Welcome to Florida...

[bigfelipe]

Driving down 301 South of Jacksonville, and hit an 8-9' alligator with the Roadtrek...

Trashed the underside of the rig, front to back... Way to start my trip down to see family.

So now my poor SS Agile is sitting in the shop at Camping World in Tampa being assessed. Since they don't work on chassis stuff, it'll have to go to Mercedes/Dodge as well...

No telling how long this is going to take...

Yay...

[Driverx1]

Was this a real alligator or a truck tire retread aka a gator? Either way that is bad news. Curious what the shop has to say. Good luck.

[bigfelipe]

Originally Posted by Driverx1

Was this a real alligator or a truck tire retread aka a gator? Either way that is bad news. Curious what the shop has to say. Good luck.

Never heard of a tread called that. Makes sense. Wish it was a tire tread...

The smell alone...

[magicbus]

On the bright side... I always get my Sprinter serviced when I am in Florida for the winter and recently they are constantly sending emails saying they are open and having service discounts trying to drum up business, so maybe they will be able to get to yours a bit quicker.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by bigfelipe

Driving down 301 South of Jacksonville, and hit an 8-9' alligator with the Roadtrek...

Trashed the underside of the rig, front to back... Way to start my trip down to see family.

So now my poor SS Agile is sitting in the shop at Camping World in Tampa being assessed. Since they don't work on chassis stuff, it'll have to go to Mercedes/Dodge as well...

No telling how long this is going to take...

Yay...

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[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by bigfelipe

Driving down 301 South of Jacksonville, and hit an 8-9' alligator with the Roadtrek...

Trashed the underside of the rig, front to back... Way to start my trip down to see family.

So now my poor SS Agile is sitting in the shop at Camping World in Tampa being assessed. Since they don't work on chassis stuff, it'll have to go to Mercedes/Dodge as well...

No telling how long this is going to take...

Yay...

Yikes that's scary! I've driven that section of 301 many times. Were you driving at night?

[bigfelipe]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Yikes that's scary! I've driven that section of 301 many times. Were you driving at night?

Yeah. It was about 9:30-10pm...

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by bigfelipe

Yeah. It was about 9:30-10pm...

All my close encounters with deer have been at night or near sunset. I now try to avoid driving at night whenever possible. Now I’ll have to consider the risk from alligator on my next trip to Florida.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

All my close encounters with deer have been at night or near sunset. I now try to avoid driving at night whenever possible. Now I’ll have to consider the risk from alligator on my next trip to Florida.

In my neck of the woods it's usually elk. They seem most active in the middle of the night. The worst experience was coming home from an out-of-town meeting late at night a few days after a spring snowstorm. When I slammed on my brakes for the fourth time to avoid yet another large group of cow elk in the middle of the highway I finally figured it out. They were after the salt on the road!

I've also had to brake for horses, cows, mule deer, coyotes, fox, bobcat, turkey, a family of javelina, and a moose last summer in New Brunswick. So far the only casualty was a jackrabbit.

A gator... sorry to hear of your misfortune. Hope you are able to get back on the road soon!

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

They were after the salt on the road!

I was once at a Canadian National Park where the elk were hanging out in the parking lot licking salt from the bottoms of parked cars. Took a minute to figure that one out, too.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by bigfelipe

Driving down 301 South of Jacksonville, and hit an 8-9' alligator with the Roadtrek...
......

No pics?

(lorem ipsum to meet minimum msg standards)

[Bjones7788]

Sunshine State RVs in Gainesville specializes in Class Bs and had made arrangements with Roadtrek component sources to be able to get parts during the RT bankruptcy.

If the damage is primarily Roadtrek tanks, plumbing, valves, and other RT modifications, they may be worth a call if needed.

We live in the Fl Keys, have two RTs and despite the distance almost always use them for significant RT work - not Sprinter chassis work.

BJ