Okay. I'll start.
First off--first camper and never towed anything larger than a tree branch shredder. Bought it from a private party out of state. Got it home okay. Couple days later we hook it up in our driveway to go get it inspected for permanent tags. As we pull out of said drive, we hear a bang as the first camper tire drops the 2 inches from driveway to the pavement. Then, a ka-boom as the second tire exits the driveway. We pull over and park in front of the neighbors house. Wifey asks, "Did you take the tv off the countertop?" Me: "I think I just did." First bang was the 22" lcd hitting the counter. The boom was it hitting the aluminum floor. Unbelievably, the tv still works.
One week later, we are on our shake-down cruise for a weekend at a local state park. No problem backing into our very first camping site. Then, we unhook from the truck and watch in amazement as the camper continues to back into our very first camping site. Okay. So, it's chock the wheels, then, unhook. Got it.
First weekend was very enjoyable except that we ran out of fresh water in our first 24 hours. Like most things, twenty gallons doesn't go as far as it used to.
Well, at the end of it all, we get it home and start unpacking. Wife grabs a few things and heads into the house. I grab stuff from inside the camper and as I step out, I turn just in time to watch it 'pop a wheelie'. I mean all the way to the back bumper.
Okay. So it's deploy the stabilizers, chock the wheels, THEN, unhook the truck. Got it.
i know. It all sounds oafish, but it is our first. Jeez, where we this bad with our first kid?
Your turn.
I have heard stories like this from friends who headed out for their first trip. You were actually very fortunate, because you didn't damage your camper. Some of them had to head straight to the dealer for repairs because they took off with their stabilizer jacks down. Ouch!
The solution they came up with is to have a checklist for setting up, and then again for when they are ready to leave. This way they won't forget to do anything on their checklist.
I think this will make all readers chuckle and think back on their first time. For me, I didn't have trailer side mirrors, and the QS10 is a bit too tall and too wide for good views. So on the drive home from the dealer, I almost took out another car. Twice.
A lot of folks do their shake down down trip as camp driveway - camp at the house for a few nights and start making their lists on the steps to deploy, where everything goes, and steps to return. Then comes the lists of other things to buy. And the 'to buy' list never seems to go away.... First on my list - buy some extended attachable side view trailer mirrors.
Heh heh heh...
We picked up Rose, our 2010 8.1, from the factory in June, 2010, and took her straight to the local (South Bend) KOA. We thought we had paid very careful attention to the setup video---watched it like 6 times---so we backed 'er in to the site and went to work.
A good 90 turn-the-air-blue minutes later we (finally) had 'er up. We stepped back to admire our handiwork. A fellow camper stopped by.
"Is it new?" she inquired.
"Yep! Brand new!"
"I thought so!" she chortled.
Grrrrr.
In the morning we went to take 'er down. That took less time 'cuz we could not for the life of us figure out how to do it. We finally brought the beds over on the wadded-up tent and towed the thing back to the factory for a lesson from Mike at the factory.
We were deeeeeply embarrassed.
Now we can get 'er up in 12 minutes on a good day, and down in 10. :D
[quote source="/post/2677/thread" timestamp="1408219258" author="@dave"]
Well, at the end of it all, we get it home and start unpacking. Wife grabs a few things and heads into the house. I grab stuff from inside the camper and as I step out, I turn just in time to watch it 'pop a wheelie'. I mean all the way to the back bumper.
Okay. So it's deploy the stabilizers, chock the wheels, THEN, unhook the truck. Got it.
[/quote][p]I think your order should be, chock the wheels, unhook, deploy stab jacks, THEN unlock the door.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The stab jacks should only be deployed once you are already level, and you can't do that while hooked up (except by coincidence). And you can't unhood without using the tongue jack to raise the coupler off the ball, then bring it back down. Can't...well, shouldn't...do that with the rear stab jacks deployed, as they become the fulcrum of the whole trailer's weight.
[/p]
I think the order should be:
Level from side to side using trailer axle
Chock axle wheels
Unhook tow vehicle
Level for back to front using tongue wheel
Chock tongue wheel
Deploy stabilizing jacks (support if need)
Pull out steps
I am working on my own checklist for how to set up.
[quote source="/post/2703/thread" timestamp="1408242575" author="@leslie"]I think the order should be:
Level from side to side using trailer axle
Chock axle wheels
Unhook tow vehicle
Level for back to front using tongue wheel
Chock tongue wheel
Deploy stabilizing jacks (support if need)
Pull out steps
I am working on my own checklist for how to set up.[/quote]You got it, yep. All that before any hookups or slide movements.
[quote source="/post/2703/thread" timestamp="1408242575" author="@leslie"]I think the order should be:
Level from side to side using trailer axle
Chock axle wheels
Unhook tow vehicle
Level for back to front using tongue wheel
Chock tongue wheel
Deploy stabilizing jacks (support if need)
Pull out steps
I am working on my own checklist for how to set up.[/quote]Ya. That's the order of things now. We've learned to slow down. First camping trip I was a little geeked up.
Come on guys. There's got to be more camping bloopers than this.
You will have to wait until I get my Camplite. I know myself. I am working on a list of checklists to cover all contingencies. If there is any way to screw up camping with an RV, I am guaranteed to do it. Stand by, be kind, withhold laughter...
