Life in a 2014 Forest River Flagstaff Travel Trailer: RV Step Stairs and Dometic's 300 Series Toilet

Our New RV Stairs

RV stairs are flimsy and over time can start to buckle.  Plus, our FurBabies "Sasha, Zoey Bear, and Bella Boo" and the humans in our family do not like them at all.  We needed sturdy and safe stairs for our family.  The cost to buy a saw and speed square plus knowing that I would only use them one time and not need them again for years to come led me to hire out the job.

Safety Grit Tape

Safe Stairs for the Bowen Family

Craigslist Logo

Craigslist to the rescue.  I contacted 3 local handymen and only 1 responded.  He is a local builder that works part-time at Lowe's.  He came out to the RV and discussed the job and took measurements. Less than week later, we have a solid sturdy pressure treated lumber stairs.  All I had to do was add some skateboard type tape for a more secure stair tread and this project was accomplished.  Pretty cool if I must say so myself!

Our New Stairs and Heather's "Radio"

Next issue!!!

A few days after we moved into the RV there was a serious odor coming from the bathroom.  No one likes to smell pee so it was time to figure out what was going on.  I dumped the black then the grey tanks.  Our girl "Bessie" has a black tank flush and I hooked up a hose and made sure the black tank was cleared.

The next day, I went to the park owner and borrowed a ladder.  I went up on "Bessie's" roof with a hose and put water down both the kitchen and bath vent stacks in case there was a clog in one.  There was still a seriously stinky odor issue.

Time to explore the internet.

The maker of the toilet is Dometic's.  I surfed the web for a few days and they I hit pay dirt. In 2013 and part of 2014, Dometic's toilet series 300 had a serious issue that the company didn't issue a recall for...But, they would replace the toilet for free if any customer complained.

Our RV is a 2014.  It had seen little to almost no use by the first owner.  Would Dometic's still honor the replacement?  I sent off an email to find out.  It took about a week of being bouncing around the office staff until I hit someone who worked in the right department and could act.  Heather found the serial number and every number on the toilet and we waited for a reply.

We were told we would get a new toilet in the mail. And three days later it arrived. There was even a toilet flange rubber seal included.  The same model, series 300.  But redesigned.  The old one was like a bowl inside another. The outer bowl was the decorative outside and the inside bowl was the toilet bowl itself. Between them was an inner rubber seal that was pressed in at the factory during assembly. It leaked allowing the space between the bowls to fill with waste water.  And stink!!!

I have changed and installed plenty of toilets in a house but, never in an RV.  It was actually faster and easier than a house.  I had to borrow a combination wrench from another camper as my socket set could not get into the flange bolts.  I was done in less than 5 minutes.  The smell issue was finally resolved!

One word of caution if you have this issue, the waste water inside the toilet will cause a mess when you remove the toilet.  I have a door in my bathroom so I just chucked it outside.  If you don't, consider the tub to keep the mess down.

I want to give a big high five to Dometic's for standing behind the things they make. If anything breaks in the RV and they make a replacement, they have me as a customer! Thanks for being honest, and for sending me a free toilet! Your company rocks!

Our Bessie <3

And for those of you wondering.  Yes, Heather has named our RV "Bessie" and we are Loving Her!

Our Beautiful View From the Bottom of Our New Stairs

DIY: Dan Designed an RV Travel Trailer and RV Campground and Park FurBabies Pet Enclosure or Fencing

Dan Designed an RV Travel Trailer and RV Campground and Park FurBabies Pet Enclosure or Fencing

The FurBabies can get out of our RV anytime we open a door.  We just can't leash them every time we go outside.

The solution? A pet fence? Enclosure? Kennel?  We looked online and were astonished at the size and costs.  Nothing really fit our families needs without it costing us thousands of dollars. That's not going to happen.  Time to think outside of the box.  Heather found some fencing photos ideas on Google images and we discussed our options.

