Riding out hurricane Irma in a truck camper

[HadEnough]

I'm just going to report on my experience. I left Florida with my truck camper after securing my boat down there. I am currently in south Georgia. Irma will only be a tropical storm supposedly once it is here. But I'm going to report on the behavior of my truck camper in high winds. I have seen other people asking about this but not so many people reporting on their experiences in tropical storms and hurricanes with truck campers.

After some thinking my strategy is to leave it on the truck and allow these suspension to absorb some of the rocking. I have also positioned it to face East which will be the direction that most of the strong wind will come from. Of course, a tropical system clocks around in a semicircle as it passes you. So the wind will come from the Northeast and then the southeast but mostly from the East.

As on the highway, I will be keeping all the windows and hatches closed. Because the wind speed will be similar to highway speeds.

In addition to keeping it on the vehicle, I am thinking I will also deploy the stands down to a level where they catch the truck camper if it starts to go over. Not to the level where they take all of the pressure from the wind, just to the point where they will touch if it tips too far. Kind of a compromise between putting it on stands and keeping it in the truck. From what I've read online, keeping it in the truck is preferred mostly due to the weight. And the suspension soaking up some of the rocking. But of course a wider stance and a lower stance is the most stable. There is a lot of for debate.

Keeping on the truck will help me position it so that the aerodynamic side is facing the wind mostly. I think that is a huge advantage. Lowering the two rear stands should help if it gets a little sideways to the wind and starts to tip. But those stands will only do something if it does tip. I will keep them just a little bit off the ground.

As the wind speeds increase, I will let you know what my experience is.

As for other dangers, I am located on the top of a hill away from trees. There were all sorts of options for Refugee encampments around here, but I didn't take them. I looked at the floodplain and found a parking lot that is as high as possible. I am more concerned with flooding than anything else. That's something you can't really Escape. Even if my truck camper did tip over in the wind, I'm not going to die. However, if it goes under water or is washed away, that's a life-threatening situation. So I avoided that at all costs.

I will post to let you guys know how it goes. Over the next 24 hours it will all be happening. It is starting right now.

[HadEnough]

jimh425 wrote:
We've camped in some pretty strong wind 50+ gusts on the Oregon Coast. I'd put the jacks down if it was me to make just a tiny bit of contact and close the slide(s) if you have them. No reason to stress the slide awnings if you have them.

Good luck.

I've never even used my awnings. Those are rolled up. I also did put the jacks down so that they are a few inches off the ground. They haven't touched yet even though it feels like this thing is going to tip over sometimes. LOL it just feels worse inside than it is outside I think.

[jimh406]

We've camped in some pretty strong wind 50+ gusts on the Oregon Coast. I'd put the jacks down if it was me to make just a tiny bit of contact and close the slide(s) if you have them. No reason to stress the slide awnings if you have them.

Good luck.

[HadEnough]

@sidecar. Way too many trees at campgrounds. I didn't want to be anywhere near trees... Also this Wally world is at the very top of the hill in this town. It's the highest point. The ideal spot. I searched long and hard for it online before I ever left. FEMA flood maps and everything. Lol

Old biscuit.. I had just driven from New England to Florida. Then spent all day moving my boat from the dock over to a small Creek to Anchor it where it is safe in shallow well protected water. Then I drove 3 hours to Georgia to get away from the storm. If I drove any more I think I might die. I still have to drive back to the boat now three more hours, and then move it from the creek back to the doc again. Supposing it is still there and working. This is a full week project as it is. I didn't need to drive away to have a nice vacation time further north. Just enough so that the truck camper did not get destroyed by the hurricane.

[dakonthemountai]

Praying for a safe, as uneventful as possible experience!

Dak

[Old-Biscuit]

Best of luck,....hope all's well and you have come out unscathed


If you left FL and went to So GA why didn't you keep driving vs stopping :H


We road out a storm with 70+ mph sustained winds.....ONCE----never again.

[SidecarFlip]

Earth anchors are no work in a Wally World asphalt parking lot anyway. Thought you went to a campground. I bet the people who had shopping carts use their cars for dodgem won't be happy.....lol

Shopping carts can inflict a lot of sheet metal damage...

[HadEnough]

Grit Dog... That's exactly what I did. Lol I drove a few hours away from my boat. This is my get away from the storm plan. Ha ha ha

Ooh. Just got nervous in a gust. Putting the jacks down I think.

