Crap! Quite Litterally

[Poppy_s_5th_Whe]

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.

[glazier]

Rvpapa wrote:
A good welder can fix up that tank better than it was new. Ask him/her to weld in the broken pipe fitting also.
Art.

Little story on that subject. Years ago worked for a large engineering & foundry company. One day a new welder was working on a large forging and one of the office women walked by and commented on what an easy job he had just sitting there and burning rods.
Well it got to the point with the other guys egging him on that he said to her if you think it is so easy take the mask and try. Well she laid down a bead that any machine would have been proud of, handed back the mask, smiled and just walked away.
The rest of the crew only told him a couple of days later that one of her very fist jobs was welding Perspex windshields for wartime fighter aircraft.

Art.

That is a cool story. I know lots of women that can weld very good.

[Rvpapa]

A good welder can fix up that tank better than it was new. Ask him/her to weld in the broken pipe fitting also.
Art.

Little story on that subject. Years ago worked for a large engineering & foundry company. One day a new welder was working on a large forging and one of the office women walked by and commented on what an easy job he had just sitting there and burning rods.
Well it got to the point with the other guys egging him on that he said to her if you think it is so easy take the mask and try. Well she laid down a bead that any machine would have been proud of, handed back the mask, smiled and just walked away.
The rest of the crew only told him a couple of days later that one of her very fist jobs was welding Perspex windshields for wartime fighter aircraft.
Art.

[d-mac1]

A neighbor of ours used that to fix a hole in a plastic sink drain line in sticks and bricks house after they drilled into it. Held for a while (or they knew not to use upstairs BR sink). Unfortunately the new owners had a major problem and had to tear out a wall.

Sooo. I would put in new tank. A 'weld' may work, but do you want to risk it failing while on a trip? I dunno what should be used to glue sewer line to tank. If its all abs tho I've used a glue made just for that from Home Depot. Its very fast acting so gotta connect right first time.

[Cummins12V98]

I know it's water under the bridge now since I see you removed the tank. My thought would be to clean the area and apply a good coat of the Right Stuff gasket maker from Permatex. Would have had nothing to loose by trying it. I think it would have worked well since the hole is so high. Oh well never know!

Good luck.

[jalichty]

Sorry to hear about your problems, it's good that you were able to find the problem. Hope the "welder" can get it fixed for you.

[garysol]

Glad you found the problem so quick and more importantly I hope you are able to go on your trip. Good luck on a quick repair

[Aridon]

The troubleshooting is always the biggest PIA in my mind. Glad you found it and I'm thinking they should be able to patch that for you. If not a new tank should be fairly simply to install with another set of hands for help.

[rtazz17]

whiskyrunner wrote:
got a better look today while I was under there and the whole thing is solid as a rock. He said it could be used for towing triple if I ever wanted to pull a boat but that's not my interest.
It's towing double, not triple, you are towing a camper and a boat, that's double towing, My commercial drivers license, is for class a, towing double, two trailers or triple , 3 trailers, the tow vehicle doesn't count as a towed unit

Lol,Thanks captain Obvious I think we all knew what he meant!
Good luck,hope the cheap fix will work.

[whiskyrunner]

got a better look today while I was under there and the whole thing is solid as a rock. He said it could be used for towing triple if I ever wanted to pull a boat but that's not my interest.
It's towing double, not triple, you are towing a camper and a boat, that's double towing, My commercial drivers license, is for class a, towing double, two trailers or triple , 3 trailers, the tow vehicle doesn't count as a towed unit

[shadows4]

What a crappy job!!!! LOL Sorry couldn't help myself.

[Poppy_s_5th_Whe]

tvman44 wrote:
Are those 2" receivers welded to the original bumper? Sure hope not.

I thought I answered this previously but the receivers merely pass through (and are welded to) the original bumper. They no longer serve the puspose of carrying the hose but they take no weight or provide support. That is all done under the trailer where there is a "ladder" shaped sub-frame sort of addition. That's what holds the weight of the receivers. Adding 3 receivers just allows me to remove the 2 racks if I'm camping without the generators and don't want to bring them along..

I got a better look today while I was under there and the whole thing is solid as a rock. He said it could be used for towing triple if I ever wanted to pull a boat but that's not my interest.

BTW, I did get the tank out of the trailer. What a PIA. Unfortunately I made matters worse by breaking the tank around the toilet inlet.******again! I am still taking it to the plastic welder to see if he can fix both areas before I order a new one.

[shadows4]

If nothing else works maybe this will. I fixed a plastic gas tank on one of my son's friends car using JB Weld. It might be worth a shot. I would try that before I would go to all the trouble of dropping the tank. Good luck and keep us informed as to how you do repair it.

[Vulcaneer]

You are doing exactly what I would do. Try to get it welded. And if that doesn't work, then get the new tank and put it in myself. That ain't rocket science. And an RV service shop would be price ridiculous.

Glad you got it figured out.

[ttempleton]

Sorry some people are so negative. Hope you get it fixed soon and on your way.