DIY RV Water Leak Repair

It is hard to believe that we have been stuck in the Pacific Northwest for over a year now! With no travels, things have been very quiet on the RV front. However over the winter a drip started at the shower drain. It seemed to disappear when we stayed in one location for two months starting in April. As we prepared to move at the end of our two month stay, hub noticed the black under belly looking a bit pregnant. It was filled with water, fresh water thank goodness. Unsure what the source was, we sucked it out and figured it could have been the heavy rain or perhaps from us washing it. We did not even consider that it could be our tiny little drip we saw in March.

The next day we moved and didn't think much about the leak. Two weeks in hub noticed substantial water in the basement. Our new site had us sitting at an angle that the water did not leak down to the under belly, instead it managed to make it's way far to the front and drained down on to the basement area. We made an appointment to have the leak investigated and fixed. The soonest we could get in was after the fourth of July and they wanted two days to troubleshoot. Our warranty covers fresh water leaks with a $100 deductible.

We left the water pump turned off, only turning it on when we used the water. That worked ok, until we moved once more, this time our move was an eight hour drive and once we'd set up camp, the leak had returned and was much worse.

Hub decided to fix it himself which of course includes me assisting. I actually love home maintenance projects. Together we have rehabbed many of our rental units. RV repair is very similar but with much more fragile materials involved. Hub hates plumbing and I don't know enough to love or hate it, but I do know that it often takes multiple tweaks to eliminate a leak 100%.

The fix took us many hours over two days including a trip to Ace hardware, Home Depot and Lowes. Hub spent a little over $140 and had to purchase a tool we already own that is in storage with our rental maintenance supplies. It was still worth the work to know we are not ruining our trailer by letting it continue to leak. In addition by doing the work ourselves, we chose where to access the shower, and then were able to close up our holes after the work was done. I am not sure how an RV repair place decides when to cut into walls to get to plumbing. I would have hated for them to have to dismantle the shower to get to the plumbing, yikes!

I made a video showing what we had to do to get access to the shower plumbing. Once we got in to the area the problem was easy to see. I share our plans for the fix, and then the re-plans when the fix didn't work as expected and finally I talk about how we closed up the holes we made to gain access to the shower faucet. Video length: 10 min 34 sec.