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mcurcio1989 · 11-15-2013, 10:57 AM

I have converted a century class freightliner into a toterhome. It was a a 7 month project and I started basically from scratch about a year ago. Everything is working pretty good but the bathroom area.

Here is the problem. The bathroom had been installed and was working good for a couple weeks and after taking the rig to a weekend concert event, with 10 friends staying in it mind you (it has a U shaped loft / storage bunk area that can sleep about 6 people, in addition to the 2 fold out couches and dinnette conversion bed), It developed a smell it is an odd smell it is almost soapy with a hint of sanitation smell.

The bathroom is very compact due to size limitations so it is a basically a combination toilet area and shower. I formed the base of the shower and gave a generous coating of redguard to seal it and then tiled it in.The walls are all FRP which has been caulked in. Basically the area is airtight. You cannot smell anything from the area with the door shut. I used a 12 volt boat engine compartment blower for ventilation and that thing can change the air in the room in seconds. The plumbing is all pretty custom. I built the tank myself and it is a rectangular box built from 3/4" plywood with the interior generously coated in epoxy resin fiberglass. It has a division in the middle that is sloped so the black is on top and can drain and the grey is on the bottom. The tank sits directly below the bathroom and due to space limitations I had to get tricky with the plumbing. The piping for the shower drain is actually inside of the black tank. So it is PVC with a catch that than drains into the grey tank through a combination vent using a Y inside of the black tank. The toilet plumbing goes straight in like normal. The sink drain runs in through the blacks vent and then then the grey and black vent merge together and then one pipe runs up through the roof.

I tried removing the toilet and plugging the hole using one of those rubber plugs from HD. That effectively plugs it and verifies to me that this smell is not a leaking toilet seal. It is a different kind of smell. We then throughly cleaned out all of the bathroom, leaving the toilet removed and plugged and tried to see if the smell would stay gone but it came back. I am really confused as to what is causing this smell. It seems to be strongest around the shower drain but I do not know why. It is rendering the bathroom unusable Part of me wonders if it just has to do with the fact that it is a small humid area with almost no air movement so the air is just kind of going stagnant but it seems to be more than that.

I would really appreciate and ideas and advice you all have.

I know it would be cruel to post without pictures of the build and unfortunately I have none of the bathroom but here are some of the rest of the rig.

exterior with the dingy. .

interior I started with

what the interior is looking like now

older shot if interior showing kitchen area

It has all the features and functions of your standard Winnebago but we still need to add a hot water heater.

11-15-2013, 10:57 AM	#1
mcurcio1989 Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: toledo Posts: 11	Help with bathroom odors I have converted a century class freightliner into a toterhome. It was a a 7 month project and I started basically from scratch about a year ago. Everything is working pretty good but the bathroom area. Here is the problem. The bathroom had been installed and was working good for a couple weeks and after taking the rig to a weekend concert event, with 10 friends staying in it mind you (it has a U shaped loft / storage bunk area that can sleep about 6 people, in addition to the 2 fold out couches and dinnette conversion bed), It developed a smell it is an odd smell it is almost soapy with a hint of sanitation smell. The bathroom is very compact due to size limitations so it is a basically a combination toilet area and shower. I formed the base of the shower and gave a generous coating of redguard to seal it and then tiled it in.The walls are all FRP which has been caulked in. Basically the area is airtight. You cannot smell anything from the area with the door shut. I used a 12 volt boat engine compartment blower for ventilation and that thing can change the air in the room in seconds. The plumbing is all pretty custom. I built the tank myself and it is a rectangular box built from 3/4" plywood with the interior generously coated in epoxy resin fiberglass. It has a division in the middle that is sloped so the black is on top and can drain and the grey is on the bottom. The tank sits directly below the bathroom and due to space limitations I had to get tricky with the plumbing. The piping for the shower drain is actually inside of the black tank. So it is PVC with a catch that than drains into the grey tank through a combination vent using a Y inside of the black tank. The toilet plumbing goes straight in like normal. The sink drain runs in through the blacks vent and then then the grey and black vent merge together and then one pipe runs up through the roof. I tried removing the toilet and plugging the hole using one of those rubber plugs from HD. That effectively plugs it and verifies to me that this smell is not a leaking toilet seal. It is a different kind of smell. We then throughly cleaned out all of the bathroom, leaving the toilet removed and plugged and tried to see if the smell would stay gone but it came back. I am really confused as to what is causing this smell. It seems to be strongest around the shower drain but I do not know why. It is rendering the bathroom unusable Part of me wonders if it just has to do with the fact that it is a small humid area with almost no air movement so the air is just kind of going stagnant but it seems to be more than that. I would really appreciate and ideas and advice you all have. I know it would be cruel to post without pictures of the build and unfortunately I have none of the bathroom but here are some of the rest of the rig. exterior with the dingy. . interior I started with what the interior is looking like now older shot if interior showing kitchen area It has all the features and functions of your standard Winnebago but we still need to add a hot water heater.