. of YouTube so I didn't panic and managed to stop without causing a wreck.

Roadside assistance of course took nearly 4 hours and that tank of gas and water was super useful. I was able to at least be comfortable in my mess, make lunch, wash dishes, flush the toilet and run the generator when it got too hot.

Still, I used to have brown paint on my rig from those 25 inch brown painted poles the camps loves to install in the worst places. There is a certain state that puts their water and electric hookups in 2 different inconvenient spots on each site, like a sobriety test for parking your rig without hitting either one and still being able to reach (hookup) to both. Ha! It provides endless entertainment to watch others too...

I let my friend drive and at a drive up camp check in, he managed to knock their roof cockeyed. Granted they had no business having a drive thru with such a low roof but still, it did a lot of damage to their roof but only scratched my rig. I figured my insurance would skyrocket when they filed the claim, but they didn't bother to file a claim.

Another time I was a newbie, creeping down a street with a friend riding along  who was making fun of me creeping along. I said I was worried about the low hanging tree branches. He said RELAX! You aren't going to hit a thing. We had ended up on a side street because the gas station I tried to pull into was too full. Well, I sped up and CRUNCH we hit the next tree branch and it made a horrific noise. Luckily just more scratches and no real damage but the noise was awful.

When I was still new at this, I thought the entry door was locked but I didn't bother to double check this item (now I do!). Well it flew open in heavy traffic frightening me and the folks in the lane to my right. Even worse, my new puppy wanted to go investigate this new phenomenon. Now he is tied to his seat for safety.

The things we learn from our mistakes.

I so wish SOMEONE had warned me that trees MOVE in campgrounds in under 2 seconds. My brand new cargo carrier looked new for two weeks then a tree moved while I was backing up and left a nice neat tree sized dent in it.
 
Did not secure the two sliding doors for the bedroom - Kim thought I did it - I thought she did it. Luckily it was a local campground - only about a 15 minute drive - but we still ended up with some nice size holes in the wall panels as the doors bounced back and forth.


Installed a bike rack in a receiver on the back bumper but did not tighten it down well enough - ended up with a nice pattern of dents in the aluminum siding...but at least the bikes were still there when we got to the campground!


And I once drove 3 hours on I-95 before I realized I never plugged the TT into the truck when we left that morning. Oops!
 
There aren't enough pixels in a 4K monitor, and I'd crash the server if I tried to list all the mistakes I've made while RVing, but no one ever got hurt (physically) - just ego owies. All fond memories.

Kev
 
Plenty, but the one I'm most ashamed of:
I'm unhitching my travel trailer's Equal-i-zer hitch. After removing the bars I stand them against the trailer frame while I raise the hitch to clear the ball. Pull the truck forward, then lower the hitch and suddenly hear a "crack!"
Turns out that one of the bars slipped back along the trailer frame until it was leaning against the front of the trailer body. Lowering the hitch let it push right into the front body panel.
Fortunately the hole only penetrated the outer layer, leaving a silver-dollar sized breach in the composite panel. Patched it by gluing a 2x4 reflector over the hole. Nobody's ever asked why my trailer has an orange reflector on the lower front.
 
Back in the Pop Up days....

We were getting set up and normally there is a division of labor with me doing all the outside work while my beloved sets up the insides.

*** The following is the story we are sticking to ***

After arrival we were greeted by friends who unwittingly distracted us from our usual routine. Miscommunication lead to one of the roof clamps being left closed when the cranking started. Since my back was turned plugging in the water and electric, and his head was down while cranking away like a mad man, no one saw the pup top at an awful tilt. We did hear the cable snap.

A section of 2 inch PVC pipe acted as a temporary leg and saved the weekend. $16 worth of parts made the repair to the camper. A mutually agreed upon story made for a happy weekend.
 
I guess I've been luckier than some, or maybe not yet been at it as long as some :)
Fortunately nothing that has caused major damage...at least so far...

Once I was broke down in a park in California on the way home from a trip to Disneyland with the motor home.
The shop I found for repairs, I could see from the campground. Packed up and drove over. When I got out the guy asked me if I wanted to tear off my antenna.. I had left it up, and fortunately didn't drive under anything. I now put a tag on it when it's raised.

When we downsized to the little pop up that we pulled behind the motorcycle, I wanted to put a lock box in the storage area. I wanted it bolted in so proceeded to drill a hole through the bottom of the trailer. I suddenly got a rush of air, and thought to myself, "I don't have airshocks, WTF???"  I forgot that the spare tire was mounted on the bottom of the trailer, and drilled right into the sidewall ::). I took it to Les Schwab, I wasn't sure if it was repairable or not, the guy said "This looks like someone drilled this". All I could do was laugh!!

