I mis-calculated the lenght!!!

During our two week trip from South Texas to Washington State, we were traveling through Northern California, where I learned that Diesel fuel is not nearly as common as almost anywhere else. I was running less than a quarter tank and had about two more hours to get to our stop for the day, so we exited the 101 in Garberville CA and found a station that look big enough to get in and out of with the Landmark in tow, I was half right. Made it into the station just fine and was able to take on just over 47 gallons. I pulled away from the pumps in a nice straight line and cut the turn just before the very end of the lot and pulled into the street and felt what I thought was the trailer rolling over the curb/sidewalk on the edge of the station(I expected this to happen as the access was narrow), BUT as I turn the truck back into the correct lane I was horrified to see in the mirror that I was now dragging some nickel colored material that was connect to the trailer with electrical wiring. I pulled over to inspect damage and found the sheet-metal from the cord winder back to the rear cap had been ripped off and the rear cap had been ripped/cracked/crushed all the way from the bottom to the bottom of the window. The Interior rear wall also has a 12" crack in it. We are thankful that the unit was still road worth and we can still live in it until the body shop can work on it in a couple weeks.

That is tough,,, but at least you can still use the unit. Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Keep the chin up, better things will come. Just wish you did not have to stay up in the cold country over the winter.

Jim M

That sucks. Like Jim said, keep you head up. No big deal in the big picture. I know it's a bad feeling.

That's "turabul" (Charles Barkley-speak) Do you know what it was that you hooked onto? Sounds like you're on the road to "mental-recovery" since you were able to post your misfortune for us to see.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but things happen no matter how careful and watchful you are. The up side no one was hurt and no damage to someones property. A good fiberglass person can fix it like new.

Dave

Alan, sorry to hear of the "incident". Mine wasn't quite that bad with the dumpster that just happened to get too close to the exact same area. Just a small scrape. AT least it's livable till you can get it fixed up.

OOps

Same thing happen to me when we left the rally from Branson. Only Trucks Stops for me

Wow that hurts. But think about it like this. If nobody was hurt and money can fix it than it's not a problem.

Mike

My first trip out I went through a small, small, tiny town, small town. I did not make a wide enough LEFT turn and TRIED to take out the stop sign on the road I was turning on to with the LEFT side of my 5er. Did I mention that it was a small town. Do the diagram thing. It was !

Ouch .....

2010augusta, sad to see that, but its happen to a lot of us. But a good car body shop can repair that without much problem. I closed a slide and forgot a small table was under it and rip the lower panel out and the 5er was less than a week old. I was on another forum this AM and the question was about a extra fuel tank? Well this situation like this might have prevented this damage. And as said before, I try to only use Truck stops they are designed for long Trucks and Trailers. Good Luck. GBY......

Biggest problem I see with these longer trailers is the overhang behind the rear axle. That swing is usually what gets us in trouble. Tractor trailers don't have this problem because the trailer axles are set almost to the rear of the trailer, so there is very little "rear swing'.

Our one fire truck has a bucket/platform that is almost 20 from the rear axle, that has caused a problem or 2 over the years.

Alan I feel for ya. Its not so much the damage but the hassle getting it fixed. I had a rear door fly open and slam into my bikes that were on the ladder and put 3 holes and three dents into the door. That one i fixed myself. 125.00 .Then I had a guarter panal like yours get smashed by a board flinging up when I was backing and leveling up. That one was 125.00 for the part and 1100.00 labor to instal.I turned that one into my insurance, they said I had a free claim which was a lie.They still put it on my record, so when I switched ins companies it showed up. If it happens again I will do the repair myself. My last thing was my hot water access door flew away while I was traveling. That one was 52.00 part and shipping. (I forgot to twist the access door closed when I used it last.).
Best of luck to ya
Ron

Well, I caught one of the "U" shaped pipe/concrete barriers on the outside of the pumps. As for stopping at truck stops, I normally try to use them most of the time, but there are not any on Hwy 101 in NorCal. I already have a 59 gallons of fuel capacity and as I stated I took on close to 48 gallons, It would have to had been one of those largest titan tanks to get me anywhere close to a truck stop. The F-450 was averaging 9MPG for the trip, so I guess next time there is a question about if the trailer will fit or not, I will err on the side of not and find place to drop the trailer for a few minutes and take the truck back to the station for a quick fill-up. Anyways, it will not happen again anytime soon, because the trailer will stay parked in its current site for the foreseeable future other than the couple trips to the body shop.

As far as the repair goes, We a fortunate that there is a RV and Truck body shop just outside of Tacoma. They only work with RVs and big trucks. They can rebuild interior walls and repair the fiberglass. They even have a 55' deep paint booth, maybe we'll kick in some extra cash and get a full body paint job, or not.

