Camping mishaps...

[Teamubr]

So effectively I locked our Kids in the camper while we were out having a good time.

You say that like it was a bad thing...

j

 

[peg110]

You say that like it was a bad thing...

j

I know, right? Well I had the DW with me, and while we both thought it could be a good thing, guilt got the better of us! (okay, guilt got the better of HER and she transferred it to me!)

 

[CottontailCurl4two]

I imagine my Goofy camping at FW story is something many people have done (I hope?). We arrived for our highly anticipated FW camping trip, checked in and started to set up camp in our home away from home. After everything was removed from the car and lined up according to order of set-up we realized that THE most important part of our trip was missing - the tent!! How in the world could I (the listmeister!) have forgotten the tent!! I finally realized that our tent was packaged in 2 parts - one box was the tent and another was the poles, stakes, and ropes - and I had used the tent box to make a Halloween costume the October before (it was the perfect size to be a Pez dispenser bottom that with a papier mache pumpkin put on top was to be my son's costume) and I did not put the tent back in that box after Halloween. We only brought the accessory bag! I was so mad at myself for making such a mistake! And I was so sad for possibly making a mess of our trip.

I trudged back to the Fort registration desk and told my tale and said that I had read that there were tents that could be rented for groups, could we please rent one? I was told yes and asked how much it would cost. The sweet cast member said it would be nothing, they would take care of us and I really couldn't believe my ears. Tent camping at the fort with 4 kids was a very tightly budgeted thing and the added expense would take away from money that would go to fun stuff like popcorn and Mickey Ice Creams so we were really really thankful that Disney did that for us. Not only did they let us use their tent but a very kind gentleman was already setting it up by the time we got back around to the campsite!! Disney magic!

 

[2goofycampers]

TaDa

 

[tiggerdad]

Thank ya mam.

 

[FtW Mike]

Our first trip to The Fort with our coach was an unmitigated disaster till we got there. The weather had gotten extremely cold in the days immediately preceding our departure date . Every day we went out started her up ran it for an hour just to make sure the batteries stayed charged . Up at 3;30 am to have coffee start coach warm it up for an hour before taking off. Batteries are DOA. Hook up car battery charger no joy. Give it another hour No change. Call roadside assistance they come an hour and a half later and on the road at 11 only 5 hours late. Get to campground we have ressies at for the night find our assigned spot .Temp is a balmy 25 degrees. Hook up electric and water, run out slides. DW tells me we have No water. Back out disconnect hose turn on spigot it is frozen solid. Warm up and start checking empty spots find one with running water and electric, all the others had one or the other not both. Move rehook everything up go to go inside and see flooding at Hot water heater. Can't make out where problem is as my mag light decided to die in the cold as well. Dry camp for the night.
Make Jacksonville the next day and discover feed line to water heater had blown out. Staff onsite knew I had a problem and had sent one person over to help. He saw my problem made a phone call told me to grab my wallet ad took me to local Camping World bought several connections. Old one has some bizarre clamp my basic tool kit can't deal with. He then produced a hacksaw cut behind the old connection hooked in new one still good today.
One thing expect now something will go wrong anticipate as best you can have plan B/C/D/E on hand and go the flow

 

[tiggerdad]

Good one Mike, thanks for sharing. I keep a few fittings with me and a piece of the pipe used in my RV in my cargo bay in the front just in case. So far not needed it.

 

[2goofycampers]

#1, not in any particular order.
We got to the lake for the weekend. First trip out for the season. We set everything up, jumped in the boat. When we came back our TT was pregnant. We didn't reconnect the under sink water filter all the water (thankfully) had gone through the plumbing holes to the underneath and the liner was full and sagging. We poked a hole in the middle let everything drain. Took it to the dealer for a check up and a hole patch.

More mishaps to come!

 

[peg110]

#1, not in any particular order.
We got to the lake for the weekend. First trip out for the season. We set everything up, jumped in the boat. When we came back our TT was pregnant. We didn't reconnect the under sink water filter all the water (thankfully) had gone through the plumbing holes to the underneath and the liner was full and sagging. We poked a hole in the middle let everything drain. Took it to the dealer for a check up and a hole patch.

More mishaps to come!

So you induced the labor, did you get a nice bouncing baby TT?

 

[2goofycampers]

So you induced the labor, did you get a nice bouncing baby TT?

No, but it's water broke.

 

[Disneypeach]

LOL

 

[FtW Mike]

This just happened to us tonight. We are he on Va. Eastern peninsular with friends. We arrived early got all set up and waited on our friends who pulled in about 6pm and were escorted to the site. Escort had him stop far short of where he needed to be to hook up. Without checking how close he was to all the hookups he set up his trailer and only connected to fresh water and electric. His DW decided to fill to flush the BW tank . We all ate and she announced what she had done and now wanted tank drained as a flush. Our friend went to hook into waste line and his hose was short. runs to camp store gets longer hose and an additional extension and we go to hook up . Stretching them out hose with connection for hook up at trailer splits about 8 inches from connection. BY now it is dark and cold and store is closed. Ended up disconnecting our line and adding to 2 good sections of his . come daylight we'll move his rig closer to where he needs to be

 

[2goofycampers]

#2. Not exactly the camping part, but..... DS wanted to take his GF camping with us for the weekend. They are 15. So Frank and DS take 1 queen bed and GF and I take the other queen bed. It was like sleeping with a cat. I had scratches up and down both my legs in the morning. The next night she wore socks to bed.

 

[tiggerdad]

Ha ha! My wife will get a kick out of that one Denise. She is always giving me grief about my toes.

 

[peg110]

I'd sure like to see more activity in this thread. (I think it's that whole "Misery Loves Company" thing!)

