Flood event in Lil Snoozy

[Melanie B in NC]

We had a minor disaster with our Lil Snoozy Marigold while visiting in Alabama last week. There was a major thunderstorm and we really enjoyed lying in the comfortable Snoozy bed and listening to the rain. It was great! BUT at 3 AM my DH woke me saying "that is not rain - what is that water sound?" We quickly got up and found that the lower end (door end) was completely flooded by about 2 inches of water. We were parked at our son's house and connected to his water supply with a hose. My DH ran out and cut off the water. At that point it stopped bubbling up in the toilet stand. We had to literally bail out the water. Fortunately, Marigold was not completely level, so only half was flooded. Everything under the sink, 2 rugs, shoes, etc. all soaked. We bailed out and then mopped with towels - hubby standing outside in the night wringing out towels! Then we lay back down and waited for morning. We ran the AC all the next day to help in drying out (afraid of warping wood and mold). There was no water for the rest of the trip, but this was not a big problem - we could still use the toilet at night by pouring a bit of water from a bottle in - just no piped water.

After returning home on Wednesday DH called Richard Mickle at Snoozy and Richard remarked he had had several reports of the "blue hose" separating (so this is apparently a known issue). He referred us to Carl at Snoozy who does the installation of the toilets. Carl recommended we bring Marigold to the factory as removing and reinstalling the toilet is a bit tricky. So we will be going on Monday and staying in a hotel nearby for a couple of days while he does it. We will use the couple of days to do some unexpected fun touring.

I hope this comes under warranty and also hope there was no lasting damage (does not appear to be any so far). All seems to have dried out okay. Really distressing (I am aware that this is a minor thing compared to what is going on out in the world!) - but I am hopeful it can be fixed in such a way that we don't have to worry about a repeat event.

[carlkeigley]

Sorry to hear of the mishap.
But no worry on wood damage in the
floor as there is no wood. Perhaps
cabinet wood a bit soaked. If so, hopefully
factory will take care of that also.

At first I was thinking you were going to so
your camper became a boat going down the
river.........

[kootenaigirl]

Oh my goodness, you poor things. That would have been quite scary especially after the storm. Glad there doesn't seem to be any long lasting damage and that you can get in and get it fixed.

[Melanie B in NC]

Carl - the cabinet wood did get soaked. Re your comment about "going down the river", I think my husband actually did for just a second question if the outside yard was flooded - it had been really pouring earlier. He waded through the water and opened the door and looked out, ready for anything he might see. Then he quickly realized where the water was bubbling up - would have been scary if we had been in any kind of flood plain!

[Mike Magee]

What do they put in there for flooring? I was thinking they laid down some laminate. Is it just vinyl?

Make sure you have a pressure regulator on the outside water hose where it attaches to your trailer; you probably already had one, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

[Donna D.]

It won't help if a hose falls off, but I highly recommend adding the toilet cut-off. Yours isn't the first "flood" we've read about, likely not the last.

Hope everything comes out well!

[Byron Kinnaman]

Free internal wash courtesy of the "on board toilet".

[papa-t]

So sorry. Chalk it up to memories.

[War Eagle]

Bummer! I twice helped clean a family member's house that flooded from a nearby creek that overflowed it's banks during a tropical rain storm. Not fun. Just be happy it was fresh water and not muddy, cruddy storm run-off.

I'm not sure what's possible with a Snoozy, but our Egg Camper has a 3/8" (?) hole drilled through the fiberglass floor in each of the four corners (out of sight, back inside the cabinets and storage areas) that I've called "weep holes" because I've assumed they are there to allow any condensation to drain out rather than build up. I hope you never have to experience another indoor flood, but seems like a drain hole drilled in at least the two rear corners might help prevent leaking water from building up into an indoor wading pool again. Just a thought. Again, I feel your pain and hope it never happens to you again (or anyone else). Best of luck....

[Melanie B in NC]

Lee says that if we had been at a campground and had the grey water hose hooked up, we might not have had a flooded interior. He thinks the water bubbled up, ran down the drain, and filled the grey water tank - then it had no where to do because we had not hooked up the hose and had not left the outside valve open as as we did not want to drain it out on their lawn. We were not using water except for brushing teeth and assumed (always bad to "assume" anything) that the tank would easily hold that bit of water for the visit. No drain hose = flooded interior. The tiny drain hole under the sink quickly was covered by tiny bits of debris - I had to keep wiping it off with my finger so the water under there could drain out. Right - memories. I guess this is low down on the terrible scale of possible events. It is a bit like getting the first scratch on a new car - not really important, but distressing.

