Hurricane-season RV prep: securing the rig, and checking it after.

Central Florida sits inland enough to miss the worst of a coastal landfall and exposed enough to get the rain, the wind, and the tornado spinoffs anyway. For an RV, hurricane season (June through November) is less about a single catastrophic day than about preparation done early, while the hardware stores are still stocked and the calendar is still yours. This guide is two checklists: the one you run before a storm threatens, and the one you run after it passes.

Before the season: the standing prep

• Know your roof before you need it. A roof and seal inspection in spring — sealant sound, seams tight, AC gasket healthy — means a storm tests a maintained rig instead of a neglected one. Water finds the weakness that already existed; storm season is when it collects. See the rainy-season roof & seal guide for the inspection itself.
• Service the generator. The generator is your post-storm house. Fuel fresh, oil and filters current, and a loaded test run done in May means it starts when the neighborhood power doesn't. If it hasn't run since last season, that's a service visit now, not a discovery later — our generator page lists the usual no-start causes.
• Photograph everything, now. Roof, all four sides, awning, interior ceilings and slide floors. Dated "before" photos are the backbone of any insurance claim, and they cost you ten minutes on a calm day.
• Decide your storm plan for the rig. Where does it go if a major storm aims at the belt — stored inland, moved to a sturdier lot, or ridden out where it sits? The decision is easier in June than under a hurricane watch, and parks and storage facilities fill their safe spots early.

When a storm is actually coming

• Bring the awning in, and secure anything that can sail. Awnings and slide toppers are the first casualties of Florida wind. Retract them, stow chairs, mats, and grills, and check that nothing loose lives under the rig.
• Slides in or out — pick deliberately. Many owners bring slides in for a major storm: fewer seals exposed, less wind surface, and the roof's drip edges work as designed. If your park advises otherwise for their lots, their rule wins.
• Fill fresh water, charge everything, fuel the generator. Post-storm outages are measured in days in the belt's rural pockets. Water, batteries, and fuel are the difference between inconvenient and untenable.
• Level and stabilize. Jacks down properly on pads — saturated Florida ground goes soft, and a rig that settles crooked in a storm stresses slides and seals.

After the storm: the damage check, in order

• 1. Safety first. Downed lines, the smell of propane, and standing water around electrical gear all outrank property checks. If the pedestal or your shore cord was underwater, don't energize until it's been looked at.
• 2. Walk the roof and the slides. Debris damage, lifted sealant, punctures from branches, and slide seals that took wind-driven rain for hours. Photograph everything before you clean up — if it's a claim, this hour is the whole file (see our insurance claim repairs page).
• 3. Check inside, low. Water shows at floor lines, slide corners, and under cabinets. A floor that feels newly soft near a slide is a finding, not a wait-and-see.
• 4. Run the systems. AC (watch for water where it shouldn't be), fridge, water pump and plumbing under pressure, generator under load. Storm problems hide in systems, not just structures.
• 5. Fight the moisture immediately. In Florida's post-storm humidity, a wet interior becomes a moldy interior in days. Ventilate, run the AC or a dehumidifier, and dry every wet surface you can reach.

Most of what this list finds — torn awnings, lifted sealant, water in a slide floor, a generator that won't carry the AC — is mobile work, done at your site. After a regional storm, every tech's calendar compresses at once; a request with photos and a clear description gets triaged faster than one without.

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By Josh Tomlinson — Josh operates Florida Mobile RV Service and writes these guides. About the service →

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