Travel Trailer Repairs

I’ve got a section of roof membrane right here in front of me — pulled it off a 302BH I picked up last spring — and you can see exactly where the story went wrong. The original seam sealant is cracked and peeling, gray instead of white, and the membrane underneath is stained a darker … Read more

“Drew, my brake display went completely dark last week,” a guy messaged me from somewhere in Oregon. “The trailer’s still stopping, but the controller’s not responding to anything, and I can feel the brakes grabbing and releasing weird on downhills. I’m afraid to tow it much further.” That message landed in my inbox at the … Read more

I’m standing over the water heater compartment on this 1985 Lance right now with my headlamp pointed straight at the tank nipple, running my fingers along the corroded stub where the anode rod used to be. What’s left of it—maybe a quarter inch of pitted magnesium—tells me exactly why the owner’s been complaining about rust-colored … Read more

I got a text from a buddy last week: a Lance 1985 came through his shop with a quote of $2,100 for slide-out seal replacement, labor included. He asked if I’d ever done it. I have — several times — and it’s nowhere near that number if you’re willing to spend an afternoon on it … Read more

Most owners of the Winnebago Micro Minnie 1700BH never replace their LP gas detector until it fails catastrophically—and by then, you’ve already been breathing air that the sensor didn’t catch. These units have a finite lifespan printed right on them, but I’ve pulled detectors out of rigs that were five, six, even seven years past … Read more

Your furnace won’t spark, the thermostat’s calling for heat, and you’re staring at a dealer quote that reads like a down payment on a used car. So what’s actually dead—the whole furnace, or just the igniter module? On a Winnebago Micro Minnie 1700BH, I can tell you it’s almost always the igniter, and you don’t … Read more

I was parked at a BLM spot outside Moab, Utah—mid-October, temps dropping fast at night—when I turned on the kitchen faucet and got nothing but a dry click from the pump. Not even a sputter. I’d been on the road for eight weeks straight, and the 1700BH’s water system had been running flawlessly until that … Read more

Walk into a dealer service department and you’ll hear that roof membrane leaks on travel trailers are best handled by professionals—liability, structural integrity, the whole speech. Log into an RV forum and someone will tell you it’s a weekend job with caulk and a utility knife. One of those voices is steering you wrong, and … Read more

Living full-time in a trailer means you can’t phone a service department and wait weeks for an opening. You either tackle it yourself, you do it today, and you do it correctly — because your home doesn’t have the luxury of sitting idle in some shop bay. On the Coachmen Catalina 253RKS, a malfunctioning electric … Read more

Your owner’s manual doesn’t mention it, and the dealer service department certainly won’t volunteer this information when they’re quoting you labor rates: awning fabric on the Forest River Rockwood Mini Lite 2506S fails in a predictable sequence that nobody catches until it’s already expensive. You extend it, weather moves in, you forget to roll it … Read more