weaselkeeper
Silver Level Sponsor
My Dad, father in law, and I went fishing for a long weekend last weekend. 800 mile round trip towing dad's 18 ft camp trailer and my 17 ft jet boat. (2 trailers legal in Idaho) We set up camp not far from Yellowstone park last Thursday eve. Intially we had some table and chairs set up under the awning, but decided to move them over to the camp fire ring. My dad drinks coffee at night, so he went inside to check on the pot he had made earlier and as he walked out and sat down, the trailer EXPLODED!!!. The front and back end blew out, the sides also, but some parts remained attached to the floor. The roof collaped on the floor. Parts and glass flew all around us. Really rattled the neighbors. It didn't burn, but there were a few smoldering embers. Since the covers over the LP gas bottles blew off, it was easy to reach in the mess and turn off the gas before we had another.
He bought this trailer used from a dealer and had some refrigerator problems. The dealer couldn't fix it, so removed the refrigerator and told dad to come get it as they knew we would be using it anyway, working out of coolers. Suddenly it dawned on me.....refrigerators are electic OR gas.....the dealer had left the gas line to the refrigerator uncapped filling the trailer w/ LP gas vapor. The sheriff was quick to arrive and took pictures of the open gas line for his report..
Short end to a longer story. The Trailer company has be EXTREMELY cooperative. They brought us a different trailer to finish our stay in and we pitched in to put all the parts on what was left of the floor for the 400 mile trip back to the dealer. Dad has know the owners family for 30+ years. He's not one prone to litigation, and it looks like all will come out well. The owner told dad he is fully aware of consequences had any or all of us been inside. It was only about an hour before we would have tucked ourselves in for the night, potentially igniting when the furnace kicked on later. It was old enough not to be required to have an LP gas detector inside, but I'll bet the next one does.
Lossed are light. 3 singed sleeping bags and two jackets with the linings melted. Everthing else was salvaged in good shape.
We all believe that we must have more work to do on this good earth as several stars aligned for all of us to be outside the trailer and not sitting unders it's awning as we had just 20 minutes prior.
Small consolation, amoung our other catches, I caught a 24 inch, 5 - 1/2 pound rainbow trout on Sunday.
Speaking of good work left to do, I have four hours to dedicate to the floors of the Sunbeam today....time to get busy.
He bought this trailer used from a dealer and had some refrigerator problems. The dealer couldn't fix it, so removed the refrigerator and told dad to come get it as they knew we would be using it anyway, working out of coolers. Suddenly it dawned on me.....refrigerators are electic OR gas.....the dealer had left the gas line to the refrigerator uncapped filling the trailer w/ LP gas vapor. The sheriff was quick to arrive and took pictures of the open gas line for his report..
Short end to a longer story. The Trailer company has be EXTREMELY cooperative. They brought us a different trailer to finish our stay in and we pitched in to put all the parts on what was left of the floor for the 400 mile trip back to the dealer. Dad has know the owners family for 30+ years. He's not one prone to litigation, and it looks like all will come out well. The owner told dad he is fully aware of consequences had any or all of us been inside. It was only about an hour before we would have tucked ourselves in for the night, potentially igniting when the furnace kicked on later. It was old enough not to be required to have an LP gas detector inside, but I'll bet the next one does.
Lossed are light. 3 singed sleeping bags and two jackets with the linings melted. Everthing else was salvaged in good shape.
We all believe that we must have more work to do on this good earth as several stars aligned for all of us to be outside the trailer and not sitting unders it's awning as we had just 20 minutes prior.
Small consolation, amoung our other catches, I caught a 24 inch, 5 - 1/2 pound rainbow trout on Sunday.
Speaking of good work left to do, I have four hours to dedicate to the floors of the Sunbeam today....time to get busy.
W O W what an adventure, We are all sure glad you're still able to post on the forum. But when you catch a Rainbow like that that's still a great fishing trip. 