Ever worry about hanging limbs?

When I lived in a residential neighborhood, a neighbor on the street leading into mine had a large tree with a large diameter limb located at a low level. It put a "dimple" in the cover of my roof-mounted satellite dish, which is the tallest object on my roof. We did not detect it until our next outing when the dish could not lock on to the satellite since it did not have full freedom of movement under the cover. I fixed the problem simply by punching out the dimple in the plastic cover.

Most campgrounds that have large rigs using them will have their limbs trimmed if only because other units before you have already "pioneered" the path and hopefully forced them to do some trimming. You are right to be concerned, especially in campsites that don't handle many bigger rigs. Be aware of your clearances and watch your route going in.

As for my experience, I started driving down that street on the left side to avoid going under that tree. Eventually he had it trimmed, possibly because it claimed some other victim(s).

yep! I do worry about them. Except for that one time I didn't, and for that, there's Eternabond tape. :(

I boondock a lot, so limb clearance is all on me, and can't trust that someone else made it through there already.

I didn't use to until back in the 70's I pulled into a park in canada and a limb went all the way down my TT. thank God for metal roofs back then. I did not have an AC back then either.

All the time.

It's my No 1 complaint about CGs, especially forest ones. I walk it first if I think there's a problem..and there usually is. I've been known to trim them myself.

Letting trees grow over the roadway at less than 15' height is about money, inattention and laziness. But hey, if most Rvers don't pay attention and are willing to drive through trees, why bother?

Jimbee wrote:
Hey All,

Are any of you ever concerned about damaging Ac or other roof components when driving through heavily wooded campgrounds? Made some NYS park reservations for this summer at 2 different campgrounds in the Catskills and then the terrifying thought hit me. What If my 5th wheel is too tall and low hanging branches rip off some roof equipment? Some of these parks are tight and backing out usually isn't an option!

Yikes!

I'm 18" taller than my old FW, so I'm a bit paranoid about it and learning what my limits are. I did manage to drag a branch across my roof at my dad's house when I =thought= I had clearance. Managed to scrape off an attic vent and dent the forward vent hatch. Couple small scrapes on the roof that I taped over. At our annual boondocker, I changed spots due to overhanging branches that I didn't want to deal with (along with the steepness of the spot), and I'm glad I did.

There were 2 people around the corner from my house that had branches hanging over the street, well below the city code of 13'6", and literally met in the middle of the street. I wouldn't even take my old 11' Komfort that route. When I got my new KZ, at ~12'6", I called the city to have them check; =I'd= measured about 11'6", myself. It only took 4 months, and about 4 calls, to Code Enforcement, before they got it taken care of...mostly. Still a couple "streamer" branches hanging down, but not enough to worry about.

Lyle

Had a serious issue at a SP one time. No way for getting into the site. No problem. CG people passed me a lopping saw. Up on the roof I went & did some serious pruning. They were very happy. Picked up branches as I cut them. No problems for getting a very tall trailer into that site for quite some years to come.

My worries center around the trees at my campsite. It is heavily treed and drops limbs all the time. So, more worried about being stationary and getting thumped than driving under a low tree.

Veebyes wrote:
Had a serious issue at a SP one time. No way for getting into the site. No problem. CG people passed me a lopping saw. Up on the roof I went & did some serious pruning. They were very happy. Picked up branches as I cut them. No problems for getting a very tall trailer into that site for quite some years to come.

I'll bet they were happy. Got a sucker to do =their= job for them. :W

Lyle

I don’t worry about it. But always watch for it. In state parks, COE parks, city parks, and commercial RV parks I have never had a tree problem with heights on the park roads. But did scrape some limbs backing in to a site at one park. Didn’t think it as a problem but found out later it was. To the tune of two small punctures in the roof.

But have had some close encounters on side clearance with tree trunks too close to the roadside in the middle of tight curves at a couple of state parks.

2oldman wrote:


Letting trees grow over the roadway at less than 15' height is about money, inattention and laziness. But hey, if most Rvers don't pay attention and are willing to drive through trees, why bother?

I agree, and in my area SPs are the worst. It seems the more popular sites are the worst, for hanging limbs. If many are willing to drag limbs over their roof, to get to these preferred sites, the supposed to be workers let these folks trim for them, using their vents, antennas, and AC covers.

I quit mentioning to park managers, about the low canopy in the parks. They normally just agree, say it keeps things more natural, or we'll have that taken care of later in the season when things slow down.

I usually camp parks I am familiar with, and just choose a site that I know I'll fit.

Jerry