This story really started on Thursday
July 14th when Georgia whispered in my ear something to
the effect , “...the cabin flooded...” When I arrived the place
was a neat as could be and the floor was very clean. The tiny
bathroom was a different matter.
Oh, it was definitely clean but the
shower paneling was buckled and the wall behind the toilet was
soaked. The problem was discovered while G was away shopping, no it
wasn't Wal-Mart this place is far to tiny for that. When she arrived
at the cabin water was spraying off the top of the trailer. The
folks at the Campground had turned off the water which stopped the
flow and now we had to find out what was going on. As it was late in
the day we reverted to bottled water and started using the Campground
facility until the problem could be determined.
The first thing Friday morning I called the RV dealer where we bought the thing. They were rude and of no help. Within the next 24 hours I found you are
totally on your own when you buy any RV or travel trailer from a
million dollar rig to a simple pop-up. The dealer has only one thing
in mind, sell the thing, make a profit and get rid of you. This was
the universal comment from everyone we talked with in the park.
Those of you who “camp” in the midwest will have no understanding
when you are hundreds of miles away from the nearest source of
repair, which in our case is Albuquerque. It is a $400 repair call
plus time and parts when they decide to get to you which could be
days or weeks.
We also learned the quality of
construction in these rigs is terrible. Plastic pipes, quick
connects, high pressure flex hoses and plastic everything. The
million dollar rigs, we have $500,000+ units on both sides of us, have exactly the same construction techniques and materials. The
owners of these high price units universally had complete plumbing
and electrical tool kits, which they had assembled, on-board. The
readily shared tools and advice and I called Curt several times.
On Friday afternoon I managed, after
some time and several drenchings, to isolate the problem. It was a
flex hose behind the toilet which laid against a fiber board panel
and was slightly twisted and kinked. I found a slight tear in the
line and worked to address it.
Chama has a combination Grocery
store/Ace Hardware. Oddly the grocery store which is named “Lowes”
and is a chain in this part of the country, I don't imagine it is
associated with the big box Lowes operation in our part of the world.
I came to know the folks at the Ace
very well.
Round 1: Silicone tape and plumbing
adhesive – I wrapped the pipe in place waited half an hour for
everything to set and turned on the water.
20 minutes later water ran across the
floor.
Round 2: Stripped out all the tape and
adhesive and extended it the length of the tube.
20 minutes later water ran across the
floor.
We turned off the water, cleaned the
flood and went to supper. Good night but not much sleep.
Round 3: I tore our the MDF case
behind the toilet which surrounded the plumbing and electrical. The
water line was scored almost the entire length. It was clearly due
to sloppy construction now we were paying the price. The hose was
too far gone to recover so we had to replace it in total.
Rounds 4 and on....
This merry go round continued all day
Saturday the 16th. We finally got a solid connection but
it has a small leak. Curt and I agreed we will rebuild the entire
plumbing system this autumn with proper material to finally end the
problem once and for all. Until then we continue on bottled water
and use the campground facilities.
As for the manufacturer and dealer this
is my only comment, Why pretend to warrant these pieces of junk just
say it the way it is Caveat Emptor – sucker.
So ends the story of the “Toilet from
Hell.” Tomorrow, the 17th, is my first ride as a
Docent.
j
