Maintaining the old 171

Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic

   Dear Forum.. I never thought it would happen to me  
Last year, about this time of year, we bought an 2011 171 and had a summers worth of adventures. Now that it's looked to stop snowing up here it's time to get ready for another year of travel. Well, if we're allowed to travel; if not, this will be a good summer to renovate. This thread will be where I throw all my mods and maintenance adventure.

The good news is, when I opened the trailer today it smelled a lot better than when I bought it last year. So first lesson, if a trailer smells moldy mildewy, it probably is... so trust your nose... maybe don't buy that trailer. 

Last fall I finished the search for the odour and found it was definitely the passenger side front storage cubby. A little destructive investigation found wet insulation on the front wall, wet floor under the vinyl, and most disturbingly, wet floor on the underside (nicely held in place by the under membrane). I removed all the wet materials (and sprayed the mildew down with some bleach / water mix) from the inside, cut open the membrane below the floor and left it all to dry over the course of our long and dry(ish) winter.

So,back to today.. smells pretty good, things look pretty dry. Judge for yourself.. here's the pics.
Front passenger corner (storage cubby) by robert, on Flickr

Front passenger corner (underneath) by robert, on Flickr

The area where the water likely got in...

Front passenger corner (side) by robert, on Flickr

Front passenger corner  (bottom of trim) by robert, on Flickr

With any luck I'll be able to remove the trim, add some water proofing and sealant, put the screws back in and patch the floor, I'll tackle the drivers side front corner as well to make sure this sin't occurring over there as well.

Author	Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic
saint urho Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2019 Location: Alberta Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Topic: Maintaining the old 171 Posted: 03 May 2020 at 7:19pm
	Dear Forum.. I never thought it would happen to me Last year, about this time of year, we bought an 2011 171 and had a summers worth of adventures. Now that it's looked to stop snowing up here it's time to get ready for another year of travel. Well, if we're allowed to travel; if not, this will be a good summer to renovate. This thread will be where I throw all my mods and maintenance adventure. The good news is, when I opened the trailer today it smelled a lot better than when I bought it last year. So first lesson, if a trailer smells moldy mildewy, it probably is... so trust your nose... maybe don't buy that trailer. Last fall I finished the search for the odour and found it was definitely the passenger side front storage cubby. A little destructive investigation found wet insulation on the front wall, wet floor under the vinyl, and most disturbingly, wet floor on the underside (nicely held in place by the under membrane). I removed all the wet materials (and sprayed the mildew down with some bleach / water mix) from the inside, cut open the membrane below the floor and left it all to dry over the course of our long and dry(ish) winter. So,back to today.. smells pretty good, things look pretty dry. Judge for yourself.. here's the pics. Front passenger corner (storage cubby) by robert, on Flickr Front passenger corner (underneath) by robert, on Flickr The area where the water likely got in... Front passenger corner (side) by robert, on Flickr Front passenger corner (bottom of trim) by robert, on Flickr With any luck I'll be able to remove the trim, add some water proofing and sealant, put the screws back in and patch the floor, I'll tackle the drivers side front corner as well to make sure this sin't occurring over there as well.

StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6285	Posted: 03 May 2020 at 8:15pm
	I wish you well on that project. I've done a lot of mods on our 179, but I have not tackled anything like that.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

lostagain Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2586	Posted: 03 May 2020 at 9:09pm
	On thing you may wish to consider is using vinegar to kill the mold below the surface. We had this issue come up in the attic of a house and needed to get rid of the mold/mildew. I learned that bleach doesn't penetrate wood well so it only kills what's on the surface. Vinegar penetrates and kills it inside. After we cleaned everything with bleach, then vinegar, we made a solution of borax and saturated everything with that. It never came back. Of course, as you already pointed out, it is essential to stop the water leakage. Good luck with your project.
	Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

saint urho Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2019 Location: Alberta Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 18 May 2020 at 11:17am
	All right, it's been a few weeks of lousy weather up here, but I found a little time to be out in the R-pod and noted that the springy floor in front of the fridge should be investigated. I suspected that water was at the root of the problem, plus, the water I had found in the storage compartment last year troubled me a bit. So I removed all the rear bed platform (not vertical supports) and found the floor was springy in the area under the bed. I decide to make an exploratory cut in the vinyl floor and my suspicions were confirmed. It's wet, all the subfloor is damp, which leads to delamination of the plywood. In an effort to find dry subfloor I have removed the vinyl floor all the way form the very back to the front entry. The subfloor is still damp but, I'm going to pause the cutting here, for reasons... My conclusion, it is poor construction practice to be so confident of your building envelope's water tightness to not allow a way for water to exit; this is part of the "soggy Condo" saga that has been prevalent in Canada for a while. Anyway, here are some pictures of the back area of RP171 with the vinyl floor removed, the plywood veneer actually looks pretty nice. IMG_1631 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1630 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1632 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1640 by robert, on Flickr Now, the reasons I alluded to earlier; how rusty are your fasteners? I pulled some staples (above) from areas that were obviously getting wet most frequently and they were very rusty; as we move further from the wet areas, the staples are only rusty in the exposed area.. the part of the staple that was in the dry(ish) hardwood is shiny. So, the screws in the photo below, show a rusty screw in the known wet area and not very rusty screw in the suspected dry area. So, go check your screws.. are they rusty? Your floor is probably wet. IMG_1633 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1634 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1635 by robert, on Flickr The vertical support nears the shower (edit, not the shower, this is power in near the sink) enclosure shows some evidence of being damp once. There is very little evidence of wet walls. IMG_1647 by robert, on Flickr I can hear y'all asking, "but Saint, how does the water get in?" It appears to me it's blowing right through the garage doors (see above). Maybe a little bit around too. The problem isn't just that water gets in, the real problem is you can't get the water out. Frustrating that $200 of aluminum flashing, and an upgrade to marine grade plywood during construction would make these floors considerably more waterproof. The adventure continues.

saint urho Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 Apr 2019 Location: Alberta Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 22 May 2020 at 9:11am
	IT's been raining cats and dogs all day and all of the night, we've got about 50mm (2inchesish) and some of it was being driven by a 40km (26milesish) wind. I still have the breathable cover on the Rpod so it'll be all dry inside, right? nope IMG_1650 by robert, on Flickr IMG_1651 by robert, on Flickr There's water evident around both the rear storage access doors There's condensation on the frames of these doors too, because it's colder outside of the trailer than in... all that water can't be condensation. Close look seems to prove that there is water getting through and around the doors, even on the leeward side of the trailer. Where else? IMG_1652 by robert, on Flickr Around the exterior plug, this is so poorly sealed it's essentially a funnel when towing, and all the water can drip nicely into this plumbing chase cut into the floor. IMG_1653 by robert, on Flickr And also, there's a leak from around the rear window, lower driver side only. A tiny bit of water was evident on the curtain track, removing the screws that hold the track in place showed some corrosion on the bottom driver side screws only. More to follow.