Hurricane Mathew

[sflabrkr]

I'm sitting here on the farm in a 45' RV in Ft. Lauderdale waiting for Hurricane Mathew. There is no way I can move the RV because the ground is too soft. My question is, do I leave the jacks down or do I raise them? I'm thinking raising them makes more sense. I will bring in my slides. Any other things I should do?
Stefan

[John_Joey]

DutchmenSport wrote:
And ... to respond to another poster's idea of facing the camper directly into the wind.... yes ... this is the best way. But the problem is... a hurricane is passing up the coast. Which way do you point the camper as the wind direction will be changing and shifting?

You roll the dice and take your chances. I would point it east also guessing the blunt is coming ashore. Yes there is a rotation, but I have yet to ever see a video of a hurricane coming ashore, where the palm trees were pointing out to sea. Sometimes overthinking things can get you into trouble also.

On edit:

My gut is telling me a person would leave their jacks down, and if they get busted that's what insurance is for. My logic is in a high wind you lean into it, not away from it. If you let the suspension take on the force, the lean will be away from the wind. The jacks will act like a shore against the wind.

[sflabrkr]

According to the weather maps, the storm should not hit below west palm beach or somewhere around the cape. We are trying to get out of dodge, we're suppose to fly out Friday morning for Costa Rica. Not sure if that will happen. By 11:00 Friday the storm should be over. not sure if an airplane will be here to take us away.

[stvdman]

DutchmenSport wrote:
And ... to respond to another poster's idea of facing the camper directly into the wind.... yes ... this is the best way. But the problem is... a hurricane is passing up the coast. Which way do you point the camper as the wind direction will be changing and shifting?

You are correct, it will start coming from the south and then move "counter-clockwise" from there and eventually come out of the WSW...the strongest winds will be from the ESE to NNE as the storm passes by.

The Bahamas being on the "other side" of the storm will get hit MUCH harder by the winds.

[rk911]

sflabrkr wrote:
I'm sitting here on the farm in a 45' RV in Ft. Lauderdale waiting for Hurricane Mathew. There is no way I can move the RV because the ground is too soft. My question is, do I leave the jacks down or do I raise them? I'm thinking raising them makes more sense. I will bring in my slides. Any other things I should do?
Stefan

could it be slowly towed off of the soft ground?

[DutchmenSport]

Watching the news here in Indiana, they are saying the wind is 135 mph. I think with that wind, the danger is not the trailer rocking with jacks or without jacks. The bigger danger is the entire camper flipping over and junk flying through the air, potentially punching holes and breaking out windows in the camper. Ft. Lauderdale is right in the path and you are going to get the force of it! Personally, I'd get out of Dodge.... whatever that took. Considering your's is a motorhome, (Jacks up).

And ... to respond to another poster's idea of facing the camper directly into the wind.... yes ... this is the best way. But the problem is... a hurricane is passing up the coast. Which way do you point the camper as the wind direction will be changing and shifting?

[sflabrkr]

stvdman wrote:
This was a pretty specific question due to the storm, not about the storm itself.

I learned something. As I would have raised mine, put something under them to give them a bigger "footprint" and then lowered them just enough to absorb some weight of the chassis, so there would be 10-12 (guess a 45' RV has tag axle?) points (6-8 tires 4 jackstands) spreading the coach weight onto the ground.

My thought on that is there will be some twisting motion and I'm sure the jacks are not made to handle that

[stvdman]

This was a pretty specific question due to the storm, not about the storm itself.

I learned something. As I would have raised mine, put something under them to give them a bigger "footprint" and then lowered them just enough to absorb some weight of the chassis, so there would be 10-12 (guess a 45' RV has tag axle?) points (6-8 tires 4 jackstands) spreading the coach weight onto the ground.

[sflabrkr]

-Gramps- wrote:
Don't leave them down with soft ground and high wind, they could get damaged better to let the coach rock then damage a jack leg. Do the same things you would do if driving this coach at seventy miles an hour down the road.

Thanks that is what I was thinking

[sflabrkr]

The good news is the nose is pointed towards the east.
I have 1/2 to 3/4 tank of fuel.
I can go to my daughters house if I have to and we'll make that decision before the storm comes
We're at the western end of Ft. Lauderdale

[John_Joey]

The best thing is to point the nose into the wind if you can. I would also fill up the tanks to get a low center of gravity. Remember anything that isn't tied down outside becomes a flying projectile.

I've sat out 70mph winds with no problems. Nerve racking yes, but the rig did just fine. Hopefully you're inland enough not to feel the full force.

Good luck.

[-Gramps-]

Don't leave them down with soft ground and high wind, they could get damaged better to let the coach rock then damage a jack leg. Do the same things you would do if driving this coach at seventy miles an hour down the road.