Our Tiny Home on Wheels is SUPER Broken
Donation protected
We have news [finally] & we need your help...
As many of you know our Full-time life on the road began with a lot of uncertainty; life kicked us to the curb, and at that point there was no where to go but rise up. America (my wife) and I both worked in Emergency Medical Services for over 10 years, we owned a house in CA, had a 5 (almost 6) y/o son and a new baby on the way [back in 2016]. The company we both worked for at the time went bankrupt, leaving us both without jobs. At the time we were in the middle of a home loan modification that turned out to be a scam .... we lost thousands of dollars, our house was sold at an auction without our knowledge and we ended up homeless for several months as we fought with a lawyer against the state. This is how our amazing nomad life began... it was really hard.... and going through all of that made it even harder to leave our tiny house on wheels in Indiana @ the factory to be repaired. In our hearts we know we own that trailer, its ours... it was our savior, our safe space, our security and our home for nearly 4 years. But we cried as we drove away from it .... not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Losing our house turned out to be a blessing in disguise; it saved us, and gave us the key to a beautiful new life. But now we find ourselves faced with a new challenge.
Our home is broken; a lot more damaged that we originally thought. Two years ago, right around the same time as the delamination started on our trailer's sidewall, we also noticed a soft spot in the middle of our living room floor. We contacted Grand Design and they made it seem like it was just an issue of wear/tear on a high traffic area so we moved on; focusing our attention on the leak and delam issues. Every time it rained we cried, the anxiety and stress of the past two years .... feeling like our home was falling apart has taken such a toll on us. The wall separated at the front cap, letting water in between the wood and exterior siding. Then more bubbles started to show up along the same wall as it continued to separate and fail .... each time we moved the trailer we re-sealed all the edges, checked for further damage and hoped against hope the wall wouldn't give out and rip away as we drove down the highway. Our hearts were literally broken, we sank every penny we had into our truck & trailer for a new beginning... and it was no longer the sanctuary it once was. Finally after months of fighting with the manufacturer, they agreed to fix our wall if we paid to drive it to the factory in Indiana and drop it off ourselves. After being forced to reschedule several times; we dropped our home on wheels off to be repaired. Upon drop off they asked if there was anything else that we would like them to check ... so naturally we mentioned the soft spot on the floor. Our hearts were heavy, but we were so very hopeful that this was finally the end; our home was going to be whole again.
It has now been two and a half weeks since we dropped the trailer off in Indiana. Our current employers here @ Jellystone in Wisconsin have been incredible; they let us stay in a cabin during our time of displacement and we could not be more grateful for their support. But we spoke to Grand Design today, and they have unfortunately informed us ...that our trailer is beyond reasonable repair. The floor is structurally unstable, and would need to be replaced completely....basically tearing apart the trailer and rebuilding it from the ground up ..... and then with the delamination and water damage in the wall on top of it all .... its just not worth fixing it. I cannot hold back my tears as I write this; once again we are losing our home. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel....Grand Design has offered to give us a brand new 2021 3250BH Imagine Travel Trailer [the newer version of ours]. But .... they are asking for $10,000 dollars up front to make this happen. We just don't have that kind of money. We live as simply as possible, striving to be minimalistic, we're debt free... but we have a foreclosure on our record, no credit and we don't make a lot of money. We ask for your help ... even if it's just $5 dollars. Please help us stay on the road and put a non-leaky roof over our family's heads. Thank you for reading our story and thank you to GD for even offering us this opportunity.
https://www.facebook.com/2MomsandaTrailer/
As many of you know our Full-time life on the road began with a lot of uncertainty; life kicked us to the curb, and at that point there was no where to go but rise up. America (my wife) and I both worked in Emergency Medical Services for over 10 years, we owned a house in CA, had a 5 (almost 6) y/o son and a new baby on the way [back in 2016]. The company we both worked for at the time went bankrupt, leaving us both without jobs. At the time we were in the middle of a home loan modification that turned out to be a scam .... we lost thousands of dollars, our house was sold at an auction without our knowledge and we ended up homeless for several months as we fought with a lawyer against the state. This is how our amazing nomad life began... it was really hard.... and going through all of that made it even harder to leave our tiny house on wheels in Indiana @ the factory to be repaired. In our hearts we know we own that trailer, its ours... it was our savior, our safe space, our security and our home for nearly 4 years. But we cried as we drove away from it .... not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Losing our house turned out to be a blessing in disguise; it saved us, and gave us the key to a beautiful new life. But now we find ourselves faced with a new challenge.
Our home is broken; a lot more damaged that we originally thought. Two years ago, right around the same time as the delamination started on our trailer's sidewall, we also noticed a soft spot in the middle of our living room floor. We contacted Grand Design and they made it seem like it was just an issue of wear/tear on a high traffic area so we moved on; focusing our attention on the leak and delam issues. Every time it rained we cried, the anxiety and stress of the past two years .... feeling like our home was falling apart has taken such a toll on us. The wall separated at the front cap, letting water in between the wood and exterior siding. Then more bubbles started to show up along the same wall as it continued to separate and fail .... each time we moved the trailer we re-sealed all the edges, checked for further damage and hoped against hope the wall wouldn't give out and rip away as we drove down the highway. Our hearts were literally broken, we sank every penny we had into our truck & trailer for a new beginning... and it was no longer the sanctuary it once was. Finally after months of fighting with the manufacturer, they agreed to fix our wall if we paid to drive it to the factory in Indiana and drop it off ourselves. After being forced to reschedule several times; we dropped our home on wheels off to be repaired. Upon drop off they asked if there was anything else that we would like them to check ... so naturally we mentioned the soft spot on the floor. Our hearts were heavy, but we were so very hopeful that this was finally the end; our home was going to be whole again.
It has now been two and a half weeks since we dropped the trailer off in Indiana. Our current employers here @ Jellystone in Wisconsin have been incredible; they let us stay in a cabin during our time of displacement and we could not be more grateful for their support. But we spoke to Grand Design today, and they have unfortunately informed us ...that our trailer is beyond reasonable repair. The floor is structurally unstable, and would need to be replaced completely....basically tearing apart the trailer and rebuilding it from the ground up ..... and then with the delamination and water damage in the wall on top of it all .... its just not worth fixing it. I cannot hold back my tears as I write this; once again we are losing our home. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel....Grand Design has offered to give us a brand new 2021 3250BH Imagine Travel Trailer [the newer version of ours]. But .... they are asking for $10,000 dollars up front to make this happen. We just don't have that kind of money. We live as simply as possible, striving to be minimalistic, we're debt free... but we have a foreclosure on our record, no credit and we don't make a lot of money. We ask for your help ... even if it's just $5 dollars. Please help us stay on the road and put a non-leaky roof over our family's heads. Thank you for reading our story and thank you to GD for even offering us this opportunity.
https://www.facebook.com/2MomsandaTrailer/
Organizer
Shay Martinez-Machen
Organizer
Warrens, WI