What we discovered after removing our RV underbelly

My feet vibrated under my desk in our fifth wheel, and a grinding metal sound assaulted my ears. I went outside and found Bob under the trailer, sparks flying. He was using a borrowed angle grinder to try to remove screws sealing the underside of our rig.

Most RVs manufactured today include a corrugated plastic covering over the underbelly to protect its contents from dirt, dust, debris, and rodents. We’re grateful our 2018 fifth wheel came with that. 

Despite that protection, for years, Bob has wanted to pull off the corrugated plastic to see if we had any issues and to get a better idea of where things are under our rig, such as slideout motors. 

He finally made his wish come true this year — and managed to catch dust directly through his nostril and into his sinus cavity in the process, thanks to previous sinus surgery that removed his upper and mid turbinates. Gratefully, he recovered after a day or two and didn’t develop an infection. 

Here’s what we discovered after removing our RV underbelly.

Loose leveler

We’ve had challenges leveling our 42-foot coach for a number of years, even though it came equipped with a Lippert auto-leveling system. Multiple times, we’ve had to retrain the system on what constitutes level. And we’ve learned to put plenty of leveling blocks under our mid and rear stabilizers before attempting the autolevel function to give the system the best chance at success.

It never dawned on us that the issue could be something inherent to our rig — until we removed Tagalong’s underbelly protection and discovered a dangling leveling sensor, as well as an empty shelf made specifically to hold it. Now we know. 

We’ll secure the loose leveler to the rig before resealing the underbelly and will retrain the Lippert system for, hopefully, the last time on the true state of levelness.

Chewed wiring

Although the corrugated plastic is designed to help keep out rodents, some have been able to find their way into the underbelly of our rig, and even into the interior. We managed to trap those that made their way inside, so we were surprised to find a wide swath of chewed wires in the belly of our rig. 

To our amazement, the culprit didn’t chew all the way through the conduit and into the wires. That could have been a bit exciting for all parties. 

Not wanting to leave bare wires exposed, Bob already wrapped them with electrical tape.

Dried mushrooms

Speaking of rodents, remember the squirrel Twitchy that managed to get inside our rig while we were in Alberta on our way back to the contiguous states after a summer in Alaska? He hadn’t stashed nuts in our fifth wheel like we had thought. We found dried mushrooms instead. ​

Shocked, I did a Google search to see if squirrels eat mushrooms. Sure enough, they do. I learned they can even eat mushrooms that are poisonous to humans. And they do indeed store mushrooms for the winter. Who knew?

Ignorance is bliss. Discovery is a reason to act. In addition to addressing the issues we found, Bob took advantage of the exposed underbelly to add aftermarket sensors to our graywater tanks, as the sensors that come with a rig from the factory quickly lose accuracy. He had successfully added aftermarket sensors to our fresh and blackwater tanks years ago by cutting openings in the corrugated plastic. 

When resealing Tagalong’s underbelly, Bob will also mark the locations of key items, such as slideout motors, to aid in any needed maintenance in the future. 

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