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06-27-2017, 10:54 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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securing water reservoir in 13' Scamp
I have a 13' Scamp about 8 years old. The metal pipe strapping that Scamp used to secure the plastic water reservoir has rusted and broken just where it is attached. The ends of the strapping are screwed into the wooden floor, but in order to get to the end attached to the floor BEHIND the reservoir, it looks like I would have to remove the reservoir. This, of course, means messing with the waterproof seal between the reservoir and the drain tube that leads outside (and probably the overflow tube as well). Any suggestions how to re-secure the reservoir without having to open this whole can of worms involving the waterproof connections?
I had thought I might drill though the wood floor and attach some form of cable or strap to secure the reservoir that way, but it looks like parts of the steel trailer frame and the grey-water tank are just under the floor where I'd need to be drilling and attaching cables. Suggestions appreciated.
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06-28-2017, 05:39 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Name: Gordon
Trailer: 2015 Scamp (16 Std Layout 4) with '15 Toyota Sienna LE Tug
North Carolina
Posts: 5,155
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Maybe I don't understand the issue (is "reservoir" the same thing we call the fresh water tank in the US?). But it sounds like you need to remove the bench to get to the strap. I understand that its pretty easy to remove the bench / seat.
If I am off track then some photos might help.
But my first question is why is this strap rusted? Is it getting wet somehow? It should not be getting wet. If there is enough moisture for the metal strap to rust, then the strap might be the least of your problems.
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06-28-2017, 07:22 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Thanks for the reply. First, yes, I'm talking about the fresh water tank (You say tomato, I say....) Second, although you make a good point to be concerned about water and rust, I think we had a bit of wet around there from some newbie mismanagement, not from a "leak" of any sort. It is certainly dry now, with no evidence of water damage around the floor. When you say "remove the bench", are you talking about removing the entire piece of horizontal wood that forms the bench of the seat (and part of the bed at night)? Thus far, I've only lifted out the SECTION of that bench that allows access to the reservoir/fresh water tank.
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06-28-2017, 01:59 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp 16 ft Side Dinette
Posts: 1,279
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I went to work on our 16 ft Scamp, on advice from another Scamp owner who had a tank break loose, and added some hold downs made from 2 x 4s on top of the tank. The straps were still good, but the added insurance let us rest easier.
The boards were wedged in under the dinette/bed board, with shims to make it a tight fit.
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06-28-2017, 05:07 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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That sounds like a good idea, Wayne, after I get the straps sorted out. Gordon, the entire top DOES come off, it appears, by removing 15 or 16 screws. Some of them are under a bit of plastic trim, which probably won't go back on as nicely, but it does look like I can get decent access to the back of the reservoir/tank by removing the entire bench top. Tomorrow's project, I hope! (My wife, not so much....) Thanks for the ideas.
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06-28-2017, 06:57 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Thanks, Gordon. That picture looks pretty different from my 2009 13 footer. For one thing, the outlet valve is by the outside wall on mine. But I hope I don't need to disassemble the sides of the box too, as well as remove the top bench. Otherwise, I might be looking at other solutions. And I'm all ears if anyone has some!
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06-28-2017, 07:11 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Name: Gordon
Trailer: 2015 Scamp (16 Std Layout 4) with '15 Toyota Sienna LE Tug
North Carolina
Posts: 5,155
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Yes, the drain is a user mod.. I posted the pic more to show the wood glassed into the shell where the bench is attached (sorry I don't recall whose photo it is). For sure, YMMV but I think it should be similar at least.
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06-29-2017, 03:56 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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So I had a look at removing the bench top. But just backing out a few of the easily-accessible screws told me to stop before things became a mess. The "wood" is chip-board and it might be covered with some fiberglass, because the screws bring a bunch of "wood" with them when they back out. And those were the easy screws. My Scamp also has the rat fur along the walls -- not the vinyl -- perhaps hiding even more gruesome surprises to dismantling and reassembling the bench top. So I'm back to searching out alternate ways of re-attaching the reservoir/tank.
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06-29-2017, 04:03 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp 16 ft Side Dinette
Posts: 1,279
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Yes, the screws will tear out some wood fibers, but that doesn't hurt anything.
You have to get a bit rough with it.
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06-30-2017, 01:00 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Wayne, I guess I'm just too timid! I backed out 3 of the screws, and when I did, 2 of them brought up a little hillock of wood surrounding the screw, as well as a bit of wood chip. (I guess this must properly be "chip" board as opposed to particle board). In spite of having used many, many screws in wood before, I'd never seen that happen, so I stopped. When I screwed the screws back in, the little hillocks went back down flat. Maybe that's just what screws do in chip board (oh for a piece of familiar plywood....)? I thought, though, it might have something to do with the glassing Gordon mentioned, and I sure didn't want to do something that would lead to needing to repair fiberglass. Maybe I'll gird my loins and have another go at backing out those screws if I get my courage up again. I'd like to sort this out myself, but I'd rather not end up taking the Scamp in to a RV shop to repair a mess I've made!!!
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06-30-2017, 02:37 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Name: Gordon
Trailer: 2015 Scamp (16 Std Layout 4) with '15 Toyota Sienna LE Tug
North Carolina
Posts: 5,155
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If you need to repair the holes in wood, some wood epoxy is easy.
If you need to repair a HIDDEN hole in fiberglass, a can of Bondo from Walmart or 100 other stores will work fine. (n fact it might be a good idea anyway to make sure the screws hold).
Its only when you are trying to match the exposed, finished / gel-coat fiberglass for appearance that it becomes more of a challenge.
