What is the DUMBEST thing you did to your coach!!! - Page 3

Chuck 1935 · 05-19-2010, 09:56 AM

My first ever trip started with a bang. I backed out of my driveway, no back up camera, and right into a telephone pole. I was so pissed I didn't stop to look at the damage for a couple of miles. Fortunatly it was not as bad a it could have been. I love my new back up camera !!

Ralphie251 · 05-20-2010, 08:58 AM

First coach was a 94 Bounder. We were given a name of someone who pinstriped cars and hired them to re-tape the Bounder. We chose burgundy and silver for the 2 1/2" stripes, medium blue for the 1" and a 1/4" dark yellow stripe. He couldn't get burgundy so he decided "wine" was close enough and mustard yellow/dark yellow - what's the difference. He made the mustard yellow the 1" and the blue the 1/4". I never saw a McMotorhome before this one.

raceguy549 · 05-20-2010, 10:47 AM

The GF had to work late on the Friday we were leaving to spend a weekend on the San Marcos River with my sis and her hubby at their place. About an hour after our departure we stopped in Falfurrias, TX for food for us and gas for our '90 Fleetwood Cambria MH we had at the time. As I tried to start ole Fleetwood Mac up I confirmed a suspicion I started forming earlier that day, that all was not well with the ignition switch. The switch was one of those dash mount types that were commonplace in Chevy trucks for so many years. If turned fully to the right, the starter would engage but no ignition would occur until the pressure was reduced and the key was allowed to rotate towards the left a bit. It occurred to me that I might want to check this out more carefully in the morning when I got a chance before we began our return trip home. Around 10 or 11 PM we stopped in an abandoned walmart parking lot for a leg stretch and p-mail check for our Westie, Charlotte. I noticed then that the keys were pretty dadgum warm to the touch. I shut the engine off reasoning that if it failed to restart we could spend the night where we were. Well, now that I knew the trick I got the thing started and we left Karnes City headed north toward an RV park only 50 miles away on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Seguin to spend the balance of the night. I began periodically checking the switch for temperature as it was getting warmer all the time and just as we pulled into a small town called Stockdale I began to smell hot wiring insulation. Knowing that the last 20 or 25 miles we had to travel on that highway for the night had soft, sandy sloping shoulders I decided to pull over in town and have a look. After more inspection I thought it necessary to delve further and turned off the engine. The words "Now you've done it" rang out in the icy silence. Around 1 AM with wires hanging out of the dash up and over the steering column I touched the last jumper I had to work with to the correct terminal, and the motor woke back up, and we were off! In the process of hot wiring the coach I was unable to also power up the electric choke heater (remember carburetors?) and as result I had a nice big red choke light on for the balance of our drive. Unfortunately, as I discovered as we were pulling in to the RV park, I also now had an idle speed of 2000 Rpms give or take while in gear. I turned off the headlights so as not to disturb any sleeping neighbors to be .....kinda one of those Good Sam things y'know. Unfortunately the engine idle speed was not contributing to being stealthy. I selected a pull through that had no neighbors immediately adjacent and parked. I knew not to take the tranny out of gear until the engine stopped and pulled off the jumper wire that was furnishing power to the ignition. The engine responded with a long chain of sputtering, wheezing, coughing noises that seemed to last forever before it finally stopped. The cherry on top was a backfire that rivaled pulling both triggers of a 12 gauge shotgun simultaneously. The GF glared at me. "Honey we're home!", I responded.
If you were one of the unfortunates that was trying to sleep in that park that night you have my sincere apology.

Zoom...

Raceguy

95 Winnebago Luxor 37' DP

rf4 · 05-20-2010, 10:55 AM

I always help my DH back the moho into tight spots. We have our signals down and I know what he needs to park.

When we arrived at the BIL's (DH's brother) house, we were parking in his driveway. It was going to be a tight fit as his driveway was just long enough for us to get into. I hopped out of the moho to back up DH, when BIL decides, no it is HIS house, he will back him up.

Of course, stupid BIL backs him INTO the roof of the house, not only damaging his own house but our moho as well.

Never again!! Now either I back him up or our teenagers do (as they have been trained to do so) - NO ONE ELSE!!

Lesson learned

mythplaced · 05-20-2010, 11:07 AM

Buy it...

