Community Forums

begete · 10-01-2004, 02:55 PM

another newbie question:

How safe are motorhomes in thunderstorms? Roof is rubber,not sure what material the body is.

We are headed for an area where severe thunderstorms are predicted. Need quick reply.

Thanx

begete · 10-01-2004, 02:55 PM

another newbie question:

How safe are motorhomes in thunderstorms? Roof is rubber,not sure what material the body is.

We are headed for an area where severe thunderstorms are predicted. Need quick reply.

Thanx

DriVer · 10-01-2004, 03:04 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Bee:
How safe are motorhomes in thunderstorms? Roof is rubber,not sure what material the body is. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Stay in the coach, secure your electrical devices like computers, make sure you have an excellent surge suppression product on board, sit back on the couch, and watch the storm go by.

Have fun!

RV Wizard · 10-02-2004, 12:11 AM

Bee, I did a search as I had made the following post backin March of 2003:
This topic came up for discussion on the Motorhome.com forum and I thought it important enough to post my opinion here also.
OK, here is my reasoning on this subject. First I do know a lot about electricty and lightening too! I was, at the age of 13, indirectly hit standing under a tree that was struck by lightening.

Lightening is a result of imbalanced matter, ie, as clouds are pushed through the sky, the friction strips away electrons in the clouds and it becomes imbalanced. Lightening is the result of electrons flowing from one source to another and is just a big arc. An imbalanced cloud will find and take the least resistant path to balance itself; this can be from another cloud or mother earth and anything on it. The more electrons around a nucleus of fewer protons the easier it is to strip away these electrons. Different elemeents have different resisitances as a result. Gold is a very good conductor to where rubber is not.

Remember, I said that an imbalanced cloud will take the least resistant path. My motorhome surface is a rubber roof and fiberglass body, standing on rubber tires. Not a very easy source of free electrons to atttract an imbalanced mass. Now if I am the only thing in a flat field for a mile I could get a strick (for lack of a better term). If there is somthing near me that can give up electrons easier than my motorhome, such as trees or buildings, the path of the flow of electrons will go to that source. If I am not grounded, ie, electrical cord, phone line, cable tv, portable satalite, jacks being down or tree limbs touching me I stand a better chance of not attracting imbalanced masses looking for free elctrons to get balanced by.

I am an ex electrician but when working in mills with 480 volts I could hold a hot (energized) wire in my bare hands as long as I am not grounded. Birds can sit on 12,000 volts wires and are ok, again because they are not grounded.

I prefer to be insulated from a good and easy source of free electrons, mother earth, than bonded to it when "Lightening" is around. If you are outside and there are thunder storm around the best preventive measure is to take shelter. If you can't get in a low area. If you feel like your hair is standing up or on end, squat down and don't touch the ground! Good luck to all this year and enjoy!

I was looking for another discussion we had but was unable to find it quickly. I would recommend that if you can disconnect power, water, Cable TV, and phone if you have it. Pull up landing jacks and lower antenna. Try sitting on rubber tires only with no easy path to ground.

RV Wizard

6MISFITZ · 10-04-2004, 09:23 AM

I feel so much safer in our trailer than I ever did in our old boat with any storm approaching, lightning or otherwise!

I am not sure if it was this forum or RV.net, where a forum member's trailer was hit by lightning more than a few years ago. Apparently no one inside was hurt but the trailer did move a few feet off its pad from the lightning impact and some or most of the electrical system in the trailer did not survive. (not too sure if a surge protector would have helped but it sure could not have hurt!)

We have weathered more than a few big thunderstorms in our old 2001 hybrid and in our new TT and although we have never unplugged from the 30amp electrical box, we do shut off the A/c, tv and put up (or roll up) the awning quickly and then watch and listen to mother nature!

If the storm predictions are that severe then I would suggest buying and carrying around a weather radio. Pay attention to any warnings or alerts because there is absolutely NO use hanging around if warnings for seeking better shelter are issued!

