Follow your Routine or use Check List

[H. John Kohl]

Follow the routine!

Short story
Forgot to put up the rear stabilizers this morning and scrapped them down the road a quarter mile. Minimum damage. Lucky

I forgot to unhook umbilical cord for trailer when unhooking tonight. It was tangled and pulled the wire on the trailer stripping the wires at the outside of the junction box causing short and smoke. Disconnected the battery and powered down the converter. No major damage just had to splice the umbilical cable removing the burned wires.


Long Story
When I park I use the following routine[list]
Place blocks under front landing legs and raise to disconnect (this time to stabilize-stayed hooked
Place blocks under rear legs to stagilize (this time just dropped legs on blacktop)

This morning it was raining hard with intermittent letups in the rain.
Opened side storage compartment – rear blocks already in place.
I raised front legs and stored blocks.
Finished packing but because of rain did not do Hi and Low walk around looking for items.
When I pulled out I felt something was wrong or not done. It was raining.
Heard the metal scrapping, stopped and corrected error. Lucky.




Glen told me to put a cable suspension under the belly of Monty for brake away cable. I need to do that for brake away cable and trailer lights. The Bed Saver has too many corners for wires to tangle.

[bncinwv]

Does your post mean that we have Wi-Fi there John, or are you using an air card?? Curious about whether I will have to undergo MOC forum withdrawal symptoms?? Glad the damage was minimal, goes to show you how important the routine is!!
Bingo

[David and Jo-Anna]

John--

Very sorry to hear of your mishap--or should I say mishaps!!! But you didn't tell us who distracted you from your routine--surely there must be someone else who can be blamed for these mishaps!! I always try to find someone to blame when I screw up!!!!

Just glad you got out of it without more serious problems. And wanted to thank you again for all your help with my problems at the Great Lakes Rally. Wishing you safe travels from this point on.

[rames14]

John -
Glad it wasn't anything serious. Last weekend I forgot to visually check the hitch. Fortunately, I check the brakes with the legs an inch off the blocks. I was above the jaws and came right out. Big Sky sat down lightly on the tonneau cover rails. No damage but a big scare. I have a laminated checklist and I'm making a few additions.

[Tom S.]

My most important routine is I always do a walk around the trailer and truck when I've finnished. If I find something I missed, I do the complete walk around again.

[wswebster]

We have a routine, Then we both do an inside and outside walk around. If we are distracted by friendly neighbors I do another walk around, this has saved us a few times & $$'s. Stacy

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Scary, glad no further damage. Scary that it only takes a moment, the brain does a burp, later, we are in trouble. We count the blessings on the days we don't do bad things. SIGHH

Enjoy the Rally !!

[Waynem]

John,
You know, you used to be a young wipper-snapper, but now you are just gettin' old.

Just to make you feel better, I wrote a "story" here about my stabilizers. I was at my brother's house and I could not raise the Montana to get it on the hitch, the landing jacks were all the way extended, and They would not go down. So I got a shovel and started to dig under them so I could at least get something under them - one at a time. As I finished shoveling and was ready for the final moment of proping up I looked back and the stabilzers were down. It is amazing how easily it is to jack up the front end when the stabilizers are not down!!!!!

So, been there done that, and a few more things probably. But thanks for the reminder the we all do get a little forgetful at times. I always just blame Earlene.

[Countryfolks]

A real problem surfaces when you change rigs, lists and procedures may not 'fit', especially when you're tired. You need to be extra vigilant and double check almost everything. I found out the hard way and as a result the rig is in the shop to repair the front jacks and I have some repairs to do when we get it back like reattach the facing around the kitchen slide and replace a bent cabinet door hinge.

[KathyandDave]

Much like Waynem, I was trying to raise the monty's nose to get up on the hitch, but I kept blowing the dang fuse on the landing gear. Well, since that's been a problem in the past, I got to ranting about the dang fuse! Then, I had the big Doh! moment when I saw that the stabilizers were still down....No harm done, but two fuses later and feeling stupid, we were on our way...giving thanks for the dang fuses that prevented real damage.

