Rotten Floor in my Outdoors RV

[sportsman16]

Looking for any advice/sympathy. We purchased a 2014 Outdoors RV Creekside new in 2014. We noticed saturated carpet on a trip back in 2015. We ran a commercial dehumidifier for a few days and had the dealer inspect. Dealer apparently fixed a seal above the slide that had failed. While we have not used the trailer much in last few years, I do take time to inspect the roof/seals/caulking etc. Last week I decided to sit inside and "driveway camp" for an hour reflecting when the kids were younger and enjoyed camping. I almost stepped through the floor up near the front bedroom wall. Ironically very near the spot that we had water back in 2015. I have taken to trusted repair facility for inspection. The floor is wet and rotted under the vinyl from point of slide to under front pass through storage. He cut underbelly and removed handfuls of saturated insulation. Immediate inspection does not reveal source of leak as roof and seals/caulking look good. Initial repair estimate is $3,000 minimum and could go up depending on extent of rot found when torn apart. Needless to say I am not happy. An email to ORV for guidance is now over a week without response. Anyone have any advise? Been through anything similar?

[HuckleberryHunt]

sportsman16 wrote:
Yes, While the trailer has been used infrequently as of late, I do regularly inspect inside and out. I have never found a spot that appeared to have missing/worn caulking or seals. RV repair facility confirmed. I am unsure how I could have noticed rotting floor until I stepped on the soft spot. Never a sign of water inside. I understand it is out of warranty and I am on my own. My email to manufacturer was to ask some questions on construction as I could not recall if my walls are wood or aluminum frame, also if they could provide any advice on where to look for leak. Maybe they have had the issue before with the same model and could point out a direction to start. I certainly do not believe it is too much trouble for ORV to respond to my question. I remember when I traded in my 10 year old Jayflight which had never had any issues on my "built tough" Outdoors RV. I bought into the hype that is was a step above the others with regards construction. Maybe it is...However now I have an expensive repair on a relatively new unit. Just needed to vent I guess.

Unfortunately no matter how "tough" these RVs are built, they're still subject to leaks and manufacturing errors....and there will be undoubtedly problems that can't be seen until years of use. I understand your frustration. I feel the same. You buy something on the premis it's better built than others....and it actually probably is, but that doesn't mean that it's indestructible or perfect. I will say that on my old trailer I knew exactly where to look for hints of leaks.....with the construction of this ORV, I'm not exactly sure due to the foam core sidewalls and all the finish inside. I just hope I don't have a problem similar to yours where the construction is so "good" it hides evidence of a leak for too long. Your post is a good reminder to be diligent about annual maintenance and sealing though.

[carringb]

sportsman16 wrote:
My email to manufacturer was to ask some questions on construction as I could not recall if my walls are wood or aluminum frame.

ORVs have aluminum wall studs, which are bonded to luan. There is wood inside the aluminum studs to serve as backing where cabinets are attached. The floor joists are wood however.

Here's a pic I took during the factory tour, when I picked up my trailer there after a Schwintek slide-out repair. Hope this helps. I didn't realize before that tour, that the trailer is built fully from the inside out.



Full res version here:
http://oi65.tinypic.com/2hx3lp0.jpg

[westernrvparkow]

sportsman16 wrote:
Yes, While the trailer has been used infrequently as of late, I do regularly inspect inside and out. I have never found a spot that appeared to have missing/worn caulking or seals. RV repair facility confirmed. I am unsure how I could have noticed rotting floor until I stepped on the soft spot. Never a sign of water inside. I understand it is out of warranty and I am on my own. My email to manufacturer was to ask some questions on construction as I could not recall if my walls are wood or aluminum frame, also if they could provide any advice on where to look for leak. Maybe they have had the issue before with the same model and could point out a direction to start. I certainly do not believe it is too much trouble for ORV to respond to my question. I remember when I traded in my 10 year old Jayflight which had never had any issues on my "built tough" Outdoors RV. I bought into the hype that is was a step above the others with regards construction. Maybe it is...However now I have an expensive repair on a relatively new unit. Just needed to vent I guess.

They would not admit to a design fault in a million years. A few minutes on the internet should answer your question about wooden or aluminum framing. Leaks can come from a multitude of sources. A stick could have lodged in the weatherstripping of the slide and when a strong storm passed thru rainwater was driven into the rig. Leaves could have clogged the normal drain channels allowing water to enter. The covers on the vents could have been open or damaged. It would be odd that the floor completely rotted and there was no odor or signs of water intrusion on the flooring or walls. My wild guess is you have a leak in the plumbing and the water came up from the enclosed belly, not down from the roof. Most probable cause is freezing of even a small amount of water in one of the lines. Only takes an ounce or two stuck in a fitting to crack it. Might be time for a pressure test, and if that is the issue, a good lesson learned at Hard Knocks U is don't store a rig with any water in the tanks or lines. Good Luck

[sportsman16]

Yes, While the trailer has been used infrequently as of late, I do regularly inspect inside and out. I have never found a spot that appeared to have missing/worn caulking or seals. RV repair facility confirmed. I am unsure how I could have noticed rotting floor until I stepped on the soft spot. Never a sign of water inside. I understand it is out of warranty and I am on my own. My email to manufacturer was to ask some questions on construction as I could not recall if my walls are wood or aluminum frame, also if they could provide any advice on where to look for leak. Maybe they have had the issue before with the same model and could point out a direction to start. I certainly do not believe it is too much trouble for ORV to respond to my question. I remember when I traded in my 10 year old Jayflight which had never had any issues on my "built tough" Outdoors RV. I bought into the hype that is was a step above the others with regards construction. Maybe it is...However now I have an expensive repair on a relatively new unit. Just needed to vent I guess.

