# Then The Flood Started ....



## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

So there I was -- camping along side fellow Outbacker "proffsionl" this last weekend in probably one of the most beautiful spots in New Braunfels TX .. great RV place.. right on the flowing Guadalupe River .. great for tubing (or Toobing) as we spell it here...

anyway ...

first night -- bad weather storm about to blow in...

NWS had issued a severe storm weather alert with possible tornadoes, hail and 2-3 inches of rain per hour...

well i went outside and battened everything down... thank God for Bungee cord -- but i digress...

Its 0130 and it starts to rain -- pour -- soak -- no problem -- I go to sleep ...

0230 my daughter wakes me up and says -- Daddy -- the Carpet is wet....

My first thought were the toilet somehow had overfilledâ€¦.

I turned on the cabin lights and not only is the carpet wet .. but the entire floor -- and -- AND -- my heater grates are full of water ...

Holy cow --

so I start looking --

and there it was -- under the refrigerator -- water just pouring in...

not just a little -- but a flood...

I did a quick check -- no water on the walls -- none in the bathroom -- none anywhere but the bottom of the refrigerator ..

so I figure i have a leak coming in from the roof ...

I ran outside (in the monsoon) and ran the trailer fully tilted back so water would not stay on roof very long .. I mean I had this thing pointing for a moonshot (or so it seemed)...

but the leak stopped.. and all the water insdie the trailer ran down to the rear of the Outback and I took a dry/wet vac and sucked up several gallonssss ... and then I spent the next hour getting all the water out of the heater ducts â€¦ (actually sucked up everything I could â€" then the next day turned on the heater â€" set it for 90 .. and went toobing -- when we came back the trailer was a toasty 96 inside and the water was all gone --

---

anyway â€" after tilting the trailer the rain stopped coming in -- next morning was absolutely beautiful.. jumped up on the roof to see what was going on ...

on the side of the refrigerator vent facing the inside of the roof .. was a four inch slit/tear between the vent and the rubber cement --- my perfect level jobs which I pride myself on had caused the water to run off the sides of the trailer and not the front/back and thus -- I caught allot of water at the refrigerator vent and thus straight into the trailer....

anyway -- from now on i tilt the trailer a little and will spend tomorrow checking all the seams again....

Thank goodness though for all that Coke my daughter drank caused if she had not got up in the middle of the night to go to the head i would have woke up to a swimming pool.....


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

Sorry to hear about your flood, Ghosty!!! I brought my TT home to dewinterize and I'll have to check my roof very carefully. We camp slightly nose up to get the water off the roof. Thank goodness your DD caught it when she did.


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## zoomzoom8 (Nov 8, 2005)

Good lord........what a night!!! I kept waiting for you to say the river came over it's banks, lifted the outback and carried us downstream to.......well you see where that is going......cape fear type of thing....

Despite the drama, glad to hear it all worked out....dry that puppy out......

Thanks for the angle tip..........


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## OVTT (Mar 31, 2006)

I'm glad everything worked out.







I just picked mine up from the dealer but have yet to perform a leak test, guess I should get on it! let us know if there is ever any sign of the floor showing damage from the water, and what to do to take care of it. action


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

Wow, Ghosty!! 
Sounds like a nightmare in Outback country!! Glad you had the forethought to HAVE a wet/dry vac available. I may have to add that to my list of things to carry!! 
I always have my front a little high so the water runs off the rear, more than on the sides. Why? I'm lazy.......I don't like to wash off the black streaks.








Darlene


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## proffsionl (Feb 19, 2005)

So there I was, pulling into Camp Huaco (pronounced "waco") Springs campground on Friday night and I see another Outback. After a bit of challenging backing (just trying to get that position in the campsite juuuust right), Ghosty (who I had not yet met) walks up and introduces himself. Incidentally, we didn't even get each other's real names until Saturday...too much time discussing rv stuff, I guess.

My challenge was a bit different, my slideout (the switch had just been replaced by the dealer last week after the previous one shorted out) was VERY slow to extend. I went with it and while it sounded like it was struggling, it did extend out fully. I spent a good part of Saturday morning troubleshooting it (and cursing the dealer, who said they "tested" it) and thought it might be the 30 
amp auto-reset breaker. Went to Camping World (I needed some chairs and a Weber Baby Q, anyway) and got a replacement. I thought this would do it until we went to pull it in this morning and it was slooow and stopped halfway.

Uh oh.









I let it sit for a few minutes and it started again (slow) and finally pulled in fully. I'm going down to lambast my dealer service manager tomorrow (another 60 mile round trip for service). My next guess is that the motor is fried. I'll see what they say.

Aside from that , it was great to meet Ghosty and family (sorry about the flooding...our trailer seemed to come out of the 40-day 40-night rain okay).

We are looking forward to meeting up with them again in a couple of weeks at the South Central rally!!!

Oh, and if you ever get the chance, check out this campground...it was awesome!!


