In this new column, we will be sharing some of the not-so-brilliant things we, the RVtravel.com staff, and you, our readers, have done while RVing. We hope that in addition to a chuckle or two, we can learn from others’ RV mistakes and not make them ourselves!
Please leave a comment in the form below with your own RV mistakes and “oops” moments. There have to be many among both our seasoned and newbie RVers…
Taking the pedestal along for the ride
Chris N. writes to us about another RVer’s experience. “While camped at a local RV resort, we observed a large Class A depart his nearby site. Unfortunately, he had neglected to disconnect his electrical cable from the standard pedestal. The pedestal was completely torn from its foundation and dragged behind the RV. Nearby residents were loud enough to quickly get them to stop. An expensive missed step on the departure check-off list.”
That cost $6,000!
Ken B. has a very difficult place to back his RV in and tells us about it. “My home has a very winding driveway. Entering the area where I secure my MH causes me to creep around the 4-foot-high cross-tie retaining wall. The automatic steps drop down when the outside door is open, like on most rigs. The door must have slightly cracked open enough to signal the steps to drop down. As I was traveling around the driveway near the cross-tie wall, the steps struck the wall and ripped off the stairs, the inside frame, and a few other things. I could never prove that the door jarred and the steps received the signal to open. That was about a $6K repair.”
Yikes! Learned the hard way: 30 amps is not 220 volts!
Dave N. learned an expensive lesson about RV plugins. He wrote, “My mistake was not out on the road. I bought our trailer used, so didn’t get much of a tour on how to use this and that. Being a construction worker, I wanted to wire in an outlet on the side of my shop so I could keep power to the unit while parked at home. My trailer has a 30-amp system. So, being the part-time electrician that I am, I wired in the outlet. When I tried to use it, things just wouldn’t work right. Well, the problem was, I’m a HOUSE electrician, not an RV electrician. To me, 30 amp is 220 volts. I learned the hard way the microwave and refrigerator don’t like 220. It took almost $600 to fix the fridge. Live and learn, I guess, that RVs are 30 amp 110 volt. 🙁 ”
Blocking all the lanes of traffic
George D. realized at the last minute he was going into a ditch. He wrote, “Traveling north on 101 in Washington, I misjudged a left-hand turn. I was going to go into a ditch so I stopped—now I’m blocking all lanes southbound on 101. I was towing so I couldn’t back up. We had to stop traffic, and, with the help of a passerby, unhook the toad, back up and finally get into the campground.”
Nice catch, Jeep!
Donald A. told us about a low-hanging tree branch, his TV antenna and a Jeep. “While doing a turn around in an elementary school driveway we hit a low-hanging tree limb and, unknown to us at the time, the limb broke my TV antenna off from the top of the rig. A few days later I noticed the antenna in the back of our towed, a Jeep pickup truck. I couldn’t do that again if I tried! Nice catch!!”
Squeezing between the boulders
Marie B. the navigator, directed her husband into a very wrong turn. She wrote, “‘I’m usually a pretty good navigator and have our route to the campground all figured out, giving my husband clear directions to get there—except this time! We were to camp at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado. When we got close, the area was jammed with traffic, tourists and construction, with multiple signs everywhere! It was crazy! We have a 36’ Class A with a toad. If you haven’t been there, their campground and their tourist site are named the same—very confusing—so, guess who sent my husband to the tourist site? Me. Next thing I know, we are headed through this VERY NARROW road between two very large boulders, with no way to turn around! Tourists everywhere! I got out, stopped traffic, stopped people, and directed him through the boulders—with about two inches on either side—praying that there was an exit once we were through it! There was, thank God. I think he lost 5 lbs. of sweat that day. So did I.”
Please share your RV “oops” mistake story
Humor can be the best medicine and mistakes the best lesson! Have you had some unfortunate “oops” mistakes during your RVing adventures? We would love to hear them. Please fill out the form below and include a photo if you have one. Thank you!
Last week: One RVer scraped his RV’s A/C completely off!
Chris N’s story about taking the power pedestal along for the ride reminded me of the old days with drive in movie theaters. I know many people who forgot to put the speaker back on the stand before pulling out.
I had a little trouble understanding that one. Typically, the RV’s power cord is plugged into the shore power pedestal without having any device that secures the cord to the pedestal. Seem to me when Chris drove off with the cord still connected, it simply would pulled loose from the connector. Not sure how the cord was so securely connected that it would rip out the entire pedestal. Very confusing.
Not that I haven’t done the exact thing, but it just pulled the cord’s male connector out of the pedestal’s female connector. No harm, no foul.
If the pole was facing backwards, the plug wouldn’t pull out, it would only pull sideways, half wrapped around the pole. In addition, the pole probably isn’t in concrete, just kind of sitting in the dirt. Now, I don’t think think they need to be made to withstand that kind of force, but based on 90% of the campgrounds I’ve been at.. they aren’t, to be sure.
Some people (sometimes me too) put a chain and lock around the pedestal to reduce the chance of their surge protector/EMS being stolen.
I have almost done the RV power cord to campground power pedestal mistake myself – twice! What has saved me is the old fashioned checklist. One for setting up and one for departure.
Me, too, Herman, me too! The near-miss lead to us creating a departure checklist.
Thank you, Nanci!
I very nearly made a big mistake recently. I full time in my camper for work and I usually move every week or so, so I’m pretty well practiced at setting up and loading up and have a routine down. Well, recently I got distracted right as I was starting set up and I got as far as putting down the tongue jack and almost lifting the coupler off my hitch ball before realizing that I hadn’t put my wheel chocks down yet and I was on a hill. Another inch or two on the jack and my camper would have started rolling backwards. Thank God I realized just in time (and that I keep the chains connected until AFTER I’m completely unhitched, just in case) because that could have been a nightmare.
Note to Ken B.: I have had times when the step has not retracted when the door was closed … that was especially true on my older motorhome where the steps were only a few inches off of the ground. I bent them a few times before I started to make sure that the steps had retracted using my mirrors before moving the rig.