As mentioned before ... in January 2020 we traded in our 2003 Gulf Stream Class a and purchased a 2019 Forest River Clipper Cadet 21' travel trailer. Shortly thereafter the corona virus happened and we were able to switch to remote work from home ad isolate ourselves for well over a year. With Covid running rampant around the states and especially in Arizona, we were positive that traveling was pretty much out of the window for a long while. Yes, both of us were working remotely but we both needed a solid internet connection for 10-12 hours per day. Especially one that could handle two Cisco VPN connections and a ton of remote access and data transfers. So setting out on a trip during Covid was not an option.
The trip to Gig Harbor in August of 2021 had been on the calendar for over a year. The entire family was coming in from everywhere (Arizona, California, Baltimore, DC, Utah to name a few) to attend the Bat Mitzvah for our niece. The trailer had been sitting for so long that we decided to put new tires on it and get it 'pre-flight' inspected, serviced, and have the water tank refreshed before we left.
The week before our trip we started loading the non-food items and adding hooks for bungie cords and netting to keep things from moving while we were cruising down the highway. We topped off the water tank and tested all of the faucets, shower, toilet, etc. time to go.
At some point while we were at the RV resort in Gig Harbor Sue noticed a puddle of water under the trailer. It looked like it was seeping from the water tank. Since we were hooked up, but the black/grey tank valves were closed, I opened them and drained both tanks ... the dripping stopped immediately. For some reason, at that moment we decided to hunt down the tank monitor panel since we really had not paid any attention to it previously for obvious non-travel, Covid reasons. We couldn't find the panel anywhere. We opened every single door, closet, drawer, checked under the sink, lower cabinets, upper cabinets, under the bed, the bathroom, shower, every single opening both inside and outside ... nothing.
Hmmm ... so there was no possible way to monitor the fresh water level for refills, or the grey & black tank levels for dumping. Great. To top that off ... on the second last day, on our way back home ... we actually ran out of fresh water and couldn't flush the toilet ... we had to use the gallon jugs of water we had purchased at the store to make coffee with.
A bit of research uncovered that these monitors can be installed retroactively, but the cost is about $300-$500 for the device, senders, and wiring and another $500-600 for labor to install it.
I contacted Forest River and specifically asked how a travel trailer could possibly leave the factory without a tank level monitoring system ... this is the reply I received:
Forest River: "Good morning,
Our product is consonantly changing to be better for our customers. Unfortunately that year we did NOT put probes in units to monitor levels. Learning what better suits our customers we are now putting probes in to be able to monitor levels. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. We do appreciate you taking the time to email us to better design our product!"We started adding them shortly after realizing it would be better for our customers!
Again, I do apologize for any inconvenience!!!!
That was it ... game on ... it took me about 30 minutes to find five videos on Youtube where dealers were doing walkthroughs of Forest River Clippers and they had tank monitors factory installed. from the 17FQ to the 21RBSS. I threw all of that into a reply email along with this:
"To be honest ... I am not quite thrilled with the answer that Forest River simply didn't install the monitors/panels ... how does one justify no monitors in a travel trailer that pretty much depends on them for load balancing and the water supply. It makes me question the decision making process."
I'm still waiting on a a reply.
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