Honestly, the worst it's been is forgetting something, and finding a dollar store in a nearby town. Oh, and we drove home with a roof vent open.
We had some excitement with a mechanical - the coupler was out of adjustment, and the trailer hopped off the ball. Kind of exciting, and got off very lucky, purely by where it happened. Could have been very bad. But that wasn't a blooper by us.
I eagerly await leslie's report from the dump station...Is there a time limit on how long we have to hold our laughter ?
My DH has informed me the dump station will be my responsibility. He lacks the patience to sit through the youtube demo on how to dump and flush the black tank.
For real hilarity, just imagine what it will be like when we take the maiden voyage the first night we have the Camplite. I should charge admission.
[font size="3"]Not a first time blooper, but I did drive off from a campsite with he kitchen window unsecured. Not too hard to fix with a new window cover, but expensive. I won't do that again! :(
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oh, oh, I have one!!
We took our unit to a private campground with full hookups the first time. Didn't like it so decided to head over to a National Park CG. We thought that, hey this wouldn't be bad...we will already have fresh water in the tank. On the way there we thought that pulling with a full water tank wasn't too bad! We got to the CG, set up and went to turn on the water pump. Funny noise. Turned off and then back on. Still a funny noise. Husband got under the trailer to check out the water tank. NO WATER!! :-/ For first timers who would have thought that when hooked up to city water that it bypasses the tank?! Husband took the collapsable 5 gallon water jug down to get water, brought it back up and tried to dump into the tank. All over the ground..hmmm. :-/ Need a funnel. Go to grocery store. Only funnel they had was a small one with a small tail. Water all over the ground again....hmmm. :-/ Go to True Value Hardware and found a pretty big funnel. Go over to hose department. Lo and behold someone had cut a clear vinyl hose and left a 16 inch piece there. Husband attaches it to the funnel. Looked like it would work. ::) Go to pay for the items. Young man at the cash register asked us if we were having a drinking party..!!! We look at each other with amazement and puzzled looks on our faces. O_o He said that all the young kids there use them as beer bongs!! No, we are trying to put water in our camper. He goes, "oh". Go back to camp and with another five jugs of water we had a nice four days of camping! :)
Dump stations and boat ramps are great reality comedy opportunities.
A lot of my mistakes have been while stationary - locking doors and passthroughs before I was done with them, pulling in too close to a tree to open the awning all the way. Oh, and there was the time when I had to hear about the hot water heater being broken because I didn't turn the propane on. I've also had several struggles getting my wireless brake controller to pair. Note: that part in the instructions that say keep it away from your cell phone ? Obey that. And the outdoor hose hookup that wouldn't due to pressure, until you read the paper tag that tells you what to do. Mrs. Pin is big on pointing out RTFM issues.
And if you saw a 14DBS rolling up OR 18 with the dump cover dangling on its tether, that was me.
[p]Not to many oops, I grew up camping with my older brother Gus. Those of you who may have noted my postings on the other site may have noted the oops and may have learned from them as I did. Though we have had a couple, but I will allow the Camp Commander (the wife) to take part of the blame. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Camping with our camper that actually should be my fault was a camping trip east of Payson. Due to our work schedules I usually leave a day or two early and set up camp and then joined by the Camp Commander. On this trip the weather was perfect, we had the same days off and I can image the tides were perfect some place on the planet. We stopped at a grocery store in Payson. While shopping I wandered off fetch a few items, paid for them and left the store. Driving off I stopped at a gas station in Star Valley and topped off the gas tank and got a soda. Starting to drive off I noted something was missing, left the Camp Commander back at the grocery store in Payson ! Drove back to the store, parked in the same spot and found the wife in the produce section selecting peaches. [/p][p]
[/p][p]While on a tent camping trip and staying at Kartchner Caverns State Park during the winter. The overnight lows were in the teens and since a Wal-Mart had just opened in Benson we stopped by and purchased a small electric heater and an extension cord. The heater was set up on an aluminum table and we had it running during the night. The next morning we thought the overnight low was in the single digit as it was cold. That's when we realized we had the heater set on fan only and not heat.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The next oops which actually was quite recent and though a solo trip the Camp Commander will share blame as she suggested it. Bicycle camping trip on the mtn. bike from our home in Payson. Rode out the 15 miles on pavement and dirt road to set up camp at Washington Park. Set up camp and loafing about when I noted the sign, the sign prohibited camping. The forest service had posted the area a couple of days earlier after changing it policy on camping. Had to strike camp and relocate camp three miles away. [/p]
I had forgotten this story. It happened in late 1960s when we were young marrieds. Now you can figure out how old we are...
We purchased a new van to use for tent camping. It had huge side view mirrors both sides. Driving it home from the dealer, some of our neighbors were outside watching us come home. DH was driving. Made a sharp right turn into our driveway. The mailbox setup was 4 mailboxes on one post, so 4 neighbors shared the one post. Can't you just guess what happened? All 4 mailboxes swiped off that post by the side view mirror.
We can laugh about this today. Well, I can laugh about this today. Fasteddie, you aaren't even close to this with just scratching your camper decals.
Good stuff, kids. Good stuff.. Now I don't feel so all alone.
Double-blooper yesterday in the driveway.