Off to our local Lowe's Heather and I went.  I have to say Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ace are Heather's absolute least favorite stores in the world.  I had no tools having just come back from Ecuador so we had to spend a bit more money and time shopping but the tools will come in handy around the RV, so it's not wasted money at all.

 

I was looked for lightweight and easy to assemble.  I settled on 1120 PVC pipe.  It's half the weight of schedule 40 PVC.  It's used mostly in irrigation but that didn't matter to me.  I found some plastic and even aluminum mesh screen options.  Heather and I opted for the more durable aluminum and I got some sheet metal screws with a washer cast into the head.  I thought the screws would spread the load and help hold the screen in place.

Sasha, Zoey Bear, and Bella Boo

I have a Siberian Husky "Sasha" and 2 shih-tzu's "Zoey Bear and Bella Boo" and the enclosure needed to be tall for Sasha.  She still jumps high even at just shy of 15 years old and will run 40 miles with no thoughts as to how she will find her way home.

Inside the Gate

Outside View of the Fence

I built the gate first, it was going to be the biggest challenge and I wanted to get the hard part over with.  I built a small panel on either side of the gate. The overall length was around 5' foot and 60" inches tall. I learned a lot from it. When I moved on to the rest of the fence I made some small changes and it made construction much faster and easier.

First off, my mesh screen was 48 inches wide by 10 foot long. So I changed my height to 48 inches tall.  I also had wrapped the gate with screen on both sides doubling the coverage. It made the gate real ugly and heavy.  I also used far to many screws.  I spaced them out about every 6 inches and found that my assembly time and material cost was much better with single side screen as well.

If I had less issues with wanting a light weight fence, I would have done this very differently.  But, weight is a serious issue in an RV and we plan to take the fence with us when we hit the road.

The fence panels are 4' foot wide, 4' foot tall, and bisected with a single piece of pipe at 2' foot. It's a square with a dividing pipe in the center.  There are 4 each 90 degree ¾ inch turns, 4 each T fittings and the PVC pipe.

I didn't glue the T's that are on the bottom of the gate and the panels.  They have a small 15 inch pipe acting as a brace that faces out from the fence.  This stabilizes the fence.  I also bought some $.69 tent stakes and 150' foot of paracord at Wal-Mart.  I don't think they are needed now that I have used the fence for a while.  I crossed them over the support legs to help tie the fence down for support and security.

Once the panels were assembled, I connected them using zip ties.  I can cut them and the fence can be enlarged or made smaller as needed.  It is also the secret to having a portable fence.  We will only put it up when we are in a spot for a month or more.  I made 14 panels overall.  5 were only 24 inches tall as they go along the RV and taller was a waste.  I saved them till the end and used every scrap of screen to make them.  Candy used her glue gun to seal the smaller sections so the pups can't get out.

All done.  Nope.  The gate sucked.  I went back to the store and bought some couplers.  Time for some redneck surgery.  I shrank the gate section down to 4 foot, eliminated one side of the panels and made the other slightly larger.  I also found a bent metal rod for chain link fencing and I bolted it down to the edge of the gate.  After hammering a short 1" inch nipple into the ground I can securely attach the gate and latch it with only one hand.  Also, Heather found a perfect size piece of velcro in her belongings that she brought from Ecuador as a back up to keep the gate closed.  My materials were under $300 bucks and my time was under 6 hour spread out over several days in the late afternoon when it was cooler out.  The whole time I was working on this fence it was in the upper 80's and lower 90's.  That part sucked.  But it felt good to make the fence.  I like projects and this one allowed me to be creative and have fun.

Just when I thought it was over, another idea was floated due to the mesh being hard on hands. Off to the store Heather and I headed again.  Pool noodles were cut and added to the top of each panel as well as the sides of the larger panels next to the RV just in case they rubbed the paint job. I had a few small left over scraps that I added at the bottom of the gate to keep the smaller dogs from thinking there was any chance of escaping.

The bonus for me is I now have most of the tools I might need to work on the RV. !!! What guy wouldn't love that?  Oh, and Heather has learned to like some things in Lowe's and even knows her way around the store.  {Smiling}

Dan