[HadEnough]

I kept the jacks up. So far, it's a lot less wind than I experienced one time in New Jersey as a thunderstorm went by. It was at a Walmart and like 30 shopping carts flew across the lot slamming into cars. The TC felt pretty unstable and like it would flip in that, but hasn't done anything really yet here. Just like a normal storm, but longer so far.

Apparently the real stuff is yet to come though.

My positioning was done just as nycsteve suggested, using hourly wind strength and direction forecasts. It was a little off. It's a bit more northerly than predicted and I'm pointed ESE. So... Getting hit from the side a bit. It should start clocking around more Eastward soon though.

I have about 25 years experience guessing the weather from living and traveling full time on boats so that's an asset. Everything is going according to plan so far...

If it gets too sketchy, I'll jump out and drop the jacks to a point that they hit only if the TC is going over. About 6"-8" off the ground.

I have an Arctic Fox on a 2500 Dodge Ram, so... It's a tippy one. Heavy though. Lol.

[Grit_dog]

If I was actually worried about it, I'd just point the truck west or east and drive a few more hours.
If it's strong enough to need to be tied down then you're in a little too deep!
Into a head wind though who cares? Truck and camper easily handle 100mph plus head wind.
Regarding the jacks, leaving them off the ground is pointless. If you really think it may tip over, they will help. If they break then maybe they saved tipping over. Either way, no point sitting in a "boat".

On second thought it sounds like fun to ride out your own hurricane party!

[SidecarFlip]

Think I'd cruise over to a local TSC and get 4 screw in earth anchors and synthetic rope and screw the earth anchors in, in splayed out positions adjacent to the camper jacks and tie off the camper at the top of the camper jacks and then lower the jack legs to the ground (on boards), just contacting terra firma.

That will eliminate suspension rock, stabilize the camper and the earth anchors will go a long way in securing it.

How I'd do it if I was there. Even when I camp, after I level my unit, I drop the jacks to the ground (on boards) to eliminate the camper movement. I don't like a rocking camper, never did.

[towpro]

well he is going through the test now.

We stayed for a tropical storm 50 yards off the beach (behind the sand dune) at the outerbanks of NC once. We were already facing the right direction. this was in a Titanium 5th wheel that was already pretty aerodynamic (For a 5th wheel that is)

Just before the storm came ashore they upgraded it to a cat 1. Yes the camper rocked in the wind, even though it was on its landing gear and rear jacks (I blame it on the load range D tires).
We had to close the slides because the awning toppers were making a bunch of noise.
as water blew across the roof, the wind would force it to travel up hill when it got to the refrigerator vent and it would than run down into refreg cabinet than out onto floor inside.
Satellite dish kept blowing over so weather channel would out of question. But going outside to set up dish you were greeted with 6" of water on ground.
listening to weather radio for tornado warnings is tiresome because yes there will be tornado warnings, but at night you can't see them.

not sure I would do that again if I can help it.

But on other the hand once we did evacuated from OBX for a tropical storm. We went 100 miles in land, only to have the storm follow us. That night at 11:30 the campground owner woke us up to ask us to evacuate. I kindly refused, no way I was going to hook up a 36' 5er and hit the highway with 70 mph wind.
next morning we called the OBX and asked if RT 12 was open? "oh, you could have stayed, all we had was light rain last night".

[nycsteve]

Heres the NOAA wind direction for Peachtree GA outside Atlanta. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=33.7483&lon=-84.3911&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphic...

You can get the local by zipcode. Direction and velocity by hourly.

[DWeikert]

Wind direction map

Best of luck to you.

[Mote]

I also wish the best and pray for your safety.

I would also keep the jacks all the way up. If they are only a few inches off the ground and the camper starts to rock and the jacks hit the ground it would be like hitting the jack leg end with a large sledge hammer everytime it hits the ground. That may cause some damage.

[nycsteve]

I don't know if this catches you before the storm hits but here is what I did in Sandy and Irene both of which I was in the camper for. I got the wind direction prediction from the NOAA site which is hour by hour. Go to the 7 day forcast type in the zip of where your at. In the lower right of the page click on the graph. With hourly acurrate prediction of wind direction I was able to keep turning the truck to face the wind. I picked the local high school lot as it offered building shelter on one side and a sturdy chain link fence on the other. My thinking was the fence would catch any blowing debris. Also made sure no trees or power lines where close. No structure on nearby roofs to blow off and hit me. I kept the jacks up so not to stress them with the constant rocking. As long as your mostly pointed into the wind you should be fine. Plus I had wifi till the power went out from the school 🙂
Good Luck!