Travel Trailer trouble part i dunno losing count

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Well i certainly got suckered with my trailer.
1) First was the tires, all 5 replaced under warranty but my cost and time for labor and fitting.
2) As a result replace one wheel bearing.
3) Perished propane tank hookup hoses. (Replaced at my cost)
4) Replaced what is supposed to last 10 years, carbon monoxide / smoke detector. They programmed to annunciate when end of life is reached.
5) Still to be fixed awning track with cut right above main door.
6) Fixed black pipe propane pipe mounting.
7) Cabinet doors stiles coming apart. Pull on handle and end up with a stile in your hand. Not an ounce of glue was used, just two tiny pins in corner. ( Fixed that with titebond 2 last night).

Never mind vinyl wrap that's peeling and laminate counter edging that's just peeling off.

Last weekend Linda is standing next to bed and feels soft patch on her side of floor.

Well during this week i go investigate and discover any trailer owners worst nightmare.

Floor is completely rotten on her side. Thought it was just a small spot. But opened up the plastic tarp type cover underneath and oh man i had to get up and go for a drive to commiserate with a friend who about 4 years ago i helped rebuild a few of his trailer walls he did floors on his own. Difference his trailer was 20 + years old.

Ours is 2012 model . Has been looked after and been covered with proper trailer cover each winter.

So investigation begins and i find cause, well definitely one of the sources.
Had to pull out external shower fitting and housing to access compartment behind where floor is rotten and find pump with screw on fittings that are not even hand tight. Duh. All the white water residue all over fitting.

Fasten that then found leak on other side of pump.
Pump has been mounted to floor then connected up with hose that is about 2 inch short so stretched to make fit and pull pump off mounting never mind other end.
Not at the end of the trail yet but this has been leaking since being manufactured but...way its covered underneath moisture is retained and its like a rotting wood test chamber. Could manufacture spalted wood of any kind in these under floor cavities.

And all this one week before we leave for 2 week trip to Halifax.

But to add insult to injury...when my friend came over we spotted something in panel beneath fridge. It was a different color wood.
From standing height, it looked like water had wicked up and darkened the vinyl/paper covering. I made a note to investigate it.
Initially i blamed myself thinking this probably happened with some fridge defrost or something at some camping event.

Well last night i get down up close leverage the short piece off and could not believe my eyes.
There had been water damage and dealer had pulled the piece, was not able to get matching cherry vinyl to rewrap so put a darker color over (this looked like wicked water creeping up) and they deliberately fork tailed the edges to try blend it in with lighter color cherry wrap.

It was pure fraud to hide some leak i suspect is from underside of fridge. Need to investigate further.

So i got my work cut out this weekend.

The floor rotten is too big a job to fix before we go so i will make a temp fix with some ply from beneath.
Plus i want to make sure is have killed off the sources of said leaks.

I cannot convey how disappointed i am with myself for being suckered and with the trailer company for making such crap but the dealer fraud is the worst.

I now believe they used this trailer or it was a factory demo of sort.

Clue to me was the hot water tank anode that needed replacing 3 months into my ownership when the whole trailer had been used for one weekend.

Now all i think about is ....whats next. Oy Vey.

As my friends wife said to me what happens to the people that buy these things and don't have any diy skills.

So much for weekend plans. :(

Positive side is finding it out before its even further damaged. But fixing this is a huge job involves taking aluminum siding off to get to framing and replacing floor framing and plywood floor for 5ft x 2ft area on left rear. Repairing pex pipe leaks on pump.

So have fun this weekend you now know what i will be doing.
 
That is a total bummer. #7 and the next sentance caught my attention the most. Those signs could indicate the entire trailer was flooded at one time. With that much water damage that is a real possibility. From you description, it may be possible repairs are not economically feasible. If it were me there are a couple possible courses of action. One, I could have Rocco from Chicago pay the dealer a visit. Two, lawsuit time. Sadly, it does not look like there will be a positive outcome for you. Sorry. Keep us informed.
 
"4) Replaced what is supposed to last 10 years, carbon monoxide / smoke detector. They programmed to annunciate when end of life is reached."

Actually, when you're already dead, it's too late for them for go off. :huh:
 
Does sound like a law suit in the making, being only 3 years old it shouldn't have that kind of water damage.

That said, my parents trade off their 5th wheel about every 5 years as they don't want to deal with things breaking down, but of course they live in theirs half the year.
 
