What's that smell? PICS

[a7az]

Hi everyone, I am a new owner of a 2014 Keystone Montana Mountaineer 295 RKD. When I performed my pre-purchase inspection of my RV I noted a faint smell but found no water leaks anywhere so I went through with the purchase.

Fast forward two weeks of on and off cleaning (I work full time). I sprayed and wiped every surface of the interior with three passes of:

1) generic lemon cleaner
2) pure supermarket vinegar
3) Odoban (the most intense scent neutralizer I have ever used)

An alarming amount of brown stuff came off the walls even though they looked perfectly fine. Yes, really!

I pulled out about 12 gallons of what once was blue tinted water that converted into thick chocolate milk after I wet vacuumed all chairs, sofas, and carpets. I performed the sniff test up close and all fabrics are disinfected, cabinets smell great, floors smell great, but the indoor odor persists. I found several reservoirs of rodent poop inside:

1) All around the water heater
2) Under the oven
3) Under the big lower bedroom drawer (pulled it out)
4) Under kitchen drawers (pulled them out)

After disinfecting the entire interior the smell improved about 50% but it is still unacceptable to me even though it is faint. It is obvious that most of the smell comes in from the storage area which vents to the living area through the space under the stairs. At this point the living area is in excellent condition.

Fast forward to this weekend. I opened up the wall in the storage compartment that faces the interior stairs. The floor underneath the stairs was quite filthy and may have been stained with urine. That cleared up nicely with my three passes of solution outlined above.

What I found above the water tanks was horrifying. It was a graveyard of rodents, feces, and the bodies were so decomposed they were completely flat and barely discernable. They left a wet spot when I vacuumed them up.

The floor under the water tanks is 90% inaccessible from the storage area. This floor in fact is the underbelly cover. I dropped the underbelly cover and found dried urine, acorns, and an intact dead mouse that must have died this last winter.

Dropping the underbelly cover was a nightmare because of the shoddy way Keystone screwed it to the frame. Most of the screws were rusted, five of them snapped off from seizing in the frame, and the LPG pipe is in the way of the screws! I shoved the pipe out of the way a few millimeters with about 20 pounds of force to get a socket on and remove the screws holding the pipe and cover on. This was a painful experience.

I shoved a contractor generator under the cover to prop up the huge and unwieldy cover to hold it up while removing it and reinstalling it. I would not attempt this job without at least 2 people. Preferably four.

The two metal support beams were very rusty so I hit them with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. I spent most of the day drilling out the seized bolts because my drill bits suck. This was the hardest part because it required 95% of the physical effort. My arms are sore from drilling. I think I need better drill bits. I stuffed boxes and wood under the two main load-bearing metal rails that go across the cover to re-install them. You need north of 40 pounds of force to really secure those beams.

The cover was extremely dirty and wet(!) despite not being driven in the rain for months. The underbelly insulation is a layer of shiny bubble wrap which sits on top of what I can only describe as cardboard made out of black plastic. All four sides were covered with mold, fungi, urine, dead mice, dead cockroaches, and acorns. A rodent chewed a hole to get in between the cover and the insulation in a failed attempt to avoid freezing to death. I found a nest on the interior frame I beam after I removed the cover. I hit it with the vacuum cleaner and then blasted absolutely everything with a strong solution of Odoban. This is extremely important! Everything cleaned up nicely with the three part solution outlined above.

The main part that is left is the area above the tanks. I have not hit it with the vacuum or Odoban yet, and it still smells. I hope to get rid of the stench once and for all after hitting that area. My vacuum cleaner bag is a biohazard and I threw it out after this job. I put in a new bag and sprayed Odoban into the hose while the vacuum was on to disinfect and kill the smell in my vacuum.

[curtiscapk]

Great work!!!!!! and find!

[chuckster57]

Welcome to the forum

You’ve got quite the project on your hands. Sounds like your well on your way to having a nice trailer. Keep up the good job.

[notanlines]

You are to be commended for your stick-to-it drive and persistence. Hopefully this will be long behind you shortly!

