Chalet ts116fb

Roundtowner wrote:
I've had a ts116fb for a couple years, a 2012 model, and love the overall design and layout, great space, and overall usability. It is heavy, and I've added lots of stuff. So I now haul it on an F550. This year, I've driven over 17K miles and spent over a hundred nights in it and enjoyed it immensely.
But, I've had some serious issues also. I'm sure all brands do and perhaps some models are are worse than others.
I'm in the process of replacing the bottom of my unit. I noticed a few months ago that the bottom was falling and when I tore into it, I found that a water leak had caused the rotting of the plywood that is the bottom of the basement floor. A poorly designed and cheap support(wrong material for the job) for the black and grey water tanks had broken. (Also, the main support under the fresh water tank had broken.) This allowed the tanks to sag severely and the black tank to press against the fresh water fill line. This caused the fill line to move(because the hose clamp was loose) and caused misalignment on the tank inlet spout. This allowed water to leak from the fill hose each time I filled the tank. I replaced the supports, put the tanks back into place, and repaired the fill line connection. I wanted to check for any other leaks before I put the new floor back into place, so I put water into the fresh water tank. BIG MISTAKE! I had neglected to reinstall the screws that held the bottom frame. I had removed some of them to repair/replace that broken frame support for the fresh water tank. Anyway, with the added weight of the water, the entire frame under the fresh water tank broke and dropped out the bottom. This allowed the fresh water tank and the batteries to drop over four feet to the floor, ripping the fill line, two vent lines, the supply line, the level probes wiring, the solar charging wires, and the battery wires to pull out. What big mess.
I've gotten things cleaned up and am starting to rebuild everything from the bottom up. I now have a new angle iron frame, a new water tank on order, and am gathering the other pieces needed to restore this TC to a great unit that I will enjoy using for many years. My dad told me a long time ago that there wasn't anything ever built that couldn't be rebuilt and be better than the original unit was. That's what I'm working toward. It's too bad that the manufacture couldn't provide a better design, better materials, and certainly better, or least some, quality control. These units are not cheap. For the money we pay for them, it would be nice to get your moneys worth and be able use them worry free for a long time. Just wishing I guess. Later, Larry.

I had a dealer try to sell me one of these back in 2010 when they first came out. After reading this Im glad I didn't. Good luck with your project and Im sure you will be making it much better and much improved. If I had a 116 I would be watching very closely.