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Old 11-01-2013, 01:37 PM   #1
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Big "oops", want to see what your ducting looks like?

Ladies and Gents,
Due to the fact that my brain cells (what's left of them) short circuit every now and then, I did a big "Oops" in my own driveway. It's a long story but, the short of it is/was, I ran into my own house

I was backing up, looking at one mirror, a wall that was close by and, watching a driver in the street (not known) that was backing up close to our driveway and didn't know if he knew I was moving) all at the same time. I have close tolerances, angles and arcs to contend with when pulling out of and or, backing into our parking place for the coach, along side our home.

So, after owning this thing for over two years and pulling it out of, and backing it in to a tight place well over a few dozen times without incident, it finally happened. CRUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran into the rain gutter and corner of the eve of our garage. I was moving about a tenth of a mile an hour. Well, I knew immediately what happened. The DW was out behind the coach and was watching the left wall, as I was in my mirror and, also the "said" driver near our drive way, and she simply did not notice how close I was to our eve/rain gutter.

Well, it doesn't do any good to get angry, kick the dog, shoot the neighbor, yell a bunch of words that the neighbor kids don't necessarily need to hear, it happened, my fault, period. So, it's off to the repair center. Folks, the damage you're looking at came in at about $9,000.00 Ouch! I'm not one to rush off to the insurance company when things break on the motor home. I usually fix all the problems myself.

But, this is a bit much to bite off. So, I guess this is what deductibles are for. And even that is a fair "ouch" 'cause it's been a $1,000 for decades. We've done that to keep the premiums lower which, has paid off, several times over when I calculated things when this "incident" happened.

Anyway, this incident happened about three weeks ago and, it took the insurance company about 2 days, once notified of an estimate completion, to get there, talk it over with the repair supervisor and, give them the "OK' to go ahead with plan A and fix it. It's now been in the shop for two weeks exactly and it's almost completely repaired. These guys are specialists in fiberglass repair. They don't rush things. The fiberglass is cured with "black lights" (I have no idea why) and, they say they won't paint over repaired fiberglass until it's insured that it's no longer "off-gassing" from curing.

I told them, "Take as long as you need to repair it, we want it DONE RIGHT!!!"

As you can see, they removed the entire rear cap of the coach. Incidentally, there was "0" damage to any portion of the side of the coach. All the damage was contained in the rear/right side of the rear cap. And, no damage to the structural interior (cabinets etc. inside the coach). They repaired and re-enforced the damage, from the inside of the rear cap. Then, once that's done, they re-install the cap, and re-curve the damaged area. The estimator showed me stress cracks in other areas that were the direct result of the stress I put on the cap when the collision occurred. There were stress cracks in all four corners of the engine/radiator access/grill area and, below the right side tail light.

So, he's having everything, ANYTHING, that may have potential to show up later or is showing now, repaired. And then, the paint will be painstakingly matched. All the rear decals, insignias etc. will all be replaced. Folks, this is/was one serious goof up on my part. Do yourselves a great favor, learn from this, pay attention when backing, as I know most of you do. When things are close, if you have to, GET OUT AND LOOK!

Anyway, as part of the title says, you can take a look at what your basement A/C ducting looks like. Not many get a chance to see it in this manor. I would have preferred not to, but, it happened, I learned.
Scott







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Old 11-01-2013, 02:25 PM   #2
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Holly “oops” man!
After camping with you guys and seeing just how gorgeous you keep that coach we were all sick and saddened by what happened to her. We just hope they’re able to match the 10 year old paint even though your Horizon looked brand spanking new before the hit…

Keep us posted and we’ll see you three on the 15th.
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Old 11-01-2013, 02:26 PM   #3
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Ouch Scott!!! I guess if you have to damage your coach, it's best to do it in your own driveway. I think I would blame it on the dog. Those frigging Schnauzers can really cause a distraction at times.
Now would be a good time to reseal all that exposed ducting. I sealed what I could reach with duct seal in a can from Home Depot.
Sophie says hi to your bad dog Sophie.

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Old 11-01-2013, 02:41 PM   #4
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While you have the rear cap off you should take the time to check/re-seal all of the seams on your AC ductwork!
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Old 11-01-2013, 03:01 PM   #5
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wish I wasnt a member of the same club. Caught my gate post 1st night I got it home
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Old 11-01-2013, 03:01 PM   #6
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Thanks for sharing. Glad that the only personal injury was to ego.

Hang in there!
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Old 11-01-2013, 03:10 PM   #7
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Sorry you 'joined' the club. Pulled my old MH in and out of the driveway many times, without problem. However, after having my new coach for 2 weeks, I hit the front bumper on landscaping at about 2 mph. $6,000 dollars to repair. After DW stopped yelling at me she said, she was glad I did it and not her! Another insult to injury was I had to fill out a State required accident form!
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Old 11-01-2013, 03:26 PM   #8
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I missed my house bout a 100 times b4 somebody slide it over and put the porch over hang in my way. Crunched the house and the coach ah heck.
Like you say suck it up ,take the blame, and move on.
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Old 11-01-2013, 04:09 PM   #9
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Thanks for the reminder to always move slow and careful.....you will have her back looking good as new before you know it,,,,,,**** Happens....
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Old 11-01-2013, 04:32 PM   #10
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Thanks guys, for all the warm "consoling" here. Believe me, it's much appreciated. My insurance is State Farm and talking with the claims agent, he said since it happened in our own property, there will be NO points going onto my Drivers license and that also, (and he gave me some gobble-de-gook number and paraphrase that stated they CANNOT raise my rates due to the fact that it happened at home.

