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meaningful_meanderings

meaningful_meanderings

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Joined
Sep 15, 2021
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24
Location
Texas
Growing up in the south with a lot of trailer homes all around, and seeing how well they do NOT handle strong winds; what do you guys do on the road when winds come up? We had a week or two of bad weather down here and one of the last fronts to blow though overturned a decent sized RV moored at the local lake park. I actually drove by it going kayaking a day earlier but didn't bother to see if it was strapped down or not. I know with mobile homes people would screw these big anchors in the ground and put tie straps over the top of the trailer house. There was a specified number based on size in the local building codes. I've tent camped in a few RV spots (for the utilities) but have never seen any tie down points. What am I missing...?
 
If you encounter a 100 mph wind in an RV, nothing is going to help. If the wind is just heavy but not catastrophic, point your tail to the wind and hope (after you head to the storm shelter yourself). We have been in a 70 mph wind in a TT, and it was bad. The TT stayed upright though.
 
Put your head or tail to the wind. If you have high wind forecast, MOVE rather than just sit in a campsite broadside to the expected wind direction.

If possible at a fairly premanent location, you can indeed put down screw anchors and chain your axles down.

The obvious solution is to stay out of those areas during storm season. Don't be in Tornado/Hail Alley or Dixie Alley March to June. Derecho events are often forecast days in advance; get out of the area or at least get parked head to wind. You can easily drive away from a hurricane threat.
 
RVs aren't strapped down to the ground. Simple physics says if the winds get high enough to topple a semi-truck they'll blow over a similar sized RV.
 
We had a wind come up Saturday night - what they call a Micro-Burst - that pushed The RV about 6-10 inches from where it was parked, and grabbed our Starlink Dishy right off the roof, and flung till the line popped tight, and threw it on the ground. It threw the neighbors' Trampoline over our house and about 100 yards across a drainage ditch.
Fortunately, we did not have the canopy extended, nor the Slide-out. It ripped the tape job I had installed over the Bedroom vent cover which have been shattered by the hailstorm on the 20th. (Insurance guy is supposed to be here this week for the hail damage.) Hopefully we can add the new damage to the current claim. [sigh]
As for Dishy, well it has some dings and dents and the cord is jammed into the dish so we cannot detach it, but when we repositioned it and fired it up, it still works just fine. A plug for Starlink. Those dishes can take a lot of abuse, and still keep ticking.

Living out on the Prairie can be an adventure.
With our luck, we will probably get out of here and down to Florida just in time for Hurricane Season. [sigh]
 
meaningful_meanderings said:
I've tent camped in a few RV spots (for the utilities) but have never seen any tie down points. What am I missing...?
Click to expand...
I have been RVing for more than 40 years and I can only recall an RV site with tie-down points in 2 locations and both of them were host sites in a Kansas state park. I agree with parking facing into the wind in the event of a wind storm, both for safety and for comfort. I have traveled through and around the Midwest in storm seasons for many years and have not had any problems but there have been a few sleepless nights. Most RVs would be safer in a storm than the tents that you have stayed in. A good set of leveling jacks will help a great deal as they can prevent the rocking of most storm events or at least lessen the effects. I also always fill the waste tanks at least 1/2 full and the potable water tank completely full to add weight and lower the center of gravity.
 
Last edited:
Kirk said:
I have been RVing for more than 40 years and I can only recall an RV site with tie-down points in 2 locations and both of them were host sites in a Kansas state park. I agree with parking facing into the wind in the event of a wind storm, both for safety and for comfort. I have traveled through and around the Midwest in storm seasons for many years and have not had any problems but there have been a few sleepless nights. Most RVs would be safer in a storm than the tents that you have stayed in. A good set of leveling jacks will help a great deal as they can prevent the rocking of most storm events or at least lessen the effects. I also always fill the waste tanks at least 1/2 full and the potable water tank completely full to add weight and lower the center of gravity.
Click to expand...
Great Idea, I hadn't thought about filling the tanks for ballast !! (y)
 
