Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 05-19-2020, 12:04 AM   #1
Gold Member
 
bigfelipe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: NC
Posts: 98
Default Welcome to Florida...

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...
bigfelipe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2020, 03:34 AM   #2
New Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: FLORIDA
Posts: 12
Default

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.
Driverx1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2020, 03:37 AM   #3
Gold Member
 
bigfelipe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: NC
Posts: 98
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Driverx1 View Post
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...
bigfelipe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2020, 01:53 PM   #4
Platinum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Nantucket
Posts: 128
Default

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.
__________________
Dave
Era 170A
magicbus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2020, 02:38 AM   #5
Platinum Member
 
rowiebowie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,651
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigfelipe View Post
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...
,jhkjhkjh.kjh.lkhj.jhn.kn
rowiebowie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2020, 07:17 PM   #6
Platinum Member
 
Boxster1971's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Maryland
Posts: 1,197
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigfelipe View Post
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?
__________________
2024 Airstream Interstate 19
Boxster1971 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2020, 08:03 PM   #7
Gold Member
 
bigfelipe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: NC
Posts: 98
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxster1971 View Post
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...
bigfelipe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2020, 12:35 AM   #8
Platinum Member
 
Boxster1971's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Maryland
Posts: 1,197
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigfelipe View Post
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.
__________________
2024 Airstream Interstate 19
Boxster1971 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2020, 01:12 AM   #9
Platinum Member
 
Jon in AZ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Arizona
Posts: 609
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boxster1971 View Post
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!
__________________
2014 Roadtrek 190 Popular
2008 Scamp 13
Jon in AZ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2020, 04:43 AM   #10
Site Team
 
avanti's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,426
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon in AZ View Post
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.
__________________
Now: 2022 Fully-custom buildout (Ford Transit EcoBoost AWD)
Formerly: 2005 Airstream Interstate (Sprinter 2500 T1N)
2014 Great West Vans Legend SE (Sprinter 3500 NCV3 I4)
avanti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2020, 01:14 PM   #11
Platinum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: League City, TX
Posts: 1,172
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigfelipe View Post
Driving down 301 South of Jacksonville, and hit an 8-9' alligator with the Roadtrek...
......
No pics?

(lorem ipsum to meet minimum msg standards)
InterBlog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2020, 12:52 AM   #12
Gold Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Florida
Posts: 88
Default

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
Bjones7788 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT. The time now is 05:04 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.