Storms...

[badog5]

Hello, I pretty much know what I'll do when a powerful thunderstorm comes my way at home, but what do you do when you are at a CG?
thanks

[toneumanns]

Unplug your shore power & cable. Retract you stabilizers if they are down. Lower your antenna if up.

[okmunky]

I lived in tornado alley most of my life. The motto is "be weather aware".

Find out where you can go if tornados are spotted where you are. A concrete bathhouse or storm shelter. Find out what county you are in, as this is how severe weather is reported. Knowing the counties around you is helpful if you want advance warning Listen to a Local TV or radio station for weather updates if the sky looks weird. Listen to your gut feelings. If you feel like you should get out, DO IT NOW!

Make sure you unplug the TV cable as well. Lightening can travel down it and destroy your electronics.

Stay safe,

[wa8yxm]

Question for the first respondent?

Why retract the stablizer jacks? I mean the rig is much more stable in wind with the jacks down, and you want stability, pull 'em up and... Well, I have heard a few stories of RV's rolling over to take a nap in high wind.

And if you say "To protect from lightening" be aware I'm going to slap you.

Here's why.. A lightening bolt just traveled through how many hundreds (Thousands) of feet of air to hit your rig.. You think perhaps 4" of rubber is going to slow it down any?

NO WAY

[toneumanns]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Question for the first respondent?

Why retract the stablizer jacks? I mean the rig is much more stable in wind with the jacks down, and you want stability, pull 'em up and... Well, I have heard a few stories of RV's rolling over to take a nap in high wind.

And if you say "To protect from lightening" be aware I'm going to slap you.

Here's why.. A lightening bolt just traveled through how many hundreds (Thousands) of feet of air to hit your rig.. You think perhaps 4" of rubber is going to slow it down any?

NO WAY

When your coach is on stabilizers you have established a strong ground which is what lightning searches for. When your coach sits on the tires the coach isn't grounded since rubber is an insulator & not a conductor. Granted this won't help much but you try & eliminate as much as possible.

[toneumanns]

If you doubt what I said here is a link that you might want to read.

http://www.setrekclub.com/Lightening%20&%20RV's.pdf

[okmunky]

Silly, you retract the jacks so you can get away QUICK when the twister is headed your way.

Seriously, an RV or mobile home is the last place you want to be in violent weather.

[HeapBigEngin]

Originally Posted by toneumanns

If you doubt what I said here is a link that you might want to read.

http://www.setrekclub.com/Lightening%20&%20RV's.pdf

The above link gave some very interesting information re lightning and how to protect one's self from it. Really haven't thought too much about the subject....shame on me....since we don't get an unusual amount of lightning activity in our part of the woods. However, this info contained in the article was very valuable and great to know. Just hope I never have to use it!!

Thanks for posting this!!

[longarrow]

If your in a MH, retracting the stab jacks is fine. IF one is a TT, it becomes quite hard, If I raise all my stab jacks, that fine, but it still leaves the tongue jack, so I must hookup the TV to keep the TT from falling on it's nose!

[IWillRVToo]

My tongue jack is always on a piece of wood.
Would using zip ties to attach rubber discs to the stabs serve as the insulator?

[Cilrah]

Well we have basically no worries about tornados here in the NW but do have the threat of "The Big One" earthquake hitting us someday. I've always wondered about the effect of a large earthquake hitting while we have the jacks down. Anyone ever experienced an earthquake in an RV?

Floods? Now here is one thing that really impressed me about living in an RV. One of our favorite campgrounds here in Washington was severely flooded in 2009, several fixed homes in the area were flooded really bad but after viewing the arial photos of the campground, not one home there was lost

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by IWillRVToo

My tongue jack is always on a piece of wood.
Would using zip ties to attach rubber discs to the stabs serve as the insulator?

Absolutely not under any circumstances

[CaptnLouie]

If you are in a campground, and the weather gets bad, leave your trailer and warn others on your way to the bath house or best concrete structure without windows.

When you are in a campground, get to know those around you especially anyone who is up in age and/or does not get around well. Those are the people you stop and help get to safety if they want help.

I have experienced two bad storms while in campgrounds in Texas and Missouri and lived through a twister that touched down briefly on I-20 in Shreveport as I was pulling my trailer down the road.

I now own a weather station for my trailer and a good "loud" weather radio with auto alert. I have learned to stay up on this game.

As they say down in Texas, "make sure you keep your powder dry."

[Shadowcatche]

We were on the edge of a tornado area a few years back and NO idea where it was headed... I now have a Reecom weather radio that will be plugged into the 12V system in the trailer. I will also be checking for shelters at camp grounds.