meaningful_meanderings said:
Growing up in the south with a lot of trailer homes all around, and seeing how well they do NOT handle strong winds; what do you guys do on the road when winds come up? We had a week or two of bad weather down here and one of the last fronts to blow though overturned a decent sized RV moored at the local lake park. I actually drove by it going kayaking a day earlier but didn't bother to see if it was strapped down or not. I know with mobile homes people would screw these big anchors in the ground and put tie straps over the top of the trailer house. There was a specified number based on size in the local building codes. I've tent camped in a few RV spots (for the utilities) but have never seen any tie down points. What am I missing...?
Click to expand...
If you're Tent camping, you generally make your own tie-downs. (Well, we always did)
and the RV just relies on Gravity, which, most of the time, works pretty well.
 
We've been in some crazy storms and winds over our 40 years of camping together and we've never been on a campsite that had tie downs or anchors. We've been through 4 tornados over those years. I suppose we were not at ground zero because we never got top-sided!

No matter where we go, when we camp at a new-to-us campground, we always ask where shelter is in the event of a tornado or a severe thunderstorm. That's why we carry insurance on the camper. It can blow away as long as we and our doggies are safe! Everything else is replaceable.
 
Only twice have I encountered winds in triple digits with my Class A.
First time they were dead and I mean DEAD astern. The road was arrow straignt and the Tumble weeds were passing me like I was parked.. I just continued. So long as the winds were dead astern no problem and 13.8MPG was nice (I kid you not)
Exiting however was.. Done very very very carefully (Another class A. Same storm. was exiting the RV park when a blast of wind caught it and it rolled EXITING, likely below 20 MPH. The other time was Hurricane Matthew. and I was going nowhere.. Parked, Stable. Had no damage to my rig I did pull in awnings pre-storm.. Provided power for the other RVer who stuck around since his trailer had no generator.
 
meaningful_meanderings said:
Growing up in the south with a lot of trailer homes all around, and seeing how well they do NOT handle strong winds; what do you guys do on the road when winds come up? We had a week or two of bad weather down here and one of the last fronts to blow though overturned a decent sized RV moored at the local lake park. I actually drove by it going kayaking a day earlier but didn't bother to see if it was strapped down or not. I know with mobile homes people would screw these big anchors in the ground and put tie straps over the top of the trailer house. There was a specified number based on size in the local building codes. I've tent camped in a few RV spots (for the utilities) but have never seen any tie down points. What am I missing...?
Click to expand...
This was us in Texas 2 weeks ago. 85 mph straight line winds.
 

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Onyrlef said:
85 mph straight line winds.
Click to expand...
And the interesting thing is that while we live in Mesquite where there was a lot of tree damage and the golf course is still working on their down trees, yet we have heard nothing of damage to the RV parks and there is one just a short distance to the east of us. That said, if conditions start to destroy buildings you need to be somewhere other than in an RV!
 
I didn't mean RV parks providing tie-downs. I meant that if you own your own site or have another permanent-type arrangement, you can install ground anchors, pull or back in your rv appropriately, and pull loops of chain over the axles to those anchors. That would effectively anchor your rv to the ground.

I've seen it done, and it's what I'd do if I had a somewhat permanent site.
 
About 20 years ago an irv2.com member, who happened to be an engineer, mapped out his 5er to find center of gravity and actual weight. His calculations showed it took an 87mph side-wind to overturn his 5er.
Would I bet my life on calculations, NOPE! Anything bought with money can be replaced with more money; I'll find the nearest storm shelter ASAP.
 
Lived in Texas for 10 years stationed at Ft Hood. Experienced those high winds. Was a truck driver years back and went through similar winds. I got luck. I didn’t tip over. 10 rigs in front of me were on their sides. Serious pucker factor. Best advice, have good insurance. Protect your self 1st. Let insurance take care of the RV. As flimsy as these RVs are built, doubt tying them down would work well. You may come back to a chassis and wheels only.
 
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