What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[NorCal Eagle]

Very first trip with the new TT (first time RVing too). Had a nice pull-thru spot with plenty of room. Drove in, trailer looked straight in the spot, all good I thought. Wife and kids go off to let me setup the trailer.

I got it on the level blocks and chocked. Leveled it front to back. Stabilizers down and X-chocks secure. Truck is unhitched. I'm feeling pretty good.

Grab the remote to put the slides out and (fortunately) walk over to the slide-side of the TT only to realize there is NO ROOM to put the slides out! So, undo everything, hitch it back up and maneuver then set it all up again. At this point the kids are restless, wife is getting grumpy and I'm sweating profusely and exhausted.

Needless to say, now my first order of business when we arrive is check for enough room on both sides of the TT!

[Woodworker]

Originally Posted by NorCal Eagle

Very first trip with the new TT (first time RVing too). Had a nice pull-thru spot with plenty of room. Drove in, trailer looked straight in the spot, all good I thought. Wife and kids go off to let me setup the trailer.

I got it on the level blocks and chocked. Leveled it front to back. Stabilizers down and X-chocks secure. Truck is unhitched. I'm feeling pretty good.

Grab the remote to put the slides out and (fortunately) walk over to the slide-side of the TT only to realize there is NO ROOM to put the slides out! So, undo everything, hitch it back up and maneuver then set it all up again. At this point the kids are restless, wife is getting grumpy and I'm sweating profusely and exhausted.

Needless to say, now my first order of business when we arrive is check for enough room on both sides of the TT!

I use a cheat stick. Measured how far out the slide came out amd cut a piece of wood to lenght. Now before I park I set it out and when my tires just miss the wood I'm good. Put some reflective tape on t he ends so when it's dark the brake lights hut the reflectors so I cam see it.

[NorCal Eagle]

Originally Posted by Woodworker

I use a cheat stick. Measured how far out the slide came out amd cut a piece of wood to lenght. Now before I park I set it out and when my tires just miss the wood I'm good. Put some reflective tape on t he ends so when it's dark the brake lights hut the reflectors so I cam see it.

That's a brilliant idea, I think I'll do that!

[Woodworker]

I painted mine red, makes it easier to see as well

Originally Posted by NorCal Eagle

That's a brilliant idea, I think I'll do that!

[North of 49°]

Originally Posted by Woodworker

I painted mine red, makes it easier to see as well

With my fingertips touching the side of the trailer, the slide extends to the middle of my chest. My own built in gauge!

[oldmanAZ]

We use a 'dollar store broom'. The handle is the same length as our slide width.

[TxLoser]

Had one of those moments today. Discovered I had an empty propane bottle so I decided I pull it out and take it in for refill. Always turn off the gas and then burn off the residual in the lines first.

Mistake 1. I left the valve open on the good one and proceeded to mistakenly unscrew that hose. Lots of stink

Mistake 2. After fixing mistake 1, unscrewed the empty tank and as best I can tell, all the propane in my lines came out at me. Stunk from the street all the way up the 30' of driveway and into my garage.

Lesson learned. Next time I'll close the valve on both bottles and light a burner inside to burn off what's left over.

[rockaw]

1. Up in the Gatlinburg area of the Smokey Mountains, believed google on a short cut. I ended up on a road where the passenger side was on the white line and I was a few inches over the yellow on my side, I know because I had to stop on a curve to ensure a car going the other way fit past me, no where to turn and no way to back with the traffic....hoping I didn't pass another RV or truck coming the other way..... lesson, don't believe google, stay on the main roads, use RV/trucker apps.


2. Upstate Westside NY, Decided to divert closer to the Great Lakes, on a parkway, knew it was a main road, (lesson from #1) ignored the sign that said "no commercial trucks", I wasn't commercial, kept going, not thinking, until I went under a bridge labeled 13', I looked at my wife and said I don't think we're suppose to be on this road. The next bridge said 11'8" , I slowed, moved to the left lane knowing the lower right side of the bridge arch was the 11'8", I'm 11'4"(thankfully a TT, not a 5th wheeler). Told my wife, that might have gotten the RV Radio antenna. Got off and made it to the campsite.. googled it, and yup, should have known from living on the East side of the state, parkways aren't for trucks mostly due to the overpasses, just wasn't thinking. Lesson 2, don't divert after checking course without verifying new one. (the RV antenna was still with us)
Got lucky on both

[Woodworker]

Originally Posted by rockaw

1. Up in the Gatlinburg area of the Smokey Mountains, believed google on a short cut. I ended up on a road where the passenger side was on the white line and I was a few inches over the yellow on my side, I know because I had to stop on a curve to ensure a car going the other way fit past me, no where to turn and no way to back with the traffic....hoping I didn't pass another RV or truck coming the other way..... lesson, don't believe google, stay on the main roads, use RV/trucker apps.


