Flood in the Coach, Help

[Bughawk]

Hi Folks,

I made a bonehead mistake yesterday when de-winterizing my 2108ds trailer. I decided to flush some freshwater through the system using the water pump and the same tube I used to put the antifreeze in last fall. Great, it worked fine. Next I decided to sanitize my fresh water tank with some bleach water but I forgot to close the value leading from the tube I used to pump the fresh water into the system and I started to fill the fresh water tank. All was going fine until I open the coach and noticed a ton of water all over the floor and water dripping out under the trailer near the freshwater tank valve. I quickly stopped filling the freshwater tank and mopped up the water and dried out the inside of the coach and the pass through using fans and a small space heater. The inside of the coach seems to be OK with just a small bit of swelling of the wood in a couple of areas. My concern is that water is still dripping from the area around the freshwater release valve under the trailer. I removed the foam insulation from around the valve to release any trapped water and that seems to be helping. What I am concerned about is more water that might be trapped between the floor of the coach the plastic membrane under the trailer. If anyone could give me some advice on what I should do next to insure there is no residual water that might be trapped I would greatly appreciate it and if there is trapped water how I might do about getting rid of it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Dave

[Morich]

I used to buy really bad RV and rebuild. One thing seemed to help get water out if it wastrapped above the plastic underneath. I found the plastic drooping down underneath and just used a nail to punch a small hole in some of the lower spots where the water collected.
I also found tilting the trailer different ways also got more water to run to the new "drain "holes. I found that when jacking up to put new tires on after I thought I had drained all the water, but more came out. So I jacked one side, the other to get tires, and then used the trailer jack to go from front to back tilts.

[Bughawk]

Thank you Richard for the advice. I will give that a try. I also talked to my local RV dealer and they suggested a dehumidifier. I don’t have one but I put in a bunch of buckets of Damp Rid which I hope will help draw out the moisture. I am also taking the trailer over for a check up and let them see if there is any water left after I try the tipping and moisture absorbers.

I really learned a lesson with this experience. I need to be much more attentive to what I am doing.

Thanks again,

Dave

[wyocamper]

You could drill some 1/4" holes and then stick some plastic push-in body clips once it's dry.

[Bughawk]

Thanks Wyocamper I had thought about drilling some holes but was not sure how to plug them after I got the area dried out. The push in body clips sound like a good idea.

[Bughawk]

Update on the water issue. I decided to try using the jack to raise and lower the front of the trailer to see if I could get more water to come out. It really did not accomplish much as only a few drops were released. I then jacket up the drivers side of the trailer and quite bit of water came out. I am not sure if that got all of the water but it did seem to get a great deal of it.

I also put Damp Rid in the coach and hopefully that will remove some of the moisture.



Thanks for all of the help.

Dave

[Just Mike]

Buy or rent a dehumidifier for the inside and fans for blowing the underbelly.

[Bughawk]

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I took the camper to the dealer to check out and it was a good thing I did. They found that there was a kink and hole in one of the tubes leading to the freshwater tank. I believe the fellow said that it was the vent tube and that most likely was the source of the water and not the fact that I did not close the one valve. They had to take the plastic membrane off of the bottom of the camper to get to the tube to fix it. While they did that, they checked the insulation which was not wet which is a good thing. They repaired the tube with the kink and reinstalled the plastic membrane, pressure tested the water tank and put a dehumidifier in the coach overnight. I am very relieved to have the proper repair done so I am ready for my next adventure.

Thanks again to everyone who offered advice. It was greatly appreciated. Happy trails to all

Dave