Seems like a good time for the topic. My old coach went through 3 hurricanes undamaged. This was in 2003 (I think) and we got winds between 75 and 95. I took it to a shopping center and parked it in the lot facing into the direction I knew the wind would be coming from. (rear first). I left a note with my cell phone number taped to the inside of the door. It was covered in leaves, but no damage. I was far away from trees and the actual buildings (50 ft on the buildings and hundreds on the trees). Our location wasn't in the eye, but we had a huge amount of tree damage and home damage. Lots of trailers messed up. I got no leakage and would do it again. I had planned to leave it in my backyard which ended up looking like a rain forest. Took hours to clean up the limbs. The best thing to do is get in the coach and head 90 degrees away from the tract, but we were unable to do so for business reasons. At any rate, gas up as the generator may come in very handy. Good Luck and don't try to ride it out in your coach.
Hi Lindsey, Thanks for the post. I was just thinking of starting one, posing the question, "what does a 70 mph wind gust feel like in a TT?". Anyone know? I am living in the TT this summer while the house is on the market, and was thinking of staying in it when the storm hits us Sat. night ( in Albany, NY) as we're only predicted for winds of 40 mph, but gusts up to 60-70 mph. Well, I guess you just blew that idea apart! I didn't even think about the branches from the pine tree it's parked under. Thanks for the advice. Enjoy the fury!
I know what 65 mph gusts feel like because we experienced them in New Mexico earlier this summer. We just brought the slides in and hunkered down til the wind storm was over. BF had a problem with a nor'easter a few years ago where the slide was picked up and slammed down. Broken floor was the result. Now, he plays it safe.
We rode out a category 1 (just barely) back in 2005 near Foley, AL. We were going to leave, but the local residents said we would be fine, and we were. We were not near any trees so we were not worried about falling limbs; otherwise we may have left anyway. We brought in the slides and truthfully it was not very bad at all. Thunderstorms in Louisiana and straight line winds in Virginia have rocked the coach a lot more, but if storms can be avoided that is the course of action I would recommend and would take in the future. BTW just a few weeks after our cat 1 experience, the mother of all hurricanes, aka Katrina, hit New Orleans. I'm sure glad that wasn't the one we chose to go through.
I've never experienced a hurricane, but have been in 60-70 mph winds on more than one occasion in New Mexico and Texas. The one time I had damage in an RV park was from a large tree branch falling on the roof of the RV- just broke the air conditioner cover, which the RV dealer, who had a lot of business from that park, replaced it at wholesale with no installation charge. Some of the others had more extensive damage. The person a couple spaces away had the power company out working at 10pm as a broken power pole was leaning against his RV, just held by the electric wires. Since that experience I've paid a lot more attention to the trees I'm parked under. If you are on dirt roads with those heavy winds you will have almost zero visibility. I've seen many normally stationary objects blowing down the street, such as boards, large coleman coolers, lots of shingles etc. Make sure your RV is out of the "line of fire" as best you can, and weight down the chihuahua!
