More Water Woes

We thought we had fixed our water leak and made our rig watertight. After a very rainy day, I ascended the ladder on the back of Tagalong to sweep any remaining liquid off our slideout toppers. While on the roof, I decided to check the front section where we had repaired our leak. 

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Our self-leveling caulk, which had looked fine when we left it following our repair job, had holes in it, leaving pathways for rain to get through. Trapped moisture under the new caulk must have tried to escape, causing the holes. 

Climbing down, I opened the front compartment, ran my hand across the foil bubble wrap ceiling, and was astounded at how much water came out. Yep, we still had a problem.

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Stopping the Drips

A rainfree weather forecast meant we had time to let the roof and compartment dry out before readdressing our repair job/roof leak. Fearful we’d have to remove the foam insulation we had installed, we once again peeled back the bubble wrap ceiling. 

Not finding an obvious source of water, I investigated further. And then I discovered it. Rainwater had nestled into the fiberglass insulation up under our bedroom closet, in a difficult-to-reach spot from the front compartment. We decided to leave the compartment open to help it air out. Daily, I sopped up what I could from the insulation as the fluid tried to escape our rig.

After a few days, we climbed onto the roof and filled in the holes at the Eternabond/caulk seam. The next day, I ascended the ladder to confirm the fix worked. Thankfully, it did. That just left the slowly moving water trying to work its way out. After many days and nights of squeezing moisture out of the insulation and leaving the front compartment open, the flow finally stopped.


From Leaks to Clogs

Water problems generally come in two forms: clogs and leaks. After the roof leak, our Thetford RV toilet stopped opening to flush. Since this happened while we were at a mobile home/RV park that houses some residents year-round, we were able to use the clubhouse restrooms in the interim. Although stuck (pun intended), we weren’t completely stuck.

Bob researched solutions and ordered a new ball valve for the toilet. Replacing the part meant uninstalling the commode from the trailer and detaching the ceramic bowl from the plastic base. You can imagine the messy job that was. 

With the new part in place, we reinstalled the Thetford john, thrilled not to have to go to the clubhouse restrooms anymore … or so we thought.

We quickly learned we had a faulty ball seal that prevented the toilet bowl from holding water. Guess you could say we had another leak. We went from one extreme to another — both resulting in not being able to flush the toilet properly. 

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Attempting a Reinstallation

We decided to replace the whole unit, something we probably should have done from the start. Bob researched our options and ordered a Dometic. Meanwhile, back to the clubhouse we went.

When the toilet arrived, we swapped the original for the new. The process didn’t go quite as smoothly as we had hoped or wanted. With the old latrine out of the way, we put the new one in place. But somewhere along the line, we lost one of the washers needed to complete the job.

After 15 minutes of searching, Bob realized the washer could have fit through a small gap underneath our shower. He tried numerous times to fish it out, to no avail. On to Plan B. We dug through our tools in the truck for some washers that would work and found brass, a much better option for a wet environment than the factory-provided steel washers.

With the installation complete, we delighted in the new throne’s residential feel, thanks to a ceramic bowl and painted wooden seat and lid, and its superior rinsing mechanism that surrounded the bowl instead of just spraying from the back, like the old commode. Happy with a job well done, we left the trailer to deposit the old unit in a dumpster.

Upon our return, I opened the toilet lid to discover a dry bowl. Not again! Yep, we still had the same problem: Our toilet wouldn’t hold water. More research provided tips on how to fix the ball seal. Bob tried the recommended steps, but the problem persisted. 

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Clandestine Operation

The potential to have to return the new toilet meant we had to fetch the old one from the trash. Dumpster diving had served us well early in our marriage. Then, we got some decent furniture from our escapades. It didn’t hold the same appeal in this situation.

We drove our noisy diesel truck through the mobile home/RV park at 10:30 p.m. to the nearest dumpster, in close proximity to another RV. We had put the old toilet in the box the new one had come in. Getting it out of the dumpster proved easy enough, and no one appeared to see us or complain. Our stealthy mission done, we returned home and crashed for the night.

First thing in the morning, I heard Bob on the phone with Dometic customer service to try to resolve our problem. They referred us to the warranty department, which referred us to Amazon, where we had purchased the toilet. 

It looked like we’d need to ship the unit back, just as we thought. We had bought through a third party on Amazon, and that third party didn’t want to cover shipping for us to return the toilet. We were facing upward of $30 in shipping costs. Bob once again put his excellent research skills to use and looked into alternative options. 

Another possible solution involved replacing the seal between the toilet’s plastic base and ceramic bowl. We ordered that piece for only $16 and, sure enough, it did the trick — and didn’t require detaching the unit to complete the job. 

We’re grateful our water woes are behind us, at least for now. And we don’t have to make any more trips to the clubhouse unless we want to do laundry or linger in the hot tub.

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