What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[namusmc65]

Well, I can contribute something to this site. First time out a few years back, put the awning out and went to bed. Forgot to put slope in awning. Naturally it stormed that night. Went to open door and go outside next morning and could not open door. Awning had stretched so full of water that it had sagged down far enough that could not just open the door. Finally managed to wiggle out door. I was a lot thinner then! Dumped water out and bar had really gotten bent. Finally put the bend side up and then hung from the bar and bounced around enough on it to get it to finally come close to level. It worked for many more years fortunately so I avoided a costly mistake.
NEVER AGAIN!
I will admit to only one other! Hooked up water line at home testing out water system. This was hooked to an outside stand alone PVC faucet. Got through buttoning everything up and drove trailer to its parking spot, with water hose still attached. Fortunately PVC pipe gave away and not water connection on trailer. Yanked pipe right out of ground with water going everywhere. Live and learn!

[rodandmir]

we once had our trailer all packed up, the two year old twins in the truck and all their paraphernalia packed away and started driving away from the campsite when I noticed something bouncing up and down by the passenger window. We had forgotten the dog behind. He was not impressed

[carey965]

first day with the new fw i unhooked everything was good started pulling away and all of a sudden came to a stop, forgot to put the tailgate down, luckily didnt really do any damage

[MPH9]

Think about a catalictic heater no electric usage and lots of heat

[MikeyInNY]

We went to a full hookup site. Everything was connected and we were fine. The second day my wife wanted to take a shower. I opened (or thought I opened) the gray tank drain, and she took her shower. We had taken showers the day before, and the tank level was 3/4 full. Well she took her shower but the tub started filling up with water. Tank level was full now. All I could think was there was a problem with the drain valve or connecting rod. We went home and I start looking for the problem. My Jayco has an enclosed bottom, so I have to remove a plastic cover then cut into the panel to get access to the drain valve. So here I am, lying under the trailer with a flashlight, looking through this hole and I find nothing wrong. I ask my wife to pull the gray valve, and she does. I see nothing move. All this time I was looking at the black tank drain, and there was nothing wrong with the gray drain valve. Even though they are plainly labeled, I operated the wrong valve. Of course as part of our departure routine I drained the black (gray) tank so it wasn't full when I got home.

Lesson learned, read the labels!

BTW, I just spent a very enjoyable hour reading all these posts from the beginning. Some items I caught myself almost doing but luckily caught them in time. Many are very valuable lessons that anyone can learn.

Some I learned:
Inspect sewer hoses. It didn't occur to me that they would "rot", so they will get regular inspections.
I have added a few things to my checklist.
I would chock wheels before I disconnect the TV, but am considering chocking both sides after some of the incidents listed.

[FiverForUs]

My turn: Day 1 out on our first TT (Outback 30') and needed gas so I pull into a small'ish gas station. I start pulling out making sure I swing wide to avoid clipping the driver side and as I start the turn I feel a hard bounce (I thought it was the curb) and then I see arms waving and a bunch of yelling. Turns out that I hit that concrete pole that protects the gas pumps and tore a the rear wall off the back of the trailer. Hit it hard enough that there was a 3" gap of daylight between the back and side walls. TT was less than 24hrs off the lot.

[Jmooney]

Un hitching the TT without blocking the tires.......on a hill no less.... Whoooaaaa.

[ckdixon]

I had a similar experience to that of FiverForUs. I pulled through a gas station and had to make a hard right turn to miss a dumpster. The back of the 5er swung around and took out the right front fender of a small pickup truck that was sitting at one of the pumps. Even since that little disaster, I have my wife get out and check clearances for me when I get into areas that are even slightly tight.

[Kavoom]

Pulled through an empty parking lot on my first trip on Sunday morning where you could see through the next two businesses Oops, that parking lot had a curb at the end and a one foot drop down to the next door lot below... Hundred feet in... got lucky, was driving the 8 box (14 ft. total length) pop up and simply unhooked pushed it out of way turned it around and re-hooked. NEVER have made that mistake again...

[Brownie]

First time out in my new Eagle TT. Had a very enjoyable week in which everything went so smoothly, I should have known I was in for a whopper. Got home Sunday afternoon and was backing into the driveway to unload. Mind you, the drive is only 30' long and so is the trailer. I've only done it twice before, but thought I had a pretty good feel for how much truck should be sticking out into the road when the trailer was a foot or so from the garage. Not so much! You know that feeling you get when the trailer won't back up any more, and you don't think you'd better give it "just a little more gas"? That's the feeling I had! So I pulled forward, looked in the side-view mirror and saw the gutter on the front of my garage kinda' smashed. Got out to asses the damage and discovered I'd backed into the gutter right where one of the mounting nails was. You guessed it! The nail head put about a quarter-sized hole in the fiberglass on the back wall of the trailer. Fortunately, it didn't penetrate the inside wall. Did a quick "Red Green" duct tape repair to the hole, until I get a chance to do a fiberglass patch. And since the gutter on my garage is a continuous 1-piece unit, I'll have to replace the entire 25' section. Oh well, I'd rather stay home to do repairs next week end than go camping again. NOT!