Also the smartest!

mythplaced · 05-20-2010, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Stewart

.......My DW made me go to the back of their house and strip while she hosed me down with the garden hose. Now I want to tell you, it took me 3 years to feel clean again! I still gag a little every time I have to dump the black tank!

Jim, that image is permanently BURNED into my mind...

Naked Old guy, being hosed down

Lord O' Mercy, please make it stop!

sknight · 05-20-2010, 01:00 PM

I've been pretty fortunate with mine, I also don't get to use mine nearly as much as most of y'all.

But I have done one thing that left a mark. Per my signature I've got a Cummins powered Dodge that in first gear will move the world. Well one fine day I decided to move the camper, don't remember why, and when I jacked it up it seemed harder than normal, but that was probably just a sticky jack. Set her on the truck, got into said truck and let the clutch out.

It moved, but not willingly and was accompanied by the sound of steel dragging then buckling against asphalt.

It would seem that some idiot put the rear stabilizers down then that same idiot not only forgot they were down but didn't think to investigate why it was hard to jack up to hook up the truck.

Luckily said idiot is a metal fabricator and managed to straighten out his little mess with much hammering and swearing.

paulrtaylor · 05-20-2010, 02:05 PM

I have only owned my MH for 2 weeks and I have already done one. We took the MH out for a test camping to see how everything worked. All was going well when my wife asked about the outside shower. I had already looked at it so I proceeded to show her. After my masterful demenstration I shut off the pump and drained the hose. Later, with the generator and air conditoiner running, we decided we should do the dishes and clean around the iside of our new MH. When we finished I took the trash outside and to my amazement there was water pouring out from under the MH. I went around to see what happened and that is when I realized that for the outside shower to stop one must turn off the faucet. Our entire back bay was filled to the top with water. After an hour of bailking water out and trying to dry the carpet with towles we got back to our camping.

Ralphie251 · 05-21-2010, 07:18 AM

Who hasn't left the fridge doors open for storage? None of us.
Who hasn't forgotten they were open and drove away? None of us.
Who hasn't immediately pulled over in a not so good spot to close them for fear of the doors damaging something if you were to wait? None of us.
And who of us hasn't forgotten to put it in park when they got out of the driver's seat to go close the doors (Gee, why is that bridge that I'm parked on moving?)? None of us. Oh, wait a minute, I misspelled a word - that should be "one" of us, not "none" of us.

Luckily the road was straight and so were my wheels - probably about a 40' trip in heavy traffic on auto pilot.

Question - if no one is driving, who does the cop give the ticket to?

Sorry for the Bounder stuff in the Winnie category. I own a Winnie now - loved them both.

pameridan04 · 05-22-2010, 12:45 PM

Hi Ralphie:

I just did the fridge door last week. But the DW had to leave them open, not me.

I did the goofy pull over also. This stuff must be habit forming.

Regards.. Jim P.

Ralphie251 · 05-24-2010, 08:30 AM

I figured I probably wasn't the only one who did this - sure felt like it at the time though.

BUT - has anyone ever driven away with the slides out? Can't be too many who've done that (that will admit it anyway). Not even sure you can drive with the slides out but someone must have managed it somewhere along the line.

NEW BERN RON · 05-26-2010, 02:58 PM

Several years back (and a few RV's ago) I had a windshield and front end chock full of bugs of many sizes and colors. As Windex alone didn't solve my problem I used a 2 sided kitchen sponge to loosen the little rascals. With a bit of elbow grease I managed a whistle clean front end...that is until I statred driving into the sun and was greeted by thousands of scratch marks etched into the windshield. I stupidly used the abrasive side of the sponge and, my reward, a sun blinding light show covering the windshield that my wife will not let me forget to this day!

