Intermittent leak - need to drop underbelly for troubleshoot

[ScottyP5947]

Hello RV friends!
Well we have made it to the end of another lovely RV season. I have had a few issues, including a leaking A/C unit that was barely held down onto the roof and brake wires that were worn through and shorting out so I lost my brakes while headed through the mountains. Glad I spent the money for good pads and vented rotors on my TV! I got it all figured out but now I need to troubleshoot a strange leak. I posted about it before and thought I found the issue - the refrigerator vent was routed inside the coach 'basement'. I re-routed but I still have this strange leak now and then.
I notice it when I am dumping my TT, and ONLY then. It drips from the low point drain penetration point in the underbelly. It's not a lot, but it's a leak so I am concerned. The two things I am doing while dumping that I don't normally do are this - I run the water for a long time through the pump. I use it to help fill the black tank when I flush it, and to add water to the grey before dumping. I have only showered once in my TT so that's a long time to even intermittently run the water for me. The other thing I do is use a hose and spray water into the toilet. I do this to flush it out and make sure the tank is clean, to refill to dump a second or third time if it's the end of the season. So I think it is either a small leak in the plumbing that I don't normally see or it's some sort of leak in the connection between the toilet and the black water tank.

I am going to go on one more trip this fall before I winterize and I want to take advantage of the situation to troubleshoot. So how do I drop the underbelly of my Heartland Mallard IDM245? I thought it was screws but it's some kind of rivets or something. How do I remove these nicely and what should I expect under there? Are they commonly packed with insulation or are they mostly open? Mine was advertised as having a 'heated basement' - so is it going to be open with no insulation? I know there is an option to cut the underbelly and re-tape. I'd rather not do this, unless it's the way it should be done. Sorry for the lengthy post but I wanted to be as detailed as I could be.
Thanks in advance!
Scott

[ScottyP5947]

Ok thanks a lot! I'll give this a whirl. I've got more time now, just discovered my truck has a fuel leak so I won't be camping this weekend.
So glad for forums like this!
Scott P

[Community Alumni]

These are ramset pins and can be pried off. You can use a 5/16 socket on them to loosen them up. It won't back them out, but it will help break the connection and make prying easier. You can also so this with vice grips.

Take a pry bar, screwdriver, or the claw of a hammer and pry the pins out. Put the pry bar between the colorplast and the frame or between the colorplast and washer. If the head pops off, then just get a really good bite on the pin and pry it out. If one snaps off flush with the frame, just forget about it.

This is how I got all of mine out. Replace them with washers and self tappers. If you want to reduce the likelihood of sagging in the future then use more fasteners than the factory used.

[ScottyP5947]

Yeah they didn't come out by un-screwing them at all. Sounds like quite a process to get them out, no matter how much I hate the idea of cutting and taping the underbelly it seems like what I should do.
Thanks, Scott

[Ralph_Cramden]

budwich wrote:
that just a standard bolt that the plastic pulled thru during its install which might make it harder to get at the bolt head. Just clean away the plastic and use the right size nut driver to take off the bolt.

It's not a standard bolt. Its a hardened pin shot into the steel with a specialized pneumatic nailer. To remove you use a 4" grinder with a wafer wheel or a cutoff tool, and cut off the head, then after you remove the coroplast grind off what remains of the pin flush. Pulling those out of the steel is tough as they have flutes on the shank of the pin. After they're ground off flush you can take a drift and punch them through in the direction they went in but it's time consuming.

[budwich]

that just a standard bolt that the plastic pulled thru during its install which might make it harder to get at the bolt head. Just clean away the plastic and use the right size nut driver to take off the bolt.

[ScottyP5947]

This is what it looks like. Any way to remove these?
Thanks

[ScottyP5947]

Ok, thanks folks. These don't look like pop rivets, they almost look like a bolt but you can't unscrew them.
If I cut the underbelly, what kind of tape ought I use to tape it back up?

Thanks
Scott

[SoundGuy]

ScottyP5947 wrote:
I know there is an option to cut the underbelly and re-tape. I'd rather not do this, unless it's the way it should be done.

That's how I've done it - no issues at all and much easier than dropping the underbelly.

[donn0128]

Drill the pop rivets out. No big deal. If your is anything like mine you will find 4 inch fiberglas batts laying on top of the plastic. When you figure out size, go buy a batch of SS self taping screws and flat washers to secure the sheeting back up.