Gone4Good
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The antenna is sneaky! Now, every time the antenna goes up, a note goes on the steering wheel.
Why I think RVing Sucks.
- Thread starter e86s54
- Start date
The antenna is sneaky! Now, every time the antenna goes up, a note goes on the steering wheel.
REWahoo
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I started to pull out of our campsite without releasing the parking brake on the toad. Fortunately it was on grass and I noticed the extra drag immediately. I've heard tales of grinding off the tires and wheel rims before some passing motorist brings the smoking disaster to the RV driver's attention...
Gone4Good
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REWahoo
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The antenna handle is a great place to hang the ignition keys when the antenna is up....
RonBoyd
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Twice for me also. The first time I was flagged down inside the Park. The other time, discovery was made four hours later when stopping to fuel up. I tried without success the "note on the steering wheel" and the "keys on the crank" ploys -- for various reasons this failed. With a Class B, it is so easy to simply get behind the wheel and drive off after unhooking.
The only solution I found that worked was to discipline myself to walk completely around the unit before driving off. This should be Rule #1 in any event. The same principle is involved in making sure all doors and drawers are latched... and no open containers sitting on countertops -- don't want to talk about that either. Oh! and that the Coffee Pot is secure... we are on our second.
audreyh1
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One of us is always outside when the other pulls out of the campsite - gotta inspect for clearance you know. We do tests to make sure toad is following freely. Also always check the toad lights.
Only once did we have a problem - didn't get the toad in neutral. DH figured it out right away when nothing would budge.
On the antenna - now it is always checked when center sliding door locked down and when fridge checked for security of contents.
We're both very cautious and put a lot of effort into checking before taking off. Old fogeyhood or not.
Our toad tires are monitored on our RV display - all 10 tires (including RV) have pressure and temp sensors. That way if we have a flat we know it.
Audrey
Another sad case of ERs not staying mentally sharp...
REWahoo
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I suspect what we are seeing here is simply the result of brewer having been very fortunate to date. I seriously doubt any RVer can remain perfect for an extended period of time - but then I'm not too mentally sharp, so take it for what it's worth.
So the longer you [-]stay in the market[/-] continue to RV, the higher the probability that something bad will happen?
Sounds like it's worth it...
Besides, Brewer's only vacationing with a couple of preschoolers. What could possibly be the chances of sleep-deprived attention lapses or getting distracted at a critical moment?
M Paquette
Moderator Emeritus
Ha! The very first thing that popped into my mind when I read this was "No more written checklist? Memory is more fallible than they think. They're gonna get bit."
Sea tales: We had an auxiliaryman line up the diesel from memory. It's amazing how long that diesel ran on inboard air, with the induction system still closed. (Yo, chief, shouldn't that little circle be lit?) When inboard pressure crossed 500 millibars and falling, all hell broke loose back in Engineering from 'low vacuum' alarms. (The delta between the vacuum bits and the engine room was what the gages and alarms sensed. The vacuum bits were fine. The partial vacuum in Engineering triggered the alarms.)
"Recently, on a 637 class boat, failure to use written checklists resulted in..."
ls99
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Can always install an ignition interlock. Inhibit starter while antenna is up. Yeah, it could be a pain and another point of failure.
REWahoo
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Already have an ignition interlock for extended slides and jacks down, so what's one more...
ls99
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Gee, the CO2 alarms did not go off? Kinda like when enterprising submariners had a still going to make some moonshine.
brewer12345
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Probably true. I imagine I will screw something up at some point. The fact that I have no slides, genset, bells, whistles, etc. helps a lot as well.
I'll bet the diesel really sucked down the CO2 levels... as well as the O2 levels. And once the right valves got opened, I bet the ride back up from 500 millibar was just as painful as the ride down.
I just hope that no one happened to try to flush a toilet while the pressure in the sanitary tank was higher than the pressure in the rest of the boat. But let's not get into how I learned that.
Heard at a Captain's Mast after a similar incident on one of my subs: "But, sir, the oranges were going bad anyway and we wanted to experiment with making an alternative fuel!"
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Westernskies
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Try a kneeboard, with an aviation-style pre-flight checklist...
Just don't start the rig without the kneeboard in place- clip the keys to it.
REWahoo
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My experience is every RVer develops their own individual system to prevent most problems from happening. Of course some systems take longer than others to develop.
As an ex-aviator I do have and use a pre-departure checklist. After my little "oops", it was modified to include insuring the toad transmission was in neutral and the parking brake was released....
As an ex-aviator I do have and use a pre-departure checklist. After my little "oops", it was modified to include insuring the toad transmission was in neutral and the parking brake was released....
heyduke
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i haven't had any problems with my RV yet... oh, but I still haven't bought one yet...
haha
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Thsi is one of my favorite threads. It points out all the complicated and annoying things that will never be part of my life.
Ha
Ha
REWahoo
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Yep. Some people just aren't cut out for the adventure of the RV lifestyle.
KM
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* Note to self *
Add pesky antenna to a checklist, so it doesn't get added to the "yup, done that too..." list.
On another note - what do people do regarding television?
- DirectTV?
- Your own satellite?
- Who needs TV?
- Use cable at campground?
- Another one of those pesky antennas?
Add pesky antenna to a checklist, so it doesn't get added to the "yup, done that too..." list.
On another note - what do people do regarding television?
- DirectTV?
- Your own satellite?
- Who needs TV?
- Use cable at campground?
- Another one of those pesky antennas?
REWahoo
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I take along a satellite dish and one of my Direct TV receivers. I usually don't set it up if the campground has functioning cable, we get good reception of local channels using the batwing antenna and/or we aren't staying for more than a couple of days.*
Launch costs are prohibitive.
Who's on first, What's on second.
Yes, if it works OK - many offer poor reception.
Only need one - and enough brain cells to remember to crank it down before you hit the road...
* Note that some of our more affluent RV brethren have dishes that automatically seek and lock on the satellite. Yeah, it takes all the fun out of manually aligning that puppy...
RonBoyd
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Yeah, because no complicated and annoying things ever happen to me in "civilian" life, I look forward to the "change of pace."
YouTube - Life gets tedious, don't it? Peter Lind Hayes.
YouTube - June Carter "Life Gets Tedious"
audreyh1
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I have DirecTV - that's what the motorhome was already setup for. When we were going on camping trips TV didn't matter. But once we were fulltime, we needed TV just like you regular house-living folks do.
We've been enough out in the boonies that we had nothing but satellite TV. And one time if we hadn't had the feed from San Antonio telling us that we about to be hit by a really bad storm cell, we wouldn't have had time to secure several things and run to the bathrooms.
Almost never use campground cable. Well maybe if I am parked under a tree and my satellite dish is blocked.
Internet it the most important, however. I really don't like being without internet.
Audrey
P.S. I confess we have that auto-search and lock satellite receiver. Thank goodness!!!
We also have DirecTV, using a dish that came with our RV. Alas, no auto-lock feature. I'm proud to say that it only took me 2 minutes to lock on to a satellite this evening (rather than the typical multiple sessions of futility) from our spot in lovely Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado--just a stone's throw from NORAD--gulp.
