# Went To Hatteras For The Fishing Tournament



## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

Ladies and Gentlemen, action

I guess the best thing about camping is that even when things go bad, and at times they will, you still have fun, even though you may not recognize it until the next day, or two!!!









My family and I stayed at Frisco Woods Campground on Hatteras Island. Sensai, is a huge fan of this campground, however it really didn't meet the needs of my family, at least not on this trip. I would recommend it, if the trip was just you and your wife or a group of adults, but I didn't find it to be overly kid friendly. There were lots of trees to climb and nice little channel from the sound, but no playground and really nothing within walking distance for them to do. The roads within the campground are all sand and gravel and not very wide, which makes getting in and out of your site a little tricky.

Now let me tell you about what I LEARNED!!! Well, we arrived Thursday evening and set up camp, no problems.







Since it was kind of late, I did not worry about the drain hose thinking, I'll do that in the morning. Well morning came and when I hooked the sewage hose up, I realized that the camp site was kind of in a hole and the sewage connection was higher than my drain pipe.







Newton established the whole gravity concept years ago, and I knew that water was not going to drain, UP HILL! I did attempt to "make it happen" however, no luck.









I asked if we could relocate to another camp site that would allow easier drainage and they agreed







, so we packed it all up and moved to the site directly behind us. This is were the fun really began.







Now I want to preface this by saying, I have never stayed at a site were the individual sites were on inclines/declines, I have always been fortunate enough to have pretty level (at least front to back locations) sites. Well this one was on a fairly decent slope and as I was jacking the trailer off the truck...anybody see where this is going?, you got it the trailer rolled off of the wood block and came crashing down into the sand!!!







shy







Despite the emarrassment of the nose of your trailer looking like a plane ride gone bad, no one was hurt and more importantly the trailer did stop rolling after about 4 feet.
















Things learned #1: ALWAYS CHOCK YOUR TIRES, BEFORE JACKING THE TRAILER OFF THE TRUCK!!!

Of course, like I said before, we never had this problem, so who knew! Well the kind gentleman with the Coachmen camper from New York







had a small 2 ton hydraulic jack which I was able to use to get the camper back up on to the woodblocks. At that time, I cranked the jack up and everything seemed to be in order and working (remember that for later!!), so we went ahead and continued setting up and that was that, or so we thought! On Sunday morning as we prepared for departure, everything was done, all that was left was to hook the camper up. Well, as I began cranking the trailer up to get it back on the truck, just as I reached the point that the ball would slide under the coupler the trailer jack released, on it's own and quickly, and the trailer came crashing down onto the wood blocks, so again my trailer is broken and my good buddy from New York is gone, great!! This threw me into a state of frustration that I have never visited before, I call this the "trip within a trip"!!







I use the bottle jack from my truck along with lots of wood and finally get the trailer back on my truck!








Things learned #2: YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY WOOD BOARDS!







Things learned #3: YOU DEFINITELY NEED TO HAVE A HYDRAULIC JACK IN THE CAMPING GEAR!! (a trip to Wal-Mart on the way home solved that!)

So now the camper is home and the jack is removed and the front of it is up on two jack stands, the hydraulic jack at the coupler and I put down the front stabilizers just as some insurance(can you say "******* camper")! I hopefully will be able to pick up a jack today and install it before my neighbor gets too ticked off about the camper being there!!!









The bottom line is, despite the problems and aggravation they caused, I still had a great time camping with my family. The fishing stunk, but I still had fun with them!!

Now on a funny note, the nice man from New York told me that he has done the same thing, camper rolling and breaking the jack about 3 times. At which time I commented to him, "So I guess your not a one trial learner!" Well, I don't plan on seeing this happen two more times. My wife and I have agreed that before we unhook from the truck the wheel chocks are going on along with the little plastic wheel chocks for in front of and behind the tires! Thank God it's over!!









This is long, I need a break! Time for another adventure!!








Jason


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

I did the trailer roll thing once with a small boat, and since then the last thing I disconnect from the hitch is the chains. I remove the bars, light plug, e brake cable, raise trailer of off ball and lastly the chains. No matter where or how level,that is my habit. I also am a fast learner.

I always have wood, will need to get the bottle jack also. Thanks for the campground 'reveiw'


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

Jason,

Wow! What an experience!!







Remind me never to park on an incline. At least not until I get a lot more hours backing up and parking the TT.

Glad you were able to still enjoy your trip and to get it home withour further incident.

Mark


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## Sidewinder (Feb 25, 2005)

Jason,

Iâ€™m only guessing here, but MY wife would have brought up the whole â€œYou bought the scroll saw to make wheel chocks and you didnâ€™t even use themâ€¦BLA BLA BLAâ€ thingâ€¦â€¦I hope you saved the â€œtool for every job aspect".

