Anybody else have something like this happen?
Three weeks ago, I was in full bug-out mode trying to hit the road from NJ to get down to Daytona for the Rolex 24. I left work at around 1pm, and figured it would take me a couple of hours tops to dewinterize and pack the RV.
My Sunseeker 2300 Class C was bought off the lot with pretty much every option box checked. Some are awesome, like the power drivers seat and foot thick Serta Innerspring mattress. Others, such as the "water filter", I've found way less useful in the 3.5 years I've owned the rig. This thing is (was!) simply a residential-style filter designed to be hard mounted to the inside of a kitchen cabinet. The mount is the top part which the canister screws onto, that cantilevers to a bent plate that is screwed to the mounting surface. In the case of what Forest River did, it was the plywood backboard the water pump was also attached to at the back of a storage compartment, all located behind a plastic access door and removal piece of FRP.
I've never been happy with the attachment of the filter. It is kind of big and heavy just hanging there, and clearly could rattle back and forth. Early on, I wedged a couple of strips of exercise mat material behind as a shim to take out the movement and cushion any vibration.
So anyway, the first step in dewinterizing this unit is to go into the compartment, unscrew the canister and dump the RV antifreeze in it. Open the door. There is a small flood in there. I think, well, it just did rain hard a few days ago and the unit was parked on a bit of a side slope, and it is winter so the rubber door seal got hard and some water got in. As I take out the grill and associated stuff, I see my flood is pink. Uh oh. I get the FRP panel off to find the filter canister has broken off clean at the threads, which is still screwed onto the upper mounting housing.
Several other thoughts occur simultaneously: I'm sure glad I discovered this in my driveway as opposed to a random campground on I-95 somewhere in East Jabib as I headed to Florida, which I had been considering as a dewinterizing location; how am I going to get this thing out, as the backboard and much of the plumbing was clearly installed before the house was completely attached to the frame; and, this has a strong likelihood of fubaring my living on the edge travel schedule.
Via a really long Phillips screwdriver, I got the top housing off the backboard. With a pipe wrench and vise grips, the threaded ends got undone from the PEX piping, and off I went to Home Depot to look for something to splice in. The plumbing aisle was my savior, where I bought a short length of braided line with the appropriate connections. Came home, installed, with the total time elapsed on one hour from discovery of the Uh Oh to resuming flushing the water system.
Pics follow. Just another example of RV manufacturer stupidity. This is not an old unit either. As said, on the road for 3.5 years and just under 30,000 miles, all by me.
Bustedness:
The top housing, kinda bent up so I could get to the mounting screws:
The fix, showing the backboard, and the old padding I had on the canister, so this wouldn't happen:
Three weeks ago, I was in full bug-out mode trying to hit the road from NJ to get down to Daytona for the Rolex 24. I left work at around 1pm, and figured it would take me a couple of hours tops to dewinterize and pack the RV.
My Sunseeker 2300 Class C was bought off the lot with pretty much every option box checked. Some are awesome, like the power drivers seat and foot thick Serta Innerspring mattress. Others, such as the "water filter", I've found way less useful in the 3.5 years I've owned the rig. This thing is (was!) simply a residential-style filter designed to be hard mounted to the inside of a kitchen cabinet. The mount is the top part which the canister screws onto, that cantilevers to a bent plate that is screwed to the mounting surface. In the case of what Forest River did, it was the plywood backboard the water pump was also attached to at the back of a storage compartment, all located behind a plastic access door and removal piece of FRP.
I've never been happy with the attachment of the filter. It is kind of big and heavy just hanging there, and clearly could rattle back and forth. Early on, I wedged a couple of strips of exercise mat material behind as a shim to take out the movement and cushion any vibration.
So anyway, the first step in dewinterizing this unit is to go into the compartment, unscrew the canister and dump the RV antifreeze in it. Open the door. There is a small flood in there. I think, well, it just did rain hard a few days ago and the unit was parked on a bit of a side slope, and it is winter so the rubber door seal got hard and some water got in. As I take out the grill and associated stuff, I see my flood is pink. Uh oh. I get the FRP panel off to find the filter canister has broken off clean at the threads, which is still screwed onto the upper mounting housing.
Several other thoughts occur simultaneously: I'm sure glad I discovered this in my driveway as opposed to a random campground on I-95 somewhere in East Jabib as I headed to Florida, which I had been considering as a dewinterizing location; how am I going to get this thing out, as the backboard and much of the plumbing was clearly installed before the house was completely attached to the frame; and, this has a strong likelihood of fubaring my living on the edge travel schedule.
Via a really long Phillips screwdriver, I got the top housing off the backboard. With a pipe wrench and vise grips, the threaded ends got undone from the PEX piping, and off I went to Home Depot to look for something to splice in. The plumbing aisle was my savior, where I bought a short length of braided line with the appropriate connections. Came home, installed, with the total time elapsed on one hour from discovery of the Uh Oh to resuming flushing the water system.
Pics follow. Just another example of RV manufacturer stupidity. This is not an old unit either. As said, on the road for 3.5 years and just under 30,000 miles, all by me.
Bustedness:
The top housing, kinda bent up so I could get to the mounting screws:
The fix, showing the backboard, and the old padding I had on the canister, so this wouldn't happen:
