The sun was shining and life was good as grey nomad Barry Anderson cruised along Victoria’s Princes Highway near Orbost a week ago at the start of a four-day camping trip.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The solar panels on the roof of the campervan in front of him came loose and ‘flew at least 30 metres into the air’ before smashing into Barry’s windscreen.
“As the panels hit it was like an explosion,” the 68-yearold said. “I had no vision so made sure to keep my vehicle straight while slowing down.”
The windscreen on Barry’s Toyota Ute was shattered and he was showered in fine glass, but he managed to keep his composure.
A flying solar panel smashed into Barry's windscreen.
“Because of a wire rope safety barrier, there was no room to stop completely so I moved along slowly with hazard lights on for a couple of hundred metres to the end of barriers and pulled over,” he said. “There was a fair bit of damage to the windscreen, door pillar, snorkel and roof but I was not injured … although it was not a real fun thing to happen at 95/100km/h.”
Happy ending: Barry is all smiles again
Barry had been travelling in convoy with a camping friend who stopped to make sure he was alright before taking off to catch the campervan driver, which he did some 15 kilometres further on.
“The driver was shocked,” said Barry. “He didn’t even know it had happened!” After about an hour, a tilt tray truck arrived and took Barry’s ’Cruiser away.
“After that was organised, I put my swag, stretcher, food etc into my mate’s trailer and continued on our little trip,” said Barry. “After that bad start, it turned out a great few days, and the campervan driver’s insurance is paying for the repairs … it could have been much worse!”
While Barry is happy to take off with his Toyota Ute with lockable canopy and a swag for short trips, he tows his Kimberley Kamper with 12’ tinny on top on longer adventures.
Barry loves to camp in the High Country
“Campfire, camp oven, good food, good company, can’t beat it,” said Barry. “But just a heads-up to everyone … make sure that the solar panels on the roof of your vans and vehicles are bolted securely!”
How lucky. Imagine if it was a motorcycle in the frame. Best check our solar panels eh.
Some of this falls upon the installers of the panels, whether that be professional or the DIYer. As a former RV solar panel installer I’ve seen some horror installations by both. So yes, check them periodically even just to clean them.