So, the theme of this trailer is seems is “whenever you look under or in something you find something else wrong”. You’d think by now I’d have seen under everything, but there are a few corners still waiting for me.
So, my wife wanted a different toilet, for reasons I won’t go into. So we bought a nice new, ceramic toilet. There were some issues with the old one. For one, it creaked, every time we moved. Two – it came partway off the toilet base – but that wasn’t the fault of the toilet. One of the bolts popped lose – and I managed to get it hooked back on but realized the only way to lock the toilet down was to turn the whole thing about 10 degrees to the right. I surmised that the base had not been properly lined up.
Well, this week was swap the “johns” week so I pulled off the old unit and sure enough, the base was not properly lined up. Worse yet there was a one screw that had been driven in half an inch away from its countersunk hole. AND there was another hole where the installer had driven a screw in – in the wrong place – then pulled it out and screwed it into the countersunk hole.
So think about that for a moment. Someone’s job was to screw the base plate in – line up the slots,
drive 6 screws. They missed the lineup and only got 2/3rds of the screws in right the first time and then refused to correct one screw that was wrong. Are they pushed that hard on the manufacturing line? It’s covered up, right? Why fix it?
I was able to turn it to the appropriate alignment, reinstall the screws in their proper place and install the new toilet.
Electrical box, revisited
After the toilet, I started to install a new TPMS system. This one has a repeater unit with it that should be mounted under the trailer, near the front. Since the taillight circuit is present in the electrical box there, that was the obvious choice for location and to tap into power. I open the box, and carefully pull out the wires to access the right one – and a crimp connector falls off and lands on my face. The brown wires in the picture are for the right turn signal. Didn’t need that, did we? You can see all the way to the bottom. I don’t use that type of crimp, but I’m pretty sure it is supposed to be crimped with a special pliers. It looks like it was just squeezed with a standard pair of pliers and none-too-hard at that. Its a wonder it stayed on this long.
Post winter wonderland
So, we are working on the trailer again, getting ready for a trip and we notice some of the inside cabinet doors no longer close properly – noteably the kitchen counter doors by the back door and the left pair of doors on the bedroom closet. Its as if the cabinet frame shrunk or the doors expanded. There isn’t room to move the hinges outward (I’d have to move far enough for the screws to have a secure hole). I may have to pull and bend the hinges slightly. Either way, the spacing on the doors was just too small. Our outside rear door was also hanging. We’d unlatch and it didn’t want to open. Pull hard enough, and click – it would pop open. I noticed a worn spot on the door sill – and sure enough, there was a plastic block with beveled front on the bottom of the door – presumeably this was someone’s failed idea of how to make sure the door closes in the right position after the hinges wear. All it did for me was hang up on the sill. Upon looking closer I realized there were TWO blocks. One under the other on the same screw. Someone was trying to fix something – but that wouldn’t have fixed a warped door……