[Flharleycop]

Originally Posted by Melanie B in NC

We had a minor disaster with our Lil Snoozy Marigold while visiting in Alabama last week. There was a major thunderstorm and we really enjoyed lying in the comfortable Snoozy bed and listening to the rain. It was great! BUT at 3 AM my DH woke me saying "that is not rain - what is that water sound?" We quickly got up and found that the lower end (door end) was completely flooded by about 2 inches of water. We were parked at our son's house and connected to his water supply with a hose. My DH ran out and cut off the water. At that point it stopped bubbling up in the toilet stand. We had to literally bail out the water. Fortunately, Marigold was not completely level, so only half was flooded. Everything under the sink, 2 rugs, shoes, etc. all soaked. We bailed out and then mopped with towels - hubby standing outside in the night wringing out towels! Then we lay back down and waited for morning. We ran the AC all the next day to help in drying out (afraid of warping wood and mold). There was no water for the rest of the trip, but this was not a big problem - we could still use the toilet at night by pouring a bit of water from a bottle in - just no piped water.

After returning home on Wednesday DH called Richard Mickle at Snoozy and Richard remarked he had had several reports of the "blue hose" separating (so this is apparently a known issue). He referred us to Carl at Snoozy who does the installation of the toilets. Carl recommended we bring Marigold to the factory as removing and reinstalling the toilet is a bit tricky. So we will be going on Monday and staying in a hotel nearby for a couple of days while he does it. We will use the couple of days to do some unexpected fun touring.

I hope this comes under warranty and also hope there was no lasting damage (does not appear to be any so far). All seems to have dried out okay. Really distressing (I am aware that this is a minor thing compared to what is going on out in the world!) - but I am hopeful it can be fixed in such a way that we don't have to worry about a repeat event.

Were you using the pressure reducer connection on your city water hook up to the rig?

[Melanie B in NC]

Update - we took Marigold to the Snoozy factory, planning to drop her off Monday afternoon so they could start work early Tuesday. Carl at the factory had said it might take him 2 days if he had to remove the toilet. But - not necessary. We got there about 4 PM. Carl and Richard immediately started diagnosing the problem. They quickly found a blown part on the hose (no - we had not put on the pressure regulator, which we definitely should have done!). They repaired the damaged part quickly. Carl then fixed a drawer latch that had gotten damaged. We checked over the wood and it appears fine - no ill effects from the water - looks as good as new. We were all finished in an hour - including all the talking and laughing we did. We also toured another unit that is almost finished - has some very interesting design elements that had been requested by the client. Richard is open to almost anything asked of them if it is technically and financially possible. He is completely invested in this company and seems to be immensely enjoying himself building great little campers. It is always a pleasure to meet people who seem to like what they are doing.

In sum - the service was great. I am comfortable with the repair. The hose is appropriately rated (Richard can give you the technical psi details) by the Thetford people. As long as the correct pressure regulator is used, there should not be any more problems. I have read on other fora that these regulators should be used for any RV as campground water systems vary widely. This does not seem to be a Snoozy problem alone. So the regulator is now part of our must, must list.

I really appreciate the service provided by the Snoozy people - Richard has a good grasp of the business and is committed to his product. He is flexible about design requests and is such a good "customer service" guy. It must be tough to compete with the big guys in the RV world, but Snoozy is giving it a good shot and I hope they are around for many years to come. Richard and his team offer a great product and service. We came away with a fresh stack of business cards to pass out to people who indicate an interest in our Marigold. It is a public service to help them find such a good little camper!

[carlkeigley]

Thanks for the update Melanie.
Glad things all turned out good.....................

[David B.]

Melanie, I totally agree with the Allen's flexibility when it comes to changes. We had him install different windows, lower mounted air conditioner, 12 volt Truck fridge, Disc brakes, MaxxAir fan instead of Fantastic Fan, and did not have the access door, table, nor upper cabinets mounted, as I built my own larger ones. Love our personalized Snoozy, and plan to take it out on it's maiden voyage to Michigan this Thursday (the 2000 mile trip from the factory to Arizona did not count as we never used it, and stayed in motels).
Dave & Paula