Reminder, even experienced RV'ers screw up now and then.

[Jeff in Ferndale Wa]

I got my first RV in 1998,and old class C motorhome.Then I went to a larger class C.
I've owned several utility trailers,a small tent trailer,a 28' travel trailer and now a new 33' TT.
I'm not a full timer,but have a lot of time in them

Well..I hooked up the other day,used the tongue jack to get my WD bars on,and did my usual walkaround before pulling out.
When I started pulling out,it pulled hard like the brakes were l dragging,then there was a bang,and it started pulling freely.
I said out loud "WTF??",pulled oved and found my electric tongue jack folded up under the tongue.
I looked to where I just pulled out of the grassy area where I was parked and saw a 20 foot trench in the dirt and foot square chunk of blacktop broken out at the edge of the street.

I'm usually pretty vigilant about checking everything over after hooking up and before I pull away,but this time I just looked right past the tongue jack that was still deployed.
Usually my wife does a walkaround as well,but she was not around this day.
And,in hindsight,when I felt it pulling hard I should have stopped immediately and looked for the problem.

To me it's a reminder that stupid stuff can happen any time,and need to be ever vigilant,and I thought it would be good to share.
Lessons learned.
I'm just happy that the only damage was to the jack itself,and nothing else was damaged.

 

[Alvie]

YEP been there and done stuff. It happens .

 

[winona]

That's what makes camping so much fun. What can I destroy and how bad or how much will it be? I heard a noise, kept driving (ehhh what could that be?) only to learn my propane cover was somewhere down the road. Sigh.....

 

[Roy M]

Anybody that says they never screwed up has either never gone camping or is a dang liar. The fiver seemed to pull hard for a moment, I thought oh well a rut and carried on. Went to set up that afternoon, no landing gear blocks. Sigh!!

 

[Uncledave54]

I can't even count the number of times I've run over my wheel chocks.

 

[jymbee]

Anybody that says they never screwed up has either never gone camping or is a dang liar. The fiver seemed to pull hard for a moment, I thought oh well a rut and carried on. Went to set up that afternoon, no landing gear blocks. Sigh!!

Well I'm here to tell 'ya that in many thousands of miles traveled I've NEVER goofed up-- even once.

OUCH!!!

Rats. I didn't realize my wife was reading this over my shoulder. She just SMACKED me in the back of the head and started "reminding" me of all the screw-ups I've committed during our travels. Some I've confessed to here previously so no need to bring back those painful memories...

 

[ibeb]

WDH brackets hang below the tongue, caught one pulling out of the driveway when I was already about 2 hours behind schedule, pull into a side street to inspect and find the bar dragging and bracket pulled back. Get things realigned and hook back up, pull away and big thump as the tongue jack folds over because I forgot to raise it after hooking back up... After dealing with that worry for two years pulling out and having to be just perfect to not catch, Recurve R6 WDH should be here in time for first trip this season.

Erik

 

[Uncledave54]

Rats. I didn't realize my wife was reading this over my shoulder. She just SMACKED me in the back of the head and started "reminding" me of all the screw-ups I've committed during our travels.

 

[steveblonde]

Been there done that lol

 

[JudyJB]

I feel lucky that it has been 4 years since I have backed into a tree. And that tree was a really big one with lots of people watching at the time. Lesson learned is that if you mess up, try to do it without an audience.

 

[JudyJB]

And to make everyone feel better, there is the old "11' 8"" website. And apparently, they have recently raised it 8" but with little effect:

 

[Jeff in Ferndale Wa]

And to make everyone feel better, there is the old "11' 8"" website. And apparently, they have recently raised it 8" but with little effect:

Reminds me, I need to measure the clearance in my trailer...

 

[Ex-Calif]

I did that on my last launch with the motorcycle trailer. Luckily I just bent it slightly and scratched the driveway. It was off the ground until I drove out and it bottomed when the RV hit the street...

dumba$$

 

[Joezeppy]

I can't even count the number of times I've run over my wheel chocks.

The guy next to us in the Niagara Falls KOA in 2019 did that - I was sitting out under the awning while he was packing up and as he left his X-Chock still firmly set between the tires went flying the air!

My D'OH moment was back in 2011 on a trip from NY to Myrtle Beach. We stayed overnight around DC. About 4 hours into our next day I pulled off I95 for gas and thought "gee, the brakes feel funny". I had unhooked the umbilical for the night and never plugged it back in! So, I had no brakes and no lights for that 4 hours!

 

[thelazyl]

My recent "woops" was I forgot to retract the jacks before trying to drive off. I learned that my "jacks down" warning doesn't work with the generator running. Luckily I had raised the airbags so no damage that I am aware of.

 

[camperAL]

Greetings,

I've certainly done a few mistakes but nothing real expensive yet. One thing that saves me is going through my check list. If there is something you almost mess up but catch, then time to add that to the check list also. Safe, trouble free travel!!

 

[jymbee]

Greetings,

I've certainly done a few mistakes but nothing real expensive yet. One thing that saves me is going through my check list. If there is something you almost mess up but catch, then time to add that to the check list also. Safe, trouble free travel!!

Checklist = GOOD idea.

No matter how many times you've gone through the drill of preparing to take off, there's always that one time where you might be distracted, tired, or in a hurry for one reason or another and miss something you've never missed in the hundreds of times you've done it before.

That's why private pilots of small planes, even pilots that have thousands of hours under their belt, roll up and go through a written, pre-flight checklist. Not much room to correct errors when you're airborne.

Absent a list I think it's a good idea to get into a routine where you go through the steps in exactly the same way every time. Makes it more likely that you'll not miss anything.

 

[Larry N.]

That's why private pilots of small planes, even pilots that have thousands of hours under their belt, roll up and go through a written, pre-flight checklist. Not much room to correct errors when you're airborne.

Plus commercial and airline pilots, large aircraft as well as small, use checklists. Forget to lower the landing gear once...

 

[HappyWanderer]

Most of these can be caught during a walk around. I do a 360 before putting it in gear, even if stopped for just a minute.

 

[Jeff in Ferndale Wa]

Most of these can be caught during a walk around. I do a 360 before putting it in gear, even if stopped for just a minute.

I do that as well,and usually my wife does too. I actually did a 360 this time,but looked right past the jack.