Mrs. Pin was playing house in the trailer, getting ready for a trip, cleaning, puttering.
I went out in the evening to check windows and such, for some reason felt the microwave door was warm. The clock was still at 0:00. Opened the window and there's a nice pock mark in the glass, and a delightful spiderweb of cracked glass.
Went back inside. "Baby, when you were in the trailer today, did you try to set the clock on the microwave ?" "Yes, I did. Around 3:30"
She thought she was setting the clock on the micro, but actually turned on the oven, running it for 3+ hours. With the metal in contact with the glass. Unbeknownst to anyone, the metal rack in the microwave was sitting off-kilter, and even more oddly, the rubber thingie was off one of the tips. That tip was in contact with the glass door.
Gonna call I a few to see how quickly this can be repaired or replaced before the weekend. Clearly on us.
1. Don't store the rack in the microwave.
2. RTFM
[quote source="/post/2824/thread" timestamp="1408629545" author="@dave"]Good stuff, kids. Good stuff.. Now I don't feel so all alone.[/quote]So you don't feel so lonesome, Dave, I'll go again (I've got even more stories but I don't wanna be a hog).
2010, first season out with Rose the 2010 QS 8.1, we were in a Montana state park, beautiful park, paved sites with lovely views of a lake. We'd gotten into the habit of taking full advantage of the big picture window by turning the little camper sideways at the back of any view site we were in, which had not been a problem up 'til now. My wife was off paying for the site while I busied myself taking the tiny trailer off the hitch and setting up. I'd also gotten into the habit, especially in paved sites, of just pushing it where I wanted it, but as I started to turn the trailer sideways I suddenly became painfully aware that this perfect paved site had a slight camber---a low bulge in the center---for drainage. Uh, oh. Normally docile Rose suddenly lunged for the edge of the pavement, me trying desperately to control 1,000+ pounds of freewheeling camper headed straight for a tree! Fortunately she did no damage either to herself or the tree, but now I discovered that I could not get her back onto the pavement by myself. Other campers (of course) immediately rushed over to help. I think my face was as red as Rosie's hide! Nowadays the first things that come out are the wheel chocks. :D
Our first trip with our QS10 was to Acadia NP in Maine. Our site was uphill from the road. Too nervous to try backing in, I pulled in straight and moved the camper out of the way (fortunately I used wheel chocks!) and then drove van back down.
I then decided to put our camper perpendicular in the site so the door faced down to the road since we would be coming and going that way a lot. I used my BAL leveler to raise the downhill side a good 3 or 4 inches, ran through the setup with no problems. Hopped in and all was great. Then my wife came over and pointed at the step...which was now about a foot off the ground. "Do we have a step to get to the step?"
We ended up leaving it, but it made entering a bit of a climb. I'm 6'3" so I hadn't noticed.
We also had trouble with bouncing. I think the BAL allowed enough play that the a stabilizer jack got loose a couple times. Looking forward to our next trip to try again.
When I was 6 or 7 begged my Dad to camp outside (wont say the back yard we live in the country) Dad finally gives in. We set up a 8 person old school tent set up the sleeping bags on the ground. After dark. Started to rain when we went to sleep. Woke up about 4 hours later when the water had soaked into our sleeping bags. Didn't realize we had put our tent in a slightly low spot.
We had gone camping with another family in our tenting days. My husband noticed his friend undressing in front of one of the screen windows. He said hey what are you doing? Everyone can see you! The friend was very embarrassed. He thought that the 'no see um netting' on the windows was so nobody could see him inside the tent!
[quote source="/post/2825/thread" timestamp="1408630081" author="@pinstriper"]
I went out in the evening to check windows and such, for some reason felt the microwave door was warm. The clock was still at 0:00. Opened the window and there's a nice pock mark in the glass, and a delightful spiderweb of cracked glass.
[/quote]Wow, that could have ended much worse.
Okay. One more.
Again, on our first ever camping trip, we were having a good time socializing with a younger couple that we had met earlier in the day. As we all sat around their fire that evening, we hear noise twenty feet from us. It's raccoons rummaging through their stuff. While the husband rises to try and chase them out, the kids say, "ya, and we just heard them messing with that camp site over there." (Pointing to ours).
Coons cleaned our cooler out. Lost drinks and fruit.
We learned a lot in our first two weekend trips.
[quote source="/post/2844/thread" timestamp="1408679564" author="@livinthegoodlife"]We had gone camping with another family in our tenting days. My husband noticed his friend undressing in front of one of the screen windows. He said hey what are you doing? Everyone can see you! The friend was very embarrassed. He thought that the 'no see um netting' on the windows was so nobody could see him inside the tent![/quote]I love that story!
So one more: In our earliest tenting days I figured being comfortable meant carrying everything, maybe including the kitchen sink (which at the time was a pair of Rubbermaid dishpans). We had a little Nissan wagon with our young son in his car seat in the middle of the back seat, completely surrounded with gear and duffel bags. There were three bicycles hanging off the rack on the rear of the car, and a bunch more gear tarped on top. We stopped for gas, in a day when attendants came out and pumped it for you in all states, not just Oregon and NJ. The attendant took a wry look at our sagging-on-the-springs Nissan, and said: "Are you folks campin'? Or movin'?!"
