What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[Marcm157]

Not sure where to assign most of the "Boneheadedness" on this one but, I was installing the Marinco detachable shore power cord conversion to my camper which is USUALLY plugged in to a 30 amp RV outlet right alongside the pad where my camper resides. However, I am replacing that outlet with a 50 / 30 / 20 box so the camper was plugged into a regular 20 amp exterior garage outlet on the front of the building. I unplugged the extension cord and began working on the conversion but unknown to me my DW had noticed the unplugged extension cord and plugged it back in! Needless to say cutting the cord was a shocking experience!

Like I said, not sure where most of the blame in this one goes but I will never just unplug and drop and extension cord again!!!

[justlb33]

I too just experienced one with Power cord. Moving out of driveway to back by the barn. Not a big deal, only like 50ft. Raised all my stabilizers, hooked up to the truck, removed the wheel chocks and I was good to go.......right? The power cord as you know coming out of the back and plugged into the house was on the passenger side. It wasn't until I heard a screaming STOOOPPP from DW that the cord was still plugged in. Luckily no damage occurred and I stopped in time. Now I know, no matter how far you are moving the trailer, do the walk around!!

[sirrealone]

Originally Posted by justlb33

I too just experienced one with Power cord. Moving out of driveway to back by the barn. Not a big deal, only like 50ft. Raised all my stabilizers, hooked up to the truck, removed the wheel chocks and I was good to go.......right? The power cord as you know coming out of the back and plugged into the house was on the passenger side. It wasn't until I heard a screaming STOOOPPP from DW that the cord was still plugged in. Luckily no damage occurred and I stopped in time. Now I know, no matter how far you are moving the trailer, do the walk around!!

I once had someone at the site next to us pull away while still plugged in. Miraculously it simply came unplugged and didn't damage their cord or the pedestal, but I think that may have been the first time (though not the last) that I chased someone down the campground.

[nambarc]

Me likes these bonehead posts.

[Stingray75]

Couldn’t get thru the year without doing something . . . Backed into the pin box and crumpled the tailgate today. Big mirrors & backup camera all working well.

[jmactootall]

One day I went and looked at some rv's thinking I might like to have one.

[TxLoser]

Originally Posted by jmactootall

One day I went and looked at some rv's thinking I might like to have one.

This is one of mine too. Easily the most financially irresponsible things I've done in a long list of such items. But, that being said, we've had a great time with it.

Each time I camp I do something.

[jmactootall]

I love it when a "bad" plan comes together!!

[NorCal Eagle]

Originally Posted by TxLoser

This is one of mine too. Easily the most financially irresponsible things I've done in a long list of such items. But, that being said, we've had a great time with it.

Each time I camp I do something.

I thought our purchase would be financially irresponsible too. However, after a very expensive family vacation (flights, hotel etc), the TT has been the best purchase for us. Many memories made in a short amount of time, and way cheaper than alternate ways to vacation.

I guess my boneheaded moment was thinking I wouldn't take to RVing. Now I can't wait to go again!

[JesseS]

The day 14 years ago when my Dad asked me if I wanted his 'old' 32' Class A, and I said yes in spite of 'The Look' from the DW

[theamazingmaynards]

Got a couple decent ones and after making through too many pages of these I had to throw mine in.

Drove 5 hours to pick up new to us X17C, drove 3 hours and decided to camp for the night. Can't light furnace so we grab what extra clothes/blankets we have and rough it in the dinette bunk with the hybrid doors up.

First time to use shower, not knowing how many gallons or how long would fill up our rather small tanks the overflow goes and I hear the DW yelling about hearing water spillage outside.

Paid a dealer WAY too much money to Duct Tape my plastic trim piece that connect the canvas pop outs to the body of the trailer... First and last time.

Last time we hitched up to leave a campsite the camper won't budge. Even after a thorough inspection (from TV tranny to rear stabilizers) I'd confirmed everything was put up and hitched correctly. After some time and more attempts to leave....the pin for the emergency brakes had fallen or was knocked out. Plugged back in and left!

I've enjoyed everyones input and I'll be happy to lend what I can next time I see someone struggling the next camp over.

[travelingjw]

Picked up the TT from the dealer. It has been raining consistently. The rain broke just as we arrived at storage facility so we wanted to unhitch before the rain satryed again. DW did an excellent job of guiding me in. When I walked back to unhitch saw that I had forgot to remove the sway bar. It tore the mounting bracket out oh the tongue and bent the head assembly on the hitch. $125.00 later.......

