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Last summer toward the end of my summer trip, I purchased a carrier shelf for the back of my C with the intention of carrying two plastic storage boxes - one containing my dump stuff and the other miscellaneous. To make a long story short, the shelf rides just above the exhaust pipe and the storage box closest to it melted and was probably close to catching fire. I had a small can of pink spray paint in the miscellaneous box and it exploded. I heard the noise (also a trucker had just passed me flashing his lights and waving - I thought he was flirting) and turned off onto a side road as soon as possible. Parked in a farmer's drive way and after waiting for his great Dane to lose interest in me, got out to check out the damage. What a mess - melted plastic and pink paint all over everything. The whole bottom of the storage box was melted. I pried it loose from the shelf and set it off to the side of the driveway with most of the miscellaneous contents. Saved a couple tools but that was all. Just glad it wasn't the box with the dump stuff in it. Anyway, I left a note for the farmer apologizing for leaving my trash but I couldn't take it with me. Signed only my first name. LOL Haven't decided if I will put an extension on the shelf to get it farther from the exhaust pipe or have something done with the exhaust pipe. Still too nervous about the whole thing to make a decision. Sure missed my DH on that one!
So the moral of this story is - don't add anything to your RV that comes too close to your exhaust pipe.

Um. . . you couldn't take it with you. . . because?

Anne

I keep looking at those shelves but now you have given me something else to think about. I haven't decided what I would put outside on a shelf. I have a three wheel bike that I would like to take sometimes but I haven't found a shelf wide enough to put it on.

Martha

I couldn't take it with me because - I was just a few miles into my trip from Missouri to Florida traveling in a 23.5 ft C. The melted plastic smelled really chemically bad and the box was a mess so, even if I'd had room for it, I didn't want to bring it inside and I sure wasn't going to put it back on the shelf. I didn't have a plastic bag big enough to put it in. It was a long driveway and I was clear out by the road. A garbage truck had gone by while I was trying to clean up my mess so I figured the farmer had trash pickup. I just hoped that when the farmer got home and saw my sad little pile of pink melted plastic and read my note that he would have a sense of humor and/or benevolence. Had my DH still been with me, it never would have happened because he would have known before I even bought the shelf that it was too close to the exhaust pipe. By the way, I bought the shelf used from a firefighter and he installed it for me knowing that it was my intention to put the plastic boxes on it. Oh, well. I didn't catch on fire; probably gave the truck driver something to talk about at his next stop; maybe gave the farmer his laugh for the day; and I learned a scary lesson to share with others. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Fancy

Fancy, did you see the info I posted on my sewer hose carrier that I made for my bumper. I have see pictures where some have mounted a small plastic box with lid on top and carry dump stuff in that. That box I think is actually a file box and can have a lock put on too.

years ago we were towing our son's car with our RV - the car had broke down so it was an emergency tow - not using a tow bar. One of our kids was watching out the back window and started to yell that we had to stop "Dennis' car is melting" What? Sure enough the plastic front end was melting from the exhaust.

Just a thought to file away. A gas engine is around 600 degrees at the muffler. It cools quickly once mixed with air. A turbo diesel can be a couple hundred degrees warmer. That's also why we call semi-trucks with exhaust pipes pointed at the ground "brush burners". Better to direct that hot gas up and way from people and things. You will also see so diesel pickups with air diffusers on them to combat this temperature as DEF equipped diesels have even higher exhaust temps to burn off the pollutants.

Anne, I wanted to ask the same question...

Sorry but having elderly relatives living on farms, I would never be so presumptuous.

RVers leaving trash along a road or on private property makes us all look bad. I doubt that having to dispose of someone else's trash would make me laugh. Especially when it "was a mess and smelled chemically bad". Sorry to rant on this, but it is one of my pet peeves.

I am saying this as gently as possible. Please read as such. Do not leave your trash with a farmer! I live in the country. We have to pay for garbage service as any one else. Please..never be so presumptuous as to feel free to leave trash with a farmer. Hopefully you left some money to help pay for the additional cost he incurred to dispose of your trash. People that throw trash along the road are an insult to rural people. We have had to pay to have couches and mattresses hauled away away that people, in the dark of night, have tossed on our property. And don't even get me started on the bags of trash, beer bottles, fast food bags and all other trash that just gets tossed in the ditch along our property that we have to pick up and pay to dispose. GRRRR

I understand the strong feelings of those of you who live on farms but, I think this was an exception to the rule as she could have become seriously ill from the chemical smell by putting the debris in the RV with her.

She should have called the local fire department. They would have instructed her how and where to dispose of the mess. I still stand by my response. The farmer shouldn't have had to handle a strangers mess. And I can assure her he did not laugh when he found the mess and note. If it is toxic to the Rv'er it's toxic to the farmer.

Redetotry wrote:I understand the strong feelings of those of you who live on farms but, I think this was an exception to the rule as she could have become seriously ill from the chemical smell by putting the debris in the RV with her.

Sorry farm or no farm, it wasn't right to leave that mess of chemicals for someone else. A note saying she would be back to clean it up and then she could go find a solution. A U-haul truck and a landfill come to mind. (Rita snuck in with a better idea)

Sorry, FancyFree, but this really hit a nerve.

I hear all of you and please believe me, if I could have come up with a better solution at that time, I surely would have. I'm guessing the chemical odor would have dissipated in an hour or so but I couldn't take it inside the C with me. We lived on a main highway in Missouri and I fumed about having to pick up people trash along the road before I could mow. However, if I had found a small pile of pink melted plastic at the end of our driveway with a note of apology, I think I might have seen the humor in it. Our trash pick up had a monthly fee so we wouldn't have had to pay extra. Hopefully the farmer didn't have to pay anything extra. Sometimes the only solution you can come up with is not necessarily a good one but it is the best you can do at the time. Sorry I ruffled so many feathers. Was only trying to put out a caution on getting something too close to the exhaust pipe.
Fancyy