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Got it insulated last night, sealed the insulation in with silicone to prevent any water that does get into the belly from getting up into the flooring. New sheathing is down. Had my little guy helping, I'm worried he's going to become a framer...board shorts falling off his ass, running shoes, can't read a tape, keeps asking what the level is for, and was yelling at everyone what they were doing wrong.

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Squamch said:
Got it insulated last night, sealed the insulation in with silicone to prevent any water that does get into the belly from getting up into the flooring. New sheathing is down. Had my little guy helping, I'm worried he's going to become a framer...board shorts falling off his ass, running shoes, can't read a tape, keeps asking what the level is for, and was yelling at everyone what they were doing wrong.
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I don't have much to add, but this made me chuckle. Glad the kiddo was able to participate without causing too much trouble.
 
Chkn said:
I don't have much to add, but this made me chuckle. Glad the kiddo was able to participate without causing too much trouble.
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I wouldn't dream of trying to do something without his help. He sees me heading out the door and demands to know what I'm doing, if it sounds fun he'll tell me "I'm getting dressed, don't do anything without me daddy!"
 
Sheet vinyl got laid down tonight, 1 quart of glue was exactly how much I needed. The piece of transition strip I had was 3" short, and I still need almond silicome for the edges. Then the interior repair is done.
Then on to the outside. I bought caulking last night, got home and saw that I'd stopped off on the way home for 2 black caulks. Gotta return those. Once I've got the right caulking, tune up the exterior, Then get under the trailer and see about putting a stop to this happening again.

Then maybe...actually use it I guess?
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This is an expensive suggestion. But your bathroom should have a completely useless little exhaust fan. Replace it with a Maxxfan. It can be used in the rain, and moves a substantial amount of air. Like a full on whole-house attic fan. It helps enormously when you’re cooking to keep all the humidity out of the RV.

The rooftop vent lids are usually a type of fiberglass that’s immediately brittle and eager to break spontaneously. I’d highly suggest replacing them with unbreakable polypropylene ones. Also, vent covers are additional protection, and allow you to have the vent lid open in the rain.

So, when cooking inside, do all you can to move a ton of air. And as was mentioned, do all the cooking you can outside. Grilling is obvious. Also, we have an air fryer, and use it regularly outside. I’m right on the fence of getting a little propane griddle to go along with my Weber go-anywhere charcoal, which is the absolute shit for very small families.
 
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I was told when I bought it, that it needed a new battery.
Yesterday I looked at the battery. Battery shaped like a balloon, melted plastic on the negative terminal....wait...hmmmm....white cable on negative, black cable on positive. Well. This could be part of why the battery was nuked.
All the electrical works on 120v, so I'll pick up a battery today and see how it all works on 12v. Hoping it's not nuked.
I'm going to go deep cycle 12v from Costco. Cost/amp hour works out in favour of a 12v box of electricity.
 
There should be a couple of 40A fuses on the back side of your convertor. If the battery was hooked up wrong they may be blown.
 
So I found out that ABS pipe is almost impossible to find in Texas, I've since amazoned some 1.5 and 3 inch and bought a few flanges, couplers and bladex valves to toss in the parts box after a culvert snuck up on me and took out my grey drain on the 4th.
 
inthefield said:
So I found out that ABS pipe is almost impossible to find in Texas, I've since amazoned some 1.5 and 3 inch and bought a few flanges, couplers and bladex valves to toss in the parts box after a culvert snuck up on me and took out my grey drain on the 4th.
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ABS is hard to find:confused: what do people use to plumb drains with instead??

Good call having spare parts of that stuff though!
 
Squamch said:
ABS is hard to find:confused: what do people use to plumb drains with instead??

Good call having spare parts of that stuff though!
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It's all PVC here, that's all the big box stores and supply houses stock. The last supply house I went to said I may be able to find it @ a mobile home supply store.
 
Everyone Ive ever seen is black PVC for drains and pex for fresh
 
Arps said:
Everyone Ive ever seen is black PVC for drains and pex for fresh
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I've never even seen rigid black PVC pipe until I just googled it. Strange. Everything here is plumbed with ABS. Which is black, but isn't PVC.

