A few weeks back Brett inspected our coach. Part of the inspection included a "torque test" of our bulkhead bolts. All were intact, both front and rear. Brett advised cleaning out the minimal rust that was in or near the bulkhead joint and then spraying with rust inhibitor and then undercoating. I did that this week (see below). This should keep any water from the outside from coming into the joint (and the bolts). Note that I masked the bolt heads so they could be easily torque tested in the future.
Equally important are the internal sources of water. In our coach (2003, 36') the utility bay is just in front of the rear bulkhead on the driver's side. On the other side you have the water pump, water manifold and water heater. I think that these are so close to the rear bulkhead that they add to the risk of rust and failure. I'll certainly keep an eye out for any water dripping in these areas.
On my coach it APPEARS that the water tank overflow hose empties right onto this area. I try not to overflow on filling for this reason.
I have been wondering about this too. Sealing that seam up does have its risks. If water gets into that area, how does it get out? I was thinking about putting a second overflow outlet in so it comes out somewhere else. Has anyone done that?
George,
I removed my fresh water tank overflow pipe from the bulkhead fitting, added a 90 degree elbow, added some more tubing, drilled a hole in the basement floor and vented the overflow line directly onto the ground.
No more overflow flooding down the rear bulkhead.
Rudy.... your coach may be different than ours, but where is the overflow outlet located and how did you get to it.
George
George, on ours it runs across the top of utility bay and you can reach up on the other side of bulkhead and feel where it comes out.
I saw Barry Leavetts relocation of the hose. See Photos
George,
On the passenger side, aft of my water pump compartment, I have a gray carpet panel that hides the freshwater tank. The green striped white hose for the overflow is on top of the tank and can be routed down the passenger side of the freshwater tank keeping it behind the gray panel.
As you can see on Barry's photo, his is on the side where the manifold is located. Just look for the green striped overflow hose on top of the freshwater tank and then run it out the bottom of the basement.
I found it. The green and white hose is on the driver's side, just above the sewer valves. It actually sits on top of the black and gray tanks. The hose runs toward the back and dumps through an opening just in front of the outside DS rear tire. Could there be a worse place? Our rear bulkhead is in pretty good shape, but the outside 3 feet on the driver's side shows the most rust..... it is just below the water overflow outlet. I thought the bulkhead rust might have been due to a past leak in the utility cabinet, but I bet it was this outlet that caused the rust. I'm in the process of rerouting it. Pics to follow.
That sounds like something I need to look at too and do it as well if I find the same thing.
I also rerouted the overflow line on our '97 the way Rudy did but on our New To Us '03, the paper work says we have a high water shut off valve on the fresh water tank. I suppose if the valve malfunctioned, it would still overflow in the normal manner.
Here are some pics of how I rerouted the fresh water overflow on our 2003. As I mentioned above (and shown in Barry's first picture), the green and white overflow line ran across the tops of the gray and black tanks on the driver's side. The outlet is just in front of the back tire. See photos below. You can gain access to this area by removing the panels that cover the sewer valve area.
I plugged the old hole in the bay with a 1" PVC end cap. Then I extended the green/white hose with a 1" x 5' "fit-all corrugated drain hose" for a clothes washer that I found at the local hardware store. I used a 3/4" PVC coupling and a couple of hose clamps to make a secure connection. In my coach there was enough room to run the new hose down the front of the black/gray tanks and then to the floor behind the dump valves. I cut a 1 1/2" hole in the floor and glued in a 1" ID PVC coupler with 3M 4200 sealer. The coupler was long enough to extend out the bottom about 1/8" and gave a good surface to seal it with the 4200. I covered the end of the new hose with fiberglass screen and secured it with a hose clamp on the inside. I'll probably add another hose clamp to the outside when the 4200 is fully cured.
I can't see any difference in overflowing the tank or driving in the rain, so I'm still trying to figure out why the OEM location at the top is objectionable.
I don't believe it's the location at the top, but rather the bottom of the overflow tube dumping above the bulkhead seam. The re-routing is to create a fresh tank overflow outlet expressly below and away from the bulkhead.
Water coming from above can pool/be retained and keep the bulkhead moist. Splashing up from driving isn't likely to pool above the bulkhead (although chemicals from road salt/ice melt splashed up on the bulkhead can still cause rust jacking).
Can you tell me where the seam in question is?
Where does the water pool?
Look from underneath the coach, forward of the rear axle, for an area where the middle of the coach and the rear are bolted together. That's your rear bulkhead (there's a similar one up front, behind the front axle).
If water discharges above the level of the bay floor, it could pool on the floor of the wet bay, across the coach to the utility bay. It could held by the underskinning.
It's more rare in a 2003-era coach, but Barry B. had an undetected aftermarket water filter leak in that area and it caused significant damage. He'd posted some photos of a before and after rebuild that FT had to do.
George was obviously concerned about explicitly routing the fresh tank overflow away from the rear bulkhead. In some earlier years than his, coaches had shorter overflow/no automatic tank fill stop, and overflow from the fresh tank could be a contributing factor in rear bulkhead issues. Over the year, we saw several coaches at CampFT use "water pouring out under the coach" as their signal that their fresh tank was full so they could turn the water off.
ETA Barry's post and photos Making sure the fresh water tank is completely full (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=10840.msg52256#msg52256)
Thanks for the last link Michelle.
I fully understand the issue now.