Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > iRV2.com COMMUNITY FORUMS > Just Conversation
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 04-28-2016, 06:01 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
okmunky's Avatar
 
Solo Rvers Club
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Yuma County, AZ
Posts: 10,868
Lessons I have learned the hard way

Maybe others can learn from my mistakes so they won't have to clean up the same messes.

All products in plastic containers will expand when you ascend to a higher altitude. The product then takes the easiest route of escape from said container. Pump bottles of soaps and lotions will ooze from the spout. Spray bottles of cleaners will dribble from the nozzle. And my favorite -- mayo in that upside down squeeze bottle will explode onto the bread of the next sandwich.

How do I even begin to remember to loosen every cap or invert that mayo in the frig? My get ready to go list already has 17 items on it. <sigh>

Ok, your turn -- what disaster can you help me avoid?
__________________
Barb (RVM18) with Morkies Lily & Bebe RIP Sena FMCA#F466348
"Homer" ‘11 Shasta Cynara, pulling "Ranger" '97 Ford Ranger toad
The Journey is Our Destination. Full-timer May 2011 - July 2021
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
okmunky is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 04-28-2016, 06:13 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
Mr_D's Avatar
 
Country Coach Owners Club
Solo Rvers Club
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
Potato chip bags will explode if packaged at low elevations and transported to Yellowstone! Sounds very much like a tire blowout when on the overhead bed in a Type C MH!!
So will the old, foil wrapped, disposable cameras.
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
Mr_D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-28-2016, 06:45 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Tobias7000's Avatar
 
Country Coach Owners Club
Newmar Owners Club
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Portland
Posts: 278
Cats and Corners

Cats will find the most difficult to reach places to hide... especially when you want to pull in the slides!
__________________
2015 Newmar Dutch Star 4366 pulling a 2014 Dodge Ram Truck
Tobias7000 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2016, 07:44 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 4,654
A couple of Tony laws...

That for which is the hardest to (get find reach lift buy etc) will be the thing needed the most.

That thing you placed on the counter that easily would fit in your pocket will be the exact thing you need to fix the mission critical thing 3 hours away from any source. (San benito radio repairs)
__________________
Tony & Lori
1989 Country Coach Savannah SE
TQ60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2016, 08:04 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Mechanicsville, Virginia
Posts: 117
If you simply drop the front jacks on a 5th wheel then raise it just enough to unhook from the truck you won't have enough travel in the powered part to level the trailer afterwards... so hook back up and start over for the sake of 8" to level it fore and aft. I've never made that mistake again... The next rig is going to have 6 point auto level
__________________
2014 Dodge Dually
2014 Heartland Bighorn 3010re
14' Port-a-bote that goes everywhere with us
VACHZHD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 07:51 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
TLGPE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: CLEARWATER, FLORIDA
Posts: 1,052
Hi Barb!


For the squeeze bottles, just make a habit of squeezing air out of the bottle when you close the cap. That gives the air inside room to expand and prevents the oozing with altitude change.


Say to Sena.


Tom
__________________
Tom & Jan ---- Westwing43 (RVM28)
2008 NEWMAR MOUNTAIN AIRE 4528
Pulling a 2014 CHEVY CAPTIVA
TLGPE is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 08:46 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
vsheetz's Avatar


 
Fleetwood Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SoCal
Posts: 15,749
Got Sleep Number air bed? Set it to 10 before moving to higher altitude. Else you run thru risk of having to change one or both air bladders.
__________________
Vince and Susan
2011 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH (Cummins ISC/Freightliner)
Flat towing a modified 2005 Jeep (Rubicon Wrangler)
Previously a 2002 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37A and a 1995 Safari Trek 2830.
vsheetz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 03:35 PM   #8
Senior Member/RVM #90
 
MSHappyCampers's Avatar


 
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Columbus, MS
Posts: 54,626
Quote:
Originally Posted by vsheetz View Post
Got Sleep Number air bed? Set it to 10 before moving to higher altitude. Else you run thru risk of having to change one or both air bladders.

Thanks for the warning Vince! We've never thought of that!
__________________
Joe & Annette
Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits.....
2002 Monaco Windsor 40PBT, 2013 Honda CRV AWD
MSHappyCampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 03:53 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
okmunky's Avatar
 
Solo Rvers Club
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Yuma County, AZ
Posts: 10,868
Quote:
Originally Posted by TLGPE View Post
Hi Barb!


For the squeeze bottles, just make a habit of squeezing air out of the bottle when you close the cap. That gives the air inside room to expand and prevents the oozing with altitude change.


Say to Sena.


Tom
Hey Tom!

We miss you and Jan over on the mutant thread! Stop over and see us soon. We're planning to be on the Oregon coast in August 2017. Hope you can join us.

