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LarryDel's avatar
LarryDel
Explorer
Nov 01, 2018

Problem after Problem with new RV

Lots of problems with out new coach. More recent we found water in two of the outside compartments. Service man thinks its condensation. It was about 1/2 in both compartments. I tried spraying a hose on the compartments and no additional water went in. More importantly we had a noreaster with a driving rain and strong winds. During the storm we noticed water seeping from under the refrigerator and down the living room flooring. Also noticed that the outside vent refrigerator cover is a little buckled. The service guy said that wouldn't cause the leak. Should we use some type of seal around the perimeter of the vent. Probably should replace the cover but we had the full body paint. Can the vents be made to match the paint scheme.

Quality seems to be a thing of the past when building these
RV's.

I welcome your comments, Larry
  • Our previous travel trailer, Outback 298RE, had a slide in closet in the bed room. After one trip we were removing dirty laundry from that closet and everything was wet. Examining the bottom of the hanging cloths that touched the bottom of the closet, all of that was wet too. Camper was still less than a year old.

    I went on a mad search trying to figure out where that water came from that soaked the carpet on the bottom of the closet and absorbed into the hanging clothes touching it. It was WET.

    I sprayed water from all directions on that slide out. I couldn't make it leak. Every time I washed the camper, every time we went through a rain storm, every time we towed in the rain after that, I'd check to see if that carpet was wet. I did this for the next 4 years, and it never got wet again.

    We've since traded that trailer, but to this day, I still do not know what made that closet floor sopping wet!

    Sometimes, mysteries just never get solved. I certainly hope you can figure yours out though. My first thoughts would be the refrigerator condensation is the problem. Good luck.
  • Mobile techs are a good idea.
    Also independent service companies can do warranty work
  • Pay for a sealtest to be done. That will point any and all leaks. Then learn to do your own repairs. I know its frustrating, but it is what it is in the RV industry.
  • there is no quality in the rv world. learn to do repairs yourself, or wait for the dealer to half ### repair it. when you do need a repair you can,t handle ,call a mobil tech .
  • The fear of horrible quality was a factor in my thinking. But, the small inexpensive one I got this last spring was surprisingly well built. The dealership did redi all the seams on the wallpaper (they do all of them) but they all seemed to be puckered. The only "big" issue was the countertop. The top had an extremely small flaw that was marked at the factory but not fixed there. I honestly could just barely see the flaw. Dealership ordered new fixed. Now a couple things. One, the fact that the flaw was even seen at the factory says someone with action to detail was doing effective QA. They didn't fix, but they saw it. So, it's a mixed bag, but my excellent dealership five miles from home has been wonderful. Seams caulking on and on were all right. This is a Dutchmen Aspen Trail. I looked at these a few years ago and the quality was horrible at a glance. Windows not caulked, screws all over the place inside, doors not level etc. Lots of little issues you could see with a casual look. Not this last year though. I am pleased. The Lippert frame will need touch up, but the trailer itself nice for the low end of the spectrum.
  • Welcome to the club. May not be the case in your situation but we had a leak from the fridge caused by the drain for the defrost tray inside the fridge being stopped up. It is in the outside compartment and terminates in a small tray that defrost water is supposed to evaporate from. The hose has a plug with holes that I suppose is to prevent insects from crawling in but can stop up easily. With our new RV, it pissed my wife off but I resigned myself to fixing all the little stuff myself. Dropping it off at the dealer with a laundry list (which you WILL have) only insures you are going to be without your new toy for a longer time. Yeah, build quality sucks but most components are pretty well made and once you get past the crappy assembly, all will be good. You will want to get a tube of both the levelling and non levelling type of Dicor sealant to have on hand to stop leaks. If that fridge vent is really bad, I'd insist on a painted to match replacement. I'd suspect a really bad blowing storm could cause water to get in through the vents. I would not put any sealer on them. They would still have the vent holes and sealed you wouldn't be able to take them off easily.