Stay safe!

Regards,
Mike

begete · 10-04-2004, 03:03 PM

Thank you all for the great advice.

firesafety912 · 10-13-2004, 02:54 PM

Another thing we do is pull in the slides...we rode out one of those infamous Oklahoma storms, and when the RV started rocking, we pulled in the slides...boy, don't want to get caught in another one of those...kinda of got sea sick, the coach was rocking so much....Fun tho.

mr. ed · 10-19-2004, 02:30 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by firesafety912:
Another thing we do is pull in the slides...we rode out one of those infamous Oklahoma storms, and when the RV started rocking, we pulled in the slides...boy, don't want to get caught in another one of those...kinda of got sea sick, the coach was rocking so much....Fun tho. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can say "amen" to that. I was in OK a few months ago. I was parked at Walmart in the panhandle town of Guymon when some sort of weather front began to pass through the area. Just preceding the rain was this terrific windstorm...I'm sure the gusts were hurricane strength. Well, the coach was rocking really bad...so bad, in fact that I stood by the door ready to bail out should she tip over. I finally exited the coach to inquire of a nearby Walmart employee about the nature of this violent weather. He suggested that I drive my MH into an unused truck wash that was just across the street. I took his advice and brought my rig and toad into the wash. However, the wind did die down fairly quickly but I felt pretty secure under the roof of that building.

The next night I was in Woodward, OK and a similar scenario took place...violent wind succeeded by rain. However, there was no truck wash to hide in this time. At any rate, I weathered the storm.

I think motorhomes may have an edge in surviving severe winds because they generally weigh more than trailers, but that's just a supposition on my part.

BTW, I don't think the rocking of the coach "was fun". I was really scared. This California boy isn't used to such violent weather

Glenn and Kathy · 10-19-2004, 03:08 PM

Right Mr. Ed,

You're from california where the ground does the rockin'.

Glenn (Former Californian)

Two Bit · 10-19-2004, 04:27 PM

An additional preparation for a storm such as a passage of a cold front or gust front where some wind is expected is to align your rig to face into the expected wind. Rvs are designed to take a 70 MPH wind from front to back (traveling down the road) better than taking the wind blast along the side which might roll one over.

Dave Bowers · 10-20-2004, 09:08 AM

We have had our Barth in a couple really bad storms. A couple weeks ago we were in a tornado warning in Southern Minnesota. We were getting ready to go to the shower room which was block constructed when everything cooled down.

We have the Barth parked next door to our home and 2 years ago we had severe straightline winds which knocked down many large trees in the neighborhood. However, the only thing we lost was the umbrella off of our porch. We couldn't find it anywhere. Then about a month later I was walking around the coach and would you believe. I so the edge of it stick out from the roof of the coach. It traveled some 60 feet and landed almost perfectly on top of the Barthmobile. That was really something.

mr. ed · 10-20-2004, 04:21 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Glenn and Kathy:
Right Mr. Ed,

You're from california where the ground does the rockin'.

Glenn (Former Californian) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I didn't think about that, Glen. But you know, I'd much rather go through an earthquake in an RV than violent weather. After all, these rigs are made to "rock & roll" on the road and as long as you aren't under a bridge or in the vicinity of a building you'd find an RV to be a perfectly safe place. I know, I've rocked through some in my RV here in Calif. in years past. I had no concerns about being harmed (well, a brief thought did pass through my mind: what if the ground opened up and swallowed my rig?

). Well, the possibility of that happening is pretty remote (I hope).

mr. ed · 10-20-2004, 04:25 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Two Bit:
Rvs are designed to take a 70 MPH wind from front to back (traveling down the road) better than taking the wind blast along the side which might roll one over. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

An excellent point, Robert. I will take that into consideration next time (of course, one has to be fairly sure what direction the winds are going to come from. In some t-storm scenarios I guess it would be a toss-up).