Not all vacations are as stress-free as we’d like them to be. If something goes wrong unexpectedly, don’t panic! There’s a solution to every problem.
By Steve Froese, F276276
July 2023
As I previously communicated to readers, my family and I had a bit of a challenging trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles last July. In that case, it was my daughter’s trailer that caused most of the headache, although my RV also suffered from some minor issues. I won’t rehash them here, but you can read about them in a previous article (“Tech Talk: Fly On The Wall,” April 2023).
RVers encounter many situations they may not be prepared for or equipped to deal with. In other words, the RV lifestyle requires occasional outside-the-box thinking to get out of trouble and back on the road again.
Following the stress-filled vacation of last summer, my wife and I decided to head south again during spring break. The kids weren’t available this time, so we planned a nice, quiet trip for just the two of us. Unfortunately, the trip did not turn out to be completely idyllic. I will discuss what happened, which should convey the message that problem solving is an important skill for the RV owner to have.
Upon arriving at our first night’s destination, we determined that the RV site wasn’t quite long enough to accommodate the RV and the towed car. We are accustomed to having to unload the car at night, as we often have sites that aren’t long enough. It is always my wife’s responsibility to drive the car on and off the dolly while I do the spotting. While she disconnected the lighting harness, I removed the wheel straps and safety chains. Rather, I tried to remove the safety chains. It turns out the driver’s-side front wheel had shifted slightly backward on the dolly, tightening the safety chain so much that I wasn’t able to remove it. She couldn’t drive the car forward, because the passenger-side wheel was still firmly against the dolly rail. We attempted to reverse the RV to angle the dolly so that it would push back on the driver’s-side wheel, but this didn’t work. There we were, an engineer and a physicist, working to solve a real-world problem.
It occurred to me that if my wife turned the steering wheel hard right, it would cause the passenger-side front wheel to rotate away from the dolly rail. This allowed her to drive the car several inches forward, enough for me to remove the safety chain. It is not lost on me that some readers may be thinking this solution should have been immediately obvious, but we don’t all think the same way, especially after an entire day of working and then driving. This could have been a serious issue. The only other obvious solution likely would have been to cut the chain, which would have been hard to achieve under the circumstances, so that would have been ruled out.
The next morning, we discovered the fridge wasn’t working, as evidenced by both the lack of cooling and the error condition flashing a “No Co” code and beeping. Because the fridge is approaching 20 years old, I was expecting it to fail eventually, but the timing was bad. Fortunately, there was also a Walmart very close by, and we found a bar fridge on sale. We had not done much shopping yet, so we were lucky. While I had already purchased a new cooling unit for the fridge, I didn’t have it with us. Stay tuned for a future Tech Talk article where I will walk through a fridge cooling unit replacement.
Upon arriving in LA, I noticed that one of the tow dolly wheels had a very large dent in the rim that wasn’t there in the morning during my pre-trip inspection (another important ritual). I recalled that we had hit a massive pothole on the drive down, so I believe the dolly wheel rim took a direct hit. This likely explained the sudden 10-psi drop in pressure in that tire I observed during the last day of the drive. Thankfully, it did not drop more than that. Taking a page from the “being prepared” book, I mounted the spare on the dolly, hoping we would not have a blowout on the way home. I expect the tire on the dented rim would have held air had we needed it.
Fortunately, we did have a nice, relaxing, yet busy, week in LA with no further incidents. The same can’t be said for the return trip.
Our first RV park on the way home was in the Sacramento River delta. The park was behind a levee beside the river. As a result of the severe rain and flooding in California, the grass sites at the park were oversaturated. Prior to pulling into the site, I got out of the RV and surveyed the ground. It was very soft and wet, but it seemed able to support the RV.
No sooner had I driven off the road to enter the RV site than the RV got hopelessly stuck, sinking deep into the mud. I tried rocking the RV a few times, but this resulted in it sinking deeper. I knew further movement would only make the situation worse. I had failed to properly evaluate the true condition of the ground, partly because the grass did not reveal the actual condition of the underlying mud.
We were about to call for help when a possible answer occurred to us. The ramps for the dolly seemed to be an ideal solution. We dug the ramps under the rear wheels (we carry a shovel in the RV), and this provided the traction necessary to get the RV back on the road. We decided not to stay in that RV park. As we were leaving, one of the full-time residents drove up and told me that he had spent much of the previous weeks pulling rigs out of the mud. It would have been good for the reservation agent to mention something when I contacted them. Had we not had the dolly ramps or the foresight to use them, I expect this gentleman would have come along eventually to pull us out.
The moral here is not to panic when situations like these arise. Calmly take the time to carefully analyze the problem and thoroughly think through possible solutions. Brainstorm together and value everyone’s input. There are no stupid questions or dumb suggestions. Do not let fear, anxiety, or anger cloud your judgment. Sometimes the solution is basic and obvious, and sometimes it isn’t, but there is always at least one solution to every problem. It is also possible the best answer is to call for help, including emergency services. Seeking help is a perfectly reasonable solution and should be the immediate decision if you are in an unsafe situation.
Send your troubleshooting questions to Steve Froese at techtalk@fmca.com. The volume of correspondence may preclude personal replies. Not all responses will apply in every instance. Some situations may require a visual inspection and hands-on testing. If you choose to follow any procedures outlined in this column, first satisfy yourself that neither personal nor product safety will be jeopardized. If you feel uncomfortable about a procedure, stop and make an appointment with an RV service facility.
You may also want to consult the FMCA Forums (https://community.fmca.com) to see whether your question has already been addressed or, if not, to post it.