I can sympathize with you Rob. I had a similar experience with a slide in camper custom ordered from a company with a good reputation. Total goat circus from the start. Despite repeated assurances they failed to honor the delivery date. As a result the wife was stuck in a motel in Seattle with three young kids and no wheels and I was in another motel in Portland...for ten days, while they slapped together my order. When the camper finally arrived, nothing worked. No bracing under seats and bed, water line not hooked up, gas line to refrigerator kinked almost closed....etc., etc. When I lowered the jacks on the four corners to stabilize the rig, the entire front end underneath the cab over section separated from the rest of the unit. I could stick my arm through the crack where the floor joined the front wall. The company made good on the cost of motels and food and paid for repairing the separation issue, but it cost me all my vacation time for the year. A lot of strong words were exchanged. After all the problems were fixed, we got ten years of use and a lot of fun out of that baby. Eventually, an unnoticed leak in the roof/wall joint rotted out one side of the unit and it ended up in the dump. I feel for ya man.
They don't make 'em anymore.
traveleze ad new.JPG
 
Other than a few problems, sounds like it's in pretty good shape.... NOT!

Don't mean to make fun, but there's a point where you can't cry anymore and have to just laugh. Hopefully, a good lawyer can get the dealer to understand he's responsible for what he sells.
 
Well i hear ya guys on the lawyer up and maybe if i lived in the US i would take a shot at it. But trying to do this from Canada i dont see being worth the risk of the fee investment. Now if i could find a lawyer that would take a case like this on contingency heck i would go for it in a flash just for the justice.

Instead i will suck it up and just fix it myself. Then on the plus side i will know whats what on this trailer. Not fun but i am a realist and its a pragmatic way forward. I dont have time or inclination to spend ages fighting this dealer with no certainty to outcome.

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My son in law Eric works for a trailer factory. Each day one trailer is pulled out of the line and parked in the back. Each Monday a trailer is randomly selected from the 5 or 6 they pulled and that trailer is completely torn apart looking for screws that penetrate wiring, bad caulk and the other 1,000 things that could go wrong. Don't condemn the entire industry based on one example.
 
I have personally had 9 RV's over the last 30 years and they have all had major quality issues. I have had from 17 foot travel trailers to a 5 th wheel, and a recent 26 foot tag along bought new. I still love my RVing bit I am sure glad I can fix a lot of issues my self as they have all had them. On the motor home front I have had multiple class C's, a class B and a class A. I am not basing my troubles with the industry on one brand or one vehicle. And they have been made both in the USA and Canada. Some have been better and some worse but none have been great for quality. The 26 footer had the tire issue they were trash after 5000 miles and were replaced under warranty.. Thanks to a hard working young lady at the dealership.

Many of the issues wouldn't have been found by a complete tear down. For example one had a split basement Air Conditioner and the time delay relay was hooked up wrong where the AC would run but once it reached temperature it would cut off and never kick on again. Was a wiring error related to a time delay relay..

The class A had a skylight over the shower that literally let rain come in by the bucketful but at least it went right down the tub drain. Dealership fixed that one as well but it was found on the start of a 2400 mile trip...

Current one sees to be about the best of the bunch and it isn't new but is a small 22 foot class C by Jayco... A 1996 model year on a Ford.. However it ran all the 12 volt ground current thru one piece of number 14 wire that had got so hot it was dis-colored and the wire nut was partially melted.



I am glad that at least some are trying hard to improve the build quality as that is indeed good news.
 
Well i pulled the pump yesterday after determining it was definitely the pump fittings that were causing the leakage. Both on the fitting from the pump ( hand tightened hose type connector) and the strainer cup was loose causing a bigger leak.

Purchased a bunch of pex fittings and pipe and today will set about the fix. Will do the Frank Sinatra version "my way" fix and make it so pump is mounted without tension on hoses and is accessible to be able to check on in the future. Make the service for winterizing easier by making the panel (its an insult to panels to call what they had a panel) between the geyser /pump area a fold down panel and will provide strain relief to the pex piping.

Going to mount the pump in such a way as to minimize vibration transfer to trailer as well.

Good news is the section where they basically tried to hide a past water damage under fridge was not from anything to do with fridge but same sort of hose connectors making connection to the pex lines running from the rear. I guess they were not tightened properly and leaked then they did their messy patch job. There is no leak there at present. So that part is just a wood frame which i will make from real cherry and try spraying to match.

Also opened up other areas and found no damage so its just the one section which at least tells me the trailer is not a total flood damaged unit.

By the time i am done I will know this baby inside and out.

Will post some pics of all both before and after later.

Also climbed up on ladder and checked roof out in damaged area to make sure its not got something wrong with the rubber roof in that area.

As Gary makes the point i feel for those that cannot do this kind of work and dont have tools. Must make for either a dangerous travel trip or expensive service costs.
 
I guess the good news is you are finding the problems and fixing them correctly. While you are tearing things up, I suggest, you inspect the black water holding tank for integrity. My experience is those can, and will, fail. Not a pleasant, or inexpensive repair job. And, do check the power suppy unit, moisture will damage them and they will fail you at the worst possible time in the most remote locations during the worst possible weather. Good that you are checking the roof, sealing every tiny possible leak is crucial. Not easy but important. All else fails, I'll send you Rocco's phone number. ;)
 
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