[Mspooley]

First trip ever towing a popup last year - thought I was all hooked up properly - afterall, my neighbor helped me hook the popup to my TV. My campsite was really close +/- 5 miles away so I could work out any bugs.I was so excited, but nervous towing for the first time, and alone.
At a busy intersection the traffic signal turns green so I slowly accelerate and then to my horror, a loud scraping noise starts. What the heck??!!
The popup had come off the hitch!!!!
OMG! The tongue jack was being dragged and scraping the asphalt of a very busy Los Angelels intersection. I immediately pulled over and out of nowhere, three guys came to my rescue and got me back on the road. Apparently you are supposed to put a hitch pin in the coupler! Lawd no one told me that! I was a nervous wreck the rest of the day; so afraid I would break something else.
Fortunately the tongue jack was not damaged and the trailer breaks worked so that the breakaway switch did not engage. At the campsite I met a nice man who helped file down the slightly mushroomed end of the tongue jack so I could get the wheel back on.

It has taken awhile for me to become confident in my towing, but I'm good. I have become neurotic about checking and rechecking my connections. I'll pull over a block or so away to recheck my connections. My motto is always, "safety first".

[Threebutchers]

Originally Posted by Mspooley

...At a busy intersection the traffic signal turns green so I slowly accelerate and then to my horror, a loud scraping noise starts. What the heck??!! The popup had come off the hitch!!!! OMG! The tongue jack was being dragged and scraping the asphalt of a very busy Los Angelels intersection. I immediately pulled over and out of nowhere, three guys came to my rescue and got me back on the road.

I just spit my coffee out!!! Thank you....that is a sweetheart of a story!....although I thought it was going end..... "out of nowhere, three guys stole my camper"!

Glad you had a happy ending

[Jmooney]

Originally Posted by Threebutchers

I just spit my coffee out!!! Thank you....that is a sweetheart of a story!....although I thought it was going end..... "out of nowhere, three guys stole my camper"!

Glad you had a happy ending

Lol

[Mspooley]

"out of nowhere, three guys stole my camper"!

Ha! In my 'hood, that is entirely possible!

[Subaru297]

You know the central light in most trailers that is also controlled by the switch next to the door? Well I didn't.
I couldn't get that light to work so I took it down and checked the power with a multimeter. No power but there was another wire in the ceiling so I rewired that light so it would work. No problems now!

Realized after a day or two when I was playing with the switches near the door and one of the switches didn't do anything....... That's when it dawned on me that this is probably the switch for that overhead light!

[eventdude]

Last year my wife and I purchased a loaded 2006 Jayco Eagle 278FBS that was in near new condition with the tags still on most of the furniture and a full compliment of manuals, receipts and a amazingly detailed notebook with every service that was done and general experiences of the previous owner...
We purchased from a retired military gentleman who had only used the unit a handful of times on the amature square dance circuit for a dressing room and shower facilities. Score!

We were so excited to upgrade from our much loved, but outgrown 1991 18' Coachman Catalina- the wife and I went out to explore the the new Eagle the first night we had it. The former owner had built a very nice custom single step platform for using outside when the last step was to high off the ground. He stored it in the front passenger side of the TT sitting atop the dog house for the water pump compartment - well, we must have moved the step from its normal riding spot about 6" back and it was resting against the non-deployed slide out living room (note the use of "we")...

Excited to show my wife that our new unit was almost wider than our old unit was long - I proudly extended the slide out without checking for items that might block its deployment while pontificating aloud about what an amazing find this new trailer was, when I was interrupted by the loud creaking/tearing noise of the beautiful oak interior molding being torn from the front verical edge of the slide...

That awesome little step platform had been moved just far enough back to catch the edge of the slide as I extended it. Good grief! With my pride wounded... and the molding still in one piece ... albeit separated from 75% of the slide, I hung my head in shame and went to get my finish nailer and compressor to repair!

My wife has been kind enough to only mention it on two occasions... She won both of those "discussions" and I look forward to a time when she doesn't remember this incident!

Always check areas around the slide outs (inside & outside ) prior to deploying them! It takes a little time but can save you and your ego! Trust me!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by eventdude

My wife has been kind enough to only mention it on two occasions... She won both of those "discussions" and I look forward to a time when she doesn't remember this incident!

Dude, pretty sure she'll NEVER forget. You should know that by now. Women have an impenetrable and infallible memory for the stupid stuff we men do. You may think she forgot all about it, then you'll be discussing something (decades later) and she'll bring it up just like it happened yesterday.

[howie]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Dude, pretty sure she'll NEVER forget. You should know that by now. Women have an impenetrable and infallible memory for the stupid stuff we men do. You may think she forgot all about it, then you'll be discussing something (decades later) and she'll bring it up just like it happened yesterday.

My problem is I alomost always do my studpid stuff yesterday.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by howie

My problem is I alomost always do my studpid stuff yesterday.

LOL!! Ain't that the truth!! Me too!!

[Taurus2415]

Emergency Stop! After a 3 hour drive home, we were about 5 minutes from the house and I got distracted by a police car doing a U-turn to my left and a tractor with a jake brake to my right. All of a sudden the traffic ahead stopped and I had to stand on the brakes (literally) to get the Expedition with a TT behind it stopped. I must have locked all 8 wheels momentarily because of the smoke that followed. Fortunately the brake controller and ABS did their jobs perfectly. Nothing broken, bent or damaged other than my pride. Moral of the story -- you have to stay focused especially in your own neighborhood.