After I bought the Apache Travel Trailer last November, I noted several items that needed re-engineered.
The first was the installation of the outdoor shower. I wish I had my digital camera handy the day I cut the hole in the filon. We were at a KOA and all of the "walkers" commented on how nutty I was to cut a hole in the side of my camper. But this is one story that has a happy ending. The factory pre-framed the wall for an outdoor shower, and I had my template right over the frame and never knew it until after I made a hole large enough for my hand, I pulled the fiberglas insulation out and reached in and felt the frame. I was a "happy camper"
Second was to modify the sewer valve manifold. This trailer was built with the 3" valve, 3' ahead of the axles with only 4½" street clearance. Everywhere I pull the trailer, I am on pins and needles that it is going to hit, pull, or otherwise come apart and spill yuk all over the street. Well one day when dumping, I noticed that the gray tank outlet was leaking. Silly me, I pulled on the 1½" outlet and it completely broke loose. On second study, I found that the outlet had NEVER been glued at the factory. This gave me the excuse to re-engineer the manifold. I moved the valve rearward about 2', raising it to 7" street clearance.
Before..... (low sewer outlet)
#1 #2 #3
After....(Not only did I raise it, but I moved it rearward toward the axle. It will not likely drag anymore.)
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Third, the toilet was mounted on a carpeted riser that was wobbly. My wife asked me to sure it up, or remove the riser. So after removing the toilet and flange, I found that the riser was was not supporting the toilet to the floor. Instead, the toilet was being supported by the 3" pipe threads in the top of the black tank. Guess where the wobble came from? So I had to do some re-engineering today. First I cut apart the riser so that I could pull the water supply line out without having to do much splicing of the supply line. Removing the riser revealed the aparent purpose for it--to cover up the builders' mess up in the linoleum. Second, I found the hole in the floor was not on center with the hole in the tank. So when my new flange sat on the floor, the holes didn't line up. Not a bad mod, I just had to shave some floor with my jig saw. Then I found that a build up of adhesive on the top of the tank didn't let the flange set flush on the floor. So I shaved ½" off the bottom of the flange, leaving ½" of contact area for the PVC cement. The threaded nipple ended up with only ½" of pipe above the threads, which made it a perfect match for the flange. Screwed in the nipple, mounted the flange to the floor--everything lined up perfectly. Removed the flange from the floor, cleaned and cemented the mating surfaces and put them back down. Shortened the supply line, and then mounted the toilet. No wobble !!!!!
Before After
<A HREF="http://picasaweb.google.com/harmonicat/2002ApacheRBH25/photo#5087204411475956450" TARGET=_blank>Click here to see why the riser was there in the first place
</A>
I also had to made an adjustment to the bathroom vent fan--the blades were scraping the screen. Easy fix, I just bent the fan motor bracket upward. When my wife saw the switch exposed, she asked me if I could put in a pull string switch. "Sure honey...." All done.
The next job will be moving the water heater. The manufacturer's placement of the water heater is directly behind the entry door. When the door is fully open and the heater is burning, the heater's intake draws CO2 from itself, extinguishing the burner. Well luckily, there is room to move the heater ahead of the awning arm. The only issue holding up the job is finding a 12.75" x 12.75" (cutout) compartment door to fill the hole. Anybody have such a door to sell me?
Water heater
Then there is a necessary repair I have to make. The floor is rotted just inside the entry door. Under the linoleum, there is a hole large enough to drop a Ruby Red Grapefruit through. I've contacted the manufacturer with regards to warranty. But Sun Valley, who manufacturers the Apache brand, has denied my warranty on a stipulation that a unit sold after one model yeare must be inspected by Sun Valley. The dealer failed to tell me that. All he saw was that he was selling a brand new, 4 year old trailer from his inventory. Temporarily, I have covered the hole so that we can go camping, pending communication with the attorney generals offices in PA (my state), NY (dealer's state), and IN (manufacturer's state). I am sending all three attorney generals 50 pages of documentation, including email communication with the selling dealer where he absolutely assured me that this unit had full factory warranty because the trailer was "brand new." I'm going to let the three attorney generals figure out who has jurisdiction on this one before I ever lift the linoleum.
George
2012 Skyline Koala CS-21; 2010 Ford E-350 XLT; 
Linear Mode
