Rookie mistakes

[monzer]

No need to thank me but I have recently made some basic errors purposely to highlight to any motorhome beginners what not to do while away in the van.

Firstly - awnings in rain. To demonstrate what not to do here, last night I was sitting out under the awning reading a good book. I was just outside Tallin and there was some rain forecast but of course I went to bed not worrying about it. I woke up and opened the curtains to see the awning legs all buckled. Seems approximately 20 000 litres of rain water is a bit to heavy for the legs and canopy to cope with. So my point here is either take your awning in at night or leave one leg shorter than the other so the rain gets a good run off.

Secondly - After I had waterlogged the small campsite I made hastily for Tallin docks car park. I parked up and walked the couple of km's to the KGB museum in the viru hotel, booked myself on the 1pm tour then remembered that I had 'purposely' left the fridge powered off the car battery. Now you obviously don't want to do this as it could flatten the battery meaning a walk around some Germans or Finns in the morning asking for jump leads to get going. A quick taxi ride back to the van to change over to gas then back to the hotel in time for said tour.

That's all my demonstrations for now although I am due to fly back to Scotland tomorrow and wont be back until Sunday so given that there is no obvious places with MH facilities here my next demo could be 'why not to leave a cassette full of faeces and urine too long' with out emptying.

Class dismissed.

 

[Just smiffy]

We all have these stories but won’t admit to them.....?

 

[Duck Truck]

The worst mistake you can ever do is drive under a bridge or car park entrance lower than your vehicle
seen it done once

 

[hilldweller]

remembered that I had 'purposely' left the fridge powered off the car battery.

That is unusual. Most MHs are wired so the 12V is switched by the alternator, no engine, no drain on battery.

Of course excepting the newer ones with compressor fridges which do not use gas at all.

 

[Chris]

The worst mistake you can ever do is drive under a bridge or car park entrance lower than your vehicle
seen it done once

No one is stupid enough to do that are they?


In my defence it was my wife's fault for failing to keep a proper look out or alternatively the sat nav's fault for getting us lost in Rouen in the first place.

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[monzer]

That is unusual. Most MHs are wired so the 12V is switched by the alternator, no engine, no drain on battery.

Of course excepting the newer ones with compressor fridges which do not use gas at all.

Maybe, but no one really know what happens with electrics. Fuses, relays, amps and current. It's all just make believe. One thing for certain if I hadn't returned to the van and swapped to gas I would be throwing out my sausages and they're for tonights tea.

 

[monzer]

The worst mistake you can ever do is drive under a bridge or car park entrance lower than your vehicle
seen it done once

Nearly done that when the sat-nav had me doubling back to malaga aire.

I say nearly but all my training from my time in 1st Daviot/Oldmeldrum scout troop had my instincts sharp as a tack and I averted disaster.

 

[seakay22]

Left step down by mistake, reversed out tight driveway and smashed it into gate post, Jesus that pissed me off ?
Spent about 3 hours with a club hammer and crow bar whacking it back into some sort of workable state. Not something you do twice.. he says...

 

[cliffanger]

No monzer, the worst mistake is to follow the brown and white 'Pedestrian' directions to the Leaning Tower of Pisa ...... The roads got narrower and narrower as we got closer and closer..... if they had got any narrower we would still be living there now....

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, the second worst mistake is to look at a map, and follow a route that has little matchstick men with sticks on their feet dotted here and there......

 

[Lenny HB]

Firstly - awnings in rain. To demonstrate what not to do here, last night I was sitting out under the awning reading a good book. I was just outside Tallin and there was some rain forecast but of course I went to bed not worrying about it. I woke up and opened the curtains to see the awning legs all buckled. Seems approximately 20 000 litres of rain water is a bit to heavy for the legs and canopy to cope with. So my point here is either take your awning in at night or leave one leg shorter than the other so the rain gets a good run off.

That's why most of us pitch our awning on the piss with one leg shorter so the water runs off. I would never leave an awning out unattended or at night.