Sorry about your misshap, but this is the reason I believe that folks pulling 5th wheels, TT and driving Motor Homes should be subject to a driving test. I see too many folks, out on the roads pulling their TT's fivers and driving their Motor Homes that don't have a clue what in the world they are doing. ( Same goes for this new breed of truck driver that's out there ) I know this may upset a lot of folks, but that is how I see it. I have driven over 4 million miles in a semi, all accident free , and have seen a lot of scary things with campers on the highways.
We always tell our kids to make sure they get a good education, now why not get ourselves educated on how to pull a trailer.
This post is not meant to P.O people, but a little education goes along way.
Just my 2 cents.
Be safe out there and happy travels.
Cheers Ken

I bet your heart sank down to your stomach when you saw that. I feel your pain but at least noone was hurt and the camper can be repaired. Thank you for sharing. I know I will be more cautious because of your misfortune.

Good luck,
Mark

CrazyScotsman
Sorry about your misshap, but this is the reason I believe that folks pulling 5th wheels, TT and driving Motor Homes should be subject to a driving test. I see too many folks, out on the roads pulling their TT's fivers and driving their Motor Homes that don't have a clue what in the world they are doing. ( Same goes for this new breed of truck driver that's out there ) I know this may upset a lot of folks, but that is how I see it. I have driven over 4 million miles in a semi, all accident free , and have seen a lot of scary things with campers on the highways.

Click to expand...

Hay Ken. I to think it would be good for those not experienced to take lessons in how to drive their RV. Pat and I took Dick Reeds Driving school. It may not have been the same as your experience as you. I have also pulled a horse trailer and hay trailers for years.

Some times I find myself being a bit unattentive. While going through Monticello UT, they were digging up the main road through town and had these large orange barrels on both sides. Semis had been going through with no problem, but while trying to watch the road, barrels and the DW talking I must have clipped one of the barrels and pulled OSD to the basement off. Was able to repair it so we could close the door and continue down the road.

Things happen. It is like when riding a Motorcycle, you have to be alert in all directions. I have to really pay attention when around things to make sure my tires on the trailer have passed objects around the area. Rocks, posts, ditches, and such. I found that one thing helps me is to remember to go slow when in close areas..

I put a 45 gal tank in the bed of the truck and have a 38 gal OEM in the truck. Unless it is a real emergency I never fill up with fuel while connected to the trailer. I fill up the night before we leave and we never travel over 300 miles. Most likely 150 to 250 miles. If it was necessary figuring on 70 usable gallons at 9 mpg I could go about 600 plus miles. That is twice as far as I wish to travel at one time.

If anyone would like to take RV driving lessons there are a number around the country. Dick Reed is only one and I would recommend them. Because of taking the lessons Pat can drive the truck and trailer without any problems. She just doesn't care to drive in towns and mountain roads.

Hope all the accidents are over for this year..

Travel Safe and may God Bless
BC

I agree with Ken because there are many more possibilities for us to cause injury to others as well as ourselves. I had been riding motorcycles for quite a while when my son wanted to get a bike. The condition was, he could get a bike if he took an MSF course. I decided to take the course as well. You can't imagine how much I learned and after riding all those years. I took the advance course a few years later. It also would be more beneficial if a license or course got you a discount on insurance as well.

Maybe a little off the subject but after instructing Driver Training for Police Officers for 6 1/2 years and teaching NSC DDC for 15 years I have found most people do not have a clue what they or their vehicle's capabilities are. Some of the 7 driving techniques we taught are steering technique, throttle control, braking control and FENDER JUDGMENT. Any one can misjudge when turning but you need to know how your vehicles. I would advise any person who has never towed a trailer (TT or 5er) to find a vacant parking lot, set up some cones or partly filled milk jugs and practice their driving, Practice going straight, braking in a straight line, braking while turning, turning corners and backing. Remember how tall your rig is and your truck and add a "fudge factor" of a couple of inches. Sorry to hear of your mishap. Remember, Murphy's Law, "whatever can happen, will happen", and be sure you never ever let Murphy ride with you.

[ It also would be more beneficial if a license or course got you a discount on insurance as well.[/quote]

Come on now Ray, do you really think that these overpaid CEO's of these insurance companies want to give folks a discount , heck that would cut into their Multi Million Dollar bonuses. It's a bad deal that these CEO's make more a day than most people make in a year. ( oops off subject )

Bob we all get unattentive at times. Just don't let me follow you through a construction area.
My biggest pet peeve with our Big horn, is I cannot see the the rear ( red ) marker light, because of the wheel arch thingies on the slides. I like to be able to see where my rear end is.

Porthole... The rear overhang isn't much of a problem on a 48' semi trailer, but take a 53' trailer into California, the length that the centre of your rear axle can be is 40' from king pin , so that gives you a 13 ' overhang, then if your load is nose heavey, then you may have to suck that axle even further foreward. So sometimes you may have an overhang of about 20' on the trailer. Most other states are 41' from king pin to centre of rear axle. A few states will let you stretch that 53 all the way out without saying much to you. Now cali if your an inch or two over they will nab you at the scales.

Sorry to hear about your RV... I know the feeling well. On our last vacation with our old 5ver I was pulling out of my own RV parking spot off the back of the house and hooked the chain link gate post. Bent my rear stablizer, and scratched up the side of my RV pretty bad, not to mention the damage done to the fence, and all this before we even left on a nine day vacation... It took me a day or so to get over it... Now with my new Big Horn (3 foot longer) I'm paranoid and make the DW get out and watch whenever things are tight... LOL...