RV Repair: Electrical, thor wanderer, dometic refrigerators

Question
We have a fifth wheel who's batteries will not keep a charge. We recently bought a gel cell battery and after only 6 trips the battery 'died'. When we connect the last of the two cables to the battery it sparks. We suspect that something is going to ground but if so, have no idea how to isolate and repair the problem. We had this problem from the first time we took it out for a trip brand new three years ago. The dealer claimed nothing was wrong after repeated trips for warranty repair. Now, of course, the camper is out of warranty and we are left with a huge unsolved problem. The fifth wheel is a Thor Wanderer lite.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. It has been a long and frustrating three years with this camper.

Answer
Carey,
     When you connect the cables to the battery and get a spark that is an indication that something is on and drawing power from the battery.  If you have access to an ammeter you can check the positive wires off the battery to see how much current is being drawn from the battery.  Some easily overlooked things that could be causing this are the climate switch on Dometic refrigerators, LP leak detector, lights in storage compartments, etc.  If it is going dead when you are camping and plugged into electricity that would mean that the converter is not charging the battery or providing power to run the 12 volt system.  I hope this helps good luck and happy camping.

Darren