Hurricane Michael got my camper

[bookmaker]

I live in the Florida Panhandle at the intersection of Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Last Wednesday we had a visit from hurricane Michael. In fact, the eye crossed us with recorded sustained winds of 125 mph. No where near what hit the coast, but more than we have ever seen here.

Last spring I had a very nice 24x36 pole barn built to protect my camper. My camper was on my truck under the barn pending an upcoming trip. Unfortunately 2 pine trees went down on the barn and one, the largest at about 18-20" diameter, went through the roof and on the right rear corner of the camper. There was so much weight on it, the right rear jack pad, which was retracted fully, was on the ground. The front tires of the truck were nearly off the ground.

Finally yesterday, a crew removed the trees and lifted the barn trusses enough I could drive out. I removed the camper from the truck.

The truck bed is skewed low in the rear, but it appears to be ok otherwise. I need to have the frame and rear suspension checked carefully.

The camper has several holes in the roof in the bathroom area where the barn truss mashed down. There is a break in the left sidewall where the left forward tiedown fought against the right rear being pushed down. There is a crack in the right sidewall between the propane compartment and the slide out opening. The two front cab over strut brackets were pulled out. The worst is where the tree hit the roof over the slide. The edge of the roof crushed down some. How much I can't tell at this point.

I have filed an insurance claim, so we'll see how that goes.

All in all, we're really lucky. We lost most of the trees on our 6 acre lot, but our house has only minor damage. It will probably be weeks getting power back and months cleaning up the property.

But we have a roof over our heads and are unhurt.

I will try to post photos within a couple of days.

Dale

[jimh406]

Congrats, on the camper and pole barn.

[joerg68]

Congratulations! I wish you many happy travels with your new rig!

[bookmaker]

We have finally replaced our truck camper. We found a 2010 Lance 1181 on a 2004 Dodge Ram Laramie with Cummins diesel (87,000 miles). Found it in Michigan, so our first trip was the 1,200 miles driving it home.

We were adamant the camper must have crank out windows and that we could access the entire camper with the slide in. This one fits the bill.

Not a great photo.



Oh, we also have a new pole barn to shelter it.

[mellow]

I went with the 1191 due to having a side door and being able to get in it with the slide in, I like the 1181 layout as well but it seems like everytime we camp with my friend that has one he is having an issue with something, most of the time electrical.

I would go with the F450 if you can, nice tight turning radius and comes with 19.5's. If you plan to 4x4 offroad stick with 350/3500.

[bookmaker]

Our Lance 1121, that we owned for 12 years is now gone. We had that camper in every state east of the Mississippi/ Missouri rivers except Michigan. We'll really miss it. However, we have the insurance money (very fair) and are looking for a replacement. We are leaning toward a Lance 1181 or Lance 1191. We have come to notice several difference even within the same year. Window styles, Dinette layout, awnings, etc.

Does any one have any input on their favorite layouts, accessories, etc? Or problems with these models or specific years of them?

Also we are likely going to replace the 97 Ford F350 truck. It was also damaged with the frame being bent. It can supposedly be straightened, but it was also a little on the light side for the campers we are looking at. Does anyone know of any issues loading these campers on certain model trucks? We are looking at 350/3500 series trucks (dually of course) and possibly F450.

Thanks

Dale

[Kayteg1]

Welcome to new era in USA job ethics.
I am expecting package with tool, that I order over 2 weeks ago.
A week ago UPS delivered it to Las Vegas, the delivery address and having some kind of cooperation dropped it off to USPS office for delivery.
USPS send the package to California last week and after transfer between 3 California USPS location, it is still "somewhere out there".
Than month ago USPS lost my letter send to DMV and open investigation is not producing anything.

[Grit_dog]

^That is funny. Make ya wonder how some people are even able to get out of their bed and tie their shoes in the morning.........then you realize why there's actually a market for Velcro shoes!

Had a similar occurrence with a fuel supplier recently. Called for our bulk tank to be refilled on one of my job sites. Local small town fuel supplier, and I'm renting their tank.