I have spent the last 30 years trying to live that down. :D :D (rofl)
On a recent trip with our 10.0 I thought I had most of the basic setup figured out from the yard camping and a couple of short local trips so I didnt put much time into the pre-trip prep. I knew we were going to a state park with no water or electric hook ups but I wanted a few luxuries such like the AC unit to remove some of the near 100% humidity in the afternoon. So I decided to pack my small generator thinking to myself, there is no need to test it. I had already tested it earlier in the year and it seemed to run the AC unit with no problem when plugged into a direct extension cord. Well apparently in the heat of the summer it decided it was no longer going to work. The AC just kept tripping the overload on the generator so I switched to plan B. I figured I wold just run a couple of fans and run the generator to recharge the battery if needed. I plugged in the two 12v fan/light combos that seems to come with all campers these days only to find out that one of the fans no longer wants to run. It started to turn, but acted as if it was low on power. The other fan ran strong so I knew it couldnt be the battery. So now I'm stuck with no AC and only one of two fans. On to plan C, I figure I'll just keep the windows open and allow a decent cross wind. Its at this point mother nature must have be rolling on the floor laughing at me because the sky opened up and it started raining cats and dogs. Now I'm down to no AC, 1 fan, a single battery that needs to last at least 10 hours, and I cant even put down the windows for ventilation.
We ended up with 4 adults, 1 toddler, and a 70 pound dog in our 10.0 most of the evening and all night with the windows up in 100% humidity and the tail end of 95 degree temps. From now on I will setup and double check everything prior to our trip.
I have plenty of other stories but luckily most are from when I was an outdoor adventure guide. I got to witness plenty of first timers and their ideas of whats needed to go camping.
-Sean
We had a few with our previous trailer (RPod 171). The first trip we didn't have a pin in the coupler (thanks dealer for not providing one or telling me that I needed one) and as we're pulling into a steep single lane road into the first loop the trailer pops off and skids to a stop on the retracted tongue jack. Luckily there was no damage to the tow vehicle or the trailer other than some scraping on the tongue jack. The trailer was light enough that I was able to lift the tongue by hand back onto the car. Blooper #2 was a few months later suddenly the toilet won't drain in the middle of a 4 day trip with no hookups. The black tank itself was practically empty. Turned out that we had the dreaded "poo pyramid" from dumping too early for the last few trips. Basically all the solids had formed a pile right below the toilet pipe and nothing else could get into the tank. With no snake in my toolkit I had to use a branch from the woods to loosen things up.
We had our first blooper with the camplite on our last trip. We're pulling out of the campground and I hear a bang followed by scraping and assumed I had hit a rock or something. Turned out that I forgot to put the L-pin into the WD bracket and the spring bar had slipped off and started dragging on the ground. Luckily the L-pin was sitting on the tongue still so I didn't need to go searching along my path. That was the first time I had to use their cheater lever to get the bar back up, but it worked easily and we were on our way in less than a minute with no damage (phew).
We got our brand new Camplite 21-BHS on Friday. In fact, we spent the whole day at the dealer while they worked on it. This is our first RV, and our first experience with towing. I have checklists to cover any situation, except for hitching and unhitching. So I asked the technician to take me through it, as I stood next to him with a paper pad and pen. I took meticulous notes. Thank goodness! Then I put it into a large bag I am using to hold owner's manuals, and other papers.
Just before we left the dealership, I walked around our rig just to make sure we were all set. I saw a sticky label, about 8 X 11 inches on the locking battery box, which I ripped off and stashed in my bag to look at later.
We stopped for the night at Wal-Mart, since we left the dealer too late to get into the state park campground. I pulled out the hitching and unhitching notes I had made, only to find that sticky label stuck to the page. Moan and groan.
I was able to resurrect my notes. I pulled off some of the sticky, putting pieces of my notes together like a jigsaw puzzle. Some places where I just could not remove the adhesive, I could make out what I had written by holding it up to the light. Bottom line, I have my checklists. Relief!
How many ways can one person mess up hitching up and unhitching? I think before I am finished, I will have been through every one of them.
I am learning to hitch up and unhitch the trailer all by myself. My husband was reading the checklist to me yesterday, and I was supposed to do all the work without his help. Well, somehow, I unlocked the coupler before removing the weight distribution bars. It took us an hour to complete unhitching - one hour of very hard work, I might add. Before it was over, my husband had a bruise on his shin from one very stubborn WDH bar.
[p]We have been camping for almost 15 years now and we are on our 4th unit. The thread should read " have you ever not had a blooper while camping". It sure seems that way for me!!!! Years ago my wife and I owed a small pop up camper. We both had to work late that day, so we knew we would not arrive at our spot until around midnight. My wife wanted to pull over for the night at a hotel but there was no way I was not to going sleep in my camper. She was not happy but finally agreed it was stupid to spend the extra money. We arrived very tired and decided to just set up unit and go right to sleep. It was dark and I was very sleepy so I popped up unit, pulled out beds and climbed inside. As my wife was brushing her teeth, I decided to just climb in bed. As soon as I did the whole camper felt like it was falling down. Before I knew it my wife and I were leaning against the back of the tent with the other side of camper pointing up in the air. FORGOT THE STABILIZER JACKS!!! 15Years later, the first thing I hear when I climb in bed is, "Did you put down the arm things". Should have just stayed in hotel[/p]
A few years ago, my wife and I had a good one... This was our first time ever camping off a motorcycle - a lot like backpacking, in that everything you need for the next few days is carried either on your person or strapped to the rack on the back of the bike.
