Wind/Weather Question

[mberry]

I don't believe I've ever seen it discussed here so I thought I would tap the impressive brain trust of TDR to answer a question.

First off, I live in a "wind prone area" and as such I pay attention to the weather reports about the wind. Starting tomorrow, the weather people are saying we will have "Wind gusts 60-70 mph is possible in the wind prone areas ahead of the cold front that is expected to pass through the valleys mid evening Friday. "

My 5th wheel as it is parked is facing West so the frontal area is usually close to head on in the wind. However this storm, and most winter storms, do not come in directly from the West. Sometimes South, sometime North or a combination. This places my 5th wheel somewhat broadside to the winds.

My question is, should I put the rear stablizer jacks down on the rear of the coach for added stability? Does it or would it make a real difference? Thanks everyone.

Mark.

P. S. Sorry about the font and stuff. Once I pasted the text from the weather website, I couldn't figure out how to change it back to TDR default.

 

[jelag]

We park our 5er for the winter with the cover on it and the jacks down... I believe that it would withstand a gust of 60-70 into the side of the trailer but worry more about the trees coming over in a big gust after a storm where the ground is soft rather than the trailer blowing over. .

I'm guessing that over 70 there is a chance that the whole thing would blow over if the wind was just right...

I've posed the issue with my insurance agent and its covered... I know this really isn't a complete answer but I'm guessing it would take a real engineer who understood wind load, weight and the center of gravity to tell you exactly when its going to blow over. .

 

[mberry]

Thanks Jim. I appreciate it. Where I live, if a tree hits our RV, or home for that matter, we've got much bigger problems than worrying about whether the RV will blow over.

 

[GAmes]

If it were summer I'd suggest filling all the tanks with water to lower the CG, but it's about time to get really cold up there, so that won't work.

 

[AMink]

I was out hunting in eastern Nevada and wondered the same thing. The only thing different was that I was IN the trailer. Not a comfortable feeling.



I read the post before looking at your location and thought, "We're supposed to get really high winds too!" 30 miles apart, same wind. I put all the jacks down on my TT and never had a problem. Maybe pull in any slide outs so there isn't as much weight hanging over the edge.

 

[mberry]

Filling the tanks would be a bad idea this time of year here.

AMink, Thanks. Sounds like it was quite a ride in there. Unfortunately, I was driving back from my parents' place in Sac Friday during the storm. I was hauling a load of fence posts to use for our retaining wall build coming up. I haven't seen it rain down there like that since '97, and it snowed heavy too all the way from Gold Run to just west of Reno. There was a LOT of water on the roads.

The contractor that is doing our patio said that he saw the tires on our trailer come off the ground more than once during that wind. Considering that by the time I made it home the wind was gone and it was dark so I didn't see it, but my wife said it was as bad as she had ever seen it here. For those of you reading this that aren't familiar with the area, 50mph winds here are not all that uncommon during a storm, winter or summer.

 

[AMink]

Filling the tanks would be a bad idea this time of year here.



AMink, Thanks. Sounds like it was quite a ride in there. Unfortunately, I was driving back from my parents' place in Sac Friday during the storm. I was hauling a load of fence posts to use for our retaining wall build coming up. I haven't seen it rain down there like that since '97, and it snowed heavy too all the way from Gold Run to just west of Reno. There was a LOT of water on the roads.



The contractor that is doing our patio said that he saw the tires on our trailer come off the ground more than once during that wind. Considering that by the time I made it home the wind was gone and it was dark so I didn't see it, but my wife said it was as bad as she had ever seen it here. For those of you reading this that aren't familiar with the area, 50mph winds here are not all that uncommon during a storm, winter or summer.

Glad to hear you made it through the storm ok. Lots of fences down in Reno, along with many roofs. The only time I can think of that it blew as hard or harder was about 5 years ago in January. 50 is ok, but the 70mph stuff is pretty tough. On the mountain tops, it was over 130!

 

[mberry]

I wish my wife had taken some video for me but I didn't think of it until it was too late. I remember that storm well. 90MPH winds in Reno and we lost 10,000 square feet of our roof and I think 5 A/C units. Someone was at least thinking enough to put plastic sheeting over the routers in the IDF room on that side of the building. I remember opening the door and watching the water cascade down on the sheeting, right on top of the RUNNING equipment. Lots of water damage to clean up but I didn't lose any of the routers or anything, which amazed me.

 

[JMetzger]

We had a lot of wind here in Gardnerville & very little rain & No snow. Blew a large tree down by Sharkeys Casino which caused loss os power for about 1hr. I don't do much as far as putting down the jacks on our rv as the house shelters the rv. I really do not like the wind.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Where we are the winds can be steady 40 - 50 mph with gusts to 70. Think of all the problems you hear about on I-40 going across Eastern Arizona. Unfortunately we are in the 5er year round it is on a concrete or is the cement pad!!!! Have a stabilizer under the 5th wheel pin. Of course front jacks down and rear stabilizers. It is against the 3 car garage that blocks some of the prevailing winds. It rocks a lot and at first wife was worried it was gonna tip over. She stopped worrying for the most part. I put skirting around it in winter but not during the summer. So far knock on wood we have survived. I have an aluminum RV port over it and some of the panels blew off but RV ok. Down burst from thunderstorms is all the time a problem here.