[TxLoser]

Just remembered a good one I had last trip. Could have been really bad but my cat like reflexes made up for my total boneheadedness.

I was at the dump station, and had a guy waiting behind me, so I was trying to hurry. I couldn’t get the clear elbow off, so I packed up my poo gear, got in and moved out of the way. Once parked, I hopped out to address the elbow issue. Here’s the problem..... I wasn’t parked or should I say in park. Truck started to take off without me. I was a little slow to notice, but at least I’d left the door open. I managed to hop back in and hit the brakes. Disaster averted. Broke my own rule about rushing, and it nearly bit me.

[sd396]

My first trailer was a 1972 17' Prowler that I bought for $100.00 and spent 9 months rebuilding about 3/4 of. On it's maiden voyage, and my first time using a travel trailer, I proceeded to back into the campsite without much problem and was quite proud of my backing skills. Being as there were still a couple things I needed to buy, I was missing the foot for the tongue jack. I lowered the jack onto an 8" round chunk of firewood about 10" long which I had been successfully using at home while working on it, and unhitched the truck.
This particular campsite has raised and leveled gravel pads for parking on but as I would soon find this one wasn't level enough for the trailer to sit there without the wheels being chocked, especially with the tongue jack resting on a wobbly piece of firewood. After pulling the truck ahead I got out, turned and watched my tongue jack fall off the chunk of firewood, and the trailer proceed to roll down off the raised pad and into the bush. Thankfully it was fairly level around the gravel pad and the trailer didn't go far and came grinding to a stop without hitting anything.
Feeling like a complete idiot I quickly looked around the busy campground to see if anyone saw what happened and was relieved to find nobody around. I'm sure though, that some people were wondering why I was dragging my trailer out of the bush behind the campsite.
Lesson learned, (well 2 lessons), always chock the wheels and never use a chunk of firewood for a tongue rest.


A good buddy of mine told me once how he pulled into the sani dump and proceeded to hook up his dump hose to the trailer and place the other end into the hole in the ground. This end didn't have a fitting on it to secure it so he just stuck the hose in the hole far enough so it wouldn't come out.
Little did he know the other end of the hose wasn't properly secured to the tank drain on his trailer and when he pulled open his black water valve the surge from the tank blew the hose off the drain and proceeded to dump his whole black tank all over the ground beside his trailer.
After jumping out of the way and narrowly escaping an ugly mess all over his shoes he turned and watched as his dump hose slithered its way down the drain hole never to be seen again.

[TxLoser]

Originally Posted by sd396

A good buddy of mine told me once how he pulled into the sani dump and proceeded to hook up his dump hose to the trailer and place the other end into the hole in the ground. This end didn't have a fitting on it to secure it so he just stuck the hose in the hole far enough so it wouldn't come out.
Little did he know the other end of the hose wasn't properly secured to the tank drain on his trailer and when he pulled open his black water valve the surge from the tank blew the hose off the drain and proceeded to dump his whole black tank all over the ground beside his trailer.
After jumping out of the way and narrowly escaping an ugly mess all over his shoes he turned and watched as his dump hose slithered its way down the drain hole never to be seen again.

That one had me laughing.

[Duke4857]

Over the years I have done a bonehead or two. I grew up around camp trailers so I did know that a person should always block the trailer tires before unhitching. Dad always did the unhitching of his trailers. When I bought our first TT the first time out I went to un hitch the trailer. I set the E-brake on the 1988 1/2 Suburban we had, I blocked the trailer tires and proceeded to raise the jack to take the WD hitch bars off. Went back down to unlatch the coupler from the burb. When I raised the trailer off the ball the trailer rolled up against the blocks more and put a dent in the burb's bumper. Lesson learned? Always let the trailer roll into the tire trailer blocks before unhitching. I put the truck into neutral and let the whole rig stop on the trailer blocks than unhitch.

[Upstater88]

Originally Posted by Duke4857

Over the years I have done a bonehead or two. I grew up around camp trailers so I did know that a person should always block the trailer tires before unhitching. Dad always did the unhitching of his trailers. When I bought our first TT the first time out I went to un hitch the trailer. I set the E-brake on the 1988 1/2 Suburban we had, I blocked the trailer tires and proceeded to raise the jack to take the WD hitch bars off. Went back down to unlatch the coupler from the burb. When I raised the trailer off the ball the trailer rolled up against the blocks more and put a dent in the burb's bumper. Lesson learned? Always let the trailer roll into the tire trailer blocks before unhitching. I put the truck into neutral and let the whole rig stop on the trailer blocks than unhitch.

