High winds should I move the slides in?

[danhannah]

I think I might even come down off the jacks in that wind. Maybe the could get bent?

[larliebler]

Originally Posted by danhannah

I think I might even come down off the jacks in that wind. Maybe the could get bent?

Humm, I never thought about the jacks. It would be nice to hear from someone that has experienced high winds that left their Jack's down.

We rented a class C diesel in Iceland in October of 17. We had 80 mile an hour gusts and we were rocking and rolling, but there were no jacks to be concerned about. Now looking back at that experience I'm glad I was brand new to RVing and didn't realize all the bad things that could have happened. At one point in our trip we were told there were 100 mile sustained winds approaching. We at least had enough sense to pick up camp and go to a safer location.

[jacwjames]

Last year weather called for bad storms running through E TN. I pretty much ignored the warnings and went to bed. In the middle of the night the storms rolled through and a high gust of wind caught the bedroom slide topper and it billowed ultimately breaking the spring. Cost me ~$100 to fix, doing it myself. Luckily it didn't rip the topper.



I've always left the jacks down when in the RV and never had a problem with wind. That doesn't mean that in the right condition (high wind hitting motorhome at the right angle) that it couldn't damage the jacks. I've never read an instance of this happening.

[larliebler]

Originally Posted by jacwjames

Last year weather called for bad storms running through E TN. I pretty much ignored the warnings and went to bed. In the middle of the night the storms rolled through and a high gust of wind caught the bedroom slide topper and it billowed ultimately breaking the spring. Cost me ~$100 to fix, doing it myself. Luckily it didn't rip the topper.



I've always left the jacks down when in the RV and never had a problem with wind. That doesn't mean that in the right condition (high wind hitting motorhome at the right angle) that it couldn't damage the jacks. I've never read an instance of this happening.

Thanks. I've seen several comments about turning the coach into the wind. Fortunately, we're facing the wind already and my Jeep will also block some of that wind as well so hopefully there will be less movement.

[530ktm]

Originally Posted by JohnRR

Heavy rains, snow, high winds or even the possibilities of any of it my slides come in.

Cheap maintenance and repairs.

This is how I work with these conditions.

[larliebler]

Originally Posted by 530ktm

This is how I work with these conditions.

Slides are in, sewer hoses disconnected, dual 30 pound external propane tanks stored. I still have my Jack's down though. About 3 more hours or so before the really strong winds start.

[Ray,IN]

How did you come out?

[FatChance]

Personally, I would always point the tail end to the wind. In really windy conditions rocks, branches, small dogs and other debris can be blown by the wind fast enough to damage the windshield. There is no glass on the back end of our coach. Price the replacement cost of a new windshield before pointing into the wind...

[Skiddy]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

How did you come out?

I was wondering the same thing. said on the news that Denver is pretty much shut down.
we are having 50-60 mph winds here in central OK but no blizzard.

[FatChance]

We had a BIG gust of wind this afternoon and a large tree branch broke off and crashed into the top of a slide out on the 5th wheel next to our coach. It bounced off, fell down and missed our coach by a couple feet. Too close!

[larliebler]

Originally Posted by FatChance

We had a BIG gust of wind this afternoon and a large tree branch broke off and crashed into the top of a slide out on the 5th wheel next to our coach. It bounced off, fell down and missed our coach by a couple feet. Too close! Attachment 237952Attachment 237953

Yuck, did your slide get damaged? I hope you got lucky.

We are in a state park across the street from our office here in Aurora Co. We stay here as often as we can (2 weeks every 45 days) since it's so close to our office. A tree came down here in the state park during the blizzard yesterday and just missed the camp post's slide room.

Our coach is in encased in ice, like a cocoon. It poured like crazy here for hours in the morning and then froze. I think it actually protected my coach from damage by debris.

It's not going to be warm enough to thaw out today, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to move our slides out. I don't want to take a chance moving the slides with all that ice.

[larliebler]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

How did you come out?

Our coach is in encased in ice, like a cocoon. It poured like crazy here for hours in the morning and then froze. I think it actually protected my coach from damage by debris.

I think we made it unscathed. My internal compass leaves a lot to be desired because we were not facing the wind, instead the wind for the most part was on my passenger side. I took a chance and didn't move the coach because I wanted to retain power. The only negative I can find at this point is that I won't be able to run my slides out until they thaw which probably won't be until tomorrow afternoon.

I'm not sure of the wind speeds where we were, but at the airport the gusts were 80 miles an hour.

[PeterFTH]

Originally Posted by larliebler

Tomorrow in Denver we are expecting blizzard conditions with winds gusting to 70 miles per hour.

By all means reduce windage as much as practical. Drop the suspension down low to the ground. If you know the direction of the strongest winds, try and put the front or back into the wind - putting the back upwind will protect your windshields, but put all the shades/blinds down in case a window is broken it will keep the glass from traveling through the rig. I rode out Hurricane Michale last fall and had cat 3 winds of 120 mph and I remember I parked in a site with no trees that could hit me, and the CG was at the top of a dam so it couldn't flood. Those are the big two. Wind can carry projectiles hence protecting the windows. 70 shouldn't threaten to overtun the rig in any case. Peter

[Jim.B1]

On high wind days, and during travel days in sub freezing temps we always leave the slides in.
I get concerned in freezing temps, that the slides may freeze and I may not be able to close them when needed.
Fortunately with our RV it is fully functional with both slides in.
The comment on retracting the jacks in high winds is one I had not considered, but it makes good sense.
Thanks for the tip.