What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[Jerry713]

I've had plenty of close calls and almost disasters but fortunately have dodged anything serious.

I was backing up to our previous travel trailer once. There was a rock in the gravel drive so I had to put my foot on the brake and give the truck a little gas to pull backwards over the rock. When I did the accelerator got caught under the new floormats I had just bought and the truck shot back like a rocket and slammed into the trailer tongue. Fortunately I was able to apply the brake and stop the truck fast enough where I didn't bent the tongue enough to do much damage and was able to tow her home with no issues. Could have been really bad though.

Few weeks ago had a "oh crap" moment. We currently have our Jayco at an RV park along the Texas coast (over 3 hours away from home). Early December I was at the camper doing to some maintenance on the boat. Spent a couple of days then came home. When I left it was 83 degrees, hot and humid and I was sweating my butt off. Didn't give it a minutes thought to drain the water or flush the camper. Drove home and as soon as I walked in my wife told me about the impending cold snap coming with lows along the Texas coast near 20 degrees. A few days later I made the almost 7 hour round trip drive to the camper to drain it down and flush the water lines.

[2naEagle]

Backing up the F350 and got to close to the handrail of the deck. Broken taillight was a $750 bonehead moment.

Forgot to raise the tailgate of my Ford Ranger before backing up the utility trailer. Haven't got the bill on that bonehead move yet.

[Cincinnati Kid]

Pumped sewage with macerator into campsite full-hookup drain, not realizing that it was going into a full underground tank shared with trailer next door, who had filled the tank and left. Did not realize the problem was happening until I walked around the trailer and saw the gusher and pond in front of our only exit door. Then the smell.......

[craigav]

Many years past, I had my RV on a leased lot at a lake about 3 hours away. The weather turned very cold so I drove out there to winterize my RV and discovered I didn't have the RV keys on me. I drove all the way back home to get them but couldn't find them. My other half then told me she placed the keys in the glove box so I wouldn't forget to bring them... That was a long cold day for sure. ~CA

[cwilly8]

OK, I'll 'fess up. I do share the "bonehead" award with the mobile tech who was involved, but ultimately, it's on me.
In January of 2022 we were camping at Oscar Scherer State Park near Venice, FL. The brakes on our X23B had not worked well on the drive down, and I was concerned enough that I called a mobile tech to come check them out. He jacked up one side, pulled one wheel, and inspected the brake. We were ready to spring for new brakes, and he agreed that is what we should do. He came back later with the wrong size brakes (Dexter 10” vs the 7” that we needed). He said he would be back the following day with the correct brakes. So he installed the wheel he had pulled and tightened the lug nuts with his battery powered impact wrench. (You can probably see where this is going…)
The 7” brakes were not in stock locally, and we were leaving for our next campground before he could get them. He never returned, and I never thought about checking the tightness of the lug nuts.
Fast forward a couple of days. We were driving north on I-75, east of Tampa, when I looked in the driver side rearview mirror and saw a wheel rolling away from our trailer. It was three lanes, and we were in a construction zone (Sunday, so no one was working). Amazingly there was no traffic around us. The wheel traveled across all three lanes and gently came to a rest leaning against the Jersey barrier in the median.
Not only had we lost a wheel, but we had lost all five lug nuts, which made mounting the spare tire a bit of a challenge. I was pondering what to do about that when our son in Tennessee called for our weekly update on his family. When I told him what had happened, he said, “Dad, you won’t believe this, but we were interviewing a new engineer prospect this week, and one of the interviewers asked him what he would do if he was changing a tire and all five lug nuts fell into a storm drain. The solution is to remove one lug nut from each of the other three wheels and use them to install the spare.”
So that’s what we did.
The brake saga has been addressed in another post.
Lessons Learned:
1. Always, always, always check your lug nuts before hitting the road. You can’t check them too often. We now carry a universal lug wrench in our TV.
2. Carry a spare set of lug nuts. You (or someone else) may need them, and they are cheap.

[Dwilcox353]

