08 25' Safari SS ordered

[Gene]

Diane,

Sorry to hear you've had some problems.

The antifreeze is nontoxic and the filter is supposed to filter things out, so I would think it would be ok, though if it were us, I'd be wondering too. If you see no pink water, it should be ok. I generally use distilled water for drinking anyway (no salts). The filters are expensive to replace too. When winterizing and dewinterizing, remove the filter. There's a valve that closes when the filter is removed and it shouldn't leak while you're running antifreeze or flushing the system.

There should be some paperwork telling how to reset the sensors. It is easy to screw up the settings for them without realizing it. If I recall correctly, pushing that middle rocker switch at the wrong time can be a bad thing—then you have to reset everything. I just glanced through the instructions since ours seem to work fine, and resetting looked confusing. You can probably figure them out, or ask the dealer.

I always overfill the potable water tank—I fill it until it overflows on the ground and we haven't had any water come out of the faucets. Unless you create a seal with the hose filling the tank, water should just come out around the hose. There should not be enough pressure to force water out anywhere inside the trailer. If you seal the inlet and hose somehow, it would force water through the faucets if they are open. You should try to duplicate the leak doling the same thing again because these things usually don't fix themselves (but if there's a rubber seal, it might have been dry and had to get wet to expand slightly and seal better). Now you know where to look. If they are compression fittings they may need a very slight tightening, but be careful because too tight can destroy the seal (I know from experience). It would be either a rubber or neoprene seal or a round metal ring. Another warranty item?

I think you can oil the fan door (I think it says to do it periodically in the owners' manual), but I haven't because I am avoiding climbing onto the roof.

The towel bar issue. The bathroom door is thin and may have a fiber core. Fiberboard doesn't hold screws well, so I would avoid that. What kind of facing is on your door?—if it's a thin veneer, it may not have the strength to hold a towel bar (wet towels are heavy and putting them on it and taking them off stresses the connection). I did put a double clothes hook on the inside of the closet door without a problem. Just be sure to measure the length of the screw while in the hook or towel bar because a 3/4" screw is often only 3/8" or maybe 1/2" into the wood. You can get a longer and fatter screw, but make sure it stops before it's just below the surface on the other side because it can push up a little bump on the surface and you'll see it every time you walk by. Use a coarse instead of fine thread in fiberboard.

We used big suction cup hooks in several places—for robes, towels—and they generally stay up, but eventually fall down after a while (days when I do it, months when Barb puts them up—I haven't mastered those things). These are big plastic things where the hook acts like a lever to tighten the suction bond. There's a thread somewhere on the evil towel problem. There are many hooks that stick to the surface, some have better glue than others. I mounted two hooks on either side of the bathroom door inside the bathroom—there are several layers of wood or fiberboard with veneer there and it's thick enough to support a lot of weight.

Watch carefully in drilling into anything where you aren't sure of what's on the other side. There could be wires, pipes or the shower walls. There's a lot crammed into these trailers. I haven't mounted anything with screws into the inside of the exterior walls—not only do I not know what's back there, but the drill bit tends to create voids in the insulation. But if I wanted to, I'd follow the rivets because I think that's where the steel frame is. The suction cups work best on aluminum.

Glad to see you're enjoying your baby and I hope there are no more leaks.

Gene

[bernermom]

Thanks for all the information Gene. You are becoming quite the pro!

We did try to recreate the leaking we had when filling the tank, but could not do it. We only let it overflow for 20-30 seconds, so I suspect that when my husband did it, he left it longer, but he will never admit that.

We had quite a bit of water inside, the rug was completely saturated, and water kept seeping out in the corner below the microwave. Our water input has an overflow valve, and when we tested it, the overflow water came out of that just fine. The water did not come out of the faucet, it was somewhere under the cabinets where the input plumbing is. I know he had done it the same way with the old trailer, but it never overflowed into the trailer.

I did buy some of those suction hooks you are talking about. I also have one of the 3M hooks. They use an adhesive that is supposted to be removable if you change you mind. That works well for a towel by the bathroom sink. The one I have is supposed to hold 5 lbs, and has a wide flat hook. Maybe two of those would work well for the back of the bathroom door, and you could hook the towel to both of them to keep the towel open to dry.

This weekend we have another show where we will not have water or electric, so we will need to use our new generators. We bought 2 Honda 2000's. Depending on the weather forecast, we might just bring one alone. We used to use a Honda 3000, but my husband was tired of the weight. They are very heavy.

I will look for info on resetting the sensor, and check into oiling the fan.

Did your dealer say anything about putting silicone on the window rubber? I think they told us to do that when the weather warms up.

Diane

[Gene]

I think I read about silicone somewhere. I've done it twice. Some of the windows stuck so badly I couldn't open them, so I took a broad putty knife and very carefully pried them loose. I wish they had a metal edge at the outside edge of the windows to make them stronger.

Good about the water leak, I guess. I'd sure want to know how it happened to make sure it doesn't happen again. And always believe your husband. Husbands are never wrong (somehow my wife doesn't believe that, I don't know why).

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

Dianne

This isn't really made for lubrication but it works great, just a thin coating

on all the rubber seals. Works great on the tv connections too,keeps

the water out and helps prevent corrosion. Glad your enjoying the new

trailer. Hope to get to some dog shows this Summer also, you know the story

looking for that LAST MAJOR> good luck!!
Buy Tune Up Grease Dilectric .33 oz 81150 by Permatex at Hardware and Tools Corp.





ps. coat all the bulb sockets and any screws that you figure you will need

to take out. Hinthint. Replace all exterior sheet metal screws with stainless,

makes it a lot easier to change a bulb after five years or so. Coat the screws

also.....

[2airishuman]

in reference to the water leak...

it's possible the fill hose OR VENT TUBE on the fresh water tank has become detached...

this can happen from poor installation OR force filling the fresh tank...

like from leaving the hose going TOO LONG or with TOO much pressure...

IF the vent tube is leaking at the tank you'll need to have this fixed soon...

do NOT ignore interior water leaks!

the sink filter may be fine, but once contaminated with antifreeze it doesn't filter properly and impedes flow...

replacement cartridges are under 20 bucks...

rubber compatible silicone lube is a GREAT idea for all the OPENING window and door seals., BUT NOT on any FIXED/CLOSED window gaskets...

cheers
2air'

[bernermom]

Robert, thanks for the tip on the tune up grease and advice on the bulbs and screws. Hope you get that last MAJOR real soon!

2Air, not sure if we have a leak to fix. Once we cleaned up the water by opening the 'service door' under the cabinets, where the hot water bypass and water intake pipes are, we did not have any more water leaking. However, when we pulled out of the drive way, some water came out of the low point valves under the trailer for a few minutes, so water must have been under the tank also. Our water level did not drop, so our fresh water was not leaking anymore. Anything else we should check?

Thanks so much for all of your advice.

Diane

[bernermom]

We very carefully filled the tank last night for our weekend trip, with my husband in the trailer, head inside the cabinet , and me with the hose. I pulled the hose it out as soon as it started to overflow, and also had the hose set with not too much pressure.

But we still had a leak. It looked to my husband like the main intake pipe inside the trailer has a hole in it, because even before it was totally full, the leak started. It is kind of hard to see exactly where is is coming from, water is running down the large input pipe onto the floor inside the cabinet.

We have an appointment this week to take it in for service. Hopefully they will find and fix the issue! I will make a list of the other issues, none of which are major, but I would like the sensor on the black water fixed.

Diane

[Gene]

I'm glad to hear to found the leak so you know what needs fixing.

Gene