We were doing a series of dirt roads and trails that required one overnight on the trail seriously out in the middle of nowhere, at least 20 miles from the nearest paved road. We got to where we planned to camp at about 8PM, quickly set up the tent, unloaded all of the gear off our motorcycles into the tent, and then proceeded to hike around the area to catch the views and the sunset.
Spent about an hour exploring and then decided it was time to finish setting up camp. Go to set up our bedding and discover that we only have one sleeping bag. We both absolutely were certain that we had our sleeping bags strapped to our bikes, so what happened? We were kind of freaked out... is it Bigfoot? Is it bad guys lurking in the woods who stole our bag?
Then I got the bright idea to go through the pictures on our camera, and sure enough, the pictures from earlier in the day show bags strapped to both bikes, but later in the day (within 30 minutes of where we stopped) there was a picture of my wife's bike, and clearly the sleeping bag was no longer strapped to her bike.
By this time, it is 10PM and pitch dark, our bikes don't have great lighting. We decide to brave the trail in the dark and backtrack in the hopes of finding the bag. No luck in the dark, so we're stuck with both of us having to share a single backpackers mummy bag for the night. Now it is 11:30, and the temperature has dropped to about 35 degrees. The nearest town is a good 2-3 hours away in daylight, and who knows how long it would take in the dark on pretty rough trails.
So we both wore every item of clothing we had packed, lay on top of our therma-rest pads and spread the single unzipped mummy over both of us. It was a really, really, really cold night, and not much sleep to be had.
The next morning around 8AM, two bikes come up the trail and stop where we are camped to check out the views, so I walked over and said hello to them, and one of them asked if we were missing a sleeping bag. They had found it on the way up, and one of them had it in his panniers.
Lesson learned... when packing gear on a motorcycle, make sure all of your straps are well secured and properly tightened!
Great stories and lessons (maybe) learned! My very first RV experience was in a rented motor home with several friends that were attending a multi-day Belgian beer festival in upstate NY. So basically a recipe for disaster/hilarity. One thing I quickly learned on that trip is to never pull a lever on an RV if you don't know what it does! Safe to say it wasn't the fresh water tank drain that I thought I had found.
Graham
[p]Here is another one!! A few years ago we purchased a very large Coleman Westlake. If you are not familiar with Coleman Pop ups, they had a very large door step that dropped down allowing a very decent step to enter the unit. One spring day I was preparing the unit for a trip when my wife walks outside and asks me to go get more chicken for a dish she was making. Without thinking, I jump in the jeep and backed up. When the rear of the jeep lifted up in the air, I still had no idea what the heck was going on. I pulled forward to find out I just drove the jeep over the large step to the camper. I broke the step and bent the frame. I was sick!!!!![/p][p]
[/p][p]Next day decided to take the camper to the camping dealer to see how much it would take to get repaired, but needed to find a way to get the step door to close. After much work, I was able to get the door somewhat closed using bungee straps and rope. When I attempted to lower the top, it would not close all the way. I said heck with it and decided to pull it down I-40 about one hour around Western North Carolina. I was driving down the highway with the tent flapping in the wind, bungees all over it and embarrassed as heck. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Came home with new camper!!! Way to much money to repair.[/p]
[quote timestamp="1427234765" author="@wcuhoppytoad" source="/post/8389/thread"][p]We have been camping for almost 15 years now and we are on our 4th unit. The thread should read " have you ever not had a blooper while camping". It sure seems that way for me!!!! Years ago my wife and I owed a small pop up camper. We both had to work late that day, so we knew we would not arrive at our spot until around midnight. My wife wanted to pull over for the night at a hotel but there was no way I was not to going sleep in my camper. She was not happy but finally agreed it was stupid to spend the extra money. We arrived very tired and decided to just set up unit and go right to sleep. It was dark and I was very sleepy so I popped up unit, pulled out beds and climbed inside. As my wife was brushing her teeth, I decided to just climb in bed. As soon as I did the whole camper felt like it was falling down. Before I knew it my wife and I were leaning against the back of the tent with the other side of camper pointing up in the air. FORGOT THE STABILIZER JACKS!!! 15Years later, the first thing I hear when I climb in bed is, "Did you put down the arm things". Should have just stayed in hotel[/p][/quote][p]OK, you win. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Shut this thread down. It's over. We can't compete.[/p][p]
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Compared to the rest of you, we don't have much to tell and I hope it stays that way...(knock on aluminum). But we're new and there's plenty of time....
Our only one so far, ... after stopping to get something out of the trailer, then driving down the road and noticing in our mirror, the trailer door flapping in the breeze.
Oh and forgetting to secure stuff in the fridge and after stopping, opening it and dumping the lemon meringue pie on the floor TWICE!
And thinking Corelle dishes aren't breakable if they happen to fall out of the cupboard onto a bare aluminum floor. Wrong.