Are you sure that "black pvc" isn't just local vernacular for ABS pipe?
 
So we've had this thing out twice now. Tows nicely, serves our purposes well. Fridge doesn't seem to work on 120V, and is a bitch to get going on propane. Is there something I can clean to get it to light off faster/easier?
Any advice on troubleshooting the fridge? As far as the backwards battery wiring goes...looks like it was built with the batteries connected backwards. If I hook them up the way they should be, all the light switches reverse, the awning switch reverses, fans spin the other way....going to have to go through it and swap connections everywhere.
It's really something watching people back trailers up in campsites. Like really something. I'm hardly a expert, but damn. I've never taken the time to appreciate it.
 
Squamch said:
So we've had this thing out twice now. Tows nicely, serves our purposes well. Fridge doesn't seem to work on 120V, and is a bitch to get going on propane. Is there something I can clean to get it to light off faster/easier?
Any advice on troubleshooting the fridge? As far as the backwards battery wiring goes...looks like it was built with the batteries connected backwards. If I hook them up the way they should be, all the light switches reverse, the awning switch reverses, fans spin the other way....going to have to go through it and swap connections everywhere.
It's really something watching people back trailers up in campsites. Like really something. I'm hardly a expert, but damn. I've never taken the time to appreciate it.
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Clean the propane orifice and replace the thermocouple. Depending on the fridge model a lot of the them have issues with the control module, easy to replace and relatively inexpensive for most of them. You could also have a bad 120v heater, find the service manual for the fridge and go through the troubleshooting section.
 
This season's hot tips:

Don't trust the previous owner when he tells you how to drain the water heater when winterizing. His way drains 90% of the water out of the trailer, but the other 10% stays inside and rots the floor.

So I rebuilt that part.

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Coming up the front wall was chasing an old leak...probably from before I recalled right after purchase.
When I rebuilt the bed platform, I made an access panel over the water heater and pump for ease of service later.
I also put a gate valve and a barb fitting for a hose on the water heater drain, to ensure that all water drains outside of the trailer.

tip #2-
Bring a brake line flaring kit with you, so when you arrive at the campsite and as you're putting the stabilizer legs down, you notice that the copper line underneath has work hardened and broken...you can fix it, instead of driving home for tools.
 
Squamch said:
So we've had this thing out twice now. Tows nicely, serves our purposes well. Fridge doesn't seem to work on 120V, and is a bitch to get going on propane. Is there something I can clean to get it to light off faster/easier?
Any advice on troubleshooting the fridge? As far as the backwards battery wiring goes...looks like it was built with the batteries connected backwards. If I hook them up the way they should be, all the light switches reverse, the awning switch reverses, fans spin the other way....going to have to go through it and swap connections everywhere.
It's really something watching people back trailers up in campsites. Like really something. I'm hardly a expert, but damn. I've never taken the time to appreciate it.
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I'm guessing you fixed this.:laughing:

But depending on the fridge...you can reset the control board and they sometimes come back on.
 
do yourself a favor and get the Anderson leveling ramps anderson they make set up stupid easy and couple them with a phone level or Bluetooth level you're golden. i also installed haloview cameras on my 5'er. you probably dont need the side view ones on yours but on my 37' trailer i have zero blind spots, i also got the door camera so you have views of whats going on outside when you are in the camper for those sketchy wallmart nights. the list is endless on gadgets you can get. just set it up and use it in your driveway for a few days befoer you take it anywhere and work out all the bugs.
 
I am late to the game. Change the bathroom vent to the cyclone type. It makes a huge difference on the trailer odors.
Also, a Blackstone propane grill. Get a small one burner one. Takes a ton of odors out of the trailer. If you are placing the floor, vinyl is a winner. It makes a huge difference on clean up.
Speaking of clean up, we do it before we even leave the campsite. I live in the Phoenix area. Nearly anywhere else is cooler to work in.
I also have a battery cut off. I still choose to disconnect the batteries.
 
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