What was your first RV noob disaster (or near disaster)?

[djgodden]

Ours was on our first trip. Just before leaving I installed a King Satellite dome and 2 of those vent topper thingies. First gas station (Kingman, AZ) I pulled under a forecourt I'd been under before. I stopped quite suddenly when I heard some odd noises. Quickly backed up a few feet and then went topside. I'd removed the satellite dome and damaged a vent. Kicked myself all the way to the Camping World in Williams to buy a new vent cover. Satellite dish was dented but the dent popped out and still worked fine.

[fly-swatter]

Once when leaving a small Alberta town I thought , boy everybody sure is friendly here, all waving at me. When I got home I realized why, my antenna was in the up position. Needless to say I had a repair to do before the next trip.

[NMDriver]

Many years ago with my Dad's 5er. I was driving his Ford V-8 with a manual transmission. Parked the 5er and truck at a RV park office. Put the truck in Neutral and applied the park brake. Was about 10 yard away when I heard someone yell "your truck is rolling". I looked back to see the truck and 5er were rolling backwards down the driveway. Quick thinking park resident ran up, got the door open, jumped in and stopped the truck just before it ran into a lagoon.

Drum Parking brakes only work to stop the truck from rolling forward. They do not work if your nose up on a hill.

No one hurt and no damage, just a couple of lessons learned about park brakes and leaving the transmission in neutral.

[Veebyes]

Slide refused to retract & it d took some doing to figure out the mechanics of the thing. A few turns on the manual shaft, when found, & off the slide went on its own power. Later in same trip the BR acted up. Took a bit to discover that the storage area floor under the bed had to be removed to gain access to bedroom slide workings.

Gotcha now.

[GoinThisAway]

This wasn't my first as I can't remember that far back but it was the first with my current camper. Lit the oven with one of those pistol-shaped lighters then laid the lighter on the stove grate ... not considering the fact that I also had a fry pan going so the grate was hot. It went off like a pistol all right! Luckily no injury or serious damage.

[rbrand]

gbopp wrote:

rbrand wrote:
I totaled the tow truck that was sent to help me.

I think we have a winner. :B

If I could add. That was our Honeymoon in 1966.

[gbopp]

rbrand wrote:
I totaled the tow truck that was sent to help me.

I think we have a winner. :B

[SoundGuy]

Years ago, early in our popup career, we were heading from here in S Ontario down to Virginia to meet with friends who were driving up from Wilmington, NC. A long one day drive, including delay at the border, had us arriving at the campground much later than I had expected, about 9pm. Excited to see our friends I wasn't paying as much attention to setup as I should have and yep you guessed it - I failed to properly chock the trailer before unhitching. The trailer instantly started rolling backward and downhill toward the river behind our site :E ... without even thinking I stuck my foot behind one of the tires (dumb, dumb, dumb!) and my buddy who is a bit of a hulk managed to get his shoulder against the trailer and stop it's roll backward. We were only fortunate in that this was a popup, had it been a travel trailer there's no way we'd have been able to stop it. It's an experience I'll never forget and is the reason I've always since been so anal about properly chocking the trailer before unhitching, each and every time.

[rbrand]

I totaled the tow truck that was sent to help me.

I had a blowout on the freeway. He changed the tire but the brake line was caught in the spring. He dropped the jack and severed the line. Only we didn't know it. I was following him back to the shop. He stopped.... I didn't.

[ken56]

The first summer we had our brand new Autumn Ridge we were traveling down a 4 lane state hwy and I was in the inside lane from passing another vehicle. 2 cars a fair distance in front of me turned on the turn signals for turning into a restaurant and they had a clear road to be able to turn with no problem. First car turned into the driveway.....and STOPPED (he had no reason to stop) so the other car could not turn in. Instant panic stop for me.

[azjeffh]

Used a Flush King and didn't pay attention to the time. Had water flowing out of our black tank vent. I was fortunate as is was after several flushes so I didn't have any logs shooting on the roof 🙂

[nadkaw1957]

Raised the tongue before I raised the rear stabilizers. The X-chocks let go as the tires came off the ground, and the trailer rolled backward about 10 feet, completely destroying the rear stabilizers and the tongue jack pad. In hindsight, it was probably pretty funny to see two people trying to stop 6K lbs from rolling downhill... The neighboring campers stared in disbelief and I shrunk in embarassment. Fortunately, the damage was minimal (except for my pride).

[whatimmadoboutm]

I parked curbside shortly after leaving the dealership with my brand new TT. I came out of the business I had stopped at, and noticed a sign overhanging the street from a lamppost was about a foot in front of my TT. Had I stopped any further forward when parking, I likely would have done a decent amount of damage.

[2oldman]

Didn't check wheel lugs. Lost a wheel, fortunately in a rest stop.

[Lwiddis]

rmack1, that's the fear of all TT owners...that it will roll away.

[Rmack1]

I had only parked my TT a couple times, and only on level ground.

I was parking at a National Forrest campground and I hadn't set any chocks or anything when I popped the hitch. The trailer started rolling backwards.

I foolishly tried grabbing it. Not a chance.

Lucky, they had installed a 'dead man' for fools like me; a concrete bar that stopped my rolling with a bang. If that hadn't been there, the trailer would have gone for a downhill roll into other campsites.

At least I never forgot again.