Mistakes and mishaps: your stories?

[John McMillin]

...ya'll have to report? No broken eggs, no blown engines, no RVs (Ruined Vacations)?

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by John McMillin

...ya'll have to report? No broken eggs, no blown engines, no RVs (Ruined Vacations)?

I've towed with three completely capable vehicles for the last 12 years, from the source of the Mississippi to the end of it and from the west end of South Dakota to New England without any problems.

We buy supplies, equipment, prepare and test so when something eventually goes wrong, we will be able to deal with it.

I haven't even had to use a thing in the medical emergency bag.

(OK, one time we didn't go out for ice for three days and the beer and wine got slightly warmer than we like. #neverforget )

[Eddie Longest]

I had two project Scamps sitting in the yard. One at each rear corner of the lot. A sudden storm came up and broke heavy limbs out of only two trees. Both Scamps were crushed, and they were 200 ft. apart. No insurance. They both were eventually repaired.
Eddie

[Jon in AZ]

What are the odds of that??!!

Did you do the repairs? The thought of repairing one is daunting. I can't imagine two!

[ShelbyM]

Originally Posted by John McMillin

...ya'll have to report? No broken eggs, no blown engines, no RVs (Ruined Vacations)?

Nothing after two weeks? Truly not surprised. Maybe FGRVers have more sense than to use inappropriate tow vehicles. Or we've all been lucky. Or we're embarrassed to admit our errors.

[Jim99]

Ok, I tow my Escape 17B with a 2003 Audi A4, manual transmission. Tows great, I can exceed the speed limits going up the passes on I-70 in Colorado.


I myself installed the tow hitch, the tow electrics, and brake controller.


Accidents: When leaving a campground early in the morning, trying to be quiet I didn't use any flashlight when hooking up the trailer. Unfortunately the tongue sat on top of the ball and was not latched properly. At the first speed bump in the RV park the tongue popped off the ball and brought my car to a screeching halt. I hurriedly re-attached... luckily no finger-pointing witnesses came out to laugh at me!


I also had a tire tread separation which destroyed the wheel well. Insurance paid out over $5000 for the repair. Contrary to many commenters on these forums, the insurance company did not ask nor care what my tow vehicle was.

[Catya]

It seems to me that catastrophic failure from towing with a barely adequate vehicle is possibly less frequent an issue than is substantially decreasing the life expectancy of the tv. They're expensive to mistreat.

[John McMillin]

Originally Posted by Catya

It seems to me that catastrophic failure from towing with a barely adequate vehicle is possibly less frequent an issue than is substantially decreasing the life expectancy of the tv. They're expensive to mistreat.

Thank you for distinguishing between the issues of vehicle safety and longevity. That's often conflated, I feel, by those who chime in with dire "Darwin effect" pronouncements. That's why I'm trying to back out of tow rating debates, and trusting the advice of the pros at Can-Am.

My own past experience involves a lot of towing with a feeble Forester. It was a lousy drive, but the car suffered no ill effects. Then a few good years with a Tiguan that had an unfortunate habit of being hit by trucks while standing still, unhitched. When I bought an Audi Allroad, I had my largest, most powerful vehicle with the highest tow rating. On the first tow, it was mortally wounded by a failed $25 part, the radiator fan, which exploded on a hot run up Vail Pass.

What did that teach me? "Nobody knows nuttin," except that towing is always a mechanical risk, and driving is always a physical risk. If you can't handle risk, stay home or take a plane...

[ShelbyM]

[John McMillin]

Originally Posted by ShelbyM

Wow, just can't give it up! I haven't seen anyone else here "debating" tow ratings. Everyone else seems content to stick with the mfg limits.

If you study this forum as I have, half the folks believe that you must cut the manufacturers' tow ratings in half, just to be sure. I'm outta here...

[jerrybob]

I once travelled 260 miles in a wagon towed behind two good size horses. The wagon weighed about 2500 to 3000 lbs fully loaded with driver and one passenger......the horses were a nice pair....about 1200 to 1300 lbs each......they say a horse can pull about 3x's its body weight....so we figured we were way under the tow limits for this set up.....the horses were fairly slow going up a few hills but very stable......we did not need a weight distribution system or any sort of sway bar......my point.....know your limits and equipment and feed/water your horses. Safe travels all!

