ATF: North Trail - 28BRS Kitchen Sink Drain Hose

wobly

Member
I posted this in the Technical Discussion area, but that appeared to be a pretty dead area, so I will post it here, too. If any Mods need to modify anything, please do so.


We have had our 28BRS for about 3 weeks now and have used it twice. When we took it out the first time, we noticed some moisture on the ground behind the left rear tire. I noticed some drips, but didn't think much of it. This time, I saw the moisture and noticed that it became worse when the DW used the kitchen sink. When I removed the bottom bunk I was able to reach through the tiny hole and feel moisture in the cabinet area. But, to get at that area, I had to make a larger hole into the cabinet area from the bunk area. After doing that, I still needed to find the leak and ended up having to remove the bottom shelf from the cabinet. Now, this is where the "What were they thinking?" comments came in. The bottom shelf is screwed in on the left and rear, but stapled in on the right and front sides. Why wasn't this just a standard shelf that could be easily removed for access to the hoses, cables and joints? It seems like it would have been easier to make a standard shelf rather than what was done to permanently secure it in.

After getting in to the bottom of the cabinet area, I immediately found the leaking area. The 90 degree elbow going to the white drain hose had a rotating screw on flange that was supposed to mate with the threads on the white drain hose coming from the sink. The flange had separated from the mating side on the elbow. Looking closer, I noticed that the two ends were mismatched by almost an inch. To be fair, the white hose is flexible and could have moved, but both ends had mounting clamps that should have prevented them from moving apart.


I could have taken the trailer back to the dealer and I'm sure they would have repaired it, but we plan on camping again next weekend and didn't want it sitting in the shop waiting on them to do the repair. So, I cut the elbow off, bought a flexible 90 degree elbow and an end to mate up to the threaded area and made a shelf that is removeable in case of future problems.


When tracking down why it might have broken in the first place, I traced the hose back towards the sink drain and found a "zip tie" that was supposed to secure the hoses to the edge of the slide. That zip tie had broken and allowed the hoses to fall toward the edge of the slider and get caught. So, my thought is that a broken zip tie led to a broken flange which led to a leak from the drain hose which led to me having to do minor demo and repair work when I shouldn't have had to.



Why not use a flexible elbow at the joint with the drain hose in the first place and avoid these issues?
 

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Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Good Find Wobly. Nice job on the modification too. I'm like you in that I like to take care of anything I can on my own. Saves a lot of time & headaches, not to mention a trip to & from the dealer.
 
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