so...how strong of a wind would it take to blow one of these campers over?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by lpk49

no floyd...no complaints. i'm getting to know you guys a little now and i guess you are the class clown! thx for the laugh. i need laughs these days.

You are welcome for the laugh,

for the class part,even though it doesn't apply in this case.

As for the clown part...wait for it!...wait for it!...I don't believe in farding around!

[daltenes]

About a year and a half ago, the Wasatch Front in Utah experienced one of their 10 yr east winds. Wind speeds topped 100 mph on occasion over a 24 hr period. We had a T@B at that time. It was sitting in the driveway and suffered no movement. However, 90% of the houses in our area lost most of their roof shingles, trash cans, some siding and loads of fences of all varieties. I don't recall anyone having an RV pushed about - some RV's did receive damage from flying debris - mostly aluminum sided stick-builts.

[Lyndon Laney]

^ years ag as we were coming home from an east coast trip while some miles west of niagra falls as we were to go ofer a high casway the sign said caution 65 mile crosswinds the bridge was very high. and were pulling the Scamp 5er it was a white kuckel thing but no problems. Of coarse it did lean and shake some. but we had no choice as trafic was heavy.

[ericw]

Admittedly I am no expert in this area, but I was tempted to start doing some math to enlighten our discussion. Instead I did a little google searching and may return to the math if I have time. Here are some personal observations and search results:

1. I have found pop ups to be more susceptible to flipping over particularly if the wind hits them from the side while they are setup. (It kind of looks like and acts like an airplane.)
2. Most equations include something about the coefficient of drag or something similar and our beloved fiberglass trailers are about as good as it gets for this.
3. Most equations have to include something about center of gravity, tipping points, etc... Thankfully our trailers are relatively low to the ground and have a relatively low center of gravity.
4. It turns out semi tractor trailers have been studied a fair amount for tipping over and I think they would tip over before our units would. The University of Kansas said an unloaded trailer could tip over in just 20 mph cross winds (seemed low to me) while a loaded trailer could handle up to 60 mph. They looked at real world accidents and correlated it to nearby weather station data.
5. A study out of Canada related to semi tractor trailers concluded that travel in cross winds of 45mph "may be feasible" but becomes "risky" over 30mph.

[Francesca Knowles]

Since we're talking about side winds, the supposed "aerodynamics" of fiberglass trailers is sorta moot. It's surface-to-the-storm that matters, and after that maybe anchoring effect of the overall weight of the trailer. I think we're at a disadvantage in that area since our trailers are pretty light for the "size".

As for semis: they've been studied more because there are many more of them on the road, which is also why "more" of them blow over.

Francesca

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Since we're talking about side winds, the supposed "aerodynamics" of fiberglass trailers is sorta moot.

Although I am not impressed by the allegedly superior aerodynamics of eggs, most are rounded in every direction, so if the rounded front and back help in forward motion, then the rounded sides should help in side winds.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by ericw

1. I have found pop ups to be more susceptible to flipping over particularly if the wind hits them from the side while they are setup. (It kind of looks like and acts like an airplane.)

More like a sailboat than an airplane: big fabric area catching the wind on top.

[accrete]

Saw the _High Winds_ in the topic and had to read...

1st...As a San Fransisco Bay Area child-of-the-60's i will state for the record i would rather go through an earthquake any day than live anywhere near Tornado Alley. My psych is not set up for witnessing a funnel cloud coming down from cloud cover! Even the rare F0 water spout we've had here freaks me out.

That said... This is a picture of our 38ft mobile suite, our _home_ with our Parkliner parked next to it. . .



Fortunately, the designer of the RV/Golf Resort had the good mind to situate the sites into the most common prevailing winds/storms (from the South/SW). I've lived on the Oregon Coast for 20+ years and rub elbows with tourists all the time. The "Snowbirds" i've spoken to tell me mater of factually they would rather go through a storm in Florida anytime rather than face one of our "Winter Storms". A typical storm here (any time of the year) can have freak sustained winds of ~45 to 55mph and up to even 70mph sustained...with recorded gusts up to 115mph at the NOAA weather station ~1.5 miles from the resort.

Let me say this about that! The first time my wife and i went through one of those storms in the 14ft high ~18,000lb Mobile Suite 5th wheel it was SCAREY to the point of wondering if you were gonna get through the night in one piece. NOW? Sheesh, we just let the winds rock us to sleep. We figure if it can stay in one place in ~100mph+ gusts...it's pretty much gonna stay put!

I'm not sure what the little guy will think of those high winds the next storm, time will tell. We can park the van conversion (~6" taller than PL) in front of them to get hit by the brunt of the storm...and will do so just cuz we can. Don't want to put the lil'guy through needless stress.

Safe travels!
Thom

[Francesca Knowles]

Doesn't matter whether you park a little trailer in the lee of a bigger one...ain't nothin' solid enough to stand up to Mother Nature when she gets her tail in a knot.

Just ask these folks with big ol' rigs when an "unclassified storm" tore through this Detroit RV Park.



Keep your insurance up and your ears to the ground, folks!

Francesca