What`s your most boneheaded RV moment?

[rheyco]

Young and Dumb took my Fiance camping for her first time.. Picked her up at college and we were off. I had packed a tent and all the gear. Get to the campground and we were told to be careful and stay on the road as the rains have softened the ground. After burying the car in the mud we were pulled out of the mud by the campground tractor we set up our tent. Went to sleep and woke up the next morning with the tent inches from our faces. It had snowed and the tent was about to collapse. Freezing cold could not find dry wood anywhere so we started a fire with wet wood and road flares... we are still camping 23 years later but now in our new 2012 330 rlts.

[Island Eagle]

35 years ago we had a brand new camper, also first ever RV. Didn't have a lot of room at home to store it so a friend with acreage offered to let me store it at his place. Being that it was only a 1/2 mile away I thought I shouldn't need to chain it down. After going about 50 feet and with it rocking back and forth almost to the point of tipping off the truck, with shaking hands I chained it down. Never tried that again.

More recently, while setting up our 5th wheel at a campsite and finding the power cord didn't reach the plugin, I hooked back up to my truck, backed up, ran over my power cord which in turn ripped off the door to the power cord storage.

And last but not least (and probably not the last), was at a sani dump emptying the black water and the hose came off the fitting connected to the RV. My wife was going to walk away and claim she never new me.

[CrazyTed]

Well, where to start. We started camping in a tent, then a cargo trailer, then on to our 5ver we just sold.

We've gone tent camping and forgot the tent..
Sleeping in the cargo trailer we used a bungee to hold the door shut when using a heater to allow air in but prevent the door from opening. Went to sleep and about four hours later heard the loud bang of the door slamming open.
Tried to drive off with the BAL chocks still on the 5ver. Didn't move.
Tried to drive off with the front landing gear down, moves slightly but makes a grinding noise on the wood blocks.
The usual tv antenna still up.
In the 5ver we had to pull the TV down before driving and stow it on the bed. Left our camping around and drove about four hours and for some reason, I all of a sudden remembered I never pulled it down. TV hanging from the power cord and coax cable. Luckily it barely reached the bed which was supporting it.
Our 5ver had the EZ winterizer that uses the pump to suck antifreeze up into the lines. You just have to turn a valve so the pump sucks from the antifreeze and not the tank or city water. I have tried to un-winterize the trailer and not been able to get any water to pump at all. Checked everything I could check and was getting worried that some line somewhere had cracked during the winter and was sucking air. Turns out the EZ winterizer valve was still turned allowing the pump to suck air.
In the 5ver, trying to shower and only getting half the usual water pressure. Seems when the wifey switched from tank 1 to tank 2 she only turned the valve half way. Tank 2 was empty.
Too many more to think of.

[Crabman]

WOW! The bonehead thread I started over a year ago is alive and well! Keep em coming, when I read the new posts I know that I`m in good company and not alone!

[norty1]

I prefer to call it "Gaining experience".

[jwstewar]

Lets see where do I start.....

Do I start with the time the pin came out of the end of the awning and I let the awning roller drop and hit my sister in the head (I was probably 17 for this), the time we had too many blocks under the tongue of the trailer and I jacked it up with bottle jacks so I could take some out and the trailer fell with the rest of the family inside(14 for that one), the time that I unhooked the truck and then dad got it in and took off quick and hit a tree stump and bent the tie rod (15), the time I thought I had a 2" ball and in reality it was only 1 7/8" and we were moving out of a campground because of impending flood coming and was in a hurry and didn't hook safety chains up and lost my cousin's camper (18)....

On to some more recent ones. Hooked up to the camper spring of 2010 (we bought it summer of '09) and I start to move. Keep giving the truck the gas and it wouldn't go. Thinking, man, I know the camper was heavy, but not that heavy. It must have sunk. I put the truck in 4wd-low range and gave it the gas. The camper kind of jumped and dropped back down. I was like what was that? I get out of the truck and walk back to see what I ran over. There were my wheel chocks that used to be in front of the tires was now in between the tires and flat. I had forgotten to take the chocks out. Trailer moved pretty easy then. Thought it was pretty good for my "weak" 1/2 ton Chevy pulling that 10k camper up over those chocks.

