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Fellow RVers. You MUST carry DUCT TAPE. It can be a life saver

We found ourselves in the Mojave desert on our way back to our home on the Monterey Peninsula in CA I heard something flapping on the outside of our Jayco Seneca 37 FK. It was our first run in our new Super C. Hot as can be, like a 100 something degrees. After listening to the flapping for a few minutes, I dared to look to the side of the RV through the mirror. Low and behold a large fiberglass side panel behind the rear double wheels had come loose and was ready to blow off. A trucker suddenly appeared behind us and started blowing his horn. As he came into view on the driver’s side he kept blowing his horn while pointing vigorously with his finger. After he got our attention he gave us a frantic “pull over” hand gesture.

Somehow, we knew his intentions were noble so we stopped. I knew what he was going to say. “YEP, I noticed your side panel flapping in the wind”. After he took a closer look he said, “I think it’s about to come off your RV”. Since it was Sunday, he said we would probably not find many repair shops open, but short term, we should try to get some DUCT TAPE to see if we could somehow save the disaster of the panel actually breaking completely off.

My husband called around for hardware stores but none were close. We saw a motel a block away. So hubby once again walked quickly to the motel thinking that there must be a maintenance department. He was correct! Yippee, the custodian had a roll of Duct Tape; PERFECT! It worked. We shored up the panel and off we went. California here we come! A brand new bus with a taped up panel. It’s like a new dress that is loosing its hem. Not Pretty! And the panel was large so the repair job was more than evident. I doubt we got much sympathy from the passers by. A two hundred and fifty thousand dollar bus, stitched up with duct tape to hold it together.

We had another duct tape incident 2 years after this one. We sold our Jayco super C and bought a new Fleetwood 40 ft Class A diesel pusher. It had all the bells and whistles. 40 feet with ALL the bells and whistles, and did I mention, “DUCT TAPE”? Yes , we were rolling across company and exited a sharp corner headed to a diesel truck stop. As we rounded the corner, we heard a loud Bang; never a good sign in an RV. The force of the bottom freezer filled with food couldn’t withstand our g-forces and broke came out like a rocket breaking one of the rails one of the rails as it flew open depositing frozen food all over the floor. Clearly the under magnetized magnets holding the freezer door closed were. Now we couldn’t close the freezer door at all.

We checked into the nearest campground and were lucky enough to get another camper to help us take the door apart. After some time, they determined that one of the door rails now had a broken extension mechanism. Not fixable without a new part which could take weeks. They took all the rails off and put the door in the slot but of course it wouldn’t stay in place with the rails gone.

Have I mentioned DUCT TAPE? When we were done, the refrigerator looked like a mummy, In goes the food and electrical tape kept the freezer door closed. I was pleased that I wouldn’t have to hold the door shut the remainder of the trip home. THANK-GOODNESS!!!

Any adventures out there where you used DUCT TAPE to save the day please feel free to add your story to others so that all we campers can benefit.

Bye for now.
Meg