Forum Discussion

Poppy_s_5th_Whe's avatar
Poppy_s_5th_Whe
Explorer
Jul 30, 2014

Crap! Quite Litterally

I took the trailer to a local muffler/welding shop who does custom hitches to have a hitch and 2 trays (for carrying my Honda generators) made.

They did a great job and created exactly what I wanted but I ended up with a problem and I don't know how severe it is.

I'm driving off and I smell sewage really bad. I pulled over and took a look around and I have raw sewage draining out from my coroplast (sp?) around the front jacks and I also noticed water dripping around the drain valves for the rear grey water tank! Yikes

I have no idea how it happened. They did have the trailer on a lift but I don't remember if anything came in contact with the sewer pipes. I thought if so it may have pushed them up into the black and grey tanks and broke them or the seals around the drains or something.

Crap! I'm at a loss. I suspect I need to drop the coroplast and take a look. If nothing else the insulation is going to need to be pulled out and replaced because it stinks to high heaven!

That doesn't look like an easy job. At least 5 million screws and lots of stuff protruding that will keep it from just dropping down.

Anyone with any ideas on what may have happened or experience dropping the bottom of these?

We are planning to leave for 3 months on August 18th so I'm going to need to get busy in a hurry.
I took the trailer to a local muffler/welding shop who does custom hitches to have a hitch and 2 trays (for carrying my Honda generators) made.

They did a great job and created exactly what I wanted but I ended up with a problem and I don't know how severe it is.

I'm driving off and I smell sewage really bad. I pulled over and took a look around and I have raw sewage draining out from my coroplast (sp?) around the front jacks and I also noticed water dripping around the drain valves for the rear grey water tank! Yikes

I have no idea how it happened. They did have the trailer on a lift but I don't remember if anything came in contact with the sewer pipes. I thought if so it may have pushed them up into the black and grey tanks and broke them or the seals around the drains or something.

Crap! I'm at a loss. I suspect I need to drop the coroplast and take a look. If nothing else the insulation is going to need to be pulled out and replaced because it stinks to high heaven!

That doesn't look like an easy job. At least 5 million screws and lots of stuff protruding that will keep it from just dropping down.

Anyone with any ideas on what may have happened or experience dropping the bottom of these?

We are planning to leave for 3 months on August 18th so I'm going to need to get busy in a hurry.



  • agesilaus's avatar
    agesilaus
    Explorer III
    Jul 30, 2014
    Yes you are going to have to drop the Coreplast and see what is going on. Hopefully it will be an easy plumbing fix. Could be a cracked pipe or fitting or a bad valve. I'd flush the area with a water hose before getting under there if possible.

    Replace the wet fiber glass insulation (if that's what's in there) with rigid foam board from the big box hardware store. It doesn't absorb water.
  • jalichty's avatar
    jalichty
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    Is your black tank at the rear of your FW? If so, then they might very well have melted something but if it's at the mid-front, I would guess they didn't do whatever happened. What a terrible thing to have happen so close to a big trip.
  • d-mac1's avatar
    d-mac1
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    Poppy's 5th Wheel wrote:


    Anyone with any ideas on what may have happened or experience dropping the bottom of these?

    We are planning to leave for 3 months on August 18th so I'm going to need to get busy in a hurry.



    It looks like your landing gear are suspended in space? Did they really lift it up in the air balanced on just the tires? Could it have pitched over and something hit the corroplast and busted your black tank or smacked your sewer line and broken the connection? i'd think there would be some evidence of this under the trailer.

    First, I'd call the shop and tell them what you've got.

    Second, go dump your black tank and wash it out. I actually dunno if this is a good idea. Could depend upon the problem.

    Odd that it wasn't leaking in the shop if they did something but maybe there needed to be some sloshing to make it leak. Perhaps you can get enough of the corroplast loosened to peek in there before you loosen it all. Of course, you may not wanna get your nose that close. What a bummer.

    So, for getting the corroplast down, about all I could figure to do if I was gonna remove all of mine would be to cut it into sections. I didn't need to do that this time as all I needed was access to a small part.

    I got some really strong, wide tape from Home Depot (Nashua SELECT Flashing Tape) to tape it back together. Can't remember if it was $40 for a roll or $80, but it wasn't cheap when all I wanted was a small bit, but its sticky and durable. On the corroplast, what I did was make a hatch via first marking and then cutting three sides and left the front connected like a hinge. I peeked into my trailer to see where I wanted the hatch....hence my suggestion earlier.

    Good luck and keep us posted on your findings!
  • Water-Bug's avatar
    Water-Bug
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    I don't understand that picture of the 5er on a lift. 20% of the trailer weight should be on the pinbox. How is it being supported ? If it tilted forward at any time, it could have put weight on the plumbing beneath the trailer.
  • Rvpapa's avatar
    Rvpapa
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    They did do nice work. But I hope it is a lot stronger than what it looks like.
    Art.
  • Goostoff's avatar
    Goostoff
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    I sure hope there is a forklift or something under the pin cause I dont see anything else on the front half of the trailer on the hoist.
  • FLY_4_FUN's avatar
    FLY_4_FUN
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    It looks like the front of the hoist is running right behind the landing gear and is supporting the I beam frame. If that's the case it may very well have pinched or pushed pipes/valves that are running right above the coroplast. I would remove the coroplast to inspect the damage and then contact the shop to determine if their hoist practices created the damage. I suspect that it did.

    Daryll
  • Poppy_s_5th_Whe's avatar
    Poppy_s_5th_Whe
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    I didn't get this picture in my original post but it shows a forklift holding the front at the pin. Now, was it like that the entire time it was there? I don't know. I certainly suspect it was there or the trailer would certainly have tipped forward.



    My wife doesn't want me to do anything but call them and tell them they need to take full responsibility but I'm inclined to drop the coroplast and try to see what's going on first. They are not an RV repair place so they wouldn't be able to fix anything. If I can determine what's going on and it appears to be some damage that they may have clearly caused, then I can work through trying to get them to cover the repairs. I "think" they are good guys. I have worked with them once before but I don't know what they will say about this.

    I will call them in the morning and let them know a problem exists and see what they say. I just don't know what the problem is yet.

    BTW, my black tank is in front but it appears I have leaking going on in the galley area at the back of the trailer as well.
  • loulou57's avatar
    loulou57
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    Your wife knows best...don't we all? LOL! I would call them or better go in face to face and ask a few questions.

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