Learned a good caravan lesson today, on my first trip with a new van (a Jayco Flamingo wind-up camper). Lesson is this: when you leave your driveway, check that the bloody van parking brake is NOT on. Becos if you don't, about five kms up the road, a horrible smell will come when you put the brakes on at a traffic light. The van wheels will be red hot and you will feel like a right idiot. Mercifully, I don't think any serious harm has been done. And the RAC bloke was very understanding about it all. Never mind, here I am in the caravan park at Moore River, about 90km north of Perth, where I can hear the waves crashing on the beach and the tide is going out in a bottle of red. Can't complain, really. Cheers, Tony
Bridgee said
01:35 PM Dec 9, 2008
Well Tony I have to admire someone brave enough to admit they have made a mistake. I would have probably blamed the van or worse still my wife for not reminding me!! I guess the good thing to come out of it is that you have learnt from your experience without any apparent damage being done.
Oh well dare I say them's the BRAKES!!
Hope you enjoy your BRAKE at the Moore River caravan park as you watch the waves BRAKE on the shore !!!!!!
I think I'll leave it at that ...... I don't want to BRAKE your holiday spirit all together!!
Brian & Sue
-- Edited by Bridgee at 12:36, 2008-12-09
-- Edited by Bridgee at 12:47, 2008-12-09
Smokeydk said
02:22 PM Dec 9, 2008
Hey Tony,
Just had brakes fitted to My Campertrailer....what happened to you scares Me...I've already left the jockey wheel down once when I left home noticing it when the trailer jumped when I hit a spoon drain..
Have a great holiday
Dave
dave06 said
07:00 PM Dec 9, 2008
tony if the truth was told we have ALL "done stupid things" I have travelled on and off for probably close to 30 years and I still make them,
6 months ago I was getting ready to take off so I plugged the power cord in from the shed to the camper for the fridge to cool down pre-trip, filled the camper with our gear 2 days later, knocked off work jumped in camper "LETS GO" was the catch cry, backed out of shed, got precisely 20 feet down driveway BANG!!!, yep that was the exact length of the power cord that I forgot to disconnect and stow, ripped the power inlet out of the side of little blue luckily it was a five minute repair job as I had a spare
heard a tale from the "good ole boys" while we were up at arkaroola about an elderly couple having a ding dong row down on the murray with a setup much the same as ours, had the rear annexe on board, argument got worse through the evening, old feller says "enough is enough" and jumps in the camper and takes off, not disconnecting the rear annex which is held fast by pegs, left the old girl there for 2 days with only the annexe propped up with sticks, he never came back, they gave her a ride in to town
when we travel for a fair while everything bercomes routine but for the first week or two we have a pre take off checklist that we go through, stupid things like, shut off fridge turn to 12 volt, turn off gas, stow annexes, put down top (yes we have driven off with it up, dont laugh) pick up wheel chocks, secure "squeeky" that kind of thing, your checklist will differ from mine but it is just to "prompt the memory" a little so as to make life a little easier, I get away with it by blaming the dragon and after she cuffs me under the ear and berates me into submission we usually get going
everyone has done it and will do it again, those that say they have never are just liars and dont want to seem silly but hey i will admit I have, I'm human the same as everyone else
ibbo said
07:38 PM Dec 9, 2008
Gee Dave,I thought that I was the only one ine the pooh all the time.At last I have found a soul mate................well only for getting in the pooh.Well better go back to the Sundowners.Cheers Ibbo.
Basil Faulty said
05:43 PM Dec 10, 2008
It's like this, those who make no mistakes never make anything... Among my finer gaffs; leaving jockey wheel on, leaving parking brake on, not, letting the clamp down on the hitch, reversing with a door open and ripping it off, Launching my boat without the bung in place, Ohhhhhh the list goes on....
dave06 said
05:47 PM Dec 10, 2008
good to have you back Basil, and you are dead right we all do something stupid sometime
cito said
10:17 PM Dec 10, 2008
Our first mishap (note is was OUR) was after picking up the c/t in WA and got to Ceduna where we were stopping for Anzac Day and which was our first stop in a caravan park, disconnected from the car. Place the c/t on the hard standing and began to pull up the canvas only to find the "b" thing chasing us down the concrete.
Lesson learned: always make sure the braake IS on when not attached to the car!
First stop from there was the auto shop for a set of chocks.
Very quick, embarraassed check of the neighbours showed no-one around but I bet plenty were watching.
A day is wasted if nothing is learned. I keep reminding myself of this. LOL
dave06 said
09:55 AM Dec 11, 2008
gotta watch those camper trailers, they are a visciuous beast when cornered or tired, HAH!! HAH!!!
Basil Faulty said
03:24 PM Dec 11, 2008
cito wrote:
Our first mishap (note is was OUR) was after picking up the c/t in WA and got to Ceduna where we were stopping for Anzac Day and which was our first stop in a caravan park, disconnected from the car. Place the c/t on the hard standing and began to pull up the canvas only to find the "b" thing chasing us down the concrete. Lesson learned: always make sure the braake IS on when not attached to the car! First stop from there was the auto shop for a set of chocks.
Very quick, embarraassed check of the neighbours showed no-one around but I bet plenty were watching.
A day is wasted if nothing is learned. I keep reminding myself of this. LOL
Mate of mine had a similar but far more embarrasing moment... Got himself a new Jaco dove and set forth to a camp ground to try it out with his new child bride.... So they found this site overlooking the Gudgenby river with sweeping views and decided this was the place to set up camp, others gathered ( as they do) to offer advice and look at the new camper.... dusk falls.... they retire to the Dove and some marital relations ensue, alas they had not put down the feet and the whole thing takes off down the hill into the river.....
Lesson is this: when you leave your driveway, check that the bloody van parking brake is NOT on.
Becos if you don't, about five kms up the road, a horrible smell will come when you put the brakes on at a traffic light. The van wheels will be red hot and you will feel like a right idiot.
Mercifully, I don't think any serious harm has been done. And the RAC bloke was very understanding about it all.
Never mind, here I am in the caravan park at Moore River, about 90km north of Perth, where I can hear the waves crashing on the beach and the tide is going out in a bottle of red. Can't complain, really.
Cheers, Tony
Oh well dare I say them's the BRAKES!!
Hope you enjoy your BRAKE at the Moore River caravan park as you watch the waves BRAKE on the shore !!!!!!
I think I'll leave it at that ...... I don't want to BRAKE your holiday spirit all together!!
Brian & Sue
-- Edited by Bridgee at 12:36, 2008-12-09
-- Edited by Bridgee at 12:47, 2008-12-09
Among my finer gaffs; leaving jockey wheel on, leaving parking brake on, not, letting the clamp down on the hitch, reversing with a door open and ripping it off, Launching my boat without the bung in place, Ohhhhhh the list goes on....