I have had a few over the years.
1. DW and I buy a new SOB pup. It is large as we have 3 kids, very young at the time. It has holding tanks, Fresh, Black, and Grey. As they are small, 10 gallons each if I remember correctly. we would also fill a 5-gallon water cooler and between the 10 gal fresh and 5 in the cooler and some bottled water, we could go a weekend. Well, we are on our way to the ocean, and we had a spot about half way we would make a potty break for kids and DW. We had some friends following that told me at the stop there was water running from the back of the pup on the highway. No biggie, just the overflow from the fresh water tank….. nope, cooler fell over and 5 gallons of water on the floor. Made sure we braced it better from then on. It also seemed every time we took it out it rained so we would all be stuck in it most of the trip. And it would be opened at home more days drying out then camping.
2. After about 4 years with it we traded it in on our Jay Feather Bunk House Trailer. We found it, made the deal, and after approval of the financing we towed the pup to the dealer, transferred our gear to the Feather and towed it to a campground. Now this new trailer was about 2x longer than the pup. Needed to stop for gas and what do I do, wipe a marker light off the side of the new trailer. DW was impressed. She liked the yellow stripe the bollard put on the fender too. Not. Then on another trip towing to the ocean, Have DW, #1 Son, The Girl, #2 son and The Girls Cousin (DW Sisters daughter). We are running late, my fault, worked later then planned. So, it is very dark when we make a gas stop. I jump out, fill tank, pay and we leave the gas station. As I hit the highway, #2 son says, “What about the girls?” I glance in the back and say, “Where are the &%#$ Girls” #1 son says “They went to the bathroom.” Never saw them leave the car. So not only freaked out the DW, but her sister was not impressed either. Drove around the block and The Girl and her cousin were waiting on the sidewalk, my daughter was crying (9 or 10 at the time) and her cousin (Teenager) was telling her “I told you they would come back for us). The Girl is 27 now and sometimes……
3. Anyway, the kids grow up and become young adults, #1 son gets girlfriend (now wife) moves out. The Girl and # 2 son although still living at home don’t camp with us as much so I tell the Wife “Lets get a trailer for us.” So, we find a good deal on an SOB. 2 slides. Queen bed, big holding tanks and a real hide-a-bed sofa. We decide to make a trip to Disney. The Girl and #2 son want to come, and it works with a cot, so everyone has a place to sleep. Everything goes well, no mishaps, on our way home, last overnight, then it happens, Distraction from another camper while breaking camp. DW walks to the office to check us out, I pull around to pick her up on the way out. While I am waiting a kid rides up on his bike and says, “Mister, you left your extension cord at your campsite.” My son jumps out saying “Ill grab it” as it hits me it must be the 50 Amp cord that I had not stored, or even turned off the breaker to. As I round the trailer, I see wires sticking out the back of the trailer where the plug was. I start running to the site yelling “Don’t touch it, its live” The danger there totally freaked me out. As I got there the camper that distracted me said its good, I killed the beaker for you.”. I make it a point now to have a check list on my phone where I can check things off and make sure I don’t miss anything as the memory seems to not work as well as I get older, and I will not start a conversation if someone is setting up or breaking camp.
4. There’s more, but this is long enough.

[Jerry713]

Dang sounds like something my wife would do. I keep the camper keys on a key ring in my truck. I also have a key on the same key ring as my truck keys. My wife also has a key on her key ring so hopefully I won’t forget the key and be locked out.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by Dwilcox353

I have had a few over the years.

Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner!
Wow, we’ve probably all been there — or done various imitations of those bonehead moments. But kudos for having the courage to share them with the rest of us.

Some great reminders here. (I created phone checklists for departures and setups long ago and wouldn’t camp without them!) Hope your camping is “bonehead-free” from now on!

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Jerry713

Dang sounds like something my wife would do. I keep the camper keys on a key ring in my truck. I also have a key on the same key ring as my truck keys. My wife also has a key on her key ring so hopefully I won’t forget the key and be locked out.

x2 This is exactly what I do. I bought two extra trailer cabin door keys and put them on our truck key rings after the camper keys fell out of my pocket in a parking lot once. I heard them right away and grabbed them from the ground, but the lesson stuck.

[ARoamer]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

Some great reminders here. (I created phone checklists for departures and setups long ago and wouldn’t camp without them!)

After unpacking from a trip I pulled my '76 motorhome into the barn with the fold out steps out. I instantly knew what happened and stopped when I heard it. Steps bent back quite easily, but the steel siding on the barn didn't, and reminds me to this day...
I am a firm believer in checklists. They are a great tool as there can be too many things to remember, especially if hurried or distracted. A copy is on my fridge for all items and we don't move without reading through it. Pilots use them, they are quite possibly one of the best tools you can use.

[Kahoneys]

This thread is one of my highlights to read through and I am so glad that NAMBARC has resurrected it!! I'm glad to find out that I am not the only one who does this stuff.

[Duke4857]

Less people camping in winter.

[nambarc]

Originally Posted by Kahoneys

This thread is one of my highlights to read through and I am so glad that NAMBARC has resurrected it!! I'm glad to find out that I am not the only one who does this stuff.

My pleasure.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by nambarc

My pleasure.

Hey, I want to hear nambarc’s biggest boneheaded moment!

[nambarc]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

Hey, I want to hear nambarc’s biggest boneheaded moment!

My whole existence is a bonehead moment.

[crk112]

I had a story to share but after reading a couple of pages of this thread I realized I have more!!