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[monzer]

That's why most of us pitch our awning on the piss with one leg shorter so the water runs off. I would never leave an awning out unattended or at night.

I wrote my post from an entirely sarcastic point of view. Through all my ramblings the point was that I know to do those things yet it still happened.

I knew it was due to rain yet I left the awning out and flat.

I know to give the van a once over before I leave it yet I high tailed it out of the car park before I switched the fridge over.

We'll deal with the full cassette another time.

 

[monzer]

No monzer, the worst mistake is to follow the brown and white 'Pedestrian' directions to the Leaning Tower of Pisa ...... The roads got narrower and narrower as we got closer and closer..... if they had got any narrower we would still be living there now....

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, the second worst mistake is to look at a map, and follow a route that has little matchstick men with sticks on their feet dotted here and there......

What did you end up doing? My vans not worth much so I'd probably put the handbrake on, get out and run

 

[denisejoe]

Left toilet for 7 weeks in france in garage when I emptied it it was not much different than a couple of days the Lidl bio washing liquid worked

 

[Hawkstone]

Many a time we have ummed and aahed about whether to leave the awning out.....should know better by now. NEVER DO IT....the amount of times we have been out now the middle of the night winding it because of wind or rain. Weather forecasts are s**t

 

[monzer]

Left toilet for 7 weeks in france in garage when I emptied it it was not much different than a couple of days the Lidl bio washing liquid worked

That's good to know because I am still parked at the dock parking space but I took a cycle around the old town, stopped at 'The Scotland Yard' on the way back and have had a large beer, a JD and coke and a double JD and ginger beer so I wont be driving anywhere tonight.

Wont have time to find any facilities in the morning before my flight so it's going to have a few days to mature

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[monzer]

Seeing as I've mentioned the dock aire in Tallin... There's some kind of event on tomorrow so we have been moved from the 'official' area so no power.

Some big moto-cross van/lorry monster has just pulled up. What's the etiquette of asking him if I can get plugged in? He's bound to have enough power for everyone

 

[chaser]

No one is stupid enough to do that are they?


In my defence it was my wife's fault for failing to keep a proper look out or alternatively the sat nav's fault for getting us lost in Rouen in the first place.

There's no low bridge in Roune, it's a myth , search this forum

 

[Chris]

There's no low bridge in Roune, it's a myth , search this forum

I can assure you it isn’t a myth.

It was some sort of underpass and the right hand lane was for cars and the left for higher vehicles. I got stuck in the right lane with a concrete barrier separating me from the correct lane.

Are you suggesting I am making it up??

I have posted about it before I think but I can’t be arsed to do a search for your benefit.

 

[chaser]

I can assure you it isn’t a myth.

It was some sort of underpass and the right hand lane was for cars and the left for higher vehicles. I got stuck in the right lane with a concrete barrier separating me from the correct lane.

Are you suggesting I am making it up??

I have posted about it before I think but I can’t be arsed to do a search for your benefit.

Mate, I was joking ,yes I have been there myself

 

[Chris]

Mate, I was joking ,yes I have been there myself

Oops

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[denisejoe]

I thought the underpasses were on the left

 

[Chris]

I thought the underpasses were on the left

I honestly can’t remember.

It’s all a myth anyway.

 

[Bognor Saint]

I honestly can’t remember.

It’s all a myth anyway.

Myth or not it kept me focused when travelling through Rouen.

 

[cliffanger]

What did you end up doing? My vans not worth much so I'd probably put the handbrake on, get out and run

Ours was a 6m Hymer 564, beloved of Cliff and virtually flawless body wise. We turned a blind left hand corner with tall buildings on all sides, (by this stage i’d realised my mistake, but thought it best to keep mouth shut, bum clenched and fingers crossed. The street was wide enough that our wing mirrors were an inch clear on either side. Thankfully a school was in the road and no cars were parked there. I couldn’t get out so I had to stand in the side footwell with my head out of the window guiding him through. We had built up quite a queue behind us, but amazingly we had Italians getting out of their cars and helping us through - all with cheerful gesticulations from the school playground!

