New here! A few questions

[Pugwinkle]

Hi! I'm new here and new to owning an RV. We just bought a 30' 1996 Prowler 5th wheel trailer with huge slide out. We got it for a good price and from what I'm learning it's a dang good thing cuz I think we may have some serious issues with it.

This is a smooth sided trailer but I have no idea what it's made of, would it be fiberglass? Anyway, the side of the trailer is pulling away and in order to bring it home we are going to have to screw down this piece so it doesn't pull away any more during travel. Once it's here we will have someone come and inspect it and hopefully let us know what is going on with it. Unfortuantely when I tell people about it they all think water damage right away. This could make sense as I believe the bathroom is in the area where the outside is pulling away. I had hoped it was just a matter of the glue dissolving from being in the sun for years but I guess it's unlikely that this is the cause.

Any ideas on what is involved if it is water damage? My husband is quite handy and will be able to do a lot of the work.

This trailer will mostly be used as a guest house on our land. We have a lot of dogs so the chances of us going camping are not likely for many years to come. What is the best way to park a trailer that will mostly be sitting other than short trips to have the water tanks emptied. Is it okay to have it sit on grass or is something else better to keep it in good shape?

Also, can we simply plug it into an outside plug from our home or garage and expect things to work or will we constantly be tripping our breakers? Do we need a bigger plug than a regular 15 amp? I have read that we will need at least a 10 gauge extension cord. Is that correct?

And last question, do we have to use that special toilet paper or can we just use 1 ply stuff from the grocery store?

That's it for my questions at the moment! Hope someone can give me some insight into this.

 

[Ozzie]

First off, let me welcome you to our site Pugwinkle!

The material is likely a fiberglass coated plywood. I would hestitate running any screws into it to get it home until you verify how to replace it without the screws showing. Some pics would help, as would a phone call to a dealer that sells or repairs these units inquiring about replacing an outside panel. It may well be from water damage.

Look at what this fellow did in this thread...http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/showthread.php?t=23717
He got pretty far into the framing of his trailer and that thread may be of some help to your husband.

As far a storage...tires do not like ground contact long term...put some 2x wood material under them to protect the tires.

Power connections...again, not knowing what you have I would assume you have a 30 AMP connection. To connect to household type receptacles you would need an adapter. 15 AMP home supply is pretty weak, 20 is better, either will not be happy if you try to run the air unit. We have our plugged into a 20 AMP at home...we rarely even try to use the air unit there. Soft start with fan only, then turn the air on is the only way to get it tripping the circuit.

Toilet paper...no need to buy that expensive stuff sold by RV supply house...you can use septic safe tp...easily found.
Do the shake test....glass of water with some tp in it...cover the top and shake. If it breaks up, you're good to go.
Use good chemicals in the tanks...they control smell as well as break down the waste. You may need to do some reconditioning there as well. The tank level sensors rarely are accurate.

I'll be happy you give you some links for supplies if you like...our vendors here don't offer this type of product as far as I know.

Again, pics would be a big help for us to know what you're into...let me know if you need help posting some and welcome aboard!

 

[Pugwinkle]

God! I sure hope my hubby doesn't have to do all that much work to fix our trailer. YIKES! I think he will be pretty ticked at me if he does.

We are picking up the trailer later today right when he gets home from work. I doubt we will have a chance to speak to anyone about what to do with the panel that is giving away. I think we are going to have to put the screws in. He will most certainly feel it's safer to have the screws in rather than just leave it as is. I did mention it to the owner at our local RV supplier and he thought putting the screws in would be a good idea at least to get it home and then we can remove them and deal with whatever is causing the problem.

We live in the country and are on a septic system. I use 2 ply cottenelle and haven't had any trouble with that. Would that be okay to use? I just did the shake test and it seems to break down very well. Cool test!!

Yes I would appreciate links to supplies but keep in mind that I'm in Ontario, Canada.