The RV Leak That Taught Me to Think Differently
There’s nothing quite like the joy of living in an RV—seeing the country, waking up to new landscapes, and learning, daily, that everything in life is a lesson in patience. Especially when water starts appearing where it shouldn’t.
About seven months into our journey, we discovered a leak. The odd thing? It only happened when we took a shower. Not during rainstorms, not when we used the sink—just the shower. Naturally, we did what any reasonable RV owner would do: we called the mechanic at the dealership.
His expert opinion? “It has to be the faucet. If it only happens when you turn it on, that’s the source of the problem.”
Made sense. So we went full DIY mode—took the faucet apart, tightened every connection, and felt pretty confident in our work. And when I say confident, I mean I was proud. Over the years, I’ve become quite the master of caulking. If caulking were an Olympic sport, I’d at least place in the semifinals.
But just a few days later, the leak was back.
So, we started hunting. Crawling into small spaces, using mirrors to peek around tight corners, contorting ourselves into positions that would make Gumby proud—yet still, the cause remained elusive.
Then, finally, we saw it. The shower had a small gap between the enclosure and the tub floor. It was almost imperceptible—so small it seemed insignificant. But combine that with the slight tilt of the RV (because leveling an RV perfectly is about as easy as finding a parking spot for a semi in downtown Manhattan), and it created the perfect path for water to escape.
Out came my trusty caulk gun, and within minutes—problem solved.
The Power of Looking Upstream
This experience got me thinking about how often we assume the first explanation we hear must be the right one. After all, the expert said it had to be the faucet. And when an “expert” speaks, we tend to nod, accept, and move on.
But what if we didn’t?
Albert Einstein once said, “It is not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.” That’s exactly what we had to do. We had to stay with the problem. It would have been easy to give up, to just throw a towel over the leak and call it a day. But we kept looking, kept testing, and finally found the real answer.
When You Hear Hoofbeats… But It’s Actually a Zebra
There’s a classic saying in medicine: “When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras.” It means that when diagnosing a problem, you should start with the most obvious cause instead of jumping to something rare or exotic.
But here’s the thing—sometimes, it is a zebra.
Sometimes, the answer isn’t the faucet. It isn’t the thing that seems most logical or obvious. Sometimes, the real problem is hiding in a tiny, overlooked detail—like a microscopic crack and an RV that isn’t quite level.
You Can’t Solve a Problem With the Same Thinking That Created It
Einstein (again—because the man knew a thing or two about problem-solving) also said:
"You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it."
Had we just accepted the first answer and kept replacing parts of the faucet, we’d still be dealing with a leak. We had to step back, reframe the problem, and look at it from a different angle.
This lesson applies to more than just RV leaks. It’s the same with health, weight loss, habits, relationships—everything. If the solutions you’re trying aren’t working, maybe it’s time to step back and rethink the entire approach. Maybe the problem isn’t where you think it is.
So, next time you’re struggling with a problem—whether it’s your metabolism, your stress levels, or an RV that insists on leaking—ask yourself:
Am I just assuming the first answer is right?
Am I staying with the problem long enough?
Could there be a hidden detail I’m missing?
And if all else fails, grab a caulk gun. You’d be amazed what it can fix.