Now that I have your attention... I've learned how to post photos!
Some of you may have seen my posts about our first trip out this year... Spring Break, April 2011, the week of The Master tournament in Augusta. We traveled to Augusta, GA to camp with my in-laws for the week... the week after our daughter's wedding.
Monday we'd heard reports from home that bad storms were on the way. We tuned in the local weather reports... storms were coming in for the night. We decided to spend the night at my in-laws home nearby, but left the camper at our site.
The following morning power was out at the house, but no damage. We rode to town for breakfast before heading to the lake. We called ahead and were told there were trees down and some campers were damaged.
We drove out... there were trees and power lines down throughout the campground. We couldn't drive to our site... trees blocked the way. We parked at the bathhouse and walked to our site. Unfortunately, we were not spared... two large pines landed on top of the nose, one on top of the other.
Needless to say, we were devistated... we'd had so much fun camping and didn't know what to do. We didn't know how we'd get those trees off our camper nor what condition it would be in when we did.
Luckily, the COE workers came around to our site and removed the trees...
They were really careful, but the trees were larger than the small bobcat trackhoe could handle. The only additional damage sustaned was a crease in the sheet metal on the far side an one of the trees slipped from the trackhoe and hit the electric jack which was installed just two days prior... luckily it was only a glancing blow and didn't seriously damage it. The stabilizer jack under the trees was bent from the weight and would not retract.
Here's a close up after the trees were removed...
Here's what happened on the inside...
We were visited by a couple repairmen... one was from a reputable dealer, the other worked from his truck at your site. After packing everything up we pulled it over to the dealer for his assessment of the damage and to call our insurance agent.
A few days later the shop estimated the repairs at $15K (to make it like new)... we only gave $10k for it (used). I expect he was hoping we'd take our insurance settlement and purchase a unit from his lot. Insurance did not total it out... their estimate was $8k.
I'd already contemplated making the repairs myself and towed it to my in-laws to look into what I could do. When we pulled back the sheet metal we found three studs on the front cracked. We brace them with angle iron, pulled/pounded the sheet metal as straight as we could get it, removed the cabinets from the wall, sealed it all up, and headed home.
Repaired studs...
Before installing the front moldings...
As a side note... our two egress windows were not latched and one broke during the trip home. I suspect the repair shop opened them and didn't properly latch them!
I was able to reuse a lot of the materials and rebuilt the cabinets...
Everything seems to be sealed good and there is no visible damage to the roof covering. I'll keep a close eye out for leaks... only time will tell.
We accepted the insurance's settlement, paid off the camper, and repaired our home's A/C... which was not working when we returned home!
We had a local glass shop install a new glass in the egress window frame then covered it with dark tint so it'd match the other windows.
We've spent 24 nights in our camper this summer since this incident. The bent sheet metal is a reminder of that trip.
Two nearby campers were totaled that night... one blown over on it's side and another had a tree fall on it that went straight to the floor. Two other campers in our campground sustained significant damage... one had a limb blow into the side of it another, a drivable, had a tree hit it across the rear (the cabinets over the bed fell from the wall giving the fellow a bloody nose, but no serious injuries).
Be safe and know when to head for the house.
Happy Camping!
John.
* And you guys were expecting some other "graphic photos".
* This post was
edited 10/29/11 09:10pm by MegaJohn *
I'd also like to thank my father in-law for the many lessons and exeriences he's given me over the last 23 years. Without his help I may never have taken on this project... and definitely not had as good results.
If you have a son in-law, take the time to teach him how to fix stuff himself. Encourage him to take on projects that seem daunting. He may never tell you how much he appreciates it... but that's the kind of stuff we pass on to your grandchildren.
No better feeling than a paid off camper,just not the way to do it.Nice job on the repairs,like that you used angle iron on the studs.Enjoy it and the a/c in the house when your home.
"If momma not happy ....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys .
Yours was not damaged too bad unlike our neighbour.... They had a Class C MH and they park it behind their place, well his next door neighbours had a huge tree (at least 24" diameter) come down in a strong wind and it landed on top of his MH. The whole rv was twisted and bent up. This happened a few days before we left on our fall trip (gone only 6 weeks this year) and when we got home they have a brand new B+ sitting there. Really nice RV with 4 slides, never seen one with 4 slides before. They are not planning on going anywhere for the winter so they tarped it with insulated tarps (normally used in construction so it can be heated) and then other tarps over top and everything tied down. I have pics somewhere of the RV that got wrecked as well as pics of the new so if I can find them I will post them.
Glad to see you were able to resolve this. I'm sort of the opposite with the son-in-law. He's a carpenter by trade and teaches me things. This past summer (a few days before the 4th of July) we were at a local state park when a tornado came through and dopped over a thousand trees. My wife was scared and hid under the trailer. I wasn't at the campground at the time. We got lucky as no tree or branch fell on our rig. There were some not so lucky. If this happened on the weekend, the camp ground would have been full and many more trailers would have been totaled and probably some serious injuries or worse.
Frank and Jean
EM1 USN ret
DAV Life Member
'09 Rockwood Roo 233S
'03 1500 Silverado LS
The things that come to those that wait will be the crappy junk left by those that got there 1st.
Remember; never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Offline
....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys 
.
