Really Dumb Move on my part..

pameridan04 · 04-26-2010, 08:49 PM

Hi guys:

Well I did a really stupid move last weekend. I have been working on replacing the two TV's in my coach for the past three weekends straight. Many hours involved.

On sunday I was dead tired and had to take the coach back to it's bedding area at the local Storage Company.

Any way I pulled out and drove down my beautiful tree lined street with my powered antenna still up.

It hit a few limbs and is now laying down, with the wings out and one bent. Naturally it will not go up or down from the turn handle in the ceiling in the coach any more.

It was also raining and getting dark, I figured if I went up on the roof when it was wet I would probably slip off and break my neck.

Naturally I was sick over such a stupid newb mistake.

What do you think this repair is going to cost me? Naturally I will try and fix it myself first.

Any advice appreciated.

Dumbo...Jim P.

Clonetrooper · 04-26-2010, 09:50 PM

Hey I did something stupid too. Didn't involve tree limbs, I keep my Discovery 38 at the house (lucky) and only one way in and out of my street overhanging tree limb neighborhood. We bought RV mainly to take kids to nearby Corpus Christi area beaches as well as bigger trips. On our last monthly trip it was Easter so county beach front park ($12 a night) was not packed but crowded. Found great space way down at end, 30 feet from the water. Went to leave Sunday evening and had to turn while backing due to other campers that had gotten there after us. Bang I was stuck. In a 38' MH on the beach. Stupid. Wind had been blowing strongly for two days so there were small soft sandy spots on top of hard sand. Managed to ease RV out using shovel, carpet pieces and wood. Thankfuly no family members said anything. Done other stupid things but this one worked out ok .
KC

Wayne M · 04-26-2010, 10:00 PM

Jim,
I have never made that mistake, but I have made others - no I'm not going to tell on myself.

As for the Antenna, my ignition key will unclip from all the other keys necessary to open compartments and things. It has it's own ring which fits nicely up over the crank handle. As soon as I shut the engine off, the key goes on that handle. When the key comes down, the crank is turned to bring the antenna down. So far, it has worked for me. I have heard of others putting a rid ribbon on the steering wheel, and other such devices as a reminder.

I really hope that I don't do as my wife saw one day, an rv going down the road with a slide out.

MaverickBBD · 04-27-2010, 05:19 AM

Jim, don't punish yourself too much. Remember there are those that have and those that haven't YET. I have clothes pins with flagging tape on them for various "don't forget dummy" items. I don't use them all the time, but when something is out of normal operation. Sort of like a mental lock out tag out. Anyway back to your original question. As you appear to be redoing your whole video entertainment, look at this as an opportunity to upgrade you over the air capabilities. Depending how much can be salvaged it shouldn't cost anymore then a new fancy dancy antenna.

Bill Adams · 04-27-2010, 06:08 AM

It's pretty cheap to replace so don't sweat it. With my first coach I tore the Winegard antenna off twice. It was around $100 as I recall for the necessary parts and labor but I had dealer do it. Today it would likely cost me less than $10 in parts (most likely you just tore up the gear) and I would take care of it myself in just a few minutes. If the head itself is damaged a replacement (with the Wingman built-in) costs about $60.

Dr4Film · 04-27-2010, 06:24 AM

Some coaches come with an antenna switch that will light up an indicator light somewhere on the dash warning light panel such as mine but if that switch or light were not working correctly, then what! So, to not depend on an "idiot" light, I have a big RED bag clip which is clipped to the antenna handle when the antenna is down and stored. If I raise the antenna up, I remove the clip to accomplish that and attach the clip to my ignition key ring which is always left in the ignition switch. That way, when I sit down to start the coach and notice the RED bag clip attached to my keys, I then realize that the vulnerable antenna is up and needs to be lowered before going anywhere.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

Luv2go · 04-27-2010, 06:49 AM

Jim, don't feel bad. I had driven up to Ohio to take delivery on our new coach. After doing the PDI, I wrote up the punchlist, settled into the coach for the night, put the antenna up and watched some TV. The next morning I went over the punchlist with the service manager. One of the techs came out to drive the coach into the service bay, he put the slides in and retracted the levelers. Then the tech drove into the service bay. Bang! The antenna handle sprang down from the ceiling as the antenna was ripped off the roof!

Needless to say, the service tech forgot and I didn't remember either. The service manager said they rip one or two off a year! The antenna was added to the list and they fixed it the next day.

Nowadays we put an "Antenna Up" sign covering the speedometer on the dash to remind us, of course with tilted solar panels to put down, levelers, slides with seats that have to be moved before operating, etc, the checklist has grown some, the sign just reminds us to check the list.

Stewart

HD4Mark · 04-27-2010, 07:11 AM

We have a dashboard light with check antenna printed under it. It goes on every time you start it, antenna up or not. That makes it easy to ignore. Having done similar oops moves I printed a take off check list with a big stop sign on it to put on the drivers seat. Should attach it to a horse chestnut so it isn't easy to just sit on.

Don't feel bad Jim, we have all been there.

