Just because we no longer live in our tiny house on wheels doesn't mean we don't have some good travel trailer epic fails to share. Who would have thought bopping around in a mobile wood box would have some setbacks?

We experienced it all: the good, the bad, and the very ugly. But we survived and we now have fun stories to share.

Isn't that the best way to deal with failure, just laugh through it and try to learn your lesson? And boy did we learn some lessons.

From electrical failures to human errors we experienced it all. So laugh at our pain and enjoy some of our epic fails from living in a tiny house on wheels.

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Not Latching Back Hatch

Our travel trailer had a back portion for storage. We mostly put maintenance items back there and other things necessary for RV living like electrical cords and water hoses.

There was a minor design flaw and in order to have space for the teardrop rook to drop down, there was an opening when it was popped up. To fix this, Kelsey's family custom-made a wooden piece with handles and everything to fit over the top.

So while towing the trailer to new locations we would put this wooden "cap" in the back with the other stuff and hit the road. Well during one of our first road trips across America we forgot to secure and lock the latch.

While driving we had a car trying to get our attention, which is pretty normal when you tow a cute little wooden teardrop trailer. So we just assumed they were the typical person saying "cool trailer dude"

They were not. Instead, it was a "hey guys, you're dropping sh*t left and right out the back of your trailer!"

When we finally realized they were signaling something was wrong we pulled over at the next available exit and discovered to our horror what happened. Not only did we fail to secure the back hatch, but the custom-made wooden cover was also gone.

We ended up making our own version when we got to the final location that looked like poop and was nowhere as nice as the one made for us. It just goes to show you need to double and triple-check EVERYTHING.

Getting Help Escaping a Gas Station

Before buying our trailer it seemed like every middle-aged man said the same thing..."You better start practicing backing that trailer up".

The problem is we did practice but the gesture is almost lost because you can only get so much experience in a small time frame. By the time we got the trailer, we would back it up okay with a few tries, and every time we got better.

But no amount of training prepared for one day when we pulled into a gas station and suddenly a gas truck pulls right next to us blocking us in. You know those giant tankers who refill the gas station.

The only way out was backward and we knew our limits. There was just no way we were going to safely back out and panic set in quickly.

Luckily, the driver of the oil truck saw the look of pure panic on Kelsey's face and came over. She explained that we just purchased the trailer and our skills were no match for the type of navigation necessary.

So the driver did it for us. No joke.

He was super chill and basically said "that's fine I'll do it for you"... and he did. Without stopping. It was one fluid movement.

Still to this day, we have no idea what we would have done. But thank goodness for kind, and very talented people.

Getting Sick in a Trailer

We stayed in RV parks while moving around in our trailer. Most places were really nice but sometimes the only option was a little questionable.

While working in the bay area we lived in one of these "questionable" locations in Vallejo, California. Because they had so many problems with people breaking in, the RV park bathhouse was only open 9-5.

Typically limited bathroom hours weren't the worst since we had a composting toilet and would shower at the gym. Then Phil got the Norovirus.

Not sure if you know a lot about the norovirus but basically think stomach bug but much worse. So poor Phil is having a GI nightmare with no shower and a composting toilet.

For the record, it worked out and we still to this day joke about being the poster child for Nature's Head Composting Toilet. If it can handle the norovirus, it can handle anything!

Cleaning Our Mattress

When we bought the tiny house on wheels we opted for these cute, custom made mattresses from Soaring Heart Natural Beds. The company uses natural, non-toxic, and organic ingredients so it was a perfect fit.

Since the trailer's couch to bed area is a bit different than other RV's, we got two mattresses that fit together to make a queen-size bed. To work in the couch set up, the one mattress is slightly larger than the other.

One day we decided it was time to clean the outside mattress covering thinking "how hard can it be". But it was hard, very hard...almost impossible.

Everything that used to fit nicely just wasn't working. We couldn't get the mattress in and zip up the covers.

After a lot of elbow grease and teamwork, we finally got everything zipped up but it still looked way off...almost like the covers shrunk.

Finally, it hit us, the covers didn't shrink, we simply forgot they were different sizes. So after a very frustrating evening, we finally got the mattress squared away in the correct cover and all was well in the Schaub household.