My most boneheaded move was buying our previous camper. It had been my Aunt and Unkles so I new it from the time it was new and had set it up and even towed it a few times for them. Well when Unkie passed away, my cousins talked my Aunt into selling it and buying a new smaller camper. We looked at it and saw some damage mainly age and a rotted floor around the toilet. We bought the '84 Scotty for $1500. I fixed the floor in the bathroom with new 3/4" plywood new stickly linoleum floor tiles in there, new laminate wood floor throughout the rest of the camper w/ 7/16" OSB sub floor under it, rebuilt the tires, sealed the roof, all new lights inside & out, new vents, all port (electric, water, etc) were replace, all new faucets, new microwave, new stove vent, recovered the couches, and the head cushions above the doors, repainted.....etc.... Used it 1 time. Water heater leaked. Started to go again a few weeks later, our house burnt and we didn't get to go. Fast forward through that disaster, we had another baby and the layout didn't work well. But order a new water heater for it. As I was replacing it, the floor under the bed was completely rotten and so was the wall by the heater. Decided I was done since the layout didn't work for us. Put new OSB subfloor down and finished the water heater. Pulled the trailer to the end of the yard on a Thursday evening. Phone rang Friday morning. Someone wanted, we bought the Jayco Friday afternoon July 3, 2009. Pay $1500 for it, put $2300 in it and who knows how many ours, and sold it for $2700 after using it for a total of 2 nights. Yep that one was pretty boneheaded for not looking over it better.

[stevendq]

My first camping experience was when I was a kid and we took a 5,000 mile trip in a 34ft Class A. Ya know, the kind with the BIG hatch in the front to get at the engine. My dad had stopped to check the oil at a gas station and closed the hatch but forgot to put the pin in to keep it closed. Needless to say if there were snow on the road the hatch would have amade a great PLOW! Drove with it open for probably 100 miles or so. Only discovered it when we got stopped for a cattle crossing and got out to watch - that was really smelly too, but that's another story.

My own goofy was hooking up the TT to my F350 and accidentally popping the emergency pin out of the electric brake control unit and towing the trailer at highway speed with the electric brakes engaged. How did I know? Stopped at a stop sign a few miles down the raod and was trying to figure out what the burning smell was...

Oh and thinking I winterized the hot water tank by running the hot water out with the faucets in the TT instead of the popping the drain plug. These are not fun to take out and replace after it BURST OPEN from the giant ICE CUBE that was in the tank over the winter....

Oh and just this past weekend thinking I can drain my awning full of water by lowering the end of the awning because that's what I should have done in the fitrst place. It comes down pretty fast and hard, not to mention the huge BATH......Thankfully no injuries other than pride....

[MrKong]

Once of my best ones was when I took my dad's Coachman TT out for the first time by myself with my new wife. After being in our spot the first afternoon, I could not figure out why I kept smelling the black tank inside the trailer. We looked and looked and could not find the problem. Someone from a another spot came over and looked, and noticed when someone flushed the toilet, they did not let water cover the trap door. That just let the smell come right back up in the camper. Pulled the trigger and let water cover the trap, and all was fine for the rest of the trip.

[Ladywendolyn]

A few years back, my husband made an appointment to have our hitch adjusted at the dealership on our hybrid trailer we had just bought. He told me he was leaving for the appointment but what I did not realise is that when he pulled out of the driveway to go and get the hitch done, . . . HE FORGOT TO LOOK IN THE TRAILER!
We had been working on some modifications the night before, and had left all sorts of items out, all over the place including a toaster oven (up on the fridge), scissors, screw drivers, and a set of plastic stacking bins, plastic wine glasses, dishes etc.
I opened the trailer when he got home . . . boy what a mess!

So we ended up with a big dent in our floor (from the toaster oven), a big dent in the toaster oven (from the floor) and of course a big dent in our egos

[Crabman]

Bump

[greenenvy1]

had to tear front floor apart on our 1990 Jayco 250 special and fix a water leak. did all repairs fine and got it all back together. the following weeknd went camping and turned water on, ran inside to find water line going to pump loose and water runnig from the front clear to the rear all over my brand new flooring job. took old tent trailer out to impress the new girlfirend (now wife) and it was early spring. had not de-winterized trailer yet. got to campground and hooked everything up and found 4 split water lines.....nice first impression for her camping.

[tnchuck100]

Before the Jayco we now have we had a 2008 Flagstaff Microlite 18FBR. This unit had crank out windows. One of the awning arms is right in the center of one of these windows. When I was purchasing this unit I thought to myself "THAT is going to be a problem."

Sure enough, about two months later we were packing up to leave. I was raising the awning and did not notice the window was still cranked out. You guessed it. The sound of breaking glass was heard. Next the ENTIRE population of the park was aware that I had messed up royally. Lots of duct tape was used for a window until we got home.

