Valuable lesson learned!!

Today we learned a VERY valuable lesson...Never and I mean NEVER leave a partially opened case of bottled water sitting on the floor anywhere in your RV.

Why, you might ask? Today while traveling, prior to pulling in the slides I placed a half empty case of 20oz. water bottles on the slide floor between the dinette chair and the sofa. Have done this many times before, however, I think the cases have always been unopened until today.

We traveled about 60-70 miles and stopped at a rest stop. When I got out and looked down the side of the 5er, like always, I noticed the entertainment slide was sticking out two inches at the top...scared me to death...didn't know what happened.

Went inside, had to partially put out slides because can't access living room otherwise, and what do I see? The case of water is in the middle of the room with three bottles of water are now wedged under the slide...was able to remove two but the third was really stuck. DH had to push gently on the top of slide and I was then able to remove it. Glad I didn't put the slide out all the way...don't think they were wedged too bad until the slide started out. WON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!

Don't care how old I get...I guess I'll never stop learning.

LOL! What happens is the top of the slide can tip out and especially on turns and if you hit a bump the weight of the slide will transfer to the top. Saw it happen many a times when we had our monacrapo. Sometimes you could actually hear the slide slam back to the wall :EEK: that was one of the big deals about using slide locks at the top. Think about it, right now your slide is attached at the bottom only, shear weight holds it in place. Tell Mario to slow down a little on the corners and keep it under 2g's of loading in the corners

Heck...are you kidding?? I finally got him to slow down and keep it at 55...if we go any slower we'll get run over on an interstate...they're crazy out there you know!!

P.S. Really glad I can't hear the slides slamming back to wall from the cab of the truck...or from the saturn either...LOL!!

Stuff stuck/crushed by slides

Gang:
We have owned our Bighorn since February. So far we have crushed/dented/broken:
1 roll of shelf paper stuck under kitchen slide
1 top corner of bedroom slide trim broken off catching on open cabinet door
1 corner of dining room trim caught on recliner chair handle
1 kitchen stool left in kitchen area

I put an antenna for my aircard on top of the slide. Forgot about it and slid in the slides. When I slid them out again the slide wouldn't level. Luckily didn't rip thetrim off the top of slide.

Thanks guys...now I don't feel so bad. By the way, I didn't mention the rear, overhead cabinet door we almost ruined with the same slide...thank God I heard that awful noise and stopped the slide before it ripped it completely off...

Hey Kathy, At least you have only did it once we did it twice once I did it and caught it and once Kenny did it and messed up the side real good now the doors are child proof and stay closed-----Kathy

Oh Boy! There's something to be said for checklists isn't there Kathy?

I know I've pretty much got stock in ball-bungees at this point...

It was funny when i did it it was a bad thing and all i tore up was the cabinet door, when Kenny did it it was a accident and we tore up the fender both times and the cabinet door hinges. It was very bad but we got it all fixed back up it won't happen again.I check the doors even with the locks on them-----Kathy

How about crushing a gallon of milk between the slideout and outside wall of the camper.

10-4 on the check list. now i have some new things to add to ours.

Mike Walker

trdeal said:

How about crushing a gallon of milk between the slideout and outside wall of the camper.

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Oh...that's nasty! I didn't crush it between the slide...I didn't make certain the refrigerator was latched, and it bounced out onto the floor while traveling. Took days to get the smell out of the edge of the carpet...another valuable lesson...CHECK FRIDGE LATCH!!!

On our very first trip out when we got this unit, the first night when we stopped at the Rv PArk, the entertainment slide got caught on the cupboard door. It came open when we were travelling - and you can't see over the counter to check them -( which I would never of thought of checking anyways -).

The slide went out farther on one side than the other. Kinda crooked it was. At least it went straight after we put it back in and then out again.

Then this last trip on the way home - I squished a orange in the slide. Not one drop of juice left in it. I've also forgotten to move the bread and it flattens very well between the slide and wall.


All in fun as long as nothing major happens to destroy anything of value.

Alana

trdeal said:

How about crushing a gallon of milk between the slideout and outside wall of the camper.

Click to expand...

Did you end up with a "MilkyWay"?

In my old Terry I had a rear kitchen and put out my main slide, on the way out I heard the same cracking noise that makes any one of us cringe!! One of my kitchen drawers came open and it was on the back side of slide that I never even checked.. ripped it apart, had to make a new one...

So far in my new Sundance (we have only stayed 3 nights in so far) I was putting in the bedroom slide and did the first, second and tripple check but I guess I missed one little thing..lol

The bathroom sink is right by the bed and has a electric outlet on the side of it.. when a cell phone charger is plugged into it and you put the slide in it WILL rip apart your trim that goes around your bedroom slide.. not good... so far thats all but like I said we have not spent much time in it...lol

Good thing Dad is a wood worker...lol

This great stuff! Now I don't feel so bad about ripping off one of my cabinet doors, or the spilt bottle of coffe creamer (hazelnut - smells worse than milk). or the slide trim pulled off by the chair.

jimtoo said:

Did you end up with a "MilkyWay"?

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Good one! At the time we had a 2000 Terry travel trailer.I was outside hooking up the water and my wife was pushing out the slide.I heard something pop and something white running out from under the slide. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. What a mess.

I smashed a fold up recliner lawn chair in the slide once.

i guess we all have our stories.Now I stretch a small bungee cord around the handles on my fridge just in case.