Community Forums

fansill · 10-17-2012, 06:56 PM

Hey All,

Just want to rant and tell you my tale of woe...!!! Last weekend we went camping with the grandkids. I set up the RV and did not open the Grey water tank as I wanted it to fill for a while to flush the black water tank. In the middle of the night on Friday, I got up to use the potty as most middle aged people tend to do....and I found that the RV was litrerally flooded. There was water everywhere!!!! At 2 AM I traced it down and I found that the the shower pan was flowing onto the floor . Then I noticed that the sink faucet had been knocked upward into the open position and the water had been flowing all night into the sink and thus was filling the grey water tanks and overflowing from the shower pan.... What A MESS!!!!

I opened the grey water valve and then I used every towel that I had...I had had about 12 towels to try to sop the water up. At about 3 am, I gave up and decided to attack it again in the morning. When I awoke, I used 7 rolls of paper towels and still the carpet was wet. I wanted to return home but hubby refused and he said that we should not ruin the weekend for the kids. We camped for the rest of the weekend with really wet carpets.

I returned home on Monday and purchased a steam-cleaner to try to suck-up the water and to clean the residual grey water smell... I "washed" the carpets twice and I have come to the conclusion that I am really exhausted and tired of the problems that accompany RV'ing...

Please convince me that I am wrong and that this is just a "bump in the road". My husband is disabled and I am so tired of doing it all myself....

I need your encouragement...

A very discouraged Faith in Massachusetts ...

Jon Mopar · 10-17-2012, 07:06 PM

We've all been there. The first time we filled the fresh water tank on our last motorhome (we had JUST bought it), we noticed that after over 5mins, there was no progress. Turns out we were actually filling underneath the bed with water hahaha! THAT was a mess, but nothing a shop-vac, towels, a hair dryer and a de-humidifier couldn't fix. It made a mess, but we dried it out and fixed everything. It was more our fault than the motorhome's.

we've had a few busted rad hoses and dead batteries while on the road too. Typical stuff. Headaches, but that never stopped us. Only slowed us down a little bit. We laugh about it all now though.

mikebreeze · 10-17-2012, 07:07 PM

I'm very sorry for your RV woes. I'm sure that you have had good times in the past with your rig and have met some really nice people. So don't get discouraged. RV's are complex machines that occasionally have issues. The key is to react to the issues and make the most of your excursion. Think about Messrs Scott and La Forge on Star Trek. They always got the Enterprise working again. And I'm sure that you can do the same with your rig. Hang in there.

Beabop · 10-17-2012, 07:10 PM

Use a shop vac to dry the carpet and run a dehumidifier if you can get one so the boards under the carpet aren't soaked. Keep the faith , it has to get better. If you are doing all the driving and hookups, you sure have a reason to be tired. Good Luck

BobGed · 10-17-2012, 07:14 PM

Very sorry to hear about your dilemma. I'm sure it was a daunting task trying to soak up all that water, but yes, it was just a bump in the road. I'll bet your disabled husband enjoys the RV lifestyle, and of course the grand kids are probably in 7th heaven riding in a home on wheels.

Try and hang in there. At least you know you'll make sure this particular problem will never repeat itself.

Sky_Boss · 10-17-2012, 07:21 PM

Everyone runs into some kind of pain in the ars event. I don't know how long you have been RVing so if this has been a short time, you have paid your dues already!

Listen, something like this isn't fun and can be extremely distressing. No getting around that. But I ask you this, did you learn something? Waste water management is foreign to those that haven't had to do that before. Transitioning from a S&B mentality to a RV mentality just isn't natural. Learning things to help avoid things like this sometimes comes through personal experience.

Been there, done that.

Take some time to let this pass. You will need to make sure you get the RV all dried out very well before you do anything (selling or keeping) with it anyway. Try not to act too quickly in any direction.

In the end, after you get your ship right, think out what you want out of RVing. That is important.

Having a disabled partner is hard. I know that if something like this happened to us, WE could have worked it together. I'm not sure what your situation is but certainly it is something you have to decide whether this is more than you thought it would be.

In the end, I wish that you find a solution that fits your needs. It may or may not include your RV. It would be presumptuous of me to know what is best for you.

Just give yourself the time to get as much help and input from those you trust and follow your head and heart. I'm rooting for you and your family no matter what.

Wayne M · 10-17-2012, 07:22 PM

We had the grandkids with us when we visited the Left Coast. When they came to the MH to spend the nights we walked them through everything and explained the do's and don'ts. Other than lots and lots of sand in the MH - everything else was fine. We were at the beach and even though they showered outside first, the sand was ever present.

You situation was much worse, but after you get it all cleaned up you will look back and chuckle, if not laugh at it. It will also be a family fireplace story.

jlfbatonrg · 10-17-2012, 07:26 PM

Faith,
All of us older folks with grandkids get to have these moments. The good news is they don't happen very often, and the fun we have when taking the grandkids makes up for the problems they can create. We solved your problem by removig all the carpet and replacing it with simulated wood vinyl flooring. If anything happens, and it will with kids and dogs, we just vacuum up the mess and go on.

