I write this so that anyone buying a trailer, especially a used one, should be aware of some issues I've found. Generally I have found that if a unit is well built it will be that way throughout. If you find something sloppy then keep looking, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that everything else will be that way too. Caveat Emptor!!!!
We purchased a used
Fiber Stream trailer a few months ago and were told that everything was in good working condition. Well we decided to replace the
refrigerator since it was not in good shape. As it turned out it wouldn't run on
propane. The old
refrigerator wasn't as deep as the new ones so the cabinet has to be rebuilt to accommodate the new unit. The water heater doesn't work either.
One thing led to another and so now we are fully engaged in remodeling almost the entire interior. What we have found is the the quality of construction, much to our disappointment, leaves a lot to be desired. I can't believe that a company would build something so shabbily, especially since it would not have taken much more to do it right.
Some of the thing that we have encountered:
Refrigerator didn't run on
propane.
The faucets leaked.
Many burned out
light bulbs.
The sub-flooring is only 3/8" plywood, it should be 3/4".
The plumbing was not routed very well with a lot of rigid piping where flexible lines should have been used to minimize noise transmissions, i.e., rigid connections between the water pump and the water heater and tank.
The pump didn't work and was screwed down to the floor. It has been replaced and is now setting on polyurethane foam with flexible lines on both the input and outlet.
The bunks surfaces were made with 1/8" Luan mahogany plywood, very weak and they sag even though I don't weigh a tremendous amount (168 Lbs). Additionally the frame had come loose from it's mountings. They are being completely rebuilt from scratch using 1/2" plywood on top.
The worst problem is the
electrical wiring which was running all over the place in a very unstructured manor with taps or splices everywhere you looked. The color coding was also all screwed up. With AC black is the color for the 'hot' line and white is neutral. On DC circuits red is the positive and black is supposed to be negative. I have noticed trailer manufacturers are all over the map on this one. In our trailer the negative DC lines are sometimes black and sometimes white and some of the AC hot lines ae black ant two are blue. Operationally speaking this shouldn't be a problem until you have to repair something.
Lights were not wired correctly, the backup
lights come on when the brake pedal is pressed.
Some of the side marker
lights don't work.
There are other issues and probably some I haven't found yet, but the net result is a lot of work. It will probably end up being the most expensive
Fiber Stream in existance.