new member

[Nurse Noel]

hello! i am new to this website and was wondering if i could get a little help navigating through it. we just purchased a 79 trillium 4500 and there are a few questions i have...
1. it seems to "seep" water though at night time (as if we were sleeping in a tent), especially around the windows. is this normal?
2. our awning is in great shape, but has lost it's poles that hook onto the holes on the top of the awning and then extend to the bottom of the trillium to keep the awning out. does anyone know where i can purchase these?
3. we would like to add shelving in the tall closet that looks to be for hanging up clothes. what is the easiest way to go about doing this? also, where do you then store the table extension/leaf?
4. it would be great to have mats that fit perfectly on top of the carpet. does anyone sell these or is this something i would have to cut to fit?
5. are there any forums on here for new trillium owners that i can join to learn all sorts of cool stuff???

Thank you so so much!!

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

hello! i am new to this website and was wondering if i could get a little help navigating through it. we just purchased a 79 trillium 4500 and there are a few questions i have...
1. it seems to "seep" water though at night time (as if we were sleeping in a tent), especially around the windows. is this normal?
2. our awning is in great shape, but has lost it's poles that hook onto the holes on the top of the awning and then extend to the bottom of the trillium to keep the awning out. does anyone know where i can purchase these?
3. we would like to add shelving in the tall closet that looks to be for hanging up clothes. what is the easiest way to go about doing this? also, where do you then store the table extension/leaf?
4. it would be great to have mats that fit perfectly on top of the carpet. does anyone sell these or is this something i would have to cut to fit?
5. are there any forums on here for new trillium owners that i can join to learn all sorts of cool stuff???

Thank you so so much!!

1. I don't believe it seeping, it condensation caused by breathing in an enclosed space. You can greatly reduce it with one of two methods, one stop breathing, probably not a good idea. Two open the roof vent a crack and open a window a crack to allow air to circulation in and moist air out the top. Two works great for me.


4. I've thought about cutting a piece of carpeting to go over my installed carpet. A couple problems come to mind, first one the compartment doors is close to the floor and wouldn't clear. Another issue is keep the top carpet in place.
The second layer would help insulate the floor in cold weather, but for me that's probably not necessary since we head south to warmer weather when it gets cold here. For the one or two night where we've been caught in cold weather, we can manage.
I've never heard of anybody making a carpet to fit like the floor carpets of autos and trucks.

The other items somebody else will have to answer.

Welcome to Fiberglass rv, you'll get lots of answers on this site. Beware some answers are better than others.

[Richard Hayes]

The 'seeping' isn't normal or desireable. If it happens only when it's raining , you have leaks around the windows. There's a whack of info on window recaulking on this board.

If it's all the time, regardless of weather, it could be condensation on the windows caused by the moisture in the air and in exhaled breaths. If so, I'd try opening the roof vent and at least one window a crack while sleeping to allow better ventilation.

A tip re searching - if you use the Search function in the top blue bar, you'll find that the bottom of the two Search boxes - the Google Custom Search one - yields much, much better targeted results. Here's the result for a search for "trillium window leaks"...
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/m...ow+leaks&sa=Go

[David Tilston]

First off, congrats! I am quite a fan of the Trillium 4500.

Does yours have a front bench that has a fibreglass front all the way across, or do you have a gap in the middle. You see, I have a theory that from 1979 on, Trillium used the fibreglass from the front dinette models, whether or not the trailer had a front dinette.

As for your questions:

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

1. it seems to "seep" water though at night time (as if we were sleeping in a tent), especially around the windows. is this normal?

I agree that you are probably experiencing condensation. Being on the wet coast, you might want to look into a powered vent fan. Many people consider this a great improvement to their trailers. They can be purchased for a couple of hundred dollars for a simple, but effective unit, to almost six hundred for one that senses rain and then close and shuts off, automatically, as well as other useful features.
At this point it should be noted that trailers of this age have some common problems. Specifically on Trilliums, the ply wood around the windows, under the off white liner (elephant hide), is prone to rot. That condensation is the culprit. Odds are yours will have some rot. Wiggle the curtan rod holders. They are screwed into this wood. Some will feel solid, others will wiggle like there is nothing behind them. This is an inexpensive, but labour intensive fix. There are lots of threads on this subject.

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

2. our awning is in great shape, but has lost it's poles that hook onto the holes on the top of the awning and then extend to the bottom of the trillium to keep the awning out. does anyone know where i can purchase these?

If your awning is like mine, there are several poles that go with it. I am not sure where to get them, but here is what they look like.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ies-49152.html
If you want dimensions, I will be glad to provide them.

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

3. we would like to add shelving in the tall closet that looks to be for hanging up clothes. what is the easiest way to go about doing this? also, where do you then store the table extension/leaf?

This is actually two related questions. The leaf goes in the closet. There should be a latch on the back of the closet, and a grove on the bottom, at the back. The table leaf sits in the grove, and is held up by the latch. I can provide pictures.
Shelves would likely make this difficult to use. There are several threads on this site where folks have done exactly what you propose. Personally, if I were to add shelves, I would probably use wood and fibreglass. No screw holes.

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

4. it would be great to have mats that fit perfectly on top of the carpet. does anyone sell these or is this something i would have to cut to fit?

You would definitely have to cut to fit.

Originally Posted by Nurse Noel

5. are there any forums on here for new trillium owners that i can join to learn all sorts of cool stuff???

Just go search "Trillium" with the Search Site / Google, under Search on the blue bar above. Add "window" for a more specific search on question one.