AFChap · 04-27-2010, 08:03 AM

We have a bright orange apx 4" square "antenna saver" thing (sold in RV stores) that we clip onto the bottom of the dash fan directly in front of the driver when the antenna is up ...actually have two ...one for batwing and one for sat dish. Hard to believe, but I have nearly ignored them a few times in departure preperations. They hang from the batwing handle when both antennas are stowed.

John H... · 04-27-2010, 08:25 AM

Jim, Don't feel bad. We were traveling from PA to a canpground in Myrtle beach. We stopped about half way for lunch. Watched a little TV while we were stopped. The rest of the trip to MB, I kept hearing some comments on the CB radio about an antenna being up on something and I never realized until we got to MB in the campground that what they were talking about was the antenna up on an RV going down the highway. I felt really stupid, but as luck would have it, we were on all Interstate and never went under low bridges or anything to hurt the antenna. Learned a valuble lesson. John H...

inspectorudy · 04-27-2010, 09:46 AM

The couple that I purchased my '05 Adventurer from used a big diamond shaped red warning tag on a key that will fit the ignition but will not turn it to warn of the antenna being up. I still have to remember to insert it each time. What would be great to have is a manual indicator, not electrical, to warn us like the old French turn signals. Remember the little arms that sprang out instead of the lights? One idea that I had on my old coach was to put a small mirror on top of my outside mirror that looked upward to align with a small mirror mounted on the top right front edge of the MH roof. This would give you a visual clue each time you looked at the mirror. But I never tried it. I did however start to move my MH in my driveway with the big slide out! I wasn't going to go but a few feet but realized that I had not thought about it. I wish that Winnebago had done what GM did on my Tahoe and that is if you leave the parking brake on the instrument panel lights wont work. This could be done with slides, antenna, jacks and bay doors.

pameridan04 · 04-27-2010, 03:06 PM

Hi Guys:

Thanks for all the hints. The sad part about it is I have an automatic check list that comes up on my backup video monitor screen, that should be checked off one by one. But after three screen pages it gets to be a PIA and I just clear it. That will teach me huh.

Thanks again for all the hints. Another job added to my list for next weekend.

Regards... Jim P.

TXiceman · 04-27-2010, 06:12 PM

We all make these silly mistakes from time to time...call it a learning experience.

For the antenna, I use a plain close-pin with a piece of orange tape on it. When we put the antenna down it is clipped to the antenna crank. When up, it is clipped to the gear shift in the motorhome or the truck now.

Ken

Sammie · 04-27-2010, 10:06 PM

pameridian04, After watching an unyielding tree clean my best friends batwing antenna off the top of his motorhome back in 1980, I have used the same high tech antenna position indicator that TXiceman has refered to. Very inexpensive and works without batteries to replace.

Sammie

Wayne M · 04-27-2010, 10:33 PM

Read my post. I didn't eve have to buy a red flag!!

pameridan04 · 04-28-2010, 01:15 PM

Hi Wayne:

Yep, another good idea, but I would somehow forget to put the key up there and leave it laying around. Then I would really be screwed no key for the ignition.

Since this is my FIRST coach of anykind, I am really working hard on getting it the way I want.

I am replacing the old TV's with flat screen digitals, new vent covers, some new seals, new oil/fuel filters, chips in windshields, blind repairs, and so on, and so on.

If dumb mistakes on my part can be somewhat avoided it will be less painful.

Regards... Jim P.

navyblue · 04-28-2010, 06:13 PM

Jim,

We ALL have had our share of dumba-- moves. Some we will tell and others are so embarrassing, we couldn't stand the thought of another human being knowing. That being said, me being OCD, when the ignition is turned off, a laminated list goes on the drivers seat after I am done setting up. On one side is Departing list and the other side is Arriving list. Last item on departing list is "Make sure wife is in coach". That one is not on the arriving list for obvious reasons. It has cut down on my dumba-- mistakes by 98%. My dumba-- mistakes have ALL cost over $300. Hence THE lsit.

NAVYBLUE

Wayne M · 04-29-2010, 08:04 PM

Hmmm! Could I get away with leaving DW behind........nah! never mind.

We all have a routine we go through. That is why it is not a good idea to go talk to your neighbor when he is preparing things to leave. It disrupts the routine. My wife keeps a typewritten list taped to the upright of the kitchen slide. Just before we start to roll she reads the list off out loud. I have to answer for those parts that are nine, like "Antenna down?" Reply "Yep!" If she doesn't get a reply she figures my hearing aid battery is dying and she starts repeating in a louder voice until I answer.

The last thing she does is outside. Again, before we roll, she stands at the back and checks all the lights as I switch them on/off, turn signals, brake lights, tail lights, then she walks to the front for turn signals, head lights, both high and low beam. When she does her walk, she checks all the bay doors to make sure I locked them. That's because one day she followed me, and had to call me on the cell phone to tell me to pull over. It seems a bay door on the drivers side was wide open. Now how could that happen!!!!

Works for us.

HD4Mark · 04-30-2010, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M

My wife keeps a typewritten list taped to the upright of the kitchen slide.

Wayne, what is typewritten?

JOLT · 04-30-2010, 12:33 PM

Jim,
Been there and done that too. Hurt my pride more than my wallet ($100). New Batwing head is now digital so consider it an upgrade. I have one installed with a Batwing extender but tested the head with and without the extender and did not get more channals.
It is all part of the Journey.