Water in underbellly driving in heavy rain Confusing info from dealer vs cust support

[bnjhikers]

Hi all,

Imagine 17 mke

On our first try out trip we drove in heavy rain. Water entered the underbelly and dripped thru a small screw sized hole in the underbelly in the center directly above the front axle.

I called GR customer support to find out what to do. The person claimed that I had damaged the underbelly because there should not be any holes in the underbelly. we decided to make an appointment with a gd dealer service center.

The service center suggested I do a pressure test by filling the fresh water tank. No issues with the pressure test. The water pump never kicked on.

No more leaks until our 4th trip, it rained again. At a rest stop, I checked and the water was dripping again from the same screw hole and a small amount from the fresh water tank drain.

Tuesday we took the trailer in for our service appointment. We were surprised when they told us they would not do any warranty repairs on our unit, since we didn’t purchase it there. We are 2nd owners.

We called gd customer support again to determine if this was a warranty issue. The 1 year warranty transfers, the trailer was built in Jan/21. This rep said it is common to get water in the underbelly when driving in the rain because they can not completely seal it around rams and arms. This person said the screw sized holes are there for this reason. (I found a second hole also in the center of the trailer in front of the spare tire).

I didn’t ask about water damage to insulation as other posts here mention.

1. Should I be concerned about water damage to anything in the under belly of my trailer?
2. I’m confused as to why the first customer support rep didn’t tell me these things and was generally not helpful. Is the second rep correct? Am I getting correct information? Are the reps Gd employees or are they outsourced?
3. Do I contact the dealer and tell them to stop looking into the water leak issue? The technician at the dealer said the water in the underbelly was a problem? We asked them to diagnose the issue. I don’t want to pay for them to check something that is a normal occurrence of driving in the rain.
4. Is it common for gd designs dealers to only do warranty service rigs they have sold? Who is responsible for getting warranty work authorized?


Sorry, I’m just a bit disappointed and confused with all of this.

[Country Campers]

Sorry for all of the trouble and confusion you are having.

The water "leaking" or "dripping" from the underbelly is very common when traveling in rainy conditions. There is no batt insulation in the underbelly of your 17MKE , this is only found in the Solitudes and Momentum line. Making sure that there is no plumbing leaks is also very important. If there are no drips noticed in dry conditions then you should be safe with the plumbing.

Finally it is very common for RV dealers to only work on the RV's that they have sold, just the way it is, mobile techs are sometimes a better way to get your RV worked on when away from your selling dealer.

Hope this helps clear some things up but do please keep an eye out for any plumbing leaks or suspected leaks , these are very bad for your RV. Water getting in the underbelly from traveling in the rain should not damage anything cover by the underbelly, most items are plastic and steel in this area. If there is a large belly sag that is holding a large amount of water then you could have an issue from that, this is the reason that there are small holes in the belly cover for drainage.

Brian

[familytruckster4]

We had a similar issue on our 2600RB. After driving in a heavy rain some water would get between the underbelly cover and the frame and then drip for a day or 2 after we stopped. The Corplast (or whatever GD calls it) is laid against the bottom chord of the frame and screwed onto it. Along that frame/corplast joint is where the water comes in. While driving through the heavy rain the spray from the tires will blow around and penetrate this joint. The water doesnt do any harm other than the relative humidity of it being in the underbelly area.
I solved the problem by loosening the screws in the wheel area and moving down the corplast enough to get a light bead of silicone between it and the frame. I didnt do the entire length of the trailer, just 8 ft or so where the wheels were.

[bnjhikers]

Thanks all! We do love our little house. I’m trying to learn as much as possible and catch problems before they become big ones.

GOOD NEWS the service center fixed our propane regulator. Saw a post of someone’s trailer that caught fire. Scary.