Road Train Issue

[swoffer]

Just heard from a mate who was travelling south from Carnarvon yesterday when after the 3rd road train he passed he was gobsmacked to see the top and canvas of his (hired) Jayco Hawk spiralling down the road behind him. Seems it ripped the catches clean out of the frame . Luckily it stayed upright for him and they didnt lose much from inside the camper .
Could have easily ended up differently I spose .
Anyone heard of this happening before ?

[D4D]

Anyone heard of this happening before ?

Yep, there has been a discussion on this before when someone forgot to close the catches properly...

[swoffer]

forgot to close the catches properly...

Yeh that was my first question to him but he swears he did an extra walk around before he left Carnarvon and safely negotiated 2 road trains before a 3rd one caused the damage .

[Jenko67]

wow....

[speewa158]

Recently inVic a caller to a radio station told of a CT with its roof open on the Western Hwy . On the subject of road trains ,, their bigger than us . That should tell you something . As they come down the road pull over its not hard 

[oldblade]

The latches work their way open

I had it happen on our Jayco and out Topaz so now i have used split type pins to lock then in place works a treat

[Topender]

We did 6500km's up that way recently with our Swan without any dramas.  The road trains are a bit of a worry, but I find it hard to believe the latches would open on there own if they where done up properly and by properly I mean adjusted so they are firm when closing.  They are a type of over centre latch and if they are adjusted properly I can't see how they would open.  I always make sure there is no gap at the front between the roof and the body for the wind to get under.

Anyway sad news and I'm glad they are ok.  Hope it all works out for them. And on the subject of pulling over for road trains.  If you had to pull over for every road train in the North West you wouldn't get too far.  They are a dime a dozen up that way.  I get more scared of the some of the Grey Nomads that are probably past driving let alone towing a massive big caravan, but the biggest worry is the overseas tourists in there big Winnebagos that think that they are driving a Nascar or something

Dave
 

[NewMax]

We have done around 45,000km over last two years living in our Jayco camper and passed a heap of road trains and to date no issues.  In our travels we have never seen a wind up camper with roof lifting - or spoken with anyone who has owned up to a problem.

We find the front bed flies lift a bit when windy and when we are travelling a bit faster. We use a couple of bungy straps to hold down bed fly. It does not come lose just lifts 100mm or so away from the camper and catches a bit of wind. There are two straps but they probably need to be nearer the edge of the camper - or us keep our speed down.

Road trains we have come across - near Tom Newman and on road to Mitchell Falls.





Of course could always buy one of these if have the $$$.  I think they really look great. This truck was at a spot called Hangover Bay (no kidding is on coast at Nambung NP, WA)
 

NewMax

[Squalo]

I was overtaking a semi in my 1969 Kombi once and the turbulence/draught from the truck sucked the pop-top up (it just pulled the internal tie-downs clean out of their mounts)... was fun holding a fistful of canvas with the left hand and steering with the right as the bus got tossed around by the windblast from the truck. And the poptop has a huge amount of canvas for a Kombi - see pic, more than any other I've ever seen! Luckily no damage and I was able to jury-rig it to continue the trip.

I've had this old girl since I was 18, so 25 years this year... will be restoring it later this year.

[Hairs]

We never had any troubles or worries with Road Trains when we traveled last year, just kept and eye on the rear vision mirror and an ear to the UHF.

OT,
G'day qualo,
That is identical in colour to the Kombi that the retired Nurse & Copper have just bought that live next door, and it has the pop up roof. They are at the moment getting some work done on it so they can travel.
She has got hold of a couple of wigs, head bands and get dressed up like old Hippies and go for a drive around the Clarence Valley some Sundays.
It's great to see people with a sense of humor 

[Janbo]

When we secure the latches on our Eagle, we always give the roof a slight lift by turning the handle once - makes it nice and tight!!

[oldblade]

We did 6500km's up that way recently with our Swan without any dramas.  The road trains are a bit of a worry, but I find it hard to believe the latches would open on there own if they where done up properly and by properly I mean adjusted so they are firm when closing.  They are a type of over centre latch and if they are adjusted properly I can't see how they would open.  I always make sure there is no gap at the front between the roof and the body for the wind to get under.

Because I am a compulsive liar I often post up crap

Don't mean to be rude but it has happen to me and it's an easy fix with a couple of small clips so why would post up that you find it hard to believe

I have just gotten home from an 11,000k trip over a month on both tar and off road and the small clips worked great

You can adjust the original clips but you have to remember the campers flex therefore what looks tight at 100kph on a dirt road over a bump or 1000 looks loose at the top of the bump and tight at the bottom of the bump

[NewMax]

Hi,

I guess that the comment made by an earlier poster "I find it hard to believe the hatches would open on their own if they were done up properly ..." may be just a reminder that it is very easy to not pick up everything when we check before setting off.  We think we have a good check routine, we have certainly had a hell of a lot of practice at pack ups but we do miss things sometimes. To date have been lucky that none of our misses have been costly. The times we have missed something have been after brief stops, when interrupted half way through a pack up, when packing in a hurry trying to get ahead of the rain.  A few weeks ago a hatch on the side was left open - a guy came alongside and gestulated wildly and we pulled over. Luckily nothing fell out of the hatch.  Also have left internal hatch up - spotted ourselves in mirror. 

NewMax

[Cozzie]

Just heard from a mate who was travelling south from Carnarvon yesterday when after the 3rd road train he passed he was gobsmacked to see the top and canvas of his (hired) Jayco Hawk spiralling down the road behind him. Seems it ripped the catches clean out of the frame . Luckily it stayed upright for him and they didnt lose much from inside the camper .
Could have easily ended up differently I spose .
Anyone heard of this happening before ?

Scary stuff, anybody travelling behind em would have wished they'd worn there brown corduroys

[austastar]

Seems it ripped the catches clean out of the frame .

Hi,
   I read the OP as it must have been latched at the time.
Now I'm not familiar with this pop top, but the ones that I am would suggest that it would have to be latched to rip the catches clean out of the frame.

Is there any other way the catches could be pulled out of the frame?


cheers

[NewMax]

With our camper when we started off we were determined that the clamps would be tight and one of us leant down on each corner and the other pushed the clamp home.  After about a month I noticed that two of the screws that attached the clamp to the camper in one corner had come loose. Was not sure what screws were attached to and got Jayco to look at with first service under warranty. The screws were replaced and have been fine since.  I asked the service guy why screws had pulled out and he said often happened when clamps too tight.  He suggested clamps should be adjusted so firm but not so needed to lean on roof to engage.  We have followed his advise and has worked for us with no other screws coming loose on clamps - different story for draws in our camper where number screws have bounced out.

I guess if screws in clamps in camper where roof popped up were loose then wind could pull out the clamp. Years ago we hired a campervan with a pop up roof.  Didn't close roof properly one day and it pooped up. Not sure I noticed straight off and bent the supports. Bit tricky on return to hire firm.

[Geoffwin]

Hi,
   I read the OP as it must have been latched at the time.
Now I'm not familiar with this pop top, but the ones that I am would suggest that it would have to be latched to rip the catches clean out of the frame.

Is there any other way the catches could be pulled out of the frame?


cheers

If the "hook" is put over the connection but not actually locked down into place it would be quite easy for the roof to lift slightly. If this happened and a gust of wind got under it it seems feasible to me that the roof could come of or open enough to cause damage.