RV Height

[jimplumley]

How many of us have bought an RV and never really knew how tall it was? Recently, on the way home from camping, I drove under a railroad bridge I'd driven under hundreds of times.....but without a travel trailer in tow. After realizing what I'd done, and looking back and not seeing our air conditioner laying in a pile under the bridge (big gulp), I decided to measure our trailer's height to be absolutely certain.

Of course I couldn't find how tall it was anywhere in the trailer paperwork, so I measured above the LP tanks from the center of our '15 F210UDS and found it to be about 50 inches out to the driver's vertical side. I took a 1x4x6ft and carefully screwed it at 90 degrees to a 2x2x10ft exactly 8 feet from the bottom edge of the 1x4 to the long end of the 2x2. Placing the lopsided cross's upright flat against the side of the trailer and resting (gently) on the top of the air conditioner, I found that the bottom of the 2x2 was 33 inches from the ground. So adding 8ft plus 33 inches gave me a total height of 129 inches, or 10ft 9in. Whew! Have I lost you yet?

So I have decided that in order to provide a good safe clearance, I will be avoiding all bridges lower than 12ft.

 

[profdant139]

Well done! Now, if they'd only post the heights of tree branches in the campgrounds . . . .

 

[Wishyouwerehere]

Well, I do know our 2008 X160 will fit under the 9 ft 5" garage timbers, the main reason I jumped on it, but luv it bumper to bumper now. I looked for almost 3 years to fins one under 9"5 and most of the 00 models are less than that.

 

[Dakota 1120]

One of the first things I did with mine is to take a tape and measure the total length including the hitch....and the height from highest point (A/C) on roof to the ground.
Then, I hitched it to the tow vehicle and measured the total length.

I took those measurements, printed them on a piece of paper and fastened it to the sun visor on the tow vehicle so if any question, can easily reference the data.

I have referenced the information a number of time when nearing a bridge or referencing a site in a campground. Memory can mislead whereas written information remains solid.

 

[profdant139]

Eagle, that's a great idea about posting the info on the visor. One more tip -- send yourself an email saying "trailer height info is on the visor." Then when you can't remember where the info is, you can put in a search query into your email inbox: "trailer height" --- and then your reminder will pop up.

We do this for a lot of "things I need to remember" items -- it works!!

 

[RipVan]

Eagle, that's a great idea about posting the info on the visor. One more tip -- send yourself an email saying "trailer height info is on the visor." Then when you can't remember where the info is, you can put in a search query into your email inbox: "trailer height" --- and then your reminder will pop up.

We do this for a lot of "things I need to remember" items -- it works!!

I can't exactly tell if you are just giving Eagle a ration of crap or actually giving him (and the rest of us with aging minds) a truly good idea? I'm going to go with the latter!

 

[jimplumley]

The visor is a great idea, and maybe above the RV exit door. For all of the 40+ years we've been campers, my wife has pestered me to document the "break camp and hook up the trailer" part of camping, just in case something happened to me. Considering that documenting manufacturing equipment SOPs (standard operating procedures) was my job for several years, I probably could have done it sooner than this year. Now we store it on both our phones. If you're careful to list everything, it's a lot longer than you might think.

 

[Dakota 1120]

Eagle, that's a great idea about posting the info on the visor. One more tip -- send yourself an email saying "trailer height info is on the visor." Then when you can't remember where the info is, you can put in a search query into your email inbox: "trailer height" --- and then your reminder will pop up.

We do this for a lot of "things I need to remember" items -- it works!!

I get along just fine with it posted on the sun visor as it's always visible unless the sun visor in 'down.' therefore, no reason to have it on a computer.

 

[profdant139]

Rip, I am not kidding about the email memory tip (even though Eagle's visor makes it irrelevant in this case). For example, I put my passwords into my email system -- but there is a catch.

Instead of writing out the password verbatim, I include hints -- "first three letters are my mom's initials" -- and so forth.

So then if I want to look up my password for XYZ Corp's website, I type "XYZ password" into my search function, and up comes the email!

I do this for a lot of RV related things that I need to remember but sometimes can't.

If you have a perfect memory, this whole routine is unnecessary.

 

[Shelleyb48]

Well done! Now, if they'd only post the heights of tree branches in the campgrounds . . . .

Isn’t that the truth.

 

[Dakota 1120]

As for the email tip ... I don't always take my laptop when camping and don't always have an internet connection even in campgrounds so the email thing rather useless IMO unless one has a mobile hot spot.

 

[Dakota 1120]

Isn’t that the truth.

Perhaps just fortunate but have not experience that issue.

 

[Shelleyb48]

Perhaps just fortunate but have not experience that issue.

Well at least we personally don't have the problem since we've kept our camper at a seasonal site for the last couple of years.

 

[mjpguy]

WOW Jimplumley, you still have the original decal on the front of your 210 !! Ours is a 2013 and it needs it's 3 re-paint !! (the original paint on the front cap started clouding and turned gray within the first year) At $1,000 + each time I'm gettin' ready to sell it. I've never been able to find that decal but it's probably best cuz it has to come off to re-paint that damn cap !!

 

[Silverado-FUN]

I removed the decal and would not put it back on. Looks cleaner with out in my opinion.

 

[jimplumley]

WOW Jimplumley, you still have the original decal on the front of your 210 !! Ours is a 2013 and it needs it's 3 re-paint !! (the original paint on the front cap started clouding and turned gray within the first year) At $1,000 + each time I'm gettin' ready to sell it. I've never been able to find that decal but it's probably best cuz it has to come off to re-paint that damn cap !!

If you wet the front cap with water and the faded brown color suddenly becomes dark and almost even, it's possibly that only the clear coat is shot. This year we gently sanded the clear coat away and replaced it with a topcoat from KBS Coatings called Diamond Finish Clear. I still need to buff it out, but it's loads better than it was. And it wasn't necessary to remove the decal to do it.

 

[mjpguy]

Jimplumley,
Wow, great restore. That looks exactly like how my (original) cap looked but it was much worse at the top and had faded all the way thru. I tried your technique back then (even buffing/compounding, etc) but to no avail. Maybe I didn't catch it in time. It started within the first year.

 

[retelect]

Max height is definitely a good thing to know. I put one end of a 4' carpenter's level on the top of the AC cover and then while holding it level from a step ladder lowered my tape measure to the driveway to measure 9' 2" on my 2007 189. All because I was building a shelter and needed to know how much clearance to allow. Well the years went by and we decided to upgrade to a newer 2013 189FDS, when we got it home I thought I'd better check the 'new' clearance and was surprised to find it 13" higher at 10' 3"! Fortunately I had adequate clearance in the shelter (whew)

 

[Dakota 1120]

Although my neighbor does not own a camper or motorhome, when he had a steel building (60x100 foot) constructed, the contractor talked him into installing a 16' overhead door - said would be a + for eventual resale value.

 

[jimplumley]

Jimplumley,
Wow, great restore. That looks exactly like how my (original) cap looked but it was much worse at the top and had faded all the way thru. I tried your technique back then (even buffing/compounding, etc) but to no avail. Maybe I didn't catch it in time. It started within the first year.

I'm not a scientist, but experience has taught me that sanding, buffing, compounding, etc., only knocks down the clear, leaving a surface covered with super fine abrasions. When it dries, the white haze always returns. It takes the application of a new clear coat to preserve the dark, wet look. It fills all the abrasions and transmits reflected light from the color surface. BTW, I very, VERY lightly sanded and cleared over the decals, sealing the edges and hopefully preserving the decal.