[John McMillin]

On my last trip with the old Scamp and Tiguan, we listened to a book about a modern journey on the remains of the Oregon Trail. The writer and his partners traveled in a replica covered wagon pulled by oxen. Fascinating, especially if you're driving from Colorado to Oregon while you listen.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Oregon-Tr...0-4513d670b6bc

[Gerry]

Biggest mishap that I made was with our first camping trip, first camper, The Lady Bug" 1979 Boler.
Just out for a trial run in my sister-in-law's yard, it was a bit cool in the morning when we woke at about 6:00.
I turned on the heater and I could tell the fan wasn't turning fast enough to make the sail switch work, so I took some DW40 and though the sight port, sprayed some in.
No it didn't explode but I must have got some spray on the out side of the heat chamber and when it did heat up rancid smoke fill the camper and smoke alarm started "BEEPING".
We opened the windows to get smoke out, and now the noise of the smoke alarm was loud enough to start waking the whole neighborhood.
I did get the batteries out as fast as I could.
You know what ... the heater worked fine for the remaining time we owned the little Lady Bug.

[Jon MB]

re: manufacturer's tow weight limits.
I was a long time VW diesel owner and this never made sense to me:
1996 VW Passat manual with 2.0 liter gasoline four: 1,400 lb., 185 lb. tongue
1996 VW Passat manual with 2.7 liter gasoline six: 1,500 lb., 185 lb. tongue
Add trailer brakes and each go to 2,000 lb., 185 lb. tongue
1996 VW Passat manual with 1.9 liter diesel four: on page 191 of the owner's manual "For technical reasons it is not possible to tow a trailer".
That despite the identical chassis, same brakes as, and more HP than, the 2.0, and nearly as much torque as the 2.7.
But that's the US.
The same cars in Europe, the diesel included, were tow rated with brakes to 1,500 Kg. (3,300 lb.)
Pick the number you want....




b.t.w.: I occasionally exceeded the 3,300 lb. Euro limit by a good amount. Braked, of course

[David Tilston]

I have told this story elsewhere:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...tml#post323323

I had a cargo platform on a trailer hitch that I had installed on the back of my Trillium 4500. We had picked up some parts from Fredo 411 and put them on the platform. As I drove the trailer felt weird, like it was pulling up from time to time. I stopped at a closed truck weigh scale. The scale itself was still working and had a display that I could read. I disconnected from the trailer with its' axle on the scale, 1260 kg, (2772 lbs.). Then I weighed just the tongue jack, 80 kg, (176 lbs.). Not nearly 10% of the trailer weight. It should have been at least 134 kg, (10% of 1260+80 kg). I filled up every water container that we had and put them in the front gaucho of the trailer. This brought it up to 110 kg. Still not enough, but it was the best I could do. Then we drove about 1000 km, (625 miles) home that way.

I was confused about was why we had no sway issues at all. The conclusion that I came to involved the Karman vortex street. That is the shedding of vortices from gas, (or liquid) flow around a buff body.



Since we were pulling with a van, the trailer was in the wind shadow. This meant that no sway causing vortices were being generated. Actually, if the trailer swayed out of this wind shadow, it was simply pushed back into it.

[Catya]

Wow. cool. thanks!

[jerrybob]

Originally Posted by John McMillin

On my last trip with the old Scamp and Tiguan, we listened to a book about a modern journey on the remains of the Oregon Trail. The writer and his partners traveled in a replica covered wagon pulled by oxen. Fascinating, especially if you're driving from Colorado to Oregon while you listen.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Oregon-Tr...0-4513d670b6bc

Great book....we sell it at our museum....had the opportunity to meet Rinker a few years ago......nice guy.....very interesting.

[oldwave]

A lot of people drive motorcycles without protective gear also. Me I’d rather follow the limits stated by the engineers than random people on the internet. I’m from the Neil DeGras Tyson school of science. It’s a free country, somewhat.
But I’m not going to overload any tow vehicle past the stated limits.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by oldwave

A lot of people drive motorcycles without protective gear also. Me I’d rather follow the limits stated by the engineers than random people on the internet. I’m from the Neil DeGras Tyson school of science. It’s a free country, somewhat.
But I’m not going to overload any tow vehicle past the stated limits.

There are people who pull trailers with a motorcycle. I have never seen a tow rating for a motorcycle, but I hear that 500 lbs. is considered a reasonable weight.

[Dudley]

My misstep occurred when working on my Ventura trailer in the sloped back driveway. I was stripping the interior and move towards the back of the trailer. No stabilizers deployed and no chocks. I am sure you know where this is going and yes its going downhill into the back alley doing a great wheelie and dragging the back bumper as I went. No damage except my pride! As much as I love the Casita , I really miss our little Ventura pine cabin some days (till I have to go in the middle of the night).