I need to get into the habit of squeezing my bottles, but when we're parked for 3-4 mo at a time I get lazy.
__________________
Barb (RVM18) with Morkies Lily & Bebe RIP Sena FMCA#F466348
"Homer" ‘11 Shasta Cynara, pulling "Ranger" '97 Ford Ranger toad
The Journey is Our Destination. Full-timer May 2011 - July 2021
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
okmunky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 04:05 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
wildtoad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 5,314
Something I learned this week... Don't trust your memory, check, check, check. I was getting ready to take the new MH to the lake for 5 days, so brought in the slides and set the slide locks. Just the front on the full wall slide, none on the bedroom slide and apparently BOTH on the kitchen. After the short drive to the lake side state park, I started to setup. unlocked the full wall slide, unlocked the front lock on the kitchen slide and started to run the slides out. (notice anything missing!) Yep, forgot to unlock the rear lock on the kitchen slide, as I did not remember if I locked it or not. So after kicking myself and of course being kicked by the DW I have a slightly out of sync kitchen slide.

So now when I take it back to complete some warranty work, they can fix my mistake. I would call it a senior moment but that would not be fair to other seniors....
__________________
Tom

2016 Newmar Bay Star Sport 3004
2021 Jeep Gladiator Sport Willys
wildtoad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2016, 05:40 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
okmunky's Avatar
 
Solo Rvers Club
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Yuma County, AZ
Posts: 10,868
Oh Tom, I don't have slides but I have done equally boneheaded stunts with all my systems. What has finally helped me is the "Ready to go?" List that I keep on my cellphone. It has everything from stowing the power cord to lowering the TV antenna. Since the phone is always in my pocket I can't forget where I put the list. On my toad I have 12 steps to make it safe to move. Sometimes I have to count 3-4 times, but we don't move until the count comes up 12 at least twice.
__________________
Barb (RVM18) with Morkies Lily & Bebe RIP Sena FMCA#F466348
"Homer" ‘11 Shasta Cynara, pulling "Ranger" '97 Ford Ranger toad
The Journey is Our Destination. Full-timer May 2011 - July 2021
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
okmunky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2016, 08:23 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
SpaceNorman's Avatar
 
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,188
I've made scores of checklists over the course of time ... but have never developed the discipline to use them religiously. Once I've been thru the routine a few times - it never fails, the checklist falls by the wayside.

I've now taken to tying lengths of ribbon to the steering wheel to remind me about the "biggies". The controls for my hydraulic levelers are in small overhead cabinet above the driver's seat. When I put the levelers down (and we don't always use them!) - I grab the length of red ribbon from that cabinet and tie it around the steering wheel while the "auto levelling" is doing it's thing.

If I put up the DirecTV satellite - I grab the blue ribbon from the cabinet where the satellite control box resides and tie it to the steering wheel while the satellite is setting itself up.

I'm religious about doing a walk around before I start the coach ... so stuff like water, sewer and electric connections won't get missed. Nor will things like slides and awnings being extended.

However, for the "out of sight" stuff like the satellite and the hydraulic jacks ... my ribbon reminder system seems to be working pretty well.
__________________
SpaceNorman
2012 HR Endeavor 43' DFT, 2022 Jeep Wrangler
SpaceNorman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2016, 08:27 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 540
There's not enuff space on this websites server to list what I've learned the hard way. AND, I'll plead the 5th!!
__________________
Lovey & Thurston - Cali Foothills
2001 HR Vacationer (SS Minnow) - Gasser!
Obviously A Lowly and Inferior MH
B Dubya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-04-2016, 09:26 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
okmunky's Avatar
 
Solo Rvers Club
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Yuma County, AZ
Posts: 10,868
Quote:
Originally Posted by B Dubya View Post
There's not enuff space on this websites server to list what I've learned the hard way. AND, I'll plead the 5th!!
How about a highlight or two? We promise not to laugh or tell anyone. Who knows -- your pain might save someone else.

BTW, I've been a B Dubya all my life. My maiden name is Wright and since my parents neglected to give me a middle name (they could NOT agree) I was forced to use Wright as a middle name or go to court for a legal name change.
__________________
Barb (RVM18) with Morkies Lily & Bebe RIP Sena FMCA#F466348
"Homer" ‘11 Shasta Cynara, pulling "Ranger" '97 Ford Ranger toad
The Journey is Our Destination. Full-timer May 2011 - July 2021
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
okmunky is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
More lessons learned the hard way okmunky RV Systems & Appliances 8 10-18-2011 02:48 PM
Lessons learned the hard way janieD Excel Owner's Forum 12 04-14-2010 08:50 PM
Lessons Learned JamesOne Winnebago Industries Owner's Forum 21 11-06-2005 12:53 PM
56 tech tips/lessons we have learned Henry Lahore RV Systems & Appliances 2 05-16-2005 02:43 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:35 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.