Trying to reason with the hurricane season - RV-Dreams Community Forum

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Trying to reason with the hurricane season

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sounds like you're prepared.

RVs can take a lot of wind but keep that weather radio on. Keep us updated on your situation when you can.

Good Luck,

Jim

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks, Jim. It looks like the storm will hit later today and downgrade to a depression by tomorrow, so not as bad as NOAA first thought.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're fulltiming now but we lived in the Jacksonville area for 16 years and only had one year (2004) when we got hit by tropical storms in that time period. A lot of trees came down, mostly from over-saturated soil not holding the tree roots down in the wind.

Once we got our motorhome we felt that it was the perfect getaway vehicle if we ever got hit again. Our plan was to move into GA somewhere out of the path of the storm if necessary. Thankfully we never had to impliment that plan!

Hope you guys keep safe if you plan to stick around!

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks, Ron. We're staying put, yard stuff is tied down and I doubt or 17000 lb 5er is going anywhere. I'll Try to get some pics.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

We stocked the 5'er before Irene last year, filled the freshwater and I filled the grey water as well. Parked it on our side lot out of the range of any trees.
It did fine. We stayed in it 2 days afterward until our house power came back on. (a pecan tree limb wiped out the house genny)

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

LOL.

maybe I should move this to the "RV Preppers" thread.

Tim & Robyn · RV-Dreams Family Member

Stay safe. I went through a hurricane that hit Miami dead on many years ago. It was not widely reported because it was before weather satellites and one of the first things knocked out was the weather bureau. It was really weird when the eye passed over. We went out into the carport and could see the flashes from downed power lines hopping around. This had to be in the early 60's because I can remember we overturned the sofa and put my baby brother under there to keep him safe. It was at night and y mother was an OB/GYN nurse working the night shift, and the ceiling of the delivery room caved in on them. Nobody was hurt, thank God.

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tim and Robyn, if this was a hurricane coming, we'd have been headed west on I-10 eight hours ago. 40+ years in Florida have made climatology conservatives out of us.

ken and cindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had no problems riding out the depressions, but when Katrina and Ike headed our way (houston/Galveston) we bugged out a headed north. Sat back and watched it on television.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Is there a general rule about how high the winds need to be before one pulls in slides or vacates the 5ver to the bathhouse or other safe building? Obviously bringing in the awning is probably a good idea if the winds are over probably 20 max but the slide toppers are less likely to blow away although they would still be damaged by high enough winds. I've seen some notes on blogs the past couple of weeks that talked about 50 mph winds but none of the posts said anything about pulling in slides or going to the bathhouse. Clearly if the weather radio says tornado warning/watch or "evacuate to a safe building" it's getting close and one needs to at least be ready to evacuate…but I figured long time fulltimers would have some general guidelines.

Thanks.

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Happy Memorial Day, friends. We had no problems with Beryl. The CG is littered with tree debris, and, naturally, some sites have standing water. Out of 280+sites, I saw only one collapsed EZ Up type canopy. Although the preparation was a bit of a pain, we don't regret going through the evolution one bit. Have a great what's left of the weekend.

crafter32034 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil and Connie, it sounds like you have the info you need. Rules of thumb don't seem to work witH weather IMHO. I once watched from across a small lake while a wind gust,on a clear sunny day, tore the awning clean off my class A and also got six others in the same row. Having ridden out whirly girls in the Keys and on the Florida west coast, we are pretty conservative about big storms. I'm guessing this could be a "Ford vs Chevy" type question but I look forward to hearinG from others. BTW, we have an electric awning with wind sensor on our Suites. Woohoo, very handy.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

The other thing we have done in the past was to take as much weight off the suspension as possible. Then fill the tanks to help add weight at the lowest point. For Irene I parked the rig nose to the southeast, where our storms come from. This was the first year with a 5'er, but many hurricanes with TT and boats of all sizes. We try not to leave our awnings out if there is a remote possibility of gusty breezes.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just as a thought to add to the commentary, we live in Oklahoma City, so to say wind is a factor is an understatement. While we seldom get the high winds of a hurricane, one that blankets an area, we do get the occasional tornado. But the tornados don't affect the whole area. However, normal winds in Oklahoma are a factor.

While we don't take any special precautions, if we were in a new area, we would try to learn from which direction the prevailing winds would arrive during a storm and try to park with our nose in that direction.

I know of at least two dealerships in Oklahoma that will not order slide toppers for their stock units. If a customer wants to special order and include slide toppers, they do order for them. Both dealerships with whom I've worked agree that the higher "normal" winds of Oklahoma can tear up slide toppers.

Even though we have the wind sensors on our awnings, I don't trust them. Sudden gusts will not give those sensors a chance to retract the awning before they can be destroyed. For that reason, unless we are in a sheltered place and the conditions are right, we don't even put out our awnings. We've been in this site for just over a year and have put them out on two occasions, both of which were while we were sitting outside and cooking on the grill.

Terry

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

In general you will find seasoned RV'ers don't like wind. For us, if on the road and the wind is moving the coach around then we find the nearest RV park and settle in and wait for the winds to subside. I do not like driving with white knuckles gripping the steering wheel.

If parked, then it depends on what direction the wind is hitting the coach, but usually the slide toppers will "tell" us when to pull in the slide-out. I don't want to have to pay for repairs/replacement of toppers because I was to lazy to pull in the slide. In the grand scheme of things it just involves pushing a small button.

As for the main awning...I leave it rolled up most of the time. I find it to be completely useless due to how its mounted...on the side of the coach above a slide-out. By the time you get it deployed there's not much space under it. And I've lost an awning to wind while driving in Mohave with our previous rig, a class C, and it took the refrigerator cover with it. I've also seen our current awning attempting to open while driving into Amarillo. We found the closest RV park and I got on the roof and used some clothesline to tie the ends of the awning to the roof mounted air conditioners. When I got the rig to the dealer they ended up replacing the awning motor under warranty, plastic gears and a brake that was gone. They said it was a good idea to strap it down or we probably would have lost it.

I could do without the awning, nothing but trouble and costly to replace. I like how the slide toppers keep debris off the tops so I don't have to clean them before retracting, but I make sure to keep them out of high winds that cause them to flap.

I use 30 mph winds with gusts to 40 mph as my criteria (I have my own weather station) for when to pull the slides in. This also includes the sat dish on the roof...it is put down as well, another expensive item I don't want to replace. Much depends on wind direction in relation to the coach, but these are the numbers I use.