Leak Behind the toilet/shower panel - Help

[SNOBORDJON]

I need some help! I bought a 72 Argosy a couple of weeks back, and was told that it wasnt winterized in time. After fixing a few visible leaks, I can now hear water spraying behind the fiberglass panel that sits behind the Toilet/shower fixture. Can I safely remove this panel? the grey trim is riveted ovet the panel...what should I do?

It seems like I need to remove the toilet, get the rivets off, then remove the caulking in the seams, then take off the back panel. Is this the best method?

Thanks, and sorry if these things have been answered before... I couldnt find them.

john

[easyride]

If you can determine which line it is you should be able to push a new pex line around shower and replace old line by tieing in at each end.May not be that easy ,but probably better thn tearing out walls.Hope this will work for you.

[SNOBORDJON]

I cant tell which line and where exactly the leak is...just that there's no easy way to find the source and get to it

[Shacksman]

Originally Posted by SNOBORDJON

It seems like I need to remove the toilet, get the rivets off, then remove the caulking in the seams, then take off the back panel. Is this the best method?
john

You have the right idea. There's no easy way around this. Get the drill out and start drilling out the rivets. When you get in there you'll probably find other things to fix. Mine had the plywood that the toilet sits on rotted away and the tapered panel that the tub sits on needed replacing. It's not as bad as it seems, I had it all out and back in a couple of days.

[SNOBORDJON]

OK, thats what I thought, I guess i will do it the hard/right way.

[53flyingcloud]

You have it..nothing easy abt working but, just the rewards~!
Be sure to get yourself a new wax ring seal for the toilet. I went thru this about 4 yrs ago and, nothing since. whew.
Good Luck to you!@

[SNOBORDJON]

Well, I started working on it yesterday and suprisingly got the toilet out, drilled out the rivets, cut out all the caulking, support screws etc. Popped off the back fiberglass pannel, and located the leak all in about an hour. I was excited about that, but then realized I would be needing to make a Home Depot Run in the Morning.

After the home Depot Run, I figured out a very good solution to some of the plumbing issues most people will come across while owning one of these Vintage Airstreams ...
This part took nearly 3 hours. Since the plumbing behind the shower and under the sink is impossible to repair with copper (both because of the odd size and tight space),The best thing to do is use plastic compression fittings with a combination of Pex (hard white), and Vinyl Tubing (clear). Heres what I did...

For the copper that is less than 1/2 but larger than 3/8, I used 1/2 inch clear vinyl tubing to replace the piece I cut out. I then clamped down the edges of the vinyl around the outside of the copper, and the "sleeve" worked perfectly.
For the 3/8 size copper, after cutting out the leaky pieces, the ends fit perfectly into 3/8 plastic compression couplers. I then replaced some of the 3/8 copper lines on the other side with 3/8 Pex (picture 3/8 copper ->plastic compression coupler<- 3/8 Pex).

If youre not confused enough already...there were 2 places that I had to reduce the odd sized less than 1/2 copper to 3/8. I did this by clamping the 1/2 vinyl tubing around one end of the odd copper...on the other end othe 1/2 vinyl tubing i inserted a 1/4 brass nipple, which i clamped then ////->connected to 1/4 female to 3/8 compression. And finally that connected to the 3/8 pex lines.

Phew...leaks are gone...tomorrow I have to replace the toilet copper lines with Pex, and re-install that as well...wish me luck

[azflycaster]

The odd size copper that is less then 1/2 and larger then 3/8 was most likely 3/8 copper that was stretched to the larger size when the water froze inside of it.

[vcu70]

That copper is an odd size-I did the same thing but used SS all the wuay behind the panel-no going back for me anytime soon-lol