Disasters, calamities and suchlike fun

[BedfordRL]

After quite a few years of on and off camping we have had our "vexing" moments and have heard of others.
The earliest I can remember was one of our first caravans, a Sprite Musketeer, which had been converted to 12v lighting by a racing team.
The kids bunks were by the door and each time we got in and out whilst away there was this whiff of gas.
Three days later I detected the smell to the gas lamp ( remember them?) which the little blighter had turned on.
We had assumed that as the mantels were missing the gas was disconnected to the lamps.
Obviously not.
We could of been a big bang in the south Hams.

My inlaws turned up at a site in Dorset years ago,parked up,sorted the van out, awning up and sat down for a well earned cuppa and watched the nice couple opposite packing their van up to leave.
About an hour after they had left the real owners turned up wondering where their van had gone, this mortified my inlaws who basically just watched someone's caravan get nicked.

My uncle and aunt set off, again many years ago, in their brand spanking new caravan.
I'm still unclear what happened but it involved a Gulley on the nearside, anyway the caravan smacked the side of his Land Rover and damaged the van.
They hadn't got far and a quick ring to the friendly dealer had them driving off with a loaned caravan whilst theirs was being repaired.
Partly there in a traffic jam a car drove into and more or less through the caravan.
They came home.

 

[Thingy]

Our first van, a used one came complete with awning which was substantially older than the van. Our second trip out saw us trying to put the awning up in a gale at Richmond. Myself,the long haired general and two kids trying to hold it down. As my wife uttered the words forget it, we will do it tomorrow, both kids took it as a sign to let go. All that remained were two purple coloured hand sized bits of cloth where yours truly didnt let go. The rest landed yards away in some trees.

New awning.

 

[saint-spoon]

Yeah I have already crunched the front of our van. It was pitch black on the site and we were hunting for our pitch which someone else had decided they needed more than us as well as parking the owners work van in the adjacent pitch; let’s face it when you arrive on a site with allocated pitches you don’t expect someone else to be in the pitch that you have paid for do you. Anyway twice around the block looking for our pitch and I took a corner too tight and caught the front on a raised flower bed which I might have got away with had I not thought to reverse it off which had predictable consequences and ripped the lower front panel off. I won’t do that again.
Eventually the inconsiderate gits that had taken our pitch came out and he moved his work van telling us that that was our pitch, too tired to argue we pitched up, luckily we have a motor mover as the pitch was far tighter than the one that we had paid for. Next day someone turned up wanting to know why we were in their pitch. Over the extended weekend the pitch stealers not only left their pet dog barking away in the caravan when they went out but also brought his work van up from the extra vehicle car park on to other empty pitches and caused other caravanners/motor homers grief when they cam searching for their pitch only to find it already taken.
Anyway the damage to the front of my van is cosmetic and I will get it repaired when it goes for its first service.

 

[Hutch]

A couple of years ago, we were going off to France for a 4 week break, I was awaynat work, so the good lady went up to collect the van from storage, she gets there, 12 miles away, realisses she had forgotton tow mirrors, this is after hitching up, so all the locks back on again, home and back again, hitches up and on the way out of the barn, manages to remove part of the awning rail on the barn door. Sorted out before we left with a hacksaw and pliers, no moaning about my towing on that trip.

 

[Raywood]

Our near disaster happened at home. We kept the caravan in the drive which is very narrow. The new Argente was a couple of inches wider than the Eldiss it replaced and even with a mover was very tight. To compound things once passed the house the drive slopes upwards and the mover did not have the power to clear the top. I then forgot to put the hand brake on before releasing the mover and the rear corner of the caravan caught the por4ch roof which over hangs and punctured the rear panel. I was able to tape over the damage with waterproof duck tape but it needed a new rear end which cost the insurers dear. After that the caravan went into storage although I did realise you could get the caravan out by moving one side at a time only when I was taking it to the storage.

 

[BedfordRL]

Some friends of ours once watched aghast as a car and caravan, rather spectacularly and unsuccessfully, entered the multistorey carpark in Basingstoke.

As kids we would go off to North Wales with a group of friends.
One in particular would always have a personal disaster which would become legend.
His best caravan one involved his toilet.
This particular toilet had a pump to pressurise the flush and only required a couple of pumps to reach required pressure.
His wife didn't know this and whilst he was outside had pumped and pumped to make it flush,see where this is going?.
She called him in and with " like this "he gave it the required couple of pumps and pulled the flush lever and the toilet exploded in his face!.
The first we knew about his" experience " was a roar and he burst out of their caravan covered in Elsan Blue with toilet paper,and worse, in his beard.

 

[Raywood]

That reminds me of an old television programme called something like America's mos Stupid Criminals. In that one they had footage of a man trying to syphon fuel from a motorhome. He got the wrong pipe and it was the waste from the toilet he syphoned, he got what he deserved.

 

[BedfordRL]

Yes, I remember that.
I seem to remember that the RV owner called the police and they followed a trail of blue sick to the rather unwell miscreant.
I also seem to remember that the RV owner decided that the unfortunate chap had suffered enough and refused to press charges.

 

[Hutch]

I followed a motorhome along a dual carraigeway the otherday, and noticed his sattelite dish was fully up, I overtook him and with hazard lights going, tried to stop him , to let him know, but he overtook me, giving me an unfriendly Americanish, gesture, don't really hope it ripped his roof off.