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## RVCarolina (Jul 31, 2004)

Sorry about the roof leak Ghosty, Sounds like you handled the problem really well, and still had a good time with the family.








The one thing that came to mind though, is refrigerator operation while not level. Somewhere recently I read a thread that warned about possible damage to the refrigeration system from operating while somewhat off-level for extended periods. Probably wouldn't hurt to find and read that thread. I always park the TT nose-high by 2 or 3 inches, and run the fridge for a couple of days before each trip while tilted and no problems yet, but it is something to be aware of. I hope someone can chime in and let us know how much "tilt" is ok for the fridge.
Fred


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

WOW!!! Sorry to hear that you had a flood in your TT like that.
I would have gone nuts to wake up to something like that
Glad to hear you managed to get it to stop by lifting the front up to the moon
Hope you get it all patch up for your next trip.

Don


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

Glad you didn't wash away Ghosty







and also that you found the source of the leak. They can be pesky to track down sometimes. Good idea to check those sealants on a regular basis.



> The one thing that came to mind though, is refrigerator operation while not level. Somewhere recently I read a thread that warned about possible damage to the refrigeration system from operating while somewhat off-level for extended periods. Probably wouldn't hurt to find and read that thread. I always park the TT nose-high by 2 or 3 inches, and run the fridge for a couple of days before each trip while tilted and no problems yet, but it is something to be aware of. I hope someone can chime in and let us know how much "tilt" is ok for the fridge.


Just a couple of cranks high on the nose is plenty to get the water to run off towards the back. The manual says something about the trailer just has to be level enough to be liveable for the fridge to work. Years ago I think the refrigerators in travel trailers were a little more finicky about how level they needed to be, nowadays a bit off level doesn't matter so much. I keep ours a couple cranks high on the nose and our driveway tilts a bit to one side and the fridge works just fine and we leave it on all of the time.

Mike


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## nonny (Aug 14, 2005)

I'm glad it wasn't worse and you were prepared, Ghosty. My question is, do you have a full size wet/dry vac or have you found a small one just right for the TT? I was shocked to hear that you had one and now think it's a must for emergencies just such as yours!


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## OVTT (Mar 31, 2006)

I bought a small 1 or 2hp model from Wal Mart. It fits under the dinnette perfectly!


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

Wow! I, too, was expecting to hear about flash-floodsing and Outbacks floating down the Guadalupe.....I was camping there in 1978 when it DID flashflood....never seen giant cypress trees looking so insignificant.

Sure glad you're all ok.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

WOW! I thought I was the only one that ever had to suck water out of the floor vents! (bad sealing bike door)

Glad you got her fixed up.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Seriously....you carry a wet/dry vac on all your trips? Guess it was very handy for this trip.


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

> Good lord........what a night!!! I kept waiting for you to say the river came over it's banks....


My thoughts exactly.

Glad it wasn't *that* bad, but sorry you had such a terrible wake-up.

See you in a couple weeks and we'll talk to about your ordeal some more, I'm sure!

Mark

BTW, what resort was it? Or did I just miss the name?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Ghosty - I pack enough stuff for a trip across Africa and thought I had everything I needed for any possible incident but I was wrong. I do not have a shop vac in the trailer BUT I do have a 2 gallon one at home that just may find a new home in the trailer. Just have to figure out what to leave behind.

BTW - Did the under belly fill up with the over flow from the heater vents?


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## campmg (Dec 24, 2005)

Ghosty, good thing you had those tubes ready









Thanks for the sugguestion. I have a s mall vac I will start bringing with us.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Ghosty!

That had to be scary! As I was reading, I kept expecting you to open the trailer door and find your Outback 'Toobing' down the Ol' Guadalupe!









Good to hear that you got it under control as quick as you did.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## summergames84 (Mar 6, 2004)

Wow, Ghosty, that was an exciting weekend. I'm also glad it wasn't rising river water that came in. The Guadalupe is known for flooding.







Hope the Outback dries out and is seaworthy for our South Central Rally!


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Ghosty

Wow, that was alot of water. I am glad you took care of it so quickly and no damage done to your trailer. The slit on the roof.... right from factory or did a branch cut it??? Any ideas?

Thor


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

I always carry my trusty 2 gallon Shop Vac when camping. Comes in handy!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Guess we need a poll on who carries a shop vac....


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## snsgraham (May 18, 2004)

Jeeesh! Whoda thought about carring a shop vac whilst camping...
But I am sure glad that you had one for all of that water.

Scott


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## OVTT (Mar 31, 2006)

I am starting to think my 1hp 1gal shop vac is not big enough!


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## jonnyty2002 (Jul 8, 2005)

i'm just glad we didn't loose a great outbackers poster...all the things that you send and help with...Camper can be fixed but not a ghosty or family.. main thing is that you and your family are A-1-OK...oh yeah bring us some more stories...my kids love them.


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