2. Upstate Westside NY, Decided to divert closer to the Great Lakes, on a parkway, knew it was a main road, (lesson from #1) ignored the sign that said "no commercial trucks", I wasn't commercial, kept going, not thinking, until I went under a bridge labeled 13', I looked at my wife and said I don't think we're suppose to be on this road. The next bridge said 11'8" , I slowed, moved to the left lane knowing the lower right side of the bridge arch was the 11'8", I'm 11'4"(thankfully a TT, not a 5th wheeler). Told my wife, that might have gotten the RV Radio antenna. Got off and made it to the campsite.. googled it, and yup, should have known from living on the East side of the state, parkways aren't for trucks mostly due to the overpasses, just wasn't thinking. Lesson 2, don't divert after checking course without verifying new one. (the RV antenna was still with us)
Got lucky on both

I missed a turn once so wife looked at Google maps instead of trusting our NUVI. It took us on a route well over an hour out of our way.

[Homersimpson]

Mistakenly thinking my first trailer would be my last. DW will always want more room for stuff.

[Collinp]

Oh my, where to start?
-- Forgot to put my draw bar pin in and pulled off; tongue of the camper and hitch hit the ground, thankfully it was in gravel, I hadn't gone but 20' and chains engaged the trailer brakes.
-- Clipped a tree with my awning. Cost:$700
-- 1st trip with our 1st brand new camper. Pulled under a tree that was too low and put a 3' tear in the rubber roof. Cost:$200
-- Unhooked trailer and chains without chalking wheels; camper started rolling towards the lake we were camped on...thankfully stopped by tongue jack friction.
-- Forgot to unhook the safety chains and pulled the truck out from under the hitch dragging the camper and made it fall off the tongue jack support cone. Thankfully all I did is scare the crap out of myself and bend my tongue jack slightly.

I'm sure there are more but these are the ones that stuck with me.

[Collinp]

Originally Posted by rockaw

1. Up in the Gatlinburg area of the Smokey Mountains, believed google on a short cut. I ended up on a road where the passenger side was on the white line and I was a few inches over the yellow on my side, I know because I had to stop on a curve to ensure a car going the other way fit past me, no where to turn and no way to back with the traffic....hoping I didn't pass another RV or truck coming the other way..... lesson, don't believe google, stay on the main roads, use RV/trucker apps.

Did the same thing getting off of I-40 towards Gatlinburg. Might have even been the same place? Thankfully I didn't go far before I realized it was a mistake and found a VERY difficult place to turn around.

[Collinp]

Originally Posted by kerner

Pulled camper into campsite, Wife takes off with the kids. One of them turned on the faucet to the bathroom sink before they left. Filled the tank, then the sink, then water poured all over the floor, didn't notice till camper next to us mentioned we had alot of water draining off our camper. Dried out quickly, but darn it. If you have kids, walk around the inside of the camper before you leave. I was outside the whole time setting it up.

We had a faucet in our camper that would swivel until it was over the floor off the counter and the sink. I turned on the water without checking it and sure enough it was on and pouring water on the floor. Caught it very quickly but needless to say it is now part of our setup process to check the faucets.

[Marcm157]

Originally Posted by Collinp

Oh my, where to start?
-- Forgot to put my draw bar pin in and pulled off; tongue of the camper and hitch hit the ground, thankfully it was in gravel, I hadn't gone but 20' and chains engaged the trailer brakes.
-- Clipped a tree with my awning. Cost:$700
-- 1st trip with our 1st brand new camper. Pulled under a tree that was too low and put a 3' tear in the rubber roof. Cost:$200
-- Unhooked trailer and chains without chalking wheels; camper started rolling towards the lake we were camped on...thankfully stopped by tongue jack friction.
-- Forgot to unhook the safety chains and pulled the truck out from under the hitch dragging the camper and made it fall off the tongue jack support cone. Thankfully all I did is scare the crap out of myself and bend my tongue jack slightly.