My first tale took place within the first 12-15 hours of ownership of our TT which was our very first “camping device” (not our current rig which is our second “camping device”). I suppose the first boneheaded move was letting the dealer sell me a TT that was too big for the truck But ultimately all turned out well there… no, we left the dealer, picked up the kids, and headed direct to our very first deployment of our TT ever. It was June but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t get down into the 40s some nights in Hinckley, MN. And by 3 or 4am when I woke up, that’s about how cold it was inside the TT. Furnace running but not lit… OOPS forgot to open the valve on the propane tank! In minutes we had warm air flowing but not after a brisk trip outside in my shorts. I never had that problem again!

When we had the TT, I had the fridge open and dump its contents out also… sad to admit it was more than once. I suppose we’ve had it happen once or twice already in the Greyhawk but we’re right there so it can be resolved immediately. At least the Greyhawk fridge has load bars!

In our second season of owning that TT we took a family trip with the parents-in-law and three sisters-in-law. At our destination the in-laws would sleep in grandma and grandpa’s house. But 975mi we needed an overnight stay. The in-laws paid so we stayed in the hotel with them. I was still green enough that I didn’t fully understand and appreciate how the propane system could be used, so at that time I still didn’t run the fridge while traveling. We transferred everything from the TT fridge to the fridge in the hotel room which wound up being too small so it never got or stayed cold enough to be considered “refrigerated”. And of course by next morning the fridge in the TT was completely at room temp so the “already-not-so-cool” food didn’t take long at all to warm up. Needless to say we ultimately lost most of the food that required refrigeration. Live and learn! I eventually did get comfortable with running the fridge on propane while traveling, so while traveling with food was no longer a hassle we never repeated this itinerary so I didn’t get to try the overnighter again.

My biggest boneheaded moment came last May right after we picked up our Greyhawk. Very first trip out in the Greyhawk… gee I’ve only owned two “camping devices” so far but there’s a pattern developing of mishap on the first trip! Anyway the day after we brought it home, my wife and I drove it 750mi to my cousin’s house for Memorial Day weekend. My uncle (his dad) was the one who helped me put in a TT-30 receptacle at my house. So he (my cousin) offered to put in a TT-30 receptacle in his shop for us to plug in to when we got there. I failed to discuss the voltage with him or check the voltage myself. Plugged right in and started powering stuff up. The AC sounds strange… now it’s short cycling. Other stuff seems to be running… weird hum and “electrical smell” coming from the breaker box. In very short order the topic of voltage was brought up and it was confirmed he had wired the 30amp receptacle in 220V instead of 110V. Power off, correct the wiring, and try again. Everything worked perfectly. I have no explanation for it… I’ve seen the stories posted, I’ve seen it described what can happen. My rig was plugged in to 220V for 3-5 minutes and I’ve not found a single thing that didn’t work afterward.
And I know that’s my biggest boneheaded moment because it was the one I was least willing to admit.

Cheers!

[crk112]

My wife, always looking out for me.... she reminded me I have another. I'm frequently reminded of this story in my family, and my in-laws weren't even there for it!!

Arrived at a nice state park CG in Wisconsin and proceeded with TT deployment. Marched right up to the electrical pedestal, leaned down, and popped it open surprising a wasp inside who was building a nest. He initiated an immediate exit, hitting me on the hand, lip, and cheek as he flew away in haste.
Unfortunately my young children heard a few colorful words that day to which they'd not previously been exposed... I had not been stung by wasps before then, and I was caught off-guard by how much it actually hurts WOW. Had it not been for the cursing, I imagine my dancing and flailing around the campsite would have been a rather humorous sight.

By the time I regained composure and started back on deployment tasks, the wasp had returned to the pedestal and was stubborn to leave again. The park office was closed and all we had was mosquito repellent. Well, I'm here to tell you that half a can of mosquito repellent in a pinch will get rid of a stubborn wasp who is guarding your source of 120V.

And that's why I now carry a full can of wasp spray with the hoses and cords!

[nambarc]

Keep em coming boys. The more i read of these the more I realize there's hope for me.

[Teroy]

Ten years apart:
1st rig, 1st trip: 1996 Golden Falcon; jacknifed it and blew the back window out of the truck.
2nd rig, 2nd trip: 2018 Jayco 28.5 HT; jacknifed it and blew the back window out of the same truck.
Both times I didn't use the slider.
Good looks are fleeting but dumb, hopefully isn't forever.

[RoadTripNancy]

Ours was MANY YEARS AGO! We were "kids". Had a tent trailer. 1st bonehead move was my hubby forgot the crank (150 miles from home)! Had another tool and he got that figured out! My bonehead moment was when we were done camping and AFTER my hubby had cranked it back down with the non crank tool, I realized I left the eggs in the frig. We stored the trailer at the nearby RV storage place in HOT AZ summer! I'm sure you can imagine the look on my husbands face when I shared the news about the eggs and he had to go through the entire crank process up and down all over again!