Options, Advice, Decisions Part 3

[DKO]

There is no doubt the bus can take more wind than the average RV and we have rode out some rough ones. When it is real bad, we still take cover. This story a few years ago goes through my mind when tornado warnings sound.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2012/02/29/dnt-kotv-dt-kwtv-dt-branson-tornado-strickland.kotv-dt-kwtv-dt

Davy

[daddysgirl]

I'm sorry...My name is Andrea

A few years after the first time dad and I did this bus, mom and dad were in SC Beverly Beach campground...on the water. Gaston was heading up and inland. I called dad to find out where they were and he said..."I'm parked in front of the ocean watching all of these fools try to evacuate clogging the tree-lined highway"
I was questioning his logic when he said "Andrea, I'm 44k pounds, sitting at a place with zero trees well above the flood level, and breaking the wind. The heavy rigs that left out of fear are the people in danger". Mom wasn't thrilled, but the next day, he called and reminded me I am not the "panic type", and he would expect me to do the same, given the same situation. He said the bus would sway a little every few hours but not enough for to knock his drink off the table.
Dad was a safety freak, as am I.
Oh, and he used to laugh at the fancy rigs with slideouts. "They ALL leak. If not today, tomorrow".

[B_K]

Ok I stand corrected, I honestly wonder what sort of side wind it would take to knock over a parked coach. I know tornadoes are no joke but there's been plenty of high wind storms that go through parks and knock over camper trailers. So BK when we see semis going over in the wind they are light or empty? Crazy.

OK Scott first off if the TRUCK just BLOWS over 99.9% of the time it is lightly loaded or empty.
Second a parked empty trailer will blow over easier trailer than one moving down the road.
Now I'm not saying ALL the trucks you see turned over in high winds are lightly loaded or empty.
Many of them are loaded heavy and the hard winds took the driver (usually very inexperienced) by surprise and he did something stupid like over correcting or didn't fight it and ran it off the road causing it to "flip". But if you actually see one "BLOW" over which I have witnessed first hand more times than I care to recall, it will be a very light load or empty. This is why they have the high wind advisory signs out in the North West warning light and oversized loads to park and wait for the winds to die down.

OH and btw many drivers will blame the wind for causing them to lay a truck over when they ran off the road, fell a sleep, took a curve too fast etc.

Now TORNADOES are a whole different ball game and all bets are off when it comes to those suckers!
I lived in OK for 5 years and can tell you it ain't no fun going into town to pick up friend who's truck is laying on it's side on top of 2 other trucks from being tossed like a paper towel in a tornado. (BTW he was lucky he was in the truck stop taking a shower when his truck got tossed!)
The wreckage was sickening! There were trucks everywhere and all sorts of debris that didn't even come from the truck stop everywhere. Like the whole roof of a house/building on top of the torn down awning that covered the fuel island! Probably 35-40 or more trucks damaged either by being blown over or having one land on it.
Every window in the truck stop blown out and the entire contents of the store blown everywhere.
It was a huge mess and very disturbing to see how much damage was done and that many people could have lost their lives and yet the good lord spared them.
  BK 

[sledhead]

I have had 3 units with slide outs 1st one was a southwind storm and yes the slide out system was crap and did have some discoloration on the carpet from a slide leak . 2nd was our 1990 mci that I built the slide and never had a leak , 3rd is the current unit . no leaks even with the slide out awning removed but there is evidence of a small water discoloration on the plywood floor  from the water line for the ice maker or the fridge or freezer defrosting . would I live with out a slide ? no   

dave     

[DoubleEagle]

I can't agree with the comments that there is more chance of a trailer tipping over if it is sitting still, or that accelerating will help. The interaction of wind on a vehicle depends on many factors, including the direction of the wind in relation to the broadside of the vehicle. The worst scenario is the wind hitting at a 90 degree angle on the side, that does not always happen, but the wind can change direction, or the road can change course.

On the rvforum.net, there was a discussion of wind problems, and one poster put a detailed mathematical formula out that calculated the coefficient of drag on surface areas. To make a long calculation short, it found that the coefficient of drag doubled when the velocity of the air against the surface increased from 55 to 70 mph. Those kinds of calculations are used to figure fuel economy and torque and gear ratio requirements. In the case of large vehicles going down the road at high speed against a high wind at an angle that puts additional drag on the vehicle, it would appear that going faster would aggravate the potential hazard of tipping over. When you are in the process of going down the road at a 45 degree angle and watching the road coming up closer, do you want to be laying your vehicle down at 70 mph, or 30 mph?

To quote The Truck Accident Attorneys Roundtable website, "High winds make driving any kind of big bus or truck much more dangerous, and high winds require a much higher degree of care. Semi-trucks are especially prone to wind interference because big-rigs are so much bigger than other ordinary vehicles, and the surface of the trailer creates an enormous "sail area" which catches the wind. This can cause the trailer to move – and this has led to many otherwise preventable truck accidents caused by windy conditions.

A sail area is defined as any type of surface that will generate thrust by being placed in wind. The more square footage in the sail area, the more power developed by wind pressure. For example, the side of a trailer can be as long as 53 feet and 9 feet high, which equates to nearly 500 square feet of sail area. And the same wind conditions which may minimally impact a passenger car can have dramatic effects on a trailer with 500 square feet of sail area."

"Truckers also know the problem of wind is made significantly worse when a semi-truck with a large sail area travels down the highway at a high rate of speed.

Pressure develops because of wind under the trailer, over the trailer, and around the trailer. The higher the rate of speed, the more effect the wind has on all these areas.

The best way to proceed in high wind situations is to simply slow down, or if appropriate, pull over and stop when it is safe to do so."

I can see where there might be situations where the wind direction is somewhat behind you and you are going with the wind to some degree, where going fast or faster might help, but if the wind direction changes or if there is over-correction by the driver, you will be in more trouble than if you were going slower. The lawyers that will sue us if we flop over on someone in their tiny vehicle, will be fully aware of what we should have done.

[Scott & Heather]

Dave if I ever wanted a slide, I'd pay you to build it for me cause your 102c3 slides seemed well done.

Andrea, funny you tell that story, we rode out hurricane IRENE in eastern pennsylvania when it blew through. Craziest bus experience I've ever had. 80-90mph sustained winds for 20 hours straight. It was nuts. Truly nuts.


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[sledhead]

thanks for the offer Scott .... but no more slide manufacturing for me . I could not be happier with the rv I have now and am enjoying the fun of redoing the inside . just rebuilt the front tv unit to a 50 " 4 k unit with a new 4 k bluray player WOW there was a lot of tear out to remove the old system but huge difference in size of tv ( and weight )  made a wide open difference over the dash and now you see a lot of natural cherry wood instead of the shinny laminate that was there . on to the next redo       

dave

[Scott & Heather]

Dave, sometime
Post some
Pics. I'm always curious how former bus owners convert their new coaches


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