I'm sure there are more but these are the ones that stuck with me.

Dang! That's quite a list!!

[Papa Don]

Let me join the club. I have seen myself in a lot of these posts.
I pulled our fiver out of shop to clean, treat and inspect roof. Raised TV antenna. Bet you know the end of this story. Yup, antenna #1. Over night stop in Kentucky didn't want to set up satellite dish for one night, so raised TV antenna, Hurry next morning to get on road. You guessed it, antenna #2. Pulled camper out to wash and put it back in shop. Unhooked and forgot to lower tailgate. Tailgate #1. Bought new TV with back up camera. Backed into a short camp site and unhooked and backed TV beside camper. Tailgate was still down from unhooking so I backed into a short power post. Tailgate #2. Did anybody mention that being bone headed can get expensive?

[Camper_bob]

Had my first one in a while last time out.

First long trip towing the Wrangler. Got into a pickle at the back of a parking lot, decided I needed to back up a bit. Couldn't do it with Toad, so sent DW back to steer it thinking if we just took it easy it would work. NOPE! Had to disconnect the Wrangler in the back of that parking lot and circle around and reconnect. Took another whack at the same parking lot with better knowledge and it worked out fine. Only damage was a little plastic bumper liner thing on the Jeep, which I wanted to remove anyway...

Don't try to back up with a Toad, just don't... I'm glad we didn't break anything permanent!

[Woodworker]

I will start with it was hot out and beverage may have been involved.
I had a pump truck come to the camp spot at Darlington to empty the tanks. We did the black tank first and then the grey water as normal. Well we got to talkin and what not and when he was done I removed my hose and put it away and then put the cap back on the outlet pipe, paid the man and resumed with the fesitivities.
A few weeks later I decided to empty what "little" water we added to each tank after the pump. I didn't put any gloves on first I just grabbed the cap to twist it off. No sooner did I get it twisted past the keepers on the pipe the rush of the black tank water it was holding pushed it out of my hand. I forgot to close the valve on the blank tank after the pump. I was splashed from elbow to finger tips with undesirable water, and a lot more than I thought was in there

[Midnightmoon]

Originally Posted by Woodworker

I will start with it was hot out and beverage may have been involved.
I had a pump truck come to the camp spot at Darlington to empty the tanks. We did the black tank first and then the grey water as normal. Well we got to talkin and what not and when he was done I removed my hose and put it away and then put the cap back on the outlet pipe, paid the man and resumed with the fesitivities.
A few weeks later I decided to empty what "little" water we added to each tank after the pump. I didn't put any gloves on first I just grabbed the cap to twist it off. No sooner did I get it twisted past the keepers on the pipe the rush of the black tank water it was holding pushed it out of my hand. I forgot to close the valve on the blank tank after the pump. I was splashed from elbow to finger tips with undesirable water, and a lot more than I thought was in there

Lol. I wish I could have seen the look on your face.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Woodworker

I will start with it was hot out and beverage may have been involved.
I had a pump truck come to the camp spot at Darlington to empty the tanks. We did the black tank first and then the grey water as normal. Well we got to talkin and what not and when he was done I removed my hose and put it away and then put the cap back on the outlet pipe, paid the man and resumed with the fesitivities.
A few weeks later I decided to empty what "little" water we added to each tank after the pump. I didn't put any gloves on first I just grabbed the cap to twist it off. No sooner did I get it twisted past the keepers on the pipe the rush of the black tank water it was holding pushed it out of my hand. I forgot to close the valve on the blank tank after the pump. I was splashed from elbow to finger tips with undesirable water, and a lot more than I thought was in there

One of my worst fears, that's why I give each valve (both gray and black) a good push before I pull that cap!

"it was hot and beverage MAY have been involved" LOL!! Ain't that the truth! Happens to me all the time!!

[Woodworker]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

One of my worst fears, that's why I give each valve (both gray and black) a good push before I pull that cap!

"it was hot and beverage MAY have been involved" LOL!! Ain't that the truth! Happens to me all the time!! [emoji38]2:

I'm really good about closing them after dumping so it never dawned on me to even check. But beleive you me I'll be checking those 2 valves ALL the time now. I'm just glad the cap didn't somehow pop off goin down the Interstate.