Shower Leak - Help!

[dmac]

Plumbing leak - only when shower in-use. Drain is not leaking. Believe it is the valve, pipe, or fittings that feed shower hose. I can feel water on top of the black tank, right below the shower valve area. Photos attached...

1 - Belly pan down, shows trap (not leaking)
2 - Close up
3 - Black tank drain pipe, with puddle below from leaking shower
4 - Shower (with valve trim removed)

Can I access the back of the shower by removing the parts between the belly and the aluminum skin? How do I do this? In particular, how do I remove the bright trim strip? Thanks!

[Tin Diesel]

Dan, don't know if this will help, but... where the shower hose came through the fiberglass wall of the shower, we found our leak. The pipe comes from the back of the faucet (hot/cold input/mix) to the hose. The connection from that pipe to the flexi-hose is a plastic pressure fitting. Ours busted. Didn't completely open up, just allowed a pretty strong spray to come out.

The water ran down the backside of the shower stall to the floor, most went to the belly pan through a hole in the plywood, ran across to the other side, and leaked out near the city-water connection. Couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on.

Then enough of the water got onto the floor itself, and we began to notice the carpet in front of the shower was wet, and started looking for leak there. Figured we'd better check the backside of the faucet.

In our 1999 30' WB, we had to empty the closet, pull the back of the closet away from the shower, and access it that way.

By the way, I used PEX fittings to fix it... MUCH better than the old fitting. Also took the opportunity to replace the chrome hose with a new white plastic one. Also better in her opinion (the only one that counts!)

Had to do the whole thing 'on the road' at a state park in Colorado.

Hope this helps.
Kevin

[dmac]

Thanks Kevin,

I think my problem is similar to yours... but the access will be different. Behind my shower is the exterior skin of the trailer. There is no way to access the valve from the back. So I'm wondering if/how to access it from below. I will need to remove what I think is called the "banana wrap" and/or the plastic lower corner piece. I just don't know if this will provide the needed access, or how to remove the bright trim strip.

[dmac]

Okay - never mind! I found out how to access the valve and plumbing on a corner bath shower... the partial wall between the toilet and the shower must be removed. Remove a few screws on each side, cut the caulk with a razor knife, and the wall comes out relatively easily. You can then access the valve and plumbing from the side, next to the toilet.

So when I got it the wall out... and turned on the water... the plumbing behind remained dry! However, the anti-siphon valve leaks - spraying water. It appears that the shower caulking was bad and the spray off the anti-siphon valve was going down between the fiberglass shower and the wall... dribbling on top of the black tank, then running down and out by the black tank drain pipe. Tomorrow I will cean up the pieces and reassemble.

Has anyone removed the anti-siphon valve to avoid the leak there?

[dmac]

Update - in the process of doing this work I discovered several disappointing Airstream details:

• The faceplate for the shower valve was the wrong kind. The screw holes did not line up with those on the valve, and the handle and chrome tube beneath the handle were the wrong size/type. Apparently Moen has different hardware for valves that "pull on" vs those that "turn on". Airstream had forced use of the wrong one, which fit very poorly. A lot of frustration trying to figure out what was wrong, and $30 at Home Depot, and it is good now.
• The fitting to feed the shower head hose was screwed to the fiberglass shower with 2 sheet metal screws. These had pulled through the thin fiberglass and were pemanently loose. While I had access to the back side of the shower I replaced these screws with stainless machine screws and locknuts.
• The anti-siphon valve on the shower hose was leaking really bad - actually spraying water right at an improperly caulked area of the shower (thus my original "leak"). I have removed the anti-siphon valve from the hose. Is it necessary?
• The belly skin in the rear is attached by large head pop rivits around the edges only. These support the weight of the skin and the fiberglass insulation underneath. Several of the rivits had failed, and many others the skin has failed around the rivit heads. The skin was drooping, and the insulation had fallen out. I replaced the insulation, drilled out the rivits, and reattached using large rubber fender washers, then large metal fender washers and new pop rivits. I am concerned about the unsupported center of the large panel - which will oil-can and fail again. I am looking for angle aluminum to attach across the panel to support it. Ideas?
• The double-stick tape that holds the roll-up shower door to the wall had failed. I did my best to remove the residue with a razor knife, and reinstalled the door with new 3M extra heavy duty outdoor double stick tape. It seems secure for now.
• I found 3 spots where the original caulk had gaps. "GE Silicone II Kitchen-Bathroom" almond color caulk matches close enough.

Right now I am very frustrated with the poor quality of design and assembly of my trailer. I hope that I will not need to make a project out of each component to get things right. For the $30,000 I spent on it when new (about double what an SOB would have cost) I expected more... a LOT more.