2000 citation 9.2 grey water tank leaky its in the basement

[KAMPIN]

My grey water tank is in the heated basement. The tank and fittings are approx 5ft away from the rear of the camper basement access door. Is there a way for me to access the fittings or do I have to cut a hole in the floor from underneath the truck camper.

[KAMPIN]

Thanks for the sympathy. I did watch video on you tube, it scared me, the time to do these repairs become a labor of love and compete with the limited days of summer. I also have a campervan that I uilize for our limited summer enjoyment. The truck camper seems to have so much more room in it.

[notsobigjoe]

This has less delam than my 06 lance 1181. Pretty nice unit. "I think" Sorry about your mess. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of wood framed rebuilds on RV net. YouTube is another great place to get some help if you change your mind. I'm in the middle of replacing things in my unit and there is no way I can get it all done before the next trip so it has become a hobby of sorts. I'm not lecturing and we all have been there and done that...
https://www.billingsrv.com/default.asp?page=xInventoryDetail&id=13615945&p=1&vc=truck%20camper&s=Year&d=D&fr=xAllInventory

[KAMPIN]

Well now that I had my tantrum, I did a roughly 7in by 8inch cut out. I took a small mirror and flash light to check out where the leak was. The leak seemed to be at the top of the outlet fitting where it entered the tank. I sanded everything down and wiped with acetone. I applied Dicor to the entire circumference of the fitting where it entered the tank. I will let it set for a week then fill it up and see what happens. Just for clarity the fitting was lightly dripping, Maybe 1/16 of a cup per hour. Where the water was dripping on the plywood there was no damage at all. If the repair holds I will properly fix the sheeting where I cut the access hole.

[KAMPIN]

Well as usual the worst was realized. I started to take off the rear molding under the door and that's as far as I got. The bottom of the rear wall is delaminated and severely rotten about 8 inches up the wall. Half the screws were missing threads and all were severely rusted. Half the screws could be pulled out without turning. So it's now a guest cabin.

I bought this during covid and realized my 3/4 ton truck would be well over its max weight rating once I loaded up all the camping essentials so I worked on it over the last 2 years doing upgrades and maintenance until a 1 ton came up at a reasonable price. Here in canada a totally miled out 1 ton is still 25 to 30k. While working on it I did notice delamination around the bed windows and corresponding soft spots on the roof. I resealed everything and accepted it for what is was.

I thought I would go over all the water systems so I put water in it for the first time this week that's when I found the leaky grey water tank. Now that I know the back wall is rotten I'm throwing in the towel and not spending anymore time or money on it. I will put it back together and use it as guest accomodations.

And for the leaky grey water tank I'm not going to continue to rip the bottom sheeting off, I'm going to cut a hole in the bottom, put a screen over the hole and let it drip to the ground.

Lessons learned 1)when buying assume the sellers are lying 2)old people can lie to, so can their spouses especially when asked specific pointed questions 3)people can lie while smiling 4)on camping units do your due diligence 5)spend several hours checking out every nook and cranny, tanks, appliances etc 6)bring someone with you to help you look the unit over 7)older camping units are highly likely to have water damage 8)what ever looks like it maybe a problem, it's probably worse than what you think 9)don't gloss over potential problems because you think it's a reasonable price 10)sometimes you pay for something that's worth a lot less VS you get what you pay for.

Yes I'm grumpy and ultimately it's my fault for buying it. I do appreciate the help I got from the forum members.

[KAMPIN]

After looking at the job again the best I could do with a cut out would be a mickey mouse job with no guaranteed results. So I'm going to take the bottom sheeting off.

[notsobigjoe]

KAMPIN wrote:
Great pictures. Thank you. Your camper looks a lot more serviceable than mine, although yours looks a lot busier underneath than mine. My basement is heated but not insulated, the basement walls sit on top of my bottom sheeting and the screws go through the bottom sheeting onto the basement walls to hold it on. Thats why I'm worried that the screw holes might not hold the screws securely anymore. I guess there's always bigger screws. Also mine has no metal channeling anywhere. How did you hold your camper up while working on it?

I just left it standing on the four jacks. Now this is just my opinion and you can do as you want to your camper. With that said, If there is any question about anything pertaining to a wood frame that should probably be more important than a leaky holding tank. Wood frames are just as good as aluminum frames but require way more maintenance. If your concerned about screws coming out on their own I think that would be a priority as well as maybe being a culprit to your leak. There is another thread going on now that deals with the same issues.
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/30400358.cfm
In my many years of servicing and repairing all of my campers I have found that the jobs are usually big but not that hard. I have no skills that what dad taught me and I've done it all.
Good luck and post some pics of the project.
Joe

[Grit_dog]

Unless there’s an issue with your jacks holding or the mounts are compromised, just get under it sitting on the legs. If not gonna call on you. It’s been sitting on those legs when unloaded, for over 20 years now…
And you can use bigger screws yes or just sink em in in different spots if they’re stripped.
Don’t over think this. It’s not difficult.

Presumably you’d have to cut out a good size chunk if you’re going that route, no? Not a lot of backing in the field to be able to screw back in a small cutout. Nevermind the risk of cutting something else like a wire or a tank.

[KAMPIN]

Great pictures. Thank you. Your camper looks a lot more serviceable than mine, although yours looks a lot busier underneath than mine. My basement is heated but not insulated, the basement walls sit on top of my bottom sheeting and the screws go through the bottom sheeting onto the basement walls to hold it on. Thats why I'm worried that the screw holes might not hold the screws securely anymore. I guess there's always bigger screws. Also mine has no metal channeling anywhere. How did you hold your camper up while working on it?

[notsobigjoe]

KAMPIN wrote:
I pulled the camper off the truck. Looks like a full sheet 4x8 and a partial sheet 14in x 48in. Looks like the sheets can be removed but due to end trim pieces and caulking I think my best bet is doing a small cut out. If it leaks again in the future then I won't have to pull the whole bottom sheet off again, besides that half the time the screws have stripped out the wood and I don't want to work on a 2500 pound camper that will be supported only by its lifting legs.

I don't agree with this approach. Remove the whole thing and have a look. The word cutting as pertaining to the underside of any truck camper is not good. I took mine off to access some wires and holding tank problems and I had no problem. I did paint and trim in a new board though as well as replacing the insulation.
Here is what you will find.
Both tanks and wiring everywhere.




New board and insulation.

[Grit_dog]

It’s thin plywood. Lightweight. And if you open it up there may be a couple other things you want to do.
Maybe yours is different but I don’t think there was maybe 2-3 dozen screws total.

[KAMPIN]

I pulled the camper off the truck. Looks like a full sheet 4x8 and a partial sheet 14in x 48in. Looks like the sheets can be removed but due to end trim pieces and caulking I think my best bet is doing a small cut out. If it leaks again in the future then I won't have to pull the whole bottom sheet off again, besides that half the time the screws have stripped out the wood and I don't want to work on a 2500 pound camper that will be supported only by its lifting legs.

[KAMPIN]

OK, I will have to pull the camper off the truck. I did look and it appears the sewer lines and the saddles that the tanks sit on are screwed to the bottom sheeting. Are the tanks fresh water, grey and black hung from the floor? Would the bottom sheet come off in several pieces?

[Grit_dog]

Should be able to just remove the sheeting on the bottom of the camper and then everything should be visible.

[BarneyS]

Done. Moved to Truck Camper forum from Travel Trailers.