[westernrvparkow]

What reply could the company possibly give? They are obviously not going to cover water damage in a 5 year old rig. A "sorry for your troubles, but your rig is years out of warranty" response doesn't do either party any good. Pointing out what the owner should have/could have done to prevent or mitigate damage is just rubbing salt into the wound. For the life of me I can't think of anything better to do than just going dark.

[mgirardo]

We had water leak in our Forest River HTT. The factory didn't seal the bottom of the storage doors, so I never bothered to either. Unfortunately, the front most storage door leaked and a good portion of 1/3rd of the floor needed to be replaced. I did the work myself with the help of a friend. Pulled out all the furniture in the front half, pulled back the vinyl/linoleum. Then pulled up all the rotted wood. Let it dry out for a week in the GA heat. Then put it back together.

Materials were relatively cheap, I think all told we spent about $100 (that included a floor trowel for the adhesive since I didn't have one). My friend helped me with the demo, I did the rest. We spent 2 days, about 6-8 hours each day, pulling up the furniture, floor and rotted wood. Then I spent about a day putting it back together. Friend came back to re-lay the floor.

Considering how much time I spent doing the job, with about 24-30 total man hours, $3000 isn't unreasonable.

-Michael

[Dick_B]

emails are frequently overlooked because so many are scams companies, and some individuals, just don't read them.
The best way to communicate is by registered letter addressed to an individual, the president of the company is a start, or the customer service manager. They have to sign for it and, thus, can't claim they never got notified. Then you can follow up with an email or telephone call.

[whjco]

Yes. We purchased a 2006 Starcraft that was three years old. Several years later, the floor started developing soft spots. I pulled up the floor, followed the water tracks and discovered that there was a leak in the shower. The water was leaking into the space between the bottom plastic barrier and the chipboard floor and had saturated the insulation. I replaced the rotten floor with some marine glued plywood and replaced the insulation under the floor. I added venting and also ran a dehumidifier to try to pull all the water out of the lower wall plates. Once the water gets into those closed spaces, it's almost impossible to get it out. Several years ago I noticed that the front part of the frame was notching into the diamond plate on the front of the trailer and an inspection revealed that the frame was fine but the trailer was settling down on the frame. Last fall we had a 1' piece of rotten floor plate fall out of the back and we finally accepted the fact that the trailer was going to require more repairs than I wanted to put into it so we traded it in for a new one.

[carringb]

HuckleberryHunter wrote:
I love our ORV trailer (2019 model purchase a year ago), but had some warranty questions in the first couple months. . Three phone calls to the manufacturer went unanswered and messages unreturned. Called the dealer and said that the manufacturer denied the warranty request since we inspected when we signed the paperwork. .

The cause of denial possibly bad paperwork on behalf of the dealer. Or more likely... they never even filed a warranty claim, because they'd rather do retail work.

[carringb]

ORV can be hard to reach, but when you do reach them, they take very good care of you.

But for the OP - This is a 5 year old trailer. It's out of warranty. Trailers sometimes leak, and it's your responsibility to identify leaks and correct them before they cause other damage.

There's a good chance the initial leak was simply never dried out enough (you have to dry everything below too!) and that's the source of the rot.

The good news is the body itself should be sound still, so replacing the rotted section of floor should be pretty straightforward.

[SidecarFlip]

Why, why when we aren't using our RV, it stays inside in my tractor shop. Only time it goes outside is when we use it. Did the same with my last one as well. Sold it at 12 years old, just like new inside and out. Got top buck and no rot. Even the decals on the outside weren't faded.

I see so many RV's sitting outside winter and summer, uncovered, cooking in the sun and rain and snow and I think to myself...You paid all that jack just to let it sit out and rot.

[HuckleberryHunt]

I love our ORV trailer (2019 model purchase a year ago), but had some warranty questions in the first couple months. . Three phone calls to the manufacturer went unanswered and messages unreturned. Called the dealer and said that the manufacturer denied the warranty request since we inspected when we signed the paperwork. .
As much as I love the trailer I don’t trust the manufacturer to make good on anything without some serious hounding. I gave up on my issue as it’s something I could fix myself and not worth my time and frustration.
Sorry to hear of your problem. Hope it works out ok.

[goducks10]

So you didn't use it in the last few years? Did you do any preventative maintenance, like caulking? Did it just sit outside?

[colliehauler]

I doubt you will here anything from Outdoors RV since it's out of warranty. About the only thing you can do now is get it fixed and move on. Water had to come in from somewhere need to find out where.