New candidate for the stupid mistake award!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Will

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 30, 2006
Posts
202
Location
Mississippi
So my mistake started out simple enough, but the consequences are what make it worse.

I unhooked the RV today to drive it to class, and I was running late and a little rushed.  I got in and drove for a short ways before I noticed some movement in my rearview.  I got out and realize I had not unhooked the water hose from the side of the rig.  Instead of just breaking the water hose, it pulled the spigot up out of the ground along with about 80ft of black burial hose, where the hose broke at a junction.  There was no way to cut off the water without shutting it off at the meter, also killing water to the rental unit nearby.

Worst part is, I had a midterm, so I had NO time to stick around and fix it.  I'll just have to fix it in the dark when I get back at 10PM tonight.

The only bright side is, I no longer think that breaking the vent lid at the car wash last week was the stupidest mistake ever.
 
You're far from a "Darwin Award."  :D It would be interesting to create a spot for stupid mistakes...we have all made them and some a lot worse than yours ;) Can't think of any I have made though ::)
 
Bummer man! Okay here's my Stupid Mistake confession: A couple years ago, before I owned a trailer or RV of any type, a bunch of friends and I rented an RV for a vacation trip. None of us had any experience with such a rig (just a little 32' class-C.. nothing crazy here) so we relied on everything the rental yard told us. All went well, except for when it was time to pack up and come home. For whatever reason, it didnt occur to us to empty the black water before the gray, and thus we were stuck with a very stinky hose!! you havent really laughed until you've seen 4 MotoGP-class motorcycle racers being grossed out by a stinky little hose! ewwwww!!!

;D
 
Don't know if this is quite up there with your hose story, but back when we had a 5th wheel, Mike once (and ONLY once) pulled the pin on the hitch before putting down the front jacks.....makes for a nice dent in the pickup bed.

There's also driving off with the TV antanna still up but I think everyone's done that.

And then there are husbands who drive off without their wives...........
 
Ouch, Wendy, just ouch.

Well, I have neither wife nor dog to leave behind. My RV has a fixed TV antenna so anything that takes that off will take the AC with it.  I thought I was safe.

The water hookup is RIGHT NEXT to the door handle on the rig, so I don't know how I missed it.

I made a trip to Lowes, and spent the 3.50 in parts to hook the water back up, but I'll have to rent a trencher to bury the 80 some odd feet i pulled up out of the ground before temps get below freezing.
 
woodartist said:
It would be interesting to create a spot for stupid mistakes...we have all made them...

If we get enough of them it might make sense. FWIW I previously started this topic hoping folks would add their mishap stories.
 
Ok here is our stupid story..... Stupid is as stupid does.....
We were on our way for a weekend trip thank goodness we were only about 1/2 hour from home we started smelling something burning and it was getting stronger, we pulled off the side of the road I grabbed my two tiny yorkies my son grabbed the fire extingisher and my husband grabbed the cell phone, so here we are walking around the MH trying to figure it out, the generator turned itself off we could not figure it out we thought maybe a belt on the generator was burning up. I made my husband call everyone, from good sams, flying J's the dealer, etc.. to see if they could let us bring it in or they come to us to fix the problem so we could be on our way to the game. But nope no one could the dealer told us it is a 2 day job to work on the generator with no slide for it. So we turn got back in after determining this was the generator and weather was still to hot to sleep with no ac. We did go to the game by car the next day. 2 days later we bring the MH into the dealer and as I said before stupid is as stupid does. Nothing wrong with generator the mechanic said every RV owner knows that when your gas gets to 1/4 tank the generator turns off.  We figured we would just get gas up the road from the interstate. We will never make that mistake again, we could not figure that out cause our boat does not do that when the fuel gets to 1/4 tank.

ColleenFL
 
Our previous motorhome, which we bought used, had detailed maintenance records with it. In those records were work orders at he dealership to replace the end of the 30A power cable. Not just one such work order, but THREE of them in 30 months. It seems the two guys who owned the rig were in the habit of driving off without disconnecting from shore power...  They had traded the coach in for a new Safari - maybe they thought that 50A cables were stronger? Or that the automatic cable reel was truly automatic?
 