[flybouy]

With a rodent infestation that sever a couple of suggestions. While the guts are exposed closdly inspect every wire and everg water line. Some wires have the outer jacket made from soybean products and rodents love to try it out. If the PO used rat poison then they may shew on the water lines. Some rat poisons make them so thirsy that they drink themselves to death.

Check the underside of the flooring. Nows the time to replace any rot or paint any discolored water damaged wood with Killz paint to seal it. Good luck with your project.

[bobbecky]

That belly material is called coroplast, and a suggestion for the screw problem- get yourself a box of 1/4” X 1” self drilling hex head TEK screws, and you just get your drill or driver set up with a socket and just start spinning the screw into where you want it to go and it will drill it’s own hole and finally screw into the frame. You might also get a box of fender washers to use with the screws.

[jasin1]

I would also take the time to think of any wiring upgrades that may be in your future.
While it’s open you could run wires for rear camera,internet router ,cable wire,speakers or anything else that you might someday need.I’d take a good look at your heat ducts as well.

Not many people have the fortitude to tackle such a big project with so much detail
It gives hope to others who may think it’s impossible

[rhagfo]

Nice clean up job, mice are a constant issue in campers. We found that bright white LED rope lights seem to be very effective at keeping them away. Avails you have the belly opened I would consider running a length in the belly to discourage mice or other rodents. That is my plan, we Park Host and sooner or later a guest will request they be extinguished. I also have a length of these around the engine bay in my TV, they are cut to length.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077LXH42Q...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[a7az]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Originally Posted by flybouy

With a rodent infestation that sever a couple of suggestions. While the guts are exposed closdly inspect every wire and everg water line. Some wires have the outer jacket made from soybean products and rodents love to try it out. If the PO used rat poison then they may shew on the water lines. Some rat poisons make them so thirsy that they drink themselves to death.

Check the underside of the flooring. Nows the time to replace any rot or paint any discolored water damaged wood with Killz paint to seal it. Good luck with your project.

I already closed up the underbelly. Wiring looked fine and there were no chew marks on hoses.

Originally Posted by bobbecky

That belly material is called coroplast, and a suggestion for the screw problem- get yourself a box of 1/4” X 1” self drilling hex head TEK screws, and you just get your drill or driver set up with a socket and just start spinning the screw into where you want it to go and it will drill it’s own hole and finally screw into the frame. You might also get a box of fender washers to use with the screws.

I did exactly as you recommended and got those zinc plated screws and 1 inch stainless steel washers. Unfortunately it is not simply a matter of using the screw to drill out the old screw. It was extremely hard to drill 'em out no matter which method I tried: drill bit or self-drilling screw. I eventually succeeded drilling out a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the self-drilling screw. The way I did it the self-drilling screw widened the hole only ever so slightly and established the thread.

Originally Posted by jasin1

I would also take the time to think of any wiring upgrades that may be in your future.
While it’s open you could run wires for rear camera,internet router ,cable wire,speakers or anything else that you might someday need.I’d take a good look at your heat ducts as well.

Not many people have the fortitude to tackle such a big project with so much detail
It gives hope to others who may think it’s impossible

Thanks for the wiring suggestions. I will open up any ducting I can and clean it. I managed to open the vent covers inside the living area and wipe everything I could but I could not reach more than half a foot into the duct. I took a picture with flash inside the floor duct using my smartphone and I found it was not too bad. I'll look inside the flexible heat hoses soon.

Originally Posted by rhagfo

Nice clean up job, mice are a constant issue in campers. We found that bright white LED rope lights seem to be very effective at keeping them away. Avails you have the belly opened I would consider running a length in the belly to discourage mice or other rodents. That is my plan, we Park Host and sooner or later a guest will request they be extinguished. I also have a length of these around the engine bay in my TV, they are cut to length.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077LXH42Q...ing=UTF8&psc=1

I have never dealt with rodents or rodent damage before. I still have yet to deal with rodents in person and I dread the moment in the future when I know they will damage my property. It seems almost unavoidable when camping.