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Before having my camplite I had a popup camper, on the first camping trip with it to a local campground my wife had invited her sister to come with us. So she was following us with her car and suddenly at the red light I hear a loud tire screech, I though oh maybe my brake controller setting is too high, a car then passed me and used his horn and was doing some sign, looked at my mirror and I saw my sister in law pulling over to the gas station with bad damage on her car. Her car was damaged so much that it was totalled! It costed too much to repair and the car was too old, the bumper on my popup camper was bent. At the campground we had a hard time to put the bed on because the bracket was attached to the bumper so I had to get it unbend later.
Reading all these blooper stories reminded me of one of my worst moments. We haven't received our LL (end of April) so I don't have any stories related to trailer mishaps but I'm sure I will. My craziest adventure concerns a 23' trailerable Hunter sailboat. Our first year of ownership was filled with
many crazy times. We docked the boat at a marina on Lake Erie. The season was drawing to a close, most boats were already out of the water on cradles in the parking area. I had to get it out. I backed the trailer down the ramp, motored the boat on it. Success! The only thing left was to put the mast
down. This was November in Michigan. Cold and windy. It was only my wife and I. The boat didn't have any means to mechanically lower the mast. Being this was my first time I thought all I needed to do was climb on to the boat, release the rigging and slowly walk the mast down while leaving the bottom secure in the mount. Bad mistake. As soon as I unhooked the wires I realized the mast was going down quickly and I wasn't going to stop it. Down it went pulling the mount out of the fiberglass. There were very expensive boats surrounding me. The mast didn't hit one. Wow! I had to figure out a way to make my wife share the blame of not helping enough. She didn't buy it. I still haven't lived this down.
I still remember our very first camp, up in the Stanislaus forest near Lake Alpine, a tiny campground called Pine Marten. I had determined that if we were gonna go camping, we weren't gonna rent, we were gonna buy. We were horribly fully equipped, and utterly unprepared.
I had selected a huge 6-man dome tent since I could stand upright in it. The tent barely fit in the site it was so huge. Getting it up was an adventure. Getting it back down was worse.
The camp is at 7,400 feet elevation. We had sleeping bags, but also pajamas and night dress. Do you know how cold it gets in the mountains at night? No? Neither did we.
We had with us three rolls of paper towels. We used all three. In two days.
I made a fire. I thought I knew how. I spent an incredible amount of time waving little aluminum plates over it, frantically trying to fan it into life. They say that where there is smoke there is fire. In my case it was, um, just smoke. Neighboring campers kept looking over at us.
I had a brand new double-mantle Coleman lantern. It put out enough light to wipe out the star fields.
I fished in Lake Alpine. Got skunked. A kid was hauling 'em in two rocks away. He left. I got his spot. Still skunked.
The miracle was that we did it again. And again. We've been doing it for about 40 years now. We're getting better at it. :D
We checked in late to a nice state park in Texas and the woman assigned us a 'very level' site. But turned out to have a dramatic pitch downhill - right into a very nice lake. We used our Anderson ramp levelers - up hill which was the mistake and then chocked with the camco wheel stops. But as soon as I took the trailer off the hitch it started to slide towards the water....... both those wheel stops flew off and the levelers gave it just that little extra 'push' to get it started. Thank god there was a parking stop about 2 ft away - she bounced to a stop but at least stopped. We had grabbed the chains thinking we could hold a 4000 lb trailer from going downhill - ha! I can laugh about it now but that was a serious fail of both equipment and procedure.
The lesson learned is to always chock downhill
I just found this thread and I'm getting a good chuckle and I don't feel so alone about my gaffs.
When I was much much younger we used a small tent for camping trips. One year on our way out west we got to our first stop for the night and realized we left our sleeping bags at home. We decided to "de camp" and go home to get them. We got home late that nite and headed out early the next morning. When I think about it now, I wonder why we didn't just find a place to buy new sleeping bags but it was probably because we couldn't afford new bags
My first trip this year we camped at Kentucky Horse Park. We had a great time and stayed warm and toasty despite the cold and somewhat rainy weather. ( At least it wasn't snowing which is what was happening the morning we left home!)
When it was time to leave we got everything packed up and ready to go and I had no problem getting my little Quicksilver hitched up to the Honda Element - not always a smooth operation for me. The camp sites are cement and at the far end there is a cement bumper. I had parked the car on the far side of the bumper. As I was taking one last look I realized that the car was on one side of the cement bumper and the camper was on the other. OOPS! That could have been bad! So I had to unhitch and start over. Luckily it went smoothly again. But I will always take one last look around before driving away!
Keep em coming folks! There has to be plenty more!
As a teen, my family tent-camped and like all kids, my 2 brothers, sister and I trusted that our parents knew what they were doing. We all now know that parenting is anything but....
We were tent camping at Toledo Bend in NW Louisiana back in '72. On this day that I won't soon forget, our family had spent a fun day catching perch/bream, followed by fish cleaning and a fish fry using a dangerously deep oil fryer....all this while on the water in a rented pontoon boat! Fortunately, we didn't catch the boat on fire. I did, however, get a fish bone stuck in my throat that just would not move. It is one reason I now prefer 'catch and release', but I digress.