[beakyfudd]

I, like Ron, did not have the 5er latched into my companion hitch last time out. So when I lifted the legs, without my homemade roto-chocks in place, it rolled ever so gently back against the tailgate. Very slight bow in the tailgate, but the heart was really pounding. I WILL VISUALLY CHECK EVERY TIME TO MAKE SURE THE JAWS ARE CLOSED AROUND THE PIN! I've also learned to do the complete walk-around as others have mentioned, and have avoided damage to the batwing being up.

[Bill and Lisa]

John,
Glad there was no damage. At Goshen last year the repair center did something similar to mine when they moved it out of the bay with one rear stablizer down (lowered it to replace the skirt my blow out damaged). With only one down it twisted the stablizer pretty good to the point where when it was retracted you had to have two people to lower it...one to push it in line with their foot and one to turn the crank to lower it.

Not sure I have the expertise to fix the umbilical....glad you were able to fix it on your own.

Wish we were at the Rally,,,,,,tell everyone we said hi.

[Lawman]

In my experience, "routine" does not work, especially if you get our of sequence. I use a check list.

[Art-n-Marge]

Routine or checklist - BUT USE SOMETHING. I've misplaced my checklist, and since my trips are short and frequent, the routine works best.

I often repeat walkarounds because visitors and family members like to discuss major unrelated topics when I am breaking down or setting up camp. Then my wife used to bug me that I took too long. When she did that I would start over again just to show her how I prevent screw ups. It could sometimes take me hours but it was time well spent. She now rides herd on anyone trying to interrupt me so it takes an hour or so for everything (including flushing tanks squeaky clean).

rrior to this, the only mishap I have ever had is I thought I was all done and started to drive off then realized I left one of the BAL scissor chocks. Yup, it was torqued loose but no damage. That was when I started the "start all over again if interrupted" procedure to ensure I forget nothing. I did this routine in pouring rain once, but part of my procedure is to have a change of clean clothing available upon completion in case I perspire too much or something gets dirty during the breakdown.

Since then, no mishaps. Now that I jinxed myself by claiming success ...... stay tuned...

[Glenn and Lorraine]

John I thought I trained you better than that. Under no circumstances do you NOT take that final walk around. NEVER EVER FORGET!!!
Just in case you have forgotten, Here's a pic of the brake cable thingy..


Sorry 'bout that but Lorraine just interupted me.
She wanted to remind me of a couple months ago where I did pull out and had forgotten to disconnect the 110 cord. I don't remember that, I think she's just trying to make you feel better. Oh she did say that I didn't do any damage. How could I have done damage when I didn't do anything. Me thinks she is losing it.

[ols1932]

Our experience has been a written checklist where we would actually check things off with a dry marker, but now we have a mental checklist. I do my normal routine outside while my wife (Marge) does the inside. When we are done and she has assured me that she can bring the slides in, I always ask her if she has checked behind the bed and has she double-checked that all her file cabinet drawers are latched closed. Then she brings the slides in.

After we have each done our "routine" things, she goes outside and does a complete walk-around while I go inside and make sure that everything is "battened" down like it should be for traveling. I think it's important for each RVer to do as he/she feels comfortable doing. I agree whole heartedly with Art, that if I get interrupted during my routine, I start over again and that includes if my wife calls me with a question about something or just simply wants a hug!

Orv

[Waynem]

John,
See how nice everyone is trying to make you feel by telling their horrible mistakes!!!!!
Like Glenn said, NEVER EVER.

[padredw]

I have posted my checklist several times, but this seems a good time to refresh. I try to keep it to essentials and have used it with 4 fifth wheels. It is easy to adjust by using EXCEL or any other spreadsheet which is compatible. It prints out on one side of 8.5 X 11 inch paper. On the reverse is a log which related to the marked check list number. I have used this check list without fail ever since I developed it based on my "routine". I do not use it for 'landing' only for 'take off'. It works for me:

http://dwilliamson.com/RVchecklist.xls

[newbies]

We are new owners! In fact we are picking up our Montana in the morning. Any suggestions on where we could get a check list or other helpful hints? Hope to see many of you on the road in the future! Sally

[The Oldguard]

newbies
Look at the RV Related Links on the home page
CheckList