My wife and I recently purchased a new off the lot 2013 Shockwave 21 FSMX Toy Hauler. The dealer was great to work with, and customer service has been excellent... but that's not to say we haven't had some issues with the trailer itself. I am writing this as a quick read for potential, or even current owners, of the Shockwave line of trailers based on the experiences we have had.
We purchased the trailer in early February at an indoor RV show locally. After the show the dealer kept the trailer for an additional week to do its PDI, and get it ready for delivery. A week went by, and we received a call saying our trailer was ready for pickup, and since we purchased it in the middle of winter the trailer was delivered winterized.
Skip forward to late spring... I decide to pull the trailer into our shop to thoroughly go over the unit, make myself familiar with all of its features etc. and get it ready for an upcoming camping trip we had planned a week and a half later.
I started by checking all of the lights and switches. I was a bit surprised to find one of the outside flood lights, and one of the interior lights not working/burnt out as they all appeared to work fine at the RV show from what I could remember. I contacted the dealer about both, but the flood light was an item they said they would have to order in, and could take several weeks
. I told them not to worry about it as I had planned on replacing all of the lights with LED's anyway. I went ahead and purchased all LED replacement bulbs for inside and out of the trailer, and got them swapped out. What a difference the LED's made, and are the perfect solution for power saving when boondocking!
I then began de-winterizing the trailer, and sanitizing the fresh water system. Right off the bat I noticed a significant amount of water running out from behind the shower faucet housing. I quickly shut off the water pump, cut away the silicone around the housing, and pulled it out to investigate. Both the hot and hold water fittings on the back of the faucet were only turned on by a couple of threads. I noted the issue, turned the pump back on to check to see if there were any additional leaks, and problem solved... for those fittings at least haha. I noticed the pump was still pulsing, so again shut the pump off, checked the fittings on both sinks, the outdoor sprayer/washer and removed the access panels to the water pump itself and the hot water tank to check those fittings. Sure enough fittings on both sides of the pump were sweating/leaking, as well as the fittings (in/out) on the hot water tank.
After tightening everything back up I wiped up any water from the leaks, and all looked good. Switched the pump on, and ran the water at all faucets etc. to get all of the antifreeze out of the lines and everything seemed to function properly. Once it was all flushed out, and all of the antifreeze was out of the lines, I drained the rest of the water that was in the fresh water tank, and filled it up again with the appropriate bleach mixture added to sanitize the system. After letting that sit in the system for a few hours, I went ahead and drained the fresh water tank again, and rather than filling it with fresh water again, I decided to flush the lines by hooking the trailer up to city water. Before doing so, I called the dealer to advise them what I had found so far.
I put my pressure regulator on the hose and hooked it up to the trailer, turned on the tap, and went into the trailer to open the faucets to flush the lines. I started with the sink across from the bathroom, and when I turned around noticed a significant amount of water accumulating across the floor. Sure enough the one fitting I didn't check was the fitting on the back side of the fresh water hook up. At this point I was extremely displeased
. I quickly shut off the water, and got on the horn with the dealer again. They were very accommodating and got me in the following day. This made me feel a bit better, so after once again wiping up water and calming down, I continued my familiarization session/inspection of the trailer just in case I came across anything else I wanted to bring up to the dealer.
Here's a quick list of the additional things I found before taking it to the dealer the following day:
- Window blind hold downs were too far apart on a couple of the windows so they were not functional. They needed to be relocated
- Glue drips on the floor from installing the flooring had accumulated dirt and dust.
- Trim around bathroom door was pulling away and needed to be glued or re-attached.
I mentioned the above items to the dealer when I dropped it off for it's appointment. The dealer noted all of the issues, walked through the trailer with me (as I had left the access panels off to show them the fittings that had leaked), and made a list of what needed to be done. Upon their further inspection, they noticed that even after the fittings were tightened they were still sweating a small amount, so he said they would go through and replace all of the fittings with brass ones
.
They had the trailer for nearly a week, and when I went to pick up the trailer everything seemed to be fixed. No more leaks!
Skip ahead to our second camping trip out with the trailer... We arrive at our destination, get everything set up, turn on the stereo and outdoor speakers, and notice one of the speakers is cutting in and out. We made a note in our camping journal, and enjoyed the rest of the weekend.
Third camping trip... I am getting the trailer ready to go, and notice the fresh water drain valve (on the bottom of the tank) has started to leak. I tried to open and close the valve several times with water in the tank to see if maybe something had stuck in the seal causing water to bypass it for some reason... no such luck. I called the dealer once again, and advised them of the issue, and also mentioned the speaker issue to them as well. They booked the trailer in for an appointment a week later. This time they had the trailer back to me same day
! The tech also found that the fresh water fill line that goes to the tank (behind the sink) was way too long and hand kinked causing backflow/backpressure when filling the fresh water tank. He shortened and rerouted the line for us so no more gargling backflow problems when filling the tank. They also went ahead and replaced both outdoor speakers, and took the fresh water drain valve apart and cleaned it so no more leaks!
It seems we have finally got all of the delivery bugs sorted out with the trailer!
As mentioned, I am writing this to advise other buyers/owners of potential issues to address or look for before taking the trailer out for the first time. I am definitely glad I found the majority of the issues before our first trip out, or before the first time we go to hook up to city water at a camp site. Make sure and do a thorough look over before using the trailer for the first time, and unfortunately don't expect to hook up to it off the lot and take it out on an adventure. I do have to say our dealer has been very good to work with along the way, and quite accommodating, but it is unfortunate so many issues go undiscovered before the unit is delivered.
Cheers!
And Happy Camping!
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