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06-30-2017, 05:09 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Success! The bench top is off and the reservoir/tank exposed! Ironically, of the 16 screws attaching the top to the sides, only the first and third screws I removed ever raised any concerns. All the others came out as I expected them to! Go figure.... There was only one additional screw fastening the bench top to the wardrobe/pantry, immediately hitch-side of the bench; that came out easily. A bit of corner trim on the wardrobe/pantry overhung the bench top, making it a wee bit difficult to lift off, even after all the screws were removed. Otherwise, the top just sits on the sides of the box and on an extended lip around the trailer. That lip, by the way, is also covered in rat fur and there is no "join" between the bench top and the outside wall, which I had feared. So there hasn't even been any cosmetic damage in doing this job.
But the bench top is OFF! So thank you Gordon and Wayne and any silent cheerleaders. I couldn't/wouldn't have done it without your very helpful advice!
I've managed to remove two of the rusted old screws once holding the pipe strapping to the floor, and I've no doubt time and some penetrating oil and maybe a screw extractor will get the others out. If not, I'll just attach the new pipe strapping a few inches away and leave the stubborn screws. And I'll look into arranging some additional hold downs as Wayne describes. Many many thanks, folks.
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06-30-2017, 05:41 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Name: Gordon
Trailer: 2015 Scamp (16 Std Layout 4) with '15 Toyota Sienna LE Tug
North Carolina
Posts: 5,155
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Nice.. if its not too late, some photos of the process will help the next person who has to tackle this job (which could be me!)
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07-03-2017, 10:01 AM
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#15
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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I've got some photos that will certainly show future adventurers into the world of what's-under-the-bench what to expect, but can't send them until I get some problems sorted out on my desktop computer, which has the appropriate image software (I'm writing this on an old net-book). I've discovered, however, that the reservoir/tank can be moved aside a fair amount in order to get at the screws where the strapping is attached to the floor. It LOOKS like the lip of the drain spigot on the reservoir just sits inside the slightly larger diameter of the drain tube that takes the drained water outside and under the trailer. Once the pipe strapping is disengaged, you can just lift the reservoir a bit to one side or the other. Clearly, you can't move it TOO much, as there are 3 other connections (intake hose, overflow hose, and the tube that takes water from the reservoir to the sink). I didn't intentionally lift the spigot out of the drain tube -- it happened by accident, but I think it will be okay to just sit it back in place. I'll be sure to check for leaks before I secure everything, but it would have saved me a lot of trouble accessing the badly rusted screws had I known this in advance. Also, the screws attaching the strapping go THROUGH the floor -- that is, all the way through! There was some putty/silicone originally put around the hole where the screws came through the under-side. But it had badly deteriorated over 8 years of driving (sometimes in snow, sometimes in rain) and I imagine THAT'S why the screws and strapping were so badly rusted. Wish I'd known, as it would have been an easy once-a-year maintenance task to put four gobs of silicone where the screw tips come through underneath. So I'll post some pics when I'm able, and hope they will add to this narrative and save somebody the trouble of needing to remove the bench top!
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07-03-2017, 03:08 PM
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#16
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Just ran several gallons of water into and out of the reservoir/tank with not the slightest evidence of a leak! So it looks like the lip of the drain spigot is okay just sitting inside the tube that actually shepherds the drained water outside. I suppose a bit of silicone at the join would do no harm, given that the water going past is not going to be consumed, but seems no reason to complicate things......for the next time?
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07-03-2017, 03:24 PM
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#17
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Senior Member
Name: KAY
Trailer: SCAMP
Missouri
Posts: 377
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I look forward to pictures of your Egads-adventure.
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07-05-2017, 03:55 PM
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#18
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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Pics of bench top removed
Okay, computer is back up and now I see if I can figure out how to post pics on this site! Let me point out the lip that runs along the wall at bench height. In an earlier post, I perhaps suggested that the bench top just sits on the lip/ledge. It does, but then it is screwed into the lip. Because my Scamp has rat fur from floor, up the wall, and over the ceiling, that lip is also covered in rat fur. Once the bench top is removed, the screw holes in the rat fur virtually disappeared. But when you put the screws back in, the rat fur clogs up the threads and makes them unexpectedly difficult to drive in. I suspect that the rat fur was also part of my initial problem about removing a few of the screws. But now that everything is back together, the bench top looks decent enough (it wasn't exactly Chippendale when it came out of Backus, Minnesota....). And there's always a cushion covering it. In short, removing the bench top was a fairly easy task, once you have confidence you aren't totally wrecking your Scamp. I'll bet I could remove and reinstall it in 15 minutes now that I've had the practice.
While I was replacing the strapping, I decided to add another piece of strapping perpendicular to the others, just for added security and because access was easy. (See IMG_4144) I used 3/4 inch wide galvanized steel pipe strapping, and put silicone-based caulking on the screws and in the holes when I attached the strapping. While I was working there, I discovered that the flush mounted fill spout had broken where the flexible hose is fastened to it (the hose that leads into the water tank proper). There was small but visible damage to the wood floor immediately below the fill spout. The only time water would leak in there (UNDER, of course, the rat fur and slowly out along the floor and under the water reservoir/tank) was while filling the tank. But without the bench top removed, we never saw any evidence of the leak! So THAT's why (or at least one of the reasons) the original pipe strapping had rusted away. So the good news (yes, it's always important to end a story on the up-swing) is that we found that leak before it could do major damage to the floor of the Scamp!!! Happy Scamping!
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07-05-2017, 04:04 PM
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#19
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Senior Member
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 150
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the missing pics?
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07-05-2017, 04:16 PM
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#20
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Senior Member
Name: KAY
Trailer: SCAMP
Missouri
Posts: 377
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Nice job and excellent write up, (especially about the offending rat fur and screw threads). Always good when you can get a better understanding of the construction of it all. Thanks for the photos.
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