[bobbecky]

When I had our front coroplast completely removed to repair a crack in our grey tank years ago, I had several screws break, and just left the old screw in place and just used new screws near where the broken ones were. There is really no reason to go in the exact same place with new screws.

[flybouy]

We had our first mice visit this winter. This our 4 th camper over several decades and it was the first occurence. Fortunatly i caught it early. Added more Fresh Cab and placed a dozen traps in the camper including storage and outside kitchen. After 2 weeks and about 7 "victims" no more mice, and no damage.

I can’t stress how important it is to regularly visit and check on the camper while in storage. If i hadn't caught this when i did i hate to think about what it would have been after a couple of months.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by flybouy

We had our first mice visit this winter. This our 4 th camper over several decades and it was the first occurence. Fortunatly i caught it early. Added more Fresh Cab and placed a dozen traps in the camper including storage and outside kitchen. After 2 weeks and about 7 "victims" no more mice, and no damage.

I can’t stress how important it is to regularly visit and check on the camper while in storage. If i hadn't caught this when i did i hate to think about what it would have been after a couple of months.

All it takes is one knucklehead at the storage lot I imagine that doesn’t clean out their rv before storing it next to yours and attracts rodents

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by jasin1

All it takes is one knucklehead at the storage lot I imagine that doesn’t clean out their rv before storing it next to yours and attracts rodents

Never had an issue when it was at a storage lot. Been keeping it at our DD house the last 6 or 7 years as they have a second driveway for an RV. Their neighbor about 300' away put their housie up for sale so I'm guessing that's where the homeless mice came from.

[Mikelff]

Knock on wood, no rodent issues so far. I check at all entry points, jacks and around tires, and seal up any remotely possible entry areas. Stuffed some steel wool in one spot I found that was a long shot for an entry point but didn’t wast to take a chance, then sealed it up well. Rodents will not chew through steel wool. I check about 4 times a year just to make sure nothing has changed.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Mikelff

Knock on wood, no rodent issues so far. I check at all entry points, jacks and around tires, and seal up any remotely possible entry areas. Stuffed some steel wool in one spot I found that was a long shot for an entry point but didn’t wast to take a chance, then sealed it up well. Rodents will not chew through steel wool. I check about 4 times a year just to make sure nothing has changed.

You might want to consider copper wool, stainless wool or aluminum wool in place of steel wool. In an RV, with the condensation and road spray, steel wool rusts and can stain things around it not to mention that if it gets wet and rusts away, you're left with no protection.

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

You might want to consider copper wool, stainless wool or aluminum wool in place of steel wool. In an RV, with the condensation and road spray, steel wool rusts and can stain things around it not to mention that if it gets wet and rusts away, you're left with no protection.

You are correct, and I did use stainless wool. Forgot to mention that and was just “thinking” steel wool, so good catch. Copper can also deteriorate over time if it is exposed to moisture and salts, but not nearly like steel wool. Stainless is best.

[GMH]

I feel for you buddy! We just had our 2010 Cougar 26sab 5vr de-moused this winter. We noticed that we had mice about 3 years ago. We cleaned everything and I plugged all the entry points to the living area with stainless steel pot scrubbers and spray foam, and that kept them out of our space.
Last summer we noticed a really bad smell and the entire outside of the trailer was covered with flies and fly *&%t. I cleaned the outside and put a piece of plexiglass with two mouse traps fastened to it in place of the inner skylight. Caught about ten mice.
We made an insurance claim and they removed the nose cone and underbelly during the abatement, and replaced the roof and heat ducts. I have since covered the area under the propane tanks and the battery box with 1/4” birdscreen, and put a piece below all the heat registers.

[GMH]

If there is a louvred panel for the furnace, remove it and check in there. I also found a spot in the battery compartment where the wires enter the steel tubing frame that they were using to get into the walls. And there was a large hole behind the water heater that led down into the under belly and into the walls.

[Jmayse]

What insurance do you have that deals with rodent problems?

[wiredgeorge]

Jason, The guy who posted regarding the insurance claim lives in Canada (probably insurance is different) and has not been on the site since 10/2021. Not likely to receive a response.