dajudge · 05-26-2010, 03:40 PM

Back in 05, we were planning to go to the Smokies, and the Carolinas. I pulled the Allegro Bay out of the storage garage and washed it thoroughly. I then backed it in when it was dry because it said not to wax it in the direct sunlight. Well, any way, when I finished backing it in, I decided I would have lunch and a little nap while I let the coach cool off. After lunch, everything went well, including the nap, I waxed the front and sides of the coach. I then decided to pull it out partially to wax the back. What I failed to notice was that I had opened the front roll up door about halfway, just about 2 ft below the top of the coach. Well, when I was pulling out, I was watching the left mirror so it wouldn't hit the door frame. Immediatly after that, I heard a loud, sickening crunch. I had driven into the roll up door and struck the door about six inches from the top of the windshield. My DW was all upset because she thought we would have to cancel our vacation because this was the day before we were supposed to leave. No problem, I said, the smashed part was about a foot wide area in the middle and there were no holes in the windshield.
When I got back, I called the glass guy and he told me he would be at my place that afternoon to look at the windshield. When he got there, he told me he could have a replacement in and a few days. He also told me he worked at several glass companies and the policy on roll up doors was "All the way up or all the way down."

Grimesy · 05-27-2010, 10:26 AM

How about following your GPS into downtown Manhattan in a 40 foot moho towing a pickup?

billsmax · 05-29-2010, 06:49 AM

Done the power cord thing, done the overflowing john deal (twice), done the antenna, done the slide outs partially out, done the jacks down and several more things I've fortunately forgotten. But in March I moved up to a motorhome and am beginning a whole new set of "Dumbest Things"..
Here are a couple that no one else seems to have experienced.
A. Right after arriving home with the coach from the dealer, I decided to see how the manual air leveling system works...it worked fine but the steps were crushed when I lowered them onto the temporary metal step I had set under them ($450)
B. At home hooking up to leave on our first major trip in the new coach,
had everything hooked up, closed up, unplugged and ready to go. Drove out of my driveway and about 2 blocks down my street when I noticed my pickup toad has wandered off the road into the grass on the psngr side of the coach. Then looked in the mirror and saw long black streaks in the road behind me. It seems that when I finished hooking up my toad, I pulled the hood release instead of the emergency brake release. I learned 3 valuable lessons here: 1. GM makes one heck of an emergency brake on their trucks. In 2 blocks those rear tires didn't move an inch.
2. Asphalt is rougher on rubber than grass..the tire that stayed on the asphalt had an 8 inch bald spot with no sign of tread...the tire that eventually got on the grass had an 8 inch bald spot but you could barely see the remains of some thread. Had to drive 20 miles to the tire store and found that 8 inch flat spots on rear tires make for a very rough and noisy ride ($425)
3. I also learned that Cummins makes one powerful engine with that 600HP. I couldn't tell any difference in the way it pulled with the truck emergency brakes on or off!
I wasn't going to tell anyone at home about that mishap but my daughter called and said "Dad, there are terrible black marks down your drive and up the road and your new grass by the road has been torn up. I told her to tell the neighbors that some one must have lost control of their car and skidded down the road and up my drive!!!

Hope these are the last of my Dumbest but I'm pretty sure they won't be!

puttin · 05-29-2010, 07:31 AM

Fell asleep

pameridan04 · 05-31-2010, 08:33 PM

Puttin

Fell asleep while driving?

john5 · 06-03-2010, 08:18 PM

Today i installed a converter box to front tv, was extremely proud of myself as any electronics bumfuzzle me. Had my tool box inside while exiting mh i set toolbox on bottom step as i was fumbling in pockets for keys i shut the door toolbox caught between top and bottom step before i could open door steps started vibrating , now they only go in half way then start vibrating.any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

markpj23 · 06-04-2010, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john5

Today i installed a converter box to front tv, was extremely proud of myself as any electronics bumfuzzle me. Had my tool box inside while exiting mh i set toolbox on bottom step as i was fumbling in pockets for keys i shut the door toolbox caught between top and bottom step before i could open door steps started vibrating , now they only go in half way then start vibrating.any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

um..... Don't put your toolbox on the front steps?

Sorry - I couldn't resist....

HD4Mark · 06-04-2010, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john5

Today i installed a converter box to front tv, was extremely proud of myself as any electronics bumfuzzle me. Had my tool box inside while exiting mh i set toolbox on bottom step as i was fumbling in pockets for keys i shut the door toolbox caught between top and bottom step before i could open door steps started vibrating , now they only go in half way then start vibrating.any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Think I would take a look to see if anything is bent. The arms or whatever they are called could be jamming. Might be as easy as hammering or bending something back straight.