I think it would be a great idea to make a mini Darwin Award for RV bloopers. I'm trying to sort through the many I have done and will post a few of the more extreme. Believe me, there are a few (lot) ::)
 
woodartist said:
I think it would be a great idea to make a mini Darwin Award for RV bloopers. I'm trying to sort through the many I have done and will post a few of the more extreme. Believe me, there are a few (lot) ::)

Would this be the same as our HFWPOH award????

Jerry
 
For those like me who had no idea what HFWPOH means, after lengthy searching, I find it stands for "Hit Forehead With Palm of Hand".....something like Homer Simpson's "doh"..............
 
Wendy, first time you screw up at a rally you'll find out what it is  ;D
 
wendycoke said:
For those like me who had no idea what HFWPOH means, after lengthy searching, I find it stands for "Hit Forehead With Palm of Hand".....something like Homer Simpson's "doh"..............

Wendy,
As an official holder of the HFWPOH award I can tell you it is really something to be recognized by your peers for doing something that most people would never admit to. ::) ;)  (I think)

Jerry
 
My very first long trip with a large group I was awakened by the group at 2am.  I am not a morning person but we were heading out early.  I have practiced many times getting ready but all during daylight hours.  Well I left the jacks down, left the TV antenna up and my wallet in my car.  For some reason the alarm that is supposed to sound when the jacks are down did not go off but luckily I had it jacked up more in the rear and I was parked in the grass.  The rear tires just spun and I quickly figured that out before anyone noticed.  I put them up, restarted the coach and we were off.  just around the corner we heard some noise from the top of the coach.  Some one asked what that was and I said " oh, that's nothing just trees brushing the side of the coach.  We hear it again and I felt that cold chill.  Crap.  Quick turn that crank etc...  Another minute passes and my Caffeine kicks in and I remember my wallet was in the other car from my earlier shopping trip.  we turn everything around and head back to the house to pick it up. 

I just hate starts like that.  Luckely the rest of the trip went flawless.  The black bears even left my coach alone but the local trash cans were not so lucky.  Even bear proof dumpsters are no match for a big hungry bear.

So far that is the worst I have done.

Jeff
 
I have posted this before but most of you have not seen it ...
It has been a couple of years ago when Carroll and I bought our second motorhome.  Our first was a class ?C?  this time we went for the class ?A?.  We were like a couple of kids with our new 34 foot Sea Breeze.  It had everything we could ever want for our adventures on the road.  All except a blind on the entry door window.  Our first motorhome had frosted glass in the door so we had no need for a blind.  This one, however, had a tinted window.  We liked it because you could see out but we were somewhat perplexed that there was no blind.  We decided we would have to fashion some sort of curtain.  Off to WalMart for spring-loaded caf? curtain rods and some fabric that Carroll thought would complement our new unit?s blue interior.  When we got home Carroll made quick work of sewing together the curtains and I was just as quick in threading them onto the rods and positioning them in the entry door window.  We wondered if we should share our quick fix with others.  It was with a sense of satisfaction that I went to bed that night and though of how clever we had been.  Then I thought, hey ? what if I installed a roller type blind underneath shelving unit that is over the door!  That way we could still have the view out the window when we wanted it during the day.  First thing the next morning I went out to the coach to measure for the new blind.  As I looked up at the shelving unit I noticed the roller type blind that the Sea Breeze design people had already installed.
For Sale: Two spring-loaded caf? curtain rods and readymade curtain that will go nicely with a blue interior.
 
Stupid or Stinky.  Parking our Class C at Mom's house for our visit was a breeze as they had owned an RV in the past and had all hook ups next to the driveway.
One morning I was awakened by the sound of her yard men mowing and weed eating the yard.  Not a problem until two days later it was time to empty the tanks.  Pulling open the T to the black tank I was showered head to toe.  Seems the yard men had weed eated my drain hose, ripping it to shreds.  I replaced the twenty feet of hose with PVC pipe mostly and stuffed the little bit of flex hose under the RV!
After this experience I also purchased a small plastic tarp, cut into sections and lay it over the drain hose next to the panel.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,361
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom