End of Season Tasks for Campers, RVers, and Boaters

We are almost into September.  Soon the kids will be back in school and it soon will be time to start winterizing our summer toys.  There might be time for one last hoorah in the motorhome, out on the boat, or riding off road toys, but before long it will be time to tuck them away until next season.  All of our summer recreational equipment should be properly prepared for winter storage.  Failure to do so may result in serious damage over the winter or, at the very least, make getting it ready to use again next season more difficult.  For more information on winterizing, check out this post.

Motorhomes and campers  and boats need to have their water systems winterized before the onset of freezing weather.  That means draining all the holding tanks and either blowing all the water out of the system or filling the plumbing with RV antifreeze to keep the pipes from freezing -- if you live where you get freezing weather.  Folks who live in the sunbelt don't have to worry about freeze protection.  Check out this post  or more detailed motorhome winterization .

Anything with a gasoline engine will need to have the fuel system treated to prevent deteriorating fuel from clogging up the works.  For small engines, like motorcycles and outboard motors, you can turn off the fuel and run all the gas out of the system to reduce the problems old fuel causes in carburetors and injection systems.  Then treat the remaining fuel in the tank with a fuel stabilizer or drain the tanks.  For motorhomes and boats with inboard motors add the fuel treatment, then run the engines for 10 or 15 minutes so the treated fuel fills the system.

 How you deal with your boat depends on whether you plan to leave it in the water or haul it out for the winter.   Trailerable boats and other smaller boats are usually hauled out and either tarped or shrink-wrapped to protect the against winter weather.  Of course water systems on boats require the same winterizaton in freezing climates as campers.  For more detailed suggestions for winterizing your boat, click here.

Camping equipment should be inspected and cleaned and repaired as necessary before putting it into storage.  Fabric items such as sleeping bags, blankets, and tents, are particularly susceptible to damage from mold and mildew if they get put away damp.  You will also want to protect them against pests such as moths using moth balls or dryer cloths.  Sleeping bags should NOT be tightly rolled for long term storage as it will crush the filling and destroy the lift that provides the warmth and comfort.  Kitchen items, such as pots and pans, dishes, and utensils should be clean and dry before storage and should be packed to protect them against breakage or other impact damage.  Fuel should be drained from stoves and lanterns.  Perishable provisions should be removed and all remaining cooking stuff should be stored in tightly closed plastic tubs.  

Camping clothing should be laundered and properly stored in closets or in moisture-proof plastic bins.  Before putting it away inspect each item for any damage that needs to be repaired or might relegate the item to be recycled.  Here again items need to be protected against moths using moth balls or dryer cloths.

There is at least one other task on the end of season list.  This last one is a little more fun.  It is checking out the End of Season Sales where ever you like to shop for camping supplies.  Retailers often offer great savings on seasonal summer merchandise to make room for winter items.  Sometimes end of season sales will start as early as July or August.  Some retailers take large price cuts right away to quickly move inventory.  Others may start out with smaller discounts, say 10%, and gradually increase them over time.  We will each have our own idea of how much of a discount will motivate us to buy something and that discount will probably vary depending on the total cost of an item and how much we may want or need it.  Personally I usually take a close look at anything with a discount of 50% or more to see if I want to expand my back up resources to try something new.  Lesser discounts may be worth grabbing on items you need or want, especially if they are popular and will sell out quickly.

Of course, this isn't the end of the season for everyone!  Some people continue to enjoy their motorhomes and boats and even camping year round, although it typically requires some special preparation to accommodate more harsh weather.   Some off roaders enjoy the challenge of riding in the snow and, or course, snowmobilers are anxious for winter to come!  If you are one of those folks, instead of putting everything away until next spring you will want to make the necessary preparations to protect your resources against winter weather and make it ready for winter use.

Winter is sometimes a chance to take a break and review last year's fun activities.   Now is a good time to complete documenting your summer trips, review your want lists, and begin making plans for next year.  It is often an excellent time or make needed repairs, perform annual maintenance, or make updates or additions to your equipment.

There doesn't have to be anything off about the off season!

Doing Jumps on a Dirt Bike or an ATV -- Showing Off or Essential Skill

OK, so why would anyone want to do jumps on a dirt bike or an ATV?  Well, for one thing, it is fun!  And, of course, some people do it just to show off.  However, believe it or not, it is a useful skill you just might need unless you only ride on flat, familiar tracks or trails.   And you may encounter jumps even on familiar terrain.   If you do any desert or cross country riding you are likely to encounter sand washes and other obstacles you may have to negotiate.  We did a lot of riding in the Mojave Desert and ran across LOTS of sand washes.   Some were shallow and easy to cross, some were deep and you either had to jump all the way over them, jump down into them, or stop and find a way around.  If you come on one of these unexpectedly, you don't have time to stop and find a way around so you either have to jump over or into them!  You may also encounter other obstacles that you need to  jump over.  So I consider jumping to be an essential skill, not just a trick for show-offs.

As I contemplated what I would do if I encountered a wash and couldn't stop in time I decided it was time to at least learn how to jump down into one safely.  To do that I rode around until I found a shallow wash, about 1' deep and began jumping down into it.  No big deal.  As soon I got comfortable with that I moved along the wash to where it was a little deeper and began practicing there.  I kept moving along until eventually I could comfortably jump down into a wash 5 or 6 feet deep.  Having accomplished that I felt a lot more confident in being able to safely handle coming on a deep wash by surprise.   We took some videos of us jumping down into a wash about 6' deep and quite honestly they were disappointing.  Jumping into a wash like that looks pretty easy on film (and actually it is!).  However, it FEELS a lot more scary and exciting than it looks until you get used to it.  You don't want your first time to be a surprise when you suddenly come upon a wash and don't have time to stop or room to turn.  It takes some practice to build up the confidence to handle jump safely and successfully when required.  Unexpectedly finding yourself flying off the edge of a sand wash could result in a really bad landing if you don't know how to handle it.

You can learn to jump obstacles in a similar way by starting small.  Find or build a small bump and learn to launch off of it, then move up to larger and larger bumps as you get more comfortable.  You can practice riding whoop-de-doos, where lifting the front wheel from the top of one whoop to the next can significantly smooth out the ride.  Another little trick I learned for smoothing out the whoops is to stand up, kind of relax your arms, and let the bike pivot on the foot pegs beneath your feet as it rolls up and down the whoops, but jumping every other one lets you go faster.

Motocross and Supercross tracks have big jumps that may send bikes and riders 50' - 80' in the air and  100' or more over the ground.  That kind of jumping isn't something the average recreational rider is likely to find necessary but you may still encounter hillocks on a trail that may make you airborne for a little bit and it is a good idea to know how to handle them.  Again, the key to learning how to handle such obstacles is practice.  Start with small jumps and work your way up.  Sometimes being able to jump over some of the whoops in long section can save time and hammering on your bike -- and your body, but you need practice so you can land in the right place to launch over the next set successfully.  It takes more than a little practice to learn how much throttle you need to clear a particular size of obstacle but is well worth learning.

No matter whether you are jumping into a sand wash or over an obstacle, it is best to know what it looks like where you are going to land.  Out in the desert we often encountered mounds of dirt in the middle of an otherwise flat plain.  When you see something like think about how it got there.  Most likely it is the result of someone digging a hole.  Believe me, you don;t want to jump over a mound of dirt and find yourself landing in a big hole on the other side.   When he was a teen my eldest son found himself looking down into a deep mine shaft when jumping a pile of dirt.  Fortunately, he managed to make it far enough that his back tire barely caught the far edge of the shaft and he landed safely.  Same principle applies to jumping over sand dunes.  Very often the far side of the dune may be hollowed out and you will find yourself much higher off the ground than you expected.  The teenage daughter of an acquaintance of mine was killed jumping her ATV over just such a dune.  It wasn't a particularly large dune from where she approached it but the back side was hollowed out more than 40' deep!  Riders often expect the dunes to be symmetrical, with equal slopes on both sides but  often that is not always the case.

Another tip for jumping is to always keep the front wheel up so you land on the rear wheel first.  Landing on the front wheel first can bend the forks, twist the steering, or simply compress the suspension and cause you to "endo" (where the rear of the bike flips over the front wheel throwing you over the handlebars).  In such cases you often experience two very painful impacts:  one when you hit the ground and again when the bike hits you as it tumbles.  Landing rear wheel first makes it easier to control the landing.  Landing on the front wheel first has the risk of  the wheel turning to one side or the other and sending you out of control.  The front forks are also more likely to bend if you land wrong.  The fixed rear wheel won't turn sideways and the center of gravity brings the front of the bike down whereas if you land front wheel first the center of gravity of the moving bike wants to rotate forward and up and toss you off.   Jumping ATVs is very similar to jumping dirt bikes but you also need to keep the machine level side to side as you leave the ground and when you hit the other side.  Larger UTVs (side-by-sides) can handle limited jumps, but the added size and weight are something to always keep in mind.  I've seen dozens of UTVs with broken front wheels and suspensions from bad landings.

UTVS or side-by-sides are capable of handling some jumps, but the added size and weight makes jumping them not nearly as feasible as it is with dirt bikes and ATVs.  No doubt you have seen impressive vehicle jumps on TV shows and videos but what you may not know is that unless they were specially modified most of those vehicles had to be towed away from the landing.  Normal cars and trucks are not designed to handle the impact of landing from being jumped.  The Dukes Of Hazard busted up almost all the Dodge Chargers like the General Lee in Southern California, wrecking between 250 and 325 of them during the six year run of the series.  If I owned a UTV I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to jump it!  But I would want to know how to do so if I had to.  Many UTVs have almost as much wheel travel as dirt bikes.

Jumping a dirt bike (or an ATV) is not always for the professionals or showoffs.  Sometime it is a valuable skill you may need when you encounter obstacles when riding off road,

Jump safe!