Detached Electronic Brake

We towed our trailer with our crossover SUV. There was a brake line that attached to our car's 7 prong outlet which not only handled brake control but the lights on the back of the trailer.

While driving at night (of course it had to be at night) on a 2 lane highway in the middle of nowhere we hit a bump and our brake cord detached!

So while driving 70 mph, we lost brake control of the trailer and, more importantly, we lost our backlights. We weren't as worried about the turn signal part but the backlights part is pretty crucial, especially at night.

Then to make matters worse, there wasn't a safe area to pull over so we just had to keep driving...for like 2 hours. We finally got to a destination where we could get out and fix everything but it was a nerve-wracking drive.

It was so super fun having cars honk at us to "turn on our lights". If only there were a horn you could program to say "WE KNOW WERE WORKING ON IT!"

Arizona Summer vs Swamp Cooler

For the most part, the trailer did a great job at climate control. If it was hot, we opened the windows and turned on a fan. Easy peasy.

However, this was not enough for a hot Arizona summer so to keep the whole family from overheating we bought a simple swamp cooler. Which worked great, until the poorly filtered RV park water clogged the machine.

Since the cooler was the only thing stopping us from dying, we had to fix it and quick. So after what we can only imagine is a step down from surgery, we cleaned out the swamp cooler and continued to clean in out weekly until the weather finally cooled down.

Unhooking From the Car Hitch

One of the main reasons we chose a trailer over a van was that we could detach our car and have more separation. But the unhooking part meant more time for tiny living fails.

Not once but twice we screwed things up in two very different ways. We never repeated either mistake and we laugh about it now but at the time, we were both panicking a little bit.

Forgetting How The Latch System Works

During one of our long work assignments, we had the chance to rent our friend's most beautiful mountain house. So of course we jumped at the chance and stored our trailer.

Then when it was time to get back to trailer life we maybe forgot some of the basics. But we didn't realize it which makes it even worse.

The first time back with the trailer, Phil spent what seemed like forever trying to lift off the hitch from our car. This is typically a quick process so Kelsey came to help to see the holdup.

Turns out we never lifted up the part that secures the ball and socket. If you don't know a lot about towing just imagine a latch gripping onto the ball of our car's trailer hitch.

For quite a while Phil was exhausting himself because he was actually lifting up the car's hitch and the trailer (by hand). Once Kelsey figured out the dilemma it came right off.

Forgetting the Key

The ball and socket caused even more problems when we finally retired the trailer and the metal latch foiled our plans yet again.

So remember, there is a metal latch that secures itself around the ball part of our hitch. We have a hitch lock around this so no one else can detach it and roll off with our home.

On the day we said goodbye to our trailer, we drove it to my mom's farm for retirement...then realized we forgot the key in a completely different location. We had no way of getting the trailer off our car.

Kelsey just walked away in despair but no worries because Kelsey's stepdad came to the rescue (thanks Jim). He got some bolt cutters and took care of the problem real quick.

Showering at RV Parks

When we bought our little wooden trailer, we knew showering would be a chore but we were okay with it. We had a composting toilet in the trailer but that was it for the bathroom.

Since we were avid gym-goers, showering there was simple and got the job done. But every now and then we would shower at the RV parks we were staying at.

The dilemma with RV park showers is that they can be hit or miss. Some are amazing but others...not so much.

Dripping Shower

We stayed near San Jose in a small RV park, and the showers weren't great, but they weren't horrible. Except for one day when Kelsey desperately needed a relaxing rinse down and the shower broke.

Instead of the typical water pressure, each faucet was only putting out dribbles. But Kelsey is stubborn and at this point, we didn't have a lot of options. So she showered, with only a slow stream of water droplets.

A Kid Walks in on Kelsey

Probably the most embarrassing fail was when a 10-year-old boy WALKED IN on Kelsey showering. That's right...it was HORRIBLE.

Even though it was an all-girl bathroom we think he was looking for his mom. Maybe he would typically shower in the stall next to her, we don't know for sure because Kelsey didn't stick around to ask any questions.

What we do know is that Kelsey was showering and a little kid just flew open the curtains. It was the worst.

With all our travel trailer epic fails it's no wonder we decided to retire it back in 2019. Even though we love living small we're glad to be in an apartment but still thankful for our time as mobile nomads.