Similar story to Duke's, but we were camping in a state campground in the Adirondacks. We always try to get a waterfront site, because you can't beat that up there. As many know who have camped in some of the NYS Adirondack campgrounds know, the sites aren't very level sometimes. Well this site sloped down hill towards the water. Like Duke I didn't have my tires blocked, and being on the slope, I had to jack the camper up quite a ways to get off the ball of my hitch. Once she got up off the ball, there was almost no weight on the tongue of the TT - and she proceeded to roll down hill towards the water. I grabbed the tongue jack and tried pulling it back (not sure why I expected I could hold back a rolling trailer) but luckily the jack dug into the ground and stopped the trailer before it got to the water. Certainly not my proudest moment (and it was only last year), but proved to be a good lesson that I will hopefully never learn again. I guess they say, sometimes you have to learn the hard way!

[colby]

After reading this thread, I realize that I am not alone in my misery

First post, been lurking for a while (I'll post in the welcome thread shortly). Last October, my DW and myself headed out to go through the orientation of our new 2018 212QB. This was an upgrade from our tent trailer for a variety of reasons. We went successfully through the orientation and had planned to camp at the campground attached to the dealership. All hooked up, we headed to our spot (which I specifically chose a pull through so I wouldn't have the experience of trying to back the big unit in the first time). Get to the site and start setting up. I open up things and pull out my fancy new Anderson levellers out of the box and realize that there is only one in the box. No worries, it's now an adventure!

We needed to get some groceries, and figured it would be good to get some experience pulling the trailer around and we can pick up some levellers and other supplies while we are at it. So we headed out and drove the 15 minutes into town, stopped at Canadian Tire, grabbed the levellers and a few things, maneuvered through the gas station and filled up and my wife found a place to have lunch. It was in town and I was a little worried about parking; however, it was something we generally did with the pop-up (this is a big pop-up, an old 2001 Coleman Cheyenne), so off we went to see what might be available.

As luck would have it, there were two spots right at the front of a side street, a quick run through an abandoned gas station and I successfully parallel parked everything and we headed out for lunch and some window shopping.

After lunch, we got back in and ready to head to the grocery store. I looked, no vehicles, and started off slowly. We were making a right at the intersection; however, we didn't make it that far. High above the truck, and way above what would have hit the pop-up, a street-sign (a very sturdy street sign) was sticking out and caught the top of the trailer. That wasn't the worse part. As I continued to pull out (not feeling/hearing anything), I continued to slowly pull out until I heard a "twang". I immediately stop and look into the right mirror to see some plastic pieces fluttering to the ground. I put the truck in park, put in the 4-ways and get out to see what is going on.

As I stand on the sidewalk, I look in dismay at the carnage. There is a slight scrape on the top right of the trailer; however, the damage is to the awning. The street sign had caught on the built in speaker and pushed the awning backwards, bending the pieces holding it to the trailer and ripping a couple of screws out. Still solidly attached, I picked up the pieces, got in the truck and drove the two minutes to the grocery store, where we started to figure out our options.

We were a six hour drive from home, and it was late in the afternoon. We had finished the orientation around 1PM and it was now 3:30pm (at the time I was thinking that was some sort of record). I called the dealership and they asked if it was safe to return back to the campground/delivery location. I said it was and we headed there. Further complicating things was that this was the Saturday of a long weekend and they were closing down at 4:30.

Back at the site, we talked to the manager and decided to leave the trailer with them for repairs and my DW and myself headed out.

We now have the trailer again; however, given the time of year (over year end holidays where the Service Center was shut down for a month) and some complications (the wrong colour parts were sent, bad winter storms) it was close to 5 1/2 months until we got it back. I am now working on the various mods and things that I have been reading about and researching over the past year that this has been in the works.

Lesson learned - Be more spatially aware of the height of the trailer. It's taller!

I've added a couple of pictures of the carnage!

[oldmanAZ]

OUCH!

Sorry your first post was in this category.

[colby]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

OUCH!

Sorry your first post was in this category.

Thanks, I am hoping it's my last in this category!