Are you going to put on a power jack? I thought about it, but the BAL works so smoothly, I decided not to.

Sidewinder


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## WillTy3 (Jul 20, 2004)

Jason

Sorry to about your misfortune with the trailer! I hope you had your cake & ice cream to brighten your spirits!

Will


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## Guest (Apr 25, 2005)

Jason,
I'm so sorry that you had a rough time at Frisco Woods. Ronnie and I have always had a great time there. We do normally go in warmer weather, so there's lots to do in the water. The grandkids always do the windsurfing and swimming thing, and I usually find a nice pine tree to sit in the shade under.

I do a lot of dry camping, so I guess I'm accustomed to uneven sites. Lots of wood and good chocks are essential. Run-away trailers can be dangerous, as well as embarrassing. I'm glad that you were able to handle it safely.

Again, I'm sorry about your experience with Frisco Woods. Maybe you'll like the campground in Carthage, MO better (see the Outbacker National rally thread)






























Happy Camping,
Gary


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

You did not mention it but was there any secondary damage, like broken dishes?

For me I always try to take the chains off last, this is the most likely time for a run away trailer. Also to help prevent bending or breaking the tongue jack once I lift off the ball and it settles into the wheel chocks. I drop it back down on the ball or on to a length of 4x4 that I carry to reset the bottom of the tongue jack. This keeps it centered.

At least you did not have to pump black water up hill!!


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

A live and learn moment, I have those on a somewhat regular basis







. They happen once in a while, and as long as no one gets hurt, just a little embarassed, it's okay.









Glad the rest of the weekend was okay.

Our driveway is sloped a bit, so we're used to blocking and unhooking on a hill. Haven't had anything get away from me...........yet anyway. I've devised a set of blocks so I can jack the trailer up level and still keep the axles loaded evenly.



















Mike


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

Jason,

Yeap, been there done that but only once and it was at home where a floor jack was quickly available.

I have this funny suspicion that it wonâ€™t happen to you again.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

What can I say...
Thanks for posting. Someone else will undoubtedly learn from it. Glad no one was hurt. I hate when stuff like this happens...glad you had someone to help you.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Jason

Thanks for sharing your experience. I really haven't made a point of chocking before jacking but I will now.

I am glad nobody was hurt or serious damage was done.

Thanks
Thor


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## 1stTimeAround (Sep 22, 2004)

CamperAndy,

Amazingly, nothing was damaged!! My wife even had an open drink in the camper that did not spill, AT ALL! That was good luck, compared to the bad luck of the camper rolling.

I do hope others learn from my mistake!! How does the saying go...."I wish I knew then, what I know now"!!

Jason


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## kbrazielTx (Apr 29, 2004)

I am glad to hear I am not the only one that had to learn the hard way. The good news it it happened to me with a Pop-Up before we had our beautiful 26RS. I was on a rather good decline unhooking the pop-up and noticed the wheels were not exactly where I needed them to get the trailer level. So I hooked the trailer back to the truck, removed the wheel chocks and moved the trailer. I now had the trailer where I liked it and began to unhook the trailer. Notice I did not say anything about putting the wheel chocks back under the wheels. So I unhooked the Chains, another lesson, and began to jack the trailer off the ball. The trailer cleared the ball and everything seemed okay for a couple of seconds. Oh I did not mention I had a wheel on the Trailer jack to be able to move the trailer around easier. All the sudden we all know what happened. Our great Rockwood Pop-Up is headed toward the lake and I am hanging on to the Tongue and it is dragging me along. I had to let go because I was killing my leg. (Bloody) Thank goodness a Tree was between the Lake and the Campsite so the bumper on the Trailer saved the weekend. I was able to hook up the trailer, again, and place where it once was. I placed the wheel chocks behind and in front of the wheels, removed the wheel from the Tongue Jack and cranked the trailer off the ball. The last thing I did was remove the chains and fetch some paper towels for the blood running down my leg.

I think this happend by the grace of God because now I have a 26rs and always make sure the wheel chocks are in place and the chains are the last thing I remove. Thank goodness I learned with the Pop-Up.

Glad everything worked out for you as well.


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## jgerni (Nov 10, 2003)

Man that would have been something to see. I would have definitely offered you a beer after that entertainment.









On a serious note you are lucky you didn't seriously hurt yourself.


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## samvalaw (Feb 17, 2005)

Man, what a story. If one person learns from your ordeal, it was not in vain... Thank goodness nobody was hurt and no serious damage. I had a popup come off the hitch on the way out of the driveway once and it was no fun. Next time you come down this way, try North Landing Beach, its a real child friendly place.


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