Brand new 5'er and rust

[dieselmann35]

I have had my new 2013 30.5bhlt for 2 weeks now. I went under the camper this weekend with a creeper and was very disappointed. There are spots of rust everywhere, the underbelly material has holes and tears all over, 30% of the screws holding the underbelly on are screwed into nothing and 2 broken metal straps that support the sheetmetal skirt on the bottom of the trailer were broken.

I guess I should of went underneath during my walk through but I assumed a brand new trailer would not have these issues.

Anyone else have any of these problems? Thanks in advance

[Jayco 228]

Brand new trailers on a dealers lot are not really Brand New. Depending on where you live in relation to the factory they will have thousands of miles on them. And depending on when it was hauled up, the trailer may have been pulled thru snow and salt and sand which could explain the rust.

[dieselmann35]

I live in wonderful WI where they love to use salt.

I bought some rust inhibitor spray paint from Home Depot and went over all the rust with this stuff.

[dmax_83]

That's a bummer. I was under mine recently and was amazed at the lack of rust on an older camper. Sounds like you took the proactive approach with the rust inhibitor. Ps - I feel your pain with the salt.

[Murphie]

My 2011 has rust on the bottom of the frame rails. Rust also underneath the battery box area. I have the coroplast off the bottom of the trailer. I added tank rinsers and rerouted the heating vents, added insulation, ran several power wires and when I put the cover on tomorrow I will sand off the rust and repaint the areas that need it.
My fwt drain hose had a kink an inch away from the tank connection. The drain spout faced the wrong way. This explained why it took forever to drain. Two of the three ducts heated the bedroom and the bathroom, the remaining duct was divided and was responsible for heating 2/3 rds of the trailer. I was surprised to see how much rust the frame rails had even though the trailer is two years old. Overall I am pleased with the build quality of our trailer. When you have the cover off and see the inner workings of the trailer it's hard not to be impressed with the work that went into building these trailers.

[wallacemf]

Originally Posted by dieselmann35

I have had my new 2013 30.5bhlt for 2 weeks now. I went under the camper this weekend with a creeper and was very disappointed. There are spots of rust everywhere, the underbelly material has holes and tears all over, 30% of the screws holding the underbelly on are screwed into nothing and 2 broken metal straps that support the sheetmetal skirt on the bottom of the trailer were broken.

I guess I should of went underneath during my walk through but I assumed a brand new trailer would not have these issues.

Anyone else have any of these problems? Thanks in advance

I have a new 2013 Jayco 28BHBE travel trailer, I picked up on May 3rd. It was built in January 2013 and I am in WV, so it was probably hauled here in a snowstorm and covered in salt.

It is essentially the same way, the frame and springs are quite rusty, the screws holding a couple of the metal straps you mentioned are also rusted/broken off. Also, the main ground cables were flapping in the breeze...the bolt in the frame they were connected to had rusted or broken off. I drilled a new hole in the frame outrigger to connect the ground cables, rather then pull the underbelly off to reach the existing hole and bolt. I have the thermal package so it's stuffed with insulation under there. I'll probably try to clean up the frame and springs and paint them with Rustoleum or something, like you are going to do.

The underbelly is actually in pretty good shape, except where the dealer cut it to fix a gray tank leak at a fitting. It's taped back up, I had to fix that as well with Gorilla tape since their tape was falling off.

I hope I don't find anything else wrong

[dieselmann35]

Originally Posted by wallacemf

I have a new 2013 Jayco 28BHBE travel trailer, I picked up on May 3rd. It was built in January 2013 and I am in WV, so it was probably hauled here in a snowstorm and covered in salt.

It is essentially the same way, the frame and springs are quite rusty, the screws holding a couple of the metal straps you mentioned are also rusted/broken off. Also, the main ground cables were flapping in the breeze...the bolt in the frame they were connected to had rusted or broken off. I drilled a new hole in the frame outrigger to connect the ground cables, rather then pull the underbelly off to reach the existing hole and bolt. I have the thermal package so it's stuffed with insulation under there. I'll probably try to clean up the frame and springs and paint them with Rustoleum or something, like you are going to do.

The underbelly is actually in pretty good shape, except where the dealer cut it to fix a gray tank leak at a fitting. It's taped back up, I had to fix that as well with Gorilla tape since their tape was falling off.

I hope I don't find anything else wrong

I used gorilla tape also, that is some heavy duty stuff. I will buying that instead of duct tape in the future.

I also had wires coming out of their connectors because they didn't completely crimp them.

I also hope I don't find any other problems. This memorial weekend will be its maiden voyage.

Happy camping everyone.

[canuckowner]

I was also shocked at the amount of rust, broken bolts, etc. under mine when it was "new". Was actually under there again tonight to try to adjust brakes and was reminded about the fresh water tank strap that had come loose last summer. Fixed it properly myself but should still do the others as a pre-emptive fix, cause those rusty bolts wont hold those straps for long. I always thought that the water tanks some how sat on the frame but they are in fact suspended there by those metal straps... I definately recommend that everyone get under their trailers from time to time and take a look.

Still love my Jayco though