When I brought home the trailer we have now, I tried to back it in to the parking spot at home by myself. I still had a portable 10x20 shelter in the trailer spot, but was going to park in front of the shelter temporarily. I was a little off in my estimate of where the trailer was, put a dent in the trailer and bent one of the legs of the shelter!

I won't back without help any more, and I always make a point of doing a walkaround before I take off anywhere and try to get my wife to do the same.

Live and learn as they say!

 
My in-laws often join us at campgrounds with their travel trailer..... here are some things I've seen them do:

- mount a wood/glass clock on the wall in the path of the slide out only to have it knocked off, glass shattered everywhere, and crushed in the slide.
- forget their sewer attachment at every single campground ever and needing to go back for it
- forget a very expensive folding stainless grill somewhere in Florida
- drive 3 hours 1 way to a campground.....the Mother-In-Law gets it in the Father-In-Law's head that he left the garage door at home wide open with the $50K Harley trike in it.... he drove 3 hours back...door was closed
- Leave one of the Exit windows in the RV wide open flapping in the wind down the interstate
- make over 50 attempts (I stopped counting at 50) to back it into the perfect position on the campsite..... ended up in the middle of the site with his extended awning about 6' from my slide out (I was parked right next to him).... then complained that the site was so small...
- refusing to use planks to run up on for leveling and insists on trying to fully level it using only the stabilizers....hand crank....then complains that it is taking him an hour and a half to level and is so tired from cranking.....

I'm sure there will be plenty more stories like these.... these are only from their first 5 camping trips....

I have a plan for my man this summer though....... I am going to install new stabilizer jacks with the hex drive (his current one isn't hex drive) on his trailer and order him the drill attachment so he can use his power drill to crank those up and down....I am also getting him a big level for the front of his camper that he can see from his rear view mirror, and make him a few planks so he can have an easier time leveling the thing.

I am also going to work on a check list for him.... he has a bad habit of being in a hurry during check out... he rushes and ALWAYS forgets something.... He pulls out of the site and takes off....I will now be doing walk a through of their site after they pull out to recover the forgotten items.

This season, I'll pretty much be setting up their whole site for them so I always have 2 full RV setups and breakdowns to do whenever I camp.... it's not a big deal..they are getting physically incapable of doing too much anymore......  I've got setting up my 5er down to a science....and I'll get their trailer down to a science as well....I should have no problem setting the 2 RV's up including leveling in 30 mins.

All that work..... why? The kiddies and Nana & Pop Pop get to spend quality time together while camping, and the wife and I get a date night!!!
 
;D You have the patience of a saint. I shake my head at #4, my mother was like that. She would spend the whole trip worrying whether she left the stove turned on or the bathroom tap running.
 
Crunched my lower genny compartment door when I pulled the front slide in. Had it up (it lifts up not sideways like the doors do now) to work on genny...then got sidetracked and forgot to lower it before pulling the slide in. Ugh!!! But it looked like the guy who owned the MH before us did the same thing to the door just behind the genny. Now I have safety chains to keep the door from opening up enough to cause that again.

On another incident...forgot to lean captains chair back when closing the slide and it bent the base of the chair and popped the molding off the inside frame of the slide. Both were not hard to fix. But... Ugh anyway.

I know these are both my fault but they are flaws in the designs of the MH to even allow that. Or they are left that way so the dealers can make more money??  :eek:
 
First day I owned my TT I went to put my water hose on and twisted the valve so hard I broke the plastic pipe and didn't realize it till water started to leak out the bottom...oops easy fix thankfully, 2 week I owned it I tried to Jack it onto stands and leaned against it and the trailer fell off the jacks and blew all 4 tires (thankfully no other damage) I felt quite smart that day.
 
First time pulling my Yamaha SX 230, I clipped a wheel coming into the campground.  I bought a new axle directly from the trailer company and they painted it Yamaha blue for me at no extra charge. I bent the fender back out by hand.  That one cost me about $250...just about the same as it cost me when I lost the "key" to my 2012 Durango somewhere between a campground and home.  It must have fallen out of my pocket onto the golf cart trailer.  We were in 2 vehicles - the Durango and the class B American Cruiser.  I moved the Durango to load the golf cart.  I drove the Cruiser home and didn't realize I didn't have my Durango key until I got home.
 
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