First question is address. I tell her between MM 170-171 on US 12. Nope, she needs an address. Try to explain there is no street address there. We go back n forth several times, even with me explaining that the driver knows where the tank is located and/or tell josh the owner, he knows. Just tell them I want 1500gal of farm fuel and I need it today because you guys weren't watching your remote level sensors......please.
Then she says we don't have farm fuel. That's not one of the options she can request.
Fck! Ok, how about off road diesel or dyed diesel?? Nope only options are blah blah blah. Would you like to request one of those? Nope, want farm fuel. I'm sorry sir, that is not one of the options!!

[bookmaker]

I feel the need to share some funny, but not unexpected happenings related to the salvage of my Lance 1121.

The insurance company paid off the claim and obtained salvage rights. They called about pickup and about 3 weeks ago a man came by to see what was necessary to pick it up. We agreed a 1 ton dually was best.

I received a call two Sundays ago they were on the way to pick it up in an hour. I happened to be on the road from Ocala to home and explained I would be out of town that day and the next. We agreed that the following Friday would be a good day to pick it up. I asked them if they realized it was a truck camper and what did they plan to pick up with. Their answer was pretty vague.

No call on Friday, but they did call Saturday while we were in the yard clearing debris. (which will be our new pastime for quite some time). A lady called back Sunday and asked about pick up. I said it was ready. She kept calling it a trailer and I kept explaining it was a truck camper and had to be hauled on a dually. She asked if the tires were good. LADY IT HAS NO TIRES. I finally told her to Google Lance 1121 and look at what they are picking up. I also gave them the dimensions within the two front jack legs. A man in the background said he knew what it was. They will pick it up the next day.

I get a call Monday afternoon that the truck is within an hour to get the camper. I asked what kind of truck he had. A ROLLBACK. Jees, do they not listen. I told the driver he would not get it on a rollback, but he said he was close and would come by. Sure enough, he got here with a rollback truck and was pretty miffed. He had driven from Sebring Florida to get it based on a text from the company. He took photos and sent them to the company on why he could not pick it up.

The camper is still here and I have not heard back for pick up. It seems we truck camper owners are pretty much the outcasts of the RV world. Just the same, I sure like 'em.

Dale

[bookmaker]

Hopefully the insurance on my camper and them picking it up will be settled by next week.

Rose and I have been looking at something to replace it, but need to determine if the truck is repairable to be safe to haul TC's. We may have to look at replacing the truck also. If so, I want one with more GVWR than the 97 Ford F350.

Even with the insurance proceeds for the camper, we are spending so much for tree removal it may be awhile before we can justify such expenditure.

Here are before and after shots of my home property. 6.3 acres.

Satellite view of before. North is up. My house is under the blue dot.



After taken last Saturday. North is left. My house is just left of center. Much of the downed trees have been removed from the front and around the buildings at this point.



And we were extremely lucky.

Dale

[bookmaker]

Thanks everyone for the support. Yes we have a horrible mess, but we have nothing like down on Mexico Beach, or even local where many have lost their homes. We still count our blessings.

Dale

[Ramp_Digger]

bookmaker wrote:
Sidecar you are correct. Although we have a lot of peripheral property damage, our house is intact and livable (with generator power). However, many have lost their homes and businesses. It's going to take a long time to recover from this one.A lot people in this area are going to need outside help.

One additional issue is an anticipated loss of timber on the billions in the tri-state area.

Book maker so sorry about your truck and camper,hope all works out ok for you. I hope you can find help to do all your cleanup and repairs as local contractors may be tied up for a very long time.

[NRALIFR]

Any ETA on power restoration in your area Dale? I guess you’re able to get fuel for your generators ok? How much fuel are you going through, just out of curiosity? I have a 10KW standby generator on my house that’s fueled by natural gas, and the longest it’s had to run was about 5 days. That added about $100 to our gas bill, and an extra oil change for the generator.

:):)

[bookmaker]

Sidecar you are correct. Although we have a lot of peripheral property damage, our house is intact and livable (with generator power). However, many have lost their homes and businesses. It's going to take a long time to recover from this one. A lot of people in this area are going to need outside help.

One additional issue is an anticipated loss of timber on the billions in the tri-state area.

[SidecarFlip]

From what I read in the paper, lots of people down that way are not safe.