The campfire roared brightly later that night, but only after we noticed that no fires were allowed. Our family was gathered around the fire when Mom quietly slipped away to our family tent not many feet away. Sleeping bags/cots weren't yet out....only the collapsible toilet, you know, with the disposable 'catch' bag? It was dark and my dear Mother had to 'go'. Bless her heart, she failed to see that the bag had been disposed of, but not replaced. All was serene until the SCREAM heard 'round the park....when the poop hit the floor!
Forgive me, Mom, for sharing this with our new LL friends. I sense you're still laughing about it too. I sure miss You...
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
One of our early and most significant bloopers related to the cassette toilet we had factory installed in our small but mighty CL11FDB instead of the regular toilet + holding water tank combo. I wrote about this
"Thetford Incident" on my blog in an entry titled
"Oh Shit...". Its a good (by that I mean bad -
really bad) blooper so I'll plagiarize myself and copy the blog entry here:
QuoteRV Tip #1... If your rv's toilet has a slide valve between the bowl & the waste tank, make sure -absolutely sure- that the valve is closed before you tow the trailer! My bride made the mistake of leaving the valve open. Before leaving the campground I did a check of the tires, signal lights, hitch etc. but I didn't check the toilet. I will never ever make that mistake again! The toilet had only been used two or three times so we didn't dump the tank before making our return trip home. I figured a little sloshing around wouldn't hurt anything. Ya right! Now if you dare, use your imagination. Think sewage. Think open valve. Think sloshing. Accelerate = backwards slosh. Braking = forward slosh. Oh the inhumanity of it!
Sewage + open valve + sloshing = a mess of epic proportions! Thankfully the toilet lid was down. No doubt it helped confine the worst of the mess to the bowl. That, in a "Thetford Incident" like this, is a very good thing. Far worse is the fact that the lid didn't fully trap the slosh - some escaped! Upon entering the trailer I knew something was wrong. Very wrong. I opened the washroom door and witnessed (and smelled) a horrendous scene I will not soon forget. Unfortunately it is now etched into my brain. Nobody should ever have to experience such a thing and I fear I will have nightmares about it. Being a good husband I only ranted on my sweetie for half a minute. (Enough to get that blank "deal-with-it" look). I proceeded to hold my breath and clean up the toxic waste site (even though none of the wastes involved were my own). Turns out the [a href="https://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-disinfecting-wipes/"]Clorox Disinfecting Wipes[/a], previously stocked in the trailer, were up for the job. It is hard to express how thankful I was to have that wonderful product available within 30-inches of the washroom door. The exterior door was also close by allowing gasps of fresh air. Small trailers have their advantages.
Our trailer is equipped with a [a href="http://www.thetford.com/HOME/Products/PermanentToilets/CassetteC200CWSCS/tabid/112/Default.aspx"]Thetford C200cs Cassette[/a] Toilet rather than Livin' Lite's standard toilet with its underfloor blackwater holding tank. When we ordered the trailer we requested the cassette type for the convenience of being able to dump the removable "cassette" waste tank in a standard flush toilet. Such cassette toilets are common in European & Australian 'caravans' and North American truck campers, but are not common in North American travel trailers. If more rv purchasers were familiar with their advantages I'm sure these toilets would be more popular. The way they work is the bowl drains to a portable tank that can be hygienically removed from the rv's exterior. It is simply taken to a standard flush toilet and dumped. That toilet can be at a highway rest stop, gas station, or a toilet fixture at home. Our cassette toilet has an electric flush (a manual pump model is available) and is plumbed to the trailers fresh water system. (The manual flush model has its own water tank). In general it is a simple, easy to use, system. It is possible to have more than one cassette so when one is full it can be swapped with the second cassette allowing greater convenience and practically uninterrupted service. It takes less than a minute to swap the cassettes. Another advantage is the waste cassette is not under the floor like a conventional blackwater tank. Being inside the rv (although accessed from an exterior hatch) it is less likely to freeze allowing camping cooler temperatures without a tank heating system.
1st camper I put everything away but forgot to unplug the Microwave oven and left it sitting above the Frig.
40 miles later I pulled into the Campsite my Microwave was still plugged in but the wall socket was yanked out of the wall and the microwave oven was hanging in mid-air, oops. (back in them days the Micro wasn't even an option)
The Microwave still worked!
Not our first trip nor really a blooper but our camp neighbor couldn't stop laughing.
Last weekend we were at the ocean. We were setup parallel to the road with our water side to it. I had rinsed the dog using the outdoor shower and the coil hose with the sprayer supplied by LL. I was packing to leave and a neighbor was chatting away about how solar panels were a scam or something. I was nodding and not paying too much attention.
There was a bike race that day. Bikes flying by for several minutes. I disconnected the coil hose and held the sprayer up in the air to drain it. A rider came whizzing by and mumbled something. My neighbor lost his breath he was laughing so hard. I'm a little hard of hearing so I asked him what the deal was? He chuckled: "The biker said No Thanks!"
[quote source="/post/11384/thread" timestamp="1432611323" author="@whoofit"]Not our first trip nor really a blooper but our camp neighbor couldn't stop laughing.
Last weekend we were at the ocean. We were setup parallel to the road with our water side to it. I had rinsed the dog using the outdoor shower and the coil hose with the sprayer supplied by LL. I was packing to leave and a neighbor was chatting away about how solar panels were a scam or something. I was nodding and not paying too much attention.