Fortunately I found a local glass place that cut me a replacement glass for $17.00.

That was bad enough to happen once. But it happened 2 more times. As a matter of fact last time I had a spare glass made and let it go with the camper when I traded it. I am sure at some point the new owner appreciated it.

[CruizinKim]

Originally Posted by Campingcouple

New to camping, the guy next site complained about his bad tasting coffee. After some talking, we discover that his new RV was not dewinterized and he was making coffee with the RV antifreeze in his tank.

This is one of my favorites!

[chuckworkb]

Had my old pop up hooked up to a battery charger in the driveway, unplugged the charge from the electircal outlet but didn't disconnect it from the battery. Drove off with it connected, and got to about the end of the street before I realized it.
Forgot to disconnect the safety chains and went to pull the truck away.
Forgot to lock the door on the pop up one time and had it open on the highway.
Had my fridge running on 120 AC at the house, left for a 6 hour ride to the campground, without 120 AC connected to the fridge of course, and had a fridge full of warm food. Luckily the fridge in a pop us is small so I didn't lose that much.
Lesson here is, slow down, double check things.

[Diesel Donnie]

Unhooked 5th wheel hitch after setting wheel chocks- Pulled truck out from under fiver- Had forgotten to disconnect power cord- Oh well- Just another repair to do before the weekend is over- DD

[imaynard]

On our first trip with the new camper, we were all set up and enjoying ourselves. Decided it was almost time to take showers, so I turned on the water heater. Now, our camper has the fireplace in it, so you have to assign power by a switch to run either one - so I turned it to the water heater. About 20 minutes later, I went check to see if the water was hot enough for the boys to take showers, and it was still ice cold. I didn't know what to do. Well, we ended up taking showers in the bath house that night needless to say. Anyways, long story short, the next morning it hit me - DUH!!!! I totally forgot to open the other panel and assign it to either run on electric or gas!!! My wife will never let this one go.

And like everyone else, I am sure that I will have more in the future.

[firefighter]

I hate to even tell this story, but here it goes.

Just got the new jayco, I did not think to check the tank valves because I am sure the dealer would of had them closed. Well after our first weekend out and on the Sunday morning as we were packing up, I was getting ready to hook up my sewer hose. When I took the cap off the pipe was when I found out the black and grey valves were open. Anyway a cuple gallons of ^^&%$^$ over my shoes before I got the black tank closed.

Was I impressed,,,,NOT

[Kungfuparachute]

First trip with X23B voyage in May of this year I laid the crank for the jacks over the propane tanks in the front. There's no way I can forget it there. WRONG. It's laying somewhere near Interstate state park in MN.

Second trip put down stabilizer jacks and thought I could raise the front with the power tongue jack, lower the stabilizers a little, then lower the tongue jack and have a super stable front end. WRONG. Bent the stabilizer jack. In my defense, Jayco put light weight pop-up jacks on the X23B. I'll probably replace them with scissor jacks or something that can actually carry some weight.

Third trip Part A, went to a campgroup with shared electrical hookups between sites. My cord wouldn't reach so I tried to move my TT a little closer. The campground had cut of the branches of a pine tree, leaving a few cut-off branches an inch or so in diameter. I didn't look up when I was backing up. I was looking at the electric outlet. I drug the branches down the side of my now only one month old camper. It scratched up the side and bent the trim over my entry door. I was able to mostly bend it back but the scratches are reminders. Part B of this one is I kind of blamed my wife. Even though she was supposed to be watching, pointing that out did NOT help my situation.

[firefighter]

Oh, that last one would have sent me over the edge. Yes, you are right about one thing, pointing that out to the wife was a no,no. Brave man you are,hahaha

[Boubou]

We are into our first year of RV'ing.
Done most of the previous moments but our worst so far (hopefully ever) was 2 weeks ago driving on the TransCanada highway in New Brunswick. Very hilly and a bit windy. Huge rain storm. Most campers are pulled over, waiting for storm to pass. After driving a while into this, partner decides that she had enough and pulls over on the shoulder problem is, she pulled over just past a curve and before a bridge making it very hazardous to pull out. Cars were zooming past us at 70 mph and we had no shoulder room to pick up speed and drivers coming behind us had no way of knowing we were trying to merge into traffic with 5th wheel on the truck because of the curve.
We made it but will not repeat this mistake. You asked about boehead moment? This was a braindead moment.
Sharing so that all can learn from our mistake and not repeat it. Not a proud moment.