We’ve done this many times - once when I was driving, Cliff took us off the Paris Peripherique a junction early and I drove straight into a bustling Saturday Market! We could have bought leather jackets, suitcases, and Saucissons just by reaching arms out of the windows!

I was navigating when we went over the Ljubljana pass - I didnt realise it was a mountain pass - the little matchstick men with sticks on their feet should have been a clue ...

Read all about it here:

www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/cliffandger-grand-tour.129781/

We’ve made loads of mistakes - and hope to make many more - beats staying home reading about everyone else’s mistakes! Not that that isn’t a pleasant way to spend an hour or four!

 

[chaser]

I honestly can’t remember.

It’s all a myth anyway.

Our underpass was on the right, before I was a member on here, never heard of such a thing , wasn't actually satnav fault either, just going along following signs to where we wanted , suddenly a sign is pointing right with the name of the place we wanted on it, so turned in , bang ,crash on the roof, chains hanging down, so nothing we could do but reverse out but luckily it wasn't very busy and the cars behind were very good and let us out without jumping up and down, but couldn't have done any other because we couldn't go forward, but could see loads of bits of roofs down the bottom of the ramp.

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[Chris]

Our underpass was on the right, before I was a member on here, never heard of such a thing , wasn't actually satnav fault either, just going along following signs to where we wanted , suddenly a sign is pointing right with the name of the place we wanted on it, so turned in , bang ,crash on the roof, chains hanging down, so nothing we could do but reverse out but luckily it wasn't very busy and the cars behind were very good and let us out without jumping up and down, but couldn't have done any other because we couldn't go forward, but could see loads of bits of roofs down the bottom of the ramp.

We hit the warning barrier thing too Chaser.

It was rush hour though and hundreds of cars behind us so we had to keep going. Luckily we made it under the tunnel but it must have been tight.

Typical French to give you a warning barrier when it’s too late to change lanes

 

[Spriddler]

I can assure you it isn’t a myth.

It was some sort of underpass and the right hand lane was for cars and the left for higher vehicles. I got stuck in the right lane with a concrete barrier separating me from the correct lane.

Are you suggesting I am making it up?

I know to my acute embarrassment that it's no myth. I inadvertently got into the underpass lane in Rouen in chaotic rush hour traffic. Too late I noticed the dangling overhead warning chains. I couldn't change lanes owing to a lane-separation barrier and caused a huge hold-up and much confusion reversing back out.

 

[Duck Truck]

err the step

I have twice

 

[Pikeman]

We visited Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne one year and tried to enter the campsite on the island. As we went through the gate we noticed it had a low foot bridge over the entrance. Received instructions from reception to go around the town and enter from a different gate. We had to reverse back up the road, which had parked cars either side. I saw a turning to the right and thought, bugger this, Im going up there to turn around. Turned out to be the drive into the dementia care home, where they were having an open day celebration on the lawn. The assembly fell silent, even the accordion player stopped as we flew up the drive and ground to an abrupt halt. At the windows were the remaining patients who were too infirm to attend the gathering outside and they were all staring at us. We couldn't turn around, not enough space. 'What we gonna do' said the wife. 'Just smile and wave' said I, as we slowly reversed back down the drive. After a minute of mirror concentration, I looked up to see some 100 happy people waving back, and the accordion sprang into action once more.

 

[autorouter]

Driving carefully through the centre of a small town in Austria, I noticed a height sign, 2.5 metres. Looking across to the other corner of the square, I could see the exit road through an archway. It looked well over 3 metres to me, so being a smug knowall I carried on.

When I got there, the road under the archway rose quite steeply, so the clearance was actually 2.5 metres. So, much cursing, 3-point-turning and driving the wrong way back along the one-way system.