Fisher_Bill
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Re: Leaky Plumbing & Winter Living Prep Questions
We have used one of the radiator oil style heaters for winter storage, seams to keep things from freezing and there's no hot elements like conventional space heaters. Takes a while to heat up but keeps the trailer from gathering moister.1.3KViews0likes0CommentsRe: What to look for - construction / materials / options
Great set of videos, learned a lot about the plumbing and use of pex fittings with regular hoses, eye opening. Thermoguy wrote: Found this on youtube this morning. Maybe not the brands you are looking at but shows some of the poor quality decisions manufactures make when designing and building an RV. Things to stay away from or things that are good and will last a long time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gamZIUnWNp4683Views0likes0CommentsRe: What to look for - construction / materials / options
After saying goodbye to our 5er (earlier post) I will be checking the hangers where the leaf springs are attached and checking for broken welds as well as taking a peak under the corrugated plastic to be sure any cross supports are not showing any damage. This and check every corner of every cabinet for previous water damage. As Likes to Tow mentioned these are constantly vibrating themselves every time you hit the road, look for separation where the shower mounts to the walls and where ever cabinets meet the walls, if there's any separation it could be a future problem. That and check the sealed corners for failure but really look at the axles and leaf springs.684Views0likes0CommentsSaid goodbye to our 5th wheel yesterday
We had a 2010 Dutchmen 28RK we really liked, she loved the huge peninsula kitchen. We were on the Oregon coast getting ready to leave and in doing my walk around I noticed the tires were extremely close to the fender skirting like about 2". Walked to the other side and noticed the tires were sucked in to the body quite a ways, about 5" so I nervously set out for home about 80 miles away knowing I didn't have much clearance. Got home, unloaded and put the unit in the spot I keep it and then sat in my chair trying to figure out the problem, then it hit me, I walked over and looked under the unit and one of the angle iron supports between the 10" I beams had a failed weld and looking further I could see the lack of support had allowed the I beams to collapsed towards the driver side causing the whole trailer to shift over and fall down to the current state. I tried starting a case with Lippert and they wanted almost $3000 to have a tech drive over about 9 hours, 2 nights lodging and about two days of billable hours. Looking online I see a few class action suites but I read because Lippert made the frame to the Dutchmen specs they are not liable. I could not find anyone to work on the frame, no certified welders was the reason. So we made a claim to insurance and they totaled the rig so we signed over the title and we'll probably get a wired money transfer today. So we said goodbye to the 5er and we're moving to a travel trailer but I will be inspecting the suspension and possibly adding metal if I see the need. We like a floor plan from Grand Design but I guess they use Lippert also so we'll see. We were very lucky my wife put good coverage on the old trailer but I feel for those who might have lost out if their trailer was rendered useless due to a bad weld. I would suggest everyone check their welds on the hangers to the frame, it's the most common issue I found online. Bill638Views0likes0CommentsRe: Jacking up 5th wheel?
Veebyes wrote: Fisher Bill wrote: I use a floor jack and then put 6000# jack stands under the axles I'm working on. You carry a floor jack & jack stands with you on the road?? No, I thought he was speaking of driveway repair, I used the truck jack on the side of the highway and with the big trucks going by the trailer was moving around, didn't like that felling but completed the job.1.5KViews0likes0CommentsRe: belly liner repair
Mine kept coming loose from the strips of metal that clamp it up to the frame so after the second time of trying to re-clamp it I bought strips of 1/8 x 2" metal and bolted those up in 3 places from frame to frame, hasn't moved since. Fortunately I didn't get any tearing (so far).581Views0likes0CommentsRe: cleaning the outside of the 5'er
Thinking back to my boating days I had an old bayliner that had probably a half inch gel coat that used to be robin egg blue, I used a product called Penitrol and scotch brite to remove the oxidation then a buff with the 3M polishing compound and then a buff of McGuire's boat polish. Sold well...708Views0likes0Comments
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