Freshwater tank overflow hose?

Greetings -

First time poster (I will be sending in my money soon to become a full sponsor) ... and new owner of a gently used 1990 M23 (aka 2720). We haven't yet taken it on the road, but overall it seems to be in excellent shape, and everything seems to work. The dealer we bought it from gave a fairly helpful tour, even though this was only the second trailmanor they had ever seen <g>. I had already found this forum (and the helpful checklists/manuals), so I was able to help facilitate the tour as well ... this is our first trailer, so hopefully it will work out well for us for a few years.

Anyway, once I got it home and was able to take a more lengthy look around, I found something that doesn't quite make sense. On the freshwater tank (left hand side, under the seat, next to the battery compartment), there is an 'extra' hose. It is just over a foot long, and has a a butt end connector clamped on, but the other end of the connector isn't connected to anything (see attached picture, battery cover removed for clarity, the end of the hose is resting on the positive wire). So - what is this hose for, and where should it be connected? I'm assuming since it is connected to the top of the freshwater tank that it is an overflow tube ... but, I don't see anywhere that it should go (other than flooding the compartment with the battery, which seems like a bad idea to me). Is it supposed to drain down through the floor or back out the side wall?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated ... thanks ... I look forward to posting many more questions and reading the findings of others over the next few years ...

-Eric
First time trailer owner ...
1990 M23 (2720)

Thet is not an exit "hole" above that blue hose going back ouside?

[Leslie & Nick]

From your description and the photo, it looks like it is an overflow line that somehow got disconnected from its fitting on the water intake device. From the inside of the trailer, check if you see a connector where the hose should be attached. Either the hose fell off the connector, or the connector itself broke off. If broken, you can easily replace the fill receptacle. The purpose of the overflow line is to let you know that the tank is full.

You probably want to get this attended to before you try and fill the freshwater tank. If line is disconnected, you'll flood the inside storage compartment as soon as you reach the full point of your storage tank. Otherwise, don't fill the storage tank to capacity. Let us know what you find.

Nick

[fcatwo]

It's also likely your breather hose. It let's the air out as the water goes in and you'll hear it hissing while you fill the tank once you get it vented back outside.

Greetings -

Many thanks for all the responses ... with the push in the right direction, I just ran out and checked, and indeed, there is a hole of just the right size located right above the fill hose inlet. Now, I swear I got down on my hands and knees before, but just couldn't find it ... maybe it was hiding behind those wires . I guess the glue wore out sometime over the years, perhaps the previous owners never used the freshwater tank so they didn't know?

And yes, I did just pay my dues - so I guess I'll stick around a while.

We did end up taking it on a shakedown cruise this weekend (state park in Mass. with water/elect hookups, so I figured the overflow hose issue wasn't a big deal for the weekend). Despite a day and a half of downpours, we had a great time, and were able to confirm that everything works as well as one would expect for a 16 year old trailer ... there are still a few little touch-up repairs to make ... but that's what all the free weekends we don't go camping are for, right? Next up, a week long trip to Maine ...

Again, thanks to all!

Leon -

By now you can have the rain! Up here in Mass we've had record rainfalls for May and June - in fact, back in May, the north-eastern corner of the state and southern NH had so much rain that river flooding was a major concern - over flowing their banks ... disaster area type stuff ... bridges getting damaged by floating trees ... not good. Fortunately my area was spared - we "only" got 6 inches that weekend, as opposed to 12+ (not kidding).

I'm happy to say (knock on wood) we had no leakage problems ... and yes, these were truly downpour conditions at times. When I first climbed into the trailer before I bought it, I did a careful look around to find any evidence of water intrusion ... there was nothing coming in from above ... there was, however, some significant water rot to the wood strip that holds the insulated flaps in place, as well as to the flaps themselves, which were falling apart where the met the wall. Before we hit the road, we replaced the flaps with vinyl fabric/plywood/batting ... if you didn't know what the original looked like, you would think it was stock. This repair held up well during the downpours as well, and hopefully it will see us through a few years into the future ...

For a fraction of the price of new ... we're very happy ...

As to opening/closing in the rain - I did not get to experience that joy ... though it was raining on the way down to the campground (~45 minutes from home). On arrival it was clear for about 20 minutes ... just enough time for a rookie to get the trailer open and grab stuff from the TV before it started to drizzle ... and then the torrents came ...

Side note - in the heavy downpowers, the rain hitting the roof sounds like loud static ... great if one likes white noise to fall asleep. I'm assuming this is normal with a metal skin roof - is this the same in most other trailers and/or newer model TMs?

-Eric

16 years old and no leaks is saying something!