So, at this point, and from a mid-point inspection of the repairs, we're extremely happy with what we're seeing so far. To those that have suggested doing some "evaluating" and re-taping of the ducting, they (the repair supervisor) said he's seen many Winnes and Itascas with separations in the duct work due to poor workmanship at the factory and, over time, it does tend to separate some times. So, even before the estimate was completed, he mentioned that fact and, said that as soon as the rear cap is removed, he'll jump in there and really do a good evaluation of the duct system and see what, if anything, it might need.

Well, in the pics, we've got a guy with a roll of aluminum tape in his hand and, we can see new tape in multiple places. When I talked with the service writer about it, he said ours was in really great shape but, they re-enforced the tape joints anyway as good measure.

Sammie,
Come to think of it, Sophie was galloping around here and there when this happened. Maybe I'll just blame it on her.

Ron,
Thanks again for your nice comments. Yep, we do try and take care of this large beast. It sure don't help when, like the other poster said, someone "moved" the house into my way of backing.

To the others in the "Club", sorry for your "accidental" mishaps too. Don't ya just hate it when that happens?

I've talked with other folks that have had work done at the place where ours is and they are seriously happy with the way their coaches turned out. That makes us feel real good. So, anyway, I'm hoping that will be the "Worst" that I do to this beast in the time we own it.
Scott
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Old 11-01-2013, 05:28 PM   #11
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Scott
I have plenty of space where I live and have maneuvered the RV many make that MANY times turning around, pulling it into my shop. Imagine my surprise one day when someone put a full grown fir tree behind me when I was backing up. Someone must have put it there because that was the first time I backed into it. Just under $7,000 was the insurance company repair estimate - the local RV estimated it at about $9K. (We did work out a repair agreement) I know how you felt - well I know how I felt and I'd think you felt similar. At least the back of the RV is real nice now. The major draw back was this happened about four days before we headed on a around the US trip and put over 10K miles on it with the rear looking a bit nasty. Such is life. Oh, and the tree has been changed into firewood!
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Old 11-01-2013, 06:01 PM   #12
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Well Scott, you survived it and your coach will probably look just like new when they are done.

Hey, don't you wish you had that kind of access to the radiator when you replaced it??
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Old 11-01-2013, 06:17 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cbeierl View Post
While you have the rear cap off you should take the time to check/re-seal all of the seams on your AC ductwork!
X2. I would DEFINITELY re-tape all seams and connections whether they need it or not. One roll of 4" foil tape(I might even use Eternabond) and 15 minutes, a D-I-Y job, and you won't have to worry about the ductwork leaking ever again! Most Winnie owners would relish the opportunity to have unrestricted access to the rear ductwork... although not $9000. worth of relish!
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Old 11-01-2013, 06:22 PM   #14
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Welcome to the Club I had one on my way home from dealer had a fight with a ballard at a gas station just ran out of room.
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Old 11-01-2013, 06:28 PM   #15
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So sorry to see your baby.

I have painted a line in my driveway. As long as I put my drivers side tires on the line I will miss our house, rain gutters, by a few inches. So far this has worked for me.

Safe travels.

JD
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Old 11-01-2013, 09:40 PM   #16
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Welcome to the club! I joined 4 years ago with our 5er.
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Old 11-02-2013, 05:05 PM   #17
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So sorry to see your baby.

I have painted a line in my driveway. As long as I put my drivers side tires on the line I will miss our house, rain gutters, by a few inches. So far this has worked for me.

Safe travels.

JD
That is an old fire department trick. When I was in the FD, we had white lines painted on the apron in front of the bays that extended into the bays. Using your left mirror you just lined up on it and all was good.
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Old 11-02-2013, 05:17 PM   #18
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That is an old fire department trick. When I was in the FD, we had white lines painted on the apron in front of the bays that extended into the bays. Using your left mirror you just lined up on it and all was good.

Until someone moves the house
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Old 11-02-2013, 08:43 PM   #19
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Until someone moves the house
Yep, that has to be it, someone moved the house, I better call in a surveyor. And, yes, we too had "lines" in many of our fire stations apparatus floors and the aprons. That system works great for "Straight line backing".

But, in our circumstance at home, I have a very tight "S" curve that I have to back through ( like a slalom course) in order to get the coach in to it's parked position, under our cover. There's about 7 points that have to be closely monitored, both in direct line of sight and, using both mirrors as I'm backing this thing into place. Some are up high, as in a "Rain gutter and the eve of the garage, and some are at mid level and some are very low.

So, if any of you remember the movie "The Exorcist" with Lynda Blair. Remember when she spins her head in a 360 degree stunt? Well, I just about have to do that when I'm backing this beast into place. I also have to put my head out the window to check ultra close left front body clearance to a wall, and, at the same time, bend down in the seat to look "UP" at the passenger side mirror to keep an eye on the gutter and eve for the right rear upper corner (the now damaged corner) .

So, while I've been used to this kind of backing for my entire career in the FD, it actually comes quite easy at home. But, like stated, I goofed up and one little mishap in paying attention, and well..... you know the rest of the story.

Scott
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Old 11-02-2013, 09:33 PM   #20
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I'd still blame it on the DOG!!! I have had to buy new passenger side mirrors on two previous coaches because of the darn DOGS.

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