There was a bike race that day. Bikes flying by for several minutes. I disconnected the coil hose and held the sprayer up in the air to drain it. A rider came whizzing by and mumbled something. My neighbor lost his breath he was laughing so hard. I'm a little hard of hearing so I asked him what the deal was? He chuckled: "The biker said No Thanks!"[/quote]Took you to be a 'hoser'....(not from Indy!) (rofl)
Yep, no Whoosier here... :D
So...before departing for a quick overnight at a state park CG nearby I hitched up, plugged the trailer lights in, safety chains, breakaway cable, stowed the door step, disconnected from shore power, did a walkaround to make sure I didn't miss anything, then proceded to pull my trailer over the wheel chocks. No damage, and nobody saw me... pride hurt nonetheless....
[quote source="/post/11581/thread" timestamp="1432768867" author="@tlbones"]So...before departing for a quick overnight at a state park CG nearby I hitched up, plugged the trailer lights in, safety chains, breakaway cable, stowed the door step, disconnected from shore power, did a walkaround to make sure I didn't miss anything, then proceded to pull my trailer over the wheel chocks. No damage, and nobody saw me... pride hurt nonetheless....[/quote]When all else fails, just smile and wave, Boys, just smile and wave..... 8-)
More from the blooper reel...
So yesterday we're lounging in the campsite, and these three teenage boys are walking through with their dachshund. And our dogs (Norwegian Elkhounds) start barking and we tell them to be quiet, and one of the boys calls out "your dogs are beautiful!" which is only about the tenth time that happened this trip - people really do stop us all the time.
So to be polite, I complimented them on their dog. "I love your little wiener."
Count to 3. Shit.
"Wait...I mean... I love your little wiener DOG! And really, we both needed that clarified."
So keep this in mind: It's not about the blooper. It's all how you recover.
[quote source="/post/11812/thread" timestamp="1433111652" author="@pinstriper"][/quote][p]
[/p][p]
[/p][p]We were preparing to tow our 22' Lindenburg sailboat to race in Sanford, Fl. The boat trailer had a 1 7/8" ball hitch so I went to my truck to look in my tool box to see if I had both my 1 7/8" and 2" hitch balls. So then I yelled out to my friend across the boat yard, "I've got both my balls in the truck". It caused heads to spin. My mouth tends to operate independently of my brain. 30 years later, I'm still asked if both my balls are in the truck.
[/p]
My 9 year old daughter and I just took our maiden voyage, here are a few from that and from our initial driveway camping.
Forgot to put the jacks down while practice camping in the driveway and went to sit together on the bed and cuddle, only to be suddenly moving in a way that convinced me we were having an earthquake. I can only imagine the delight of my neighbors as they first witnessed a bucking trailer followed by the loud exclamations of "I think we are having an earthquake!!" Nope, just losing my mind in the driveway.
I managed to hook up the trailer successfuly and tow it with now trouble. The trouble arrived when I attempted to back it into our campground spot. It eventually turned into me desperately explaining to the incredibly patient man trying to get by that it was our first time camping, and that I really had practiced backing up before we came, and would you mind guiding me into the site? And finally just asking, please, would you just do it for me. Just go abead and get into my car and drive it and don't mind my nine year old in the backseat, she has been told not to speak for the last hour as cause Mommy needs to concentrate.
Then there was the time that the pin wasnt in the wheel jack and as I was cranking the handle to rasise it, it colappsed as the pin ws not all the way in. SO LUCKY that it did not land on my foot. Then came the fun of figuring out how I was going to lift it up with out blowing out my back. Which evolved into me driving around till I found someone to take mercy on me and help me.
Then of course there was the thrilling wrestle match while lowering the tent which I lost once I realized I had failed to remove the stabilizer bar inside.
And finally, the discovery that the back bed was shearing off near the piano hinge due to the rambunctions high jinks of a six year old and two ten year olds who used subjective listening skills when repeadedly warned not to jump around or bounce in the trailer, especially on the beds.
So, I can't wait to do it again.
My friend had a camper many years ago, one of the early slide outs. Back then they would put cabinets next to the slide, well he left the door of the cabinet open and when he retracted the slide it took it off, I thought it was pretty funny, he failed to see the humor in it. Everyone has first time camping stories that make for great conversations around the camp fire. I had a trailer tire go flat just to replace it with the spare, which was just as flat.
On one of our early trips, we were leaving the campground in the dark. I was worried about getting everything on the checklist completed AND not disturbing other campers. Fortunately, our site was pretty far from other campers, and in a heavily wooded area that I hoped would block our lights from hitting other sites. As I was about to pull out, my wife, bless her heart, calmly asked me "isn't the awning supposed to be in" ? Another few feet, and a large tree would have had an awning stuck in it's branches. "Retract awning' was on the list but I had overlooked it. Never happened again. Knock on wood.
I make it a point to not unhook the safety chains until the wheels are chocked and checked. I give It moment to "settle" to make sure it will not roll away. Back when we had our 6.0 it rolled on me.
First camping season blooper:
When winterizing my 2016 CL 16TB, I realized I had opened the cold water valve completely into the hot water line. Now I know why my "hot" water in the shower was "warm" and not "hot"!!!