My wife says, the odor is probably coming from the padding under the carpet if your coach has padding there. If it does, she says you will probably have to lift the carpet and remove the padding to get everything to dry out properly.

An alternative might be to just remove the carpet and pad, let the floor dry, then replace the carpet with something else. I have attached a couple of PICs of our floor to give you an idea of what we did.

dennis45 · 10-17-2012, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

Everyone runs into some kind of pain in the ars event. I don't know how long you have been RVing so if this has been a short time, you have paid your dues already!

Listen, something like this isn't fun and can be extremely distressing. No getting around that. But I ask you this, did you learn something? Waste water management is foreign to those that haven't had to do that before. Transitioning from a S&B mentality to a RV mentality just isn't natural. Learning things to help avoid things like this sometimes comes through personal experience.

Been there, done that.

Take some time to let this pass. You will need to make sure you get the RV all dried out very well before you do anything (selling or keeping) with it anyway. Try not to act too quickly in any direction.

In the end, after you get your ship right, think out what you want out of RVing. That is important.

Having a disabled partner is hard. I know that if something like this happened to us, WE could have worked it together. I'm not sure what your situation is but certainly it is something you have to decide whether this is more than you thought it would be.

In the end, I wish that you find a solution that fits your needs. It may or may not include your RV. It would be presumptuous of me to know what is best for you.

Just give yourself the time to get as much help and input from those you trust and follow your head and heart. I'm rooting for you and your family no matter what.

Well said Sky_Boss. We all go through the "Learning Curve" but the life style is the attraction for most of us. Easy for me to say with two people though.

Russ50 · 10-17-2012, 08:34 PM

I not been able to take my grandkids camping in our motorhome yet but anything can happen while on a trip or just at campsites,, My wife can't do much with helping out getting set up an all so I do everything from start till done,, I do enjoy camping with the motor home an all an I guess I will be takeing our grandkids next spring, We have had some prob's the last couple times we been out but its just something that can be added to the good ol camping tales, Everybody will hope that everything will be great while RVing but just never know till ya go an get back home,,lol,, Sure hope ya don't give up RVing an enjoy as much as ya can,,,

Gary - K7GLD · 10-17-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlfbatonrg

Faith,
All of us older folks with grandkids get to have these moments. The good news is they don't happen very often, and the fun we have when taking the grandkids makes up for the problems they can create. We solved your problem by removig all the carpet and replacing it with simulated wood vinyl flooring. If anything happens, and it will with kids and dogs, we just vacuum up the mess and go on.

My wife says, the odor is probably coming from the padding under the carpet if your coach has padding there. If it does, she says you will probably have to lift the carpet and remove the padding to get everything to dry out properly.

An alternative might be to just remove the carpet and pad, let the floor dry, then replace the carpet with something else. I have attached a couple of PICs of our floor to give you an idea of what we did.

You musta MISSED the part where the OP mentioned SHE has to do ALL the work, because her husband is disabled - I sorta doubt she is willing or able to rip up carpeting, and do a replacement with simulated wood flooring...

Sounds like she is disgruntled enough as it is - let alone entering into the area of RV re-engineering...

phil57 · 10-17-2012, 09:13 PM

Faith your post hit home with me. I'm not going to get into a lot of personal stuff but I will say that for 15 years my wife has had some disability and it required me to do a lot more than a normal spouse would have to do. It is important that your taken care of also. Everything can't fall to you to do. We changed things around and found a cleaning person to come in every other week. Sometimes she cleans the MH. There are lots of thing that we had to scrimp on like eating out but I couldn't do it all my self. My friends don't understand when I hire out stuff like winterizing and oil changes but that's part of the compromise
Now the shoe is on the other foot and I'm facing disability. I have had 3 failed neck surgery and can not lift much. We had a long talk and we just slowed down. We don't drive far in a day. We sit around the camp site a lot people don't understand when we can't join them but we just do what we can and are careful not to bite off more than we can handle. We spend more time alone together camping and that is ok.
It hard but I hope you can continue to use the RV and adjust your life around the disability.

timarti · 10-17-2012, 09:37 PM

DH is legally blind with very limited vision, so I do the driving and a lot more of the other stuff. Sometimes tricky to find the balance! He wants to do as much as possible so sometimes I have to step back and let him find his way to accomplish things on his own, even if I could do it faster. May take a liitle longer, but at least we are there for eachother and are out there having fun! We have had the usual newbie mishaps, but fortunately nothing involving black tanks.

Keep smiling and don't get too discouraged.

jstbu · 10-17-2012, 09:48 PM

Faith,

The exact same thing happened to me on one of my first times out camping with the g.kids. Opened faucet, flooded mh but add in being caught in a snow storm at the same time. What a mess! I was sure the MH was ruined but I dried it out and all has been ok with that part since. I did pull up the carpet in the bedroom mainly because i was worried about rot, but the floors dried out, relaid the carpet and it almost looks good as new been living in it for over 2 years now and the floors did not rot, the carpet in the bedroom is a bit loose but,we,are still having fun. RVing is a pia sometimes. Lots of work and some times I have to ask myself if its worth it. So far,it is for us,but you know when you hit maximum overload and it is time to quit. Best of luck in what ever you decide.