 

[tiggerdad]

No kidding. I think the folks on here are a bit shy to let everybody know about misfortunes in camping. I mean, it's the camping forum, it's not like anybody with access to the internet can read it or anything.

 

[peg110]

The funny thing about misfortunes, is that almost everyone has them... They SUCK when it happens to you at that time.... but reflection is always enjoyable and even laughable.

It's like I tell my kids.... You learn (and remember) more from your failures then you do your successes. I don't remember much about my successful passing of my drivers exam, but I can pretty much tell you about EVERY traffic violation I ever had (Okay, so maybe I didn't always learn from them.... But I sure remember them!)

 

[Teamubr]

Just saw the resurrected topic. (Thanks Denise)

I may have posted these 2 before, but here you go again. Both of these incidents occurred at Camping on the Gulf in Destin on different trips.

Our first camper was a 19 ft hybrid. DS was 2 and it was great, until it got cold. We had rented a popup several times for races, but this was our first real camper. We had a beachfront site at Camping on the Gulf. They are literally sand with a sand covered paved road. This trip, the sand had a pretty good slope towards the water. I backed the trailer into it's spot and started unhooking. I mistakenly thought the sand would hold the trailer and didn't block the wheels. I cranked up the tongue and as soon as it cleared the ball, away it went. I'm holding on to the tongue pulling as hard as I can while it is still rolling. Someone came over with a rock (I have no idea where a rock came from on the beach) and shoved it behind a wheel just as the trailer nudged into the posts at the back of the site that keep you from rolling to the water. Pretty embarrassed, but the trailer was straight and certainly wasn't going anywhere against the posts.

The next one was a couple of years later with our 2nd trailer, a 33 ft TT. This trailer was nice but tight (no slides). It towed pretty well behind our Explorer. It had one problem though. It had a huge overhang behind the rear wheels. Turning corners, the tail would swing a wide path. If you haven't seen pictures of the beach row at Camping on the Gulf, the sites are very tight and the road is fairly narrow with everyone's TV parked on their sites. This visit, the office staff had a golf cart that they escorted you to your site. I stopped in the middle of the lane to look at how tight the site was and get an idea how to back in. The worker parked his golf cart next to my trailer towards the rear. He decided he would help guide me in. Knowing how wide the rear swings around, I asked him to move the golf cart. He said, sort of condescending, it would be fine. I said a little more strongly, that he should probably move the cart. At that point he was heading to the back of the site to guide and said, "IT WILL BE OK, JUST COME ON!". So I pulled up and started swinging the trailer around to back it in. I never felt anything, but as I get the trailer in place, I hear, "You tore the windshield off my golf cart!" I looked over and the upright frame around the passenger side of the windshield was laying against the side of the cart and the plastic windshield was on the ground. I looked at him and said. "I tried to warn you, but you said it would be fine." He picked up the windshield, threw it in the back and drove off. Never heard another thing about it. I had a pretty thick steel bumper on the trailer. The corner of it must have just caught the frame around the windshield. I didn't see a mark anywhere on the trailer.

j

 

[peg110]

While not a "Camping" incident, it certainly is a CAMPER incident. While bring home our new camper (Coachmen Catalina 343QBDS), I became VERY aware of the Tail swing of the back of the camper.

Getting in to our property we have to make a tight turn into an alley way. (See Picture below.)

The Yellow represents me driving FORWARD, the Orange, I am "Backing" and the Red are obstacles.
So I have to turn up a street (North St) and make the right turn down the alley way. The alley way is about a car and a half wide (maybe.) at the entrance I have to deal with an IRON I beam in the ground as a post (to protect the carport on the corner.) and a dilapidated stacked timber wall by a house. And it's "Up Hill" (Going up North St).

So in order to make the turn, I have to go W I D E! There is a car (Red and Green) on the side of the road where I need to make the turn but it's far enough back that I thought it wasn't going to be an issue. So as my DW is checking the FRONT of the vehicle and I go to make the "WIDE" Turn, apparently I was not clear of the car and the TAIL of the camper hits the parked car. (UGH) That's when the Kid (Purple) finally yells that I hit. (Why didn't you say something before?).

So the damage to the camper with less than 30 miles on it (at least from us) was the Stabilizer (which after all said and done, i was able to fix with about $10 of parts from Lowes) and some crumpling of the siding which will probably cost $300 - $500 based on estimates.

The car however.... had a slightly crumpled back door where the raised stabilizer dug right into it (where you put the crank). Now the problem was getting the camper off the car with minimal more damage. I was going to have to "Disconnect" the camper.... Did I mention it was on a hill?

Anyway, with help from a neighbor, some tools, lots of blocks, I ended up REMOVING the stabilizer from the camper so it was no longer an issue with the car... Getting the camper off the car with minimal more damage and then found a place to park the camper in the meantime. The owners of the car were not at home when all this occurred, but came back after we had left and while I was still unhooking the camper at another location (There is an armory on the other side of the house where I could temporarily park it). So they were checking it out and wondering when I came over and explained my embarrassing situation.

Fortunately they were good spirited about it. Cost me $900 to fix their car. Cost a lot more in my Pride!

They have agreed, with enough notice, to move their car when we would need to get in/out with our camper until we can work another solution (such as having a "FRONT" entrance to the main roadway).

 

[rideswithchrist]

Our last trip, hubby was backing the Pop into the space and he wanted to be "perfectly aligned" with the concrete curb stop. He had backed up and I already dropped the stabilizers (which I call the levelizers) to make sure the ground was not too far away/we needed blocks.
He put one up, but not the other and then pulled forward- yanking it over the curb and twisting it around. So...it is currently held up with duct tape and bungee cord. He would not let me take a picture because he was so mad.
On this trip- our sink also fell out!

We planned on replacing them with scissor jacks anyway so I guess we can start on that corner!