Water is the enemy of wood. Water is the enemy of RVs. Water on the loose in the RV is MY enemy. We have had two experiences with water that have insured this enmity.
The first occurred when we were virgin owners. On our first trip, we lit out in the middle of February and waited until we were in southern Illinois to add water. It wasn’t until about a week later in Texas that I noticed water on the floor where water wasn’t supposed to be. We tracked it down to a general area but couldn’t see the specific cause.
We called Winnebago; no dealers in our immediate vicinity, but they gave us the name of a company we could feel comfortable using. Called up. They sent out a young man. Dismantled a few parts of the RV. Discovered that one of the tubes carrying water to our hot water tank had decided to part ways with its fellow tubes. Reattached. Fixed. Good.
On our last trip, some six years later, our enemy wasn’t exactly water, but it might as well have been. It was liquid. That was enough.
Since we were returning to Chicago in below freezing weather, we had to winterize again. We stopped in southern Illinois and purchased the pink stuff. We found a reasonably level parking lot. We drained all the systems to that last drop (we had dumped the gray and black water the previous night). We took off the water filter under the sink and replaced it with the plug. We opened the antifreeze, put in the tube, switched on the pump, and I turned on the kitchen faucet. It was gurgling, but not coming out.
One gallon later and still no antifreeze coming out of the faucet. Husband says, “Something’s wrong.” Another half gallon later I went into the bathroom to see if something had been left open and found pink stuff pooled by the shower, on the floor. After turning off the pump and some accelerated and amplified discussion, we discovered that the plug under the sink had popped off.
While water and similar allies are aligned against us, we, too, have allies. Every rag and towel came into play as we mopped up the liquid. Worst part was that some of it had run into places that were impossible to mop up, under parts of the wall, even out the back. It was dripping in the parking lot!
We got everything as dry as we could, called in our big guns, turned the generator on, put a fan into use to dry those impossible to reach spaces. We drove to another RV supply store to purchase more pink stuff. Just like a real war, there are the innocent victims, the displaced. The interior was pretty trashed; we had pulled things out of every corner where there could possibly be liquid. We decided to eat lunch, drive for a bit, get a little distance from the problem, and finish the job at a rest stop.
I’m not going to go through it all again, but suffice it to say that that darn plug failed the second time. We didn’t have any dry rags by that point, so we had to use our dirty laundry to sop up the liquid. This time the RV was slanted forward instead of backward, so I noticed it sooner and it didn’t manage to infiltrate those impossible to reach spots.
Happy ending: Third time was a charm. We know who are our allies are, who are the innocents, and who are the ringleaders of the wet world. And we are going to be extra careful with that plug from now on.
