Storms and high winds

[mustangcats]

When I was at a campground in Idaho last month a storm came up during the night with strong, gusty winds. My trailer shook quite a bit (it was resting on the tires and the tongue jack...so it doesn't take much to make it wiggle) but I wasn't sure how safe I was in the trailer so I went and sat in my pickup. The people in the neighboring campsite had their tent blow down. I don't have any idea how much wind it would take to blow my trailer over. Anyone here had their trailer blown over in a campsite? Does anyone tie their trailer down to anchor it in place? Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but it would sure ruin a vacation to have my trailer blown over.

[Verna]

I've encountered a few storms during the past month traveling out West. I just keep the teardrop hitched to the tow vehicle and that makes me feel better. I don't put the stabilizer jacks down, just in case I need to make a run for it...whatever "It" may be, and I keep everything put up so I don't have anything blowing around harming my teardrop of my vehicle...or anyone else.

[captbobh2o2004]

In New Mexico High Wind and camping go hand and hand, When we turn in for the night we make sure we are ready for wind and if we don't get any so much the better. I do use my 4 jacks and I leave my rig secured to the tow car. If we had to evacuate in a hurry, I would just drive off the jacks. I think our rig is about 700 lbs then add us. Have fun, plan ahead, stay safe. Capt. Bob

[working on it]

teardrops are very low profile and I am thinking since they do good down a highway in cross winds that they would not have this problem in a campsite like a standy with its tall sides.

the shap and the low profile of a teardrop seems to dump wind while on a highway. I cerntally would not even blink in a 60 mph day in wyoming with warnings out about no light trailers on the highways.

so I am thinking that in a camp site a teardrop would not have much of a problem with being blown over like a stand up rv or a standy.

my thoughts.

slow

Though my trailer is not a true teardrop, and built with all angles, not curves, being a "SIMPLE" design

sim•ple
1.easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter; simple tools.
2.not elaborate or artificial; plain: a simple style.
3.not ornate or luxurious; unadorned: a simple gown.
4.unaffected; unassuming; modest: a simple manner.
5.not complicated: a simple design

Personally, I don't see that my trailer can be defined as any of the above...., it sheds the wind on the highway, and so far hasn't been subjected to any high winds. But, it does weigh a lot (1628lbs at the present time), has a couple of 600 lbs (each) capacity stabilizers on the rear, and if still secured to the TV, has at least 5600 lbs anchoring it down. If detached, the heavy weight/compact size of the trailer, and the relatively low center of gravity,

centers of gravity, old & new.jpg (118.6 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

lends a measure of stability under most all conditions. Around Texas, we have tornadoes, microbursts, some straight line wind problems, squall lines, (and Blue Northers!), but nothing like the consistent high winds that people report of, from out West. Hopefully, I won't encounter any bad winds, but you never know.

[48Rob]

When storms come around, we reconnect to the tow vehicle.

Worst storm was a tornado in Wisconsin, sky got dark, looked bad, so we hooked back up, tied down the awning and put away as much outside stuff as we could.
The sirens went off, the sky got black, and we took shelter in the block bath house.
As the wind started screaming we peeked out the door to see the trees bent half way to the ground, and said "uh oh!

Our trailer (a standie) was okay, just a few hail or stick dings, others lost awnings, got pushed around, and had trees on top of them.

With our tear and or cabin car, just hooking up seems enough.
The real worry once that is done is not "blowing away" but trees falling.
We do our best to choose camp sites that don't have large or half dead trees within range...

Rob