Rain leaking inside walls...

[flagmanruss]

Trailer has a huge roof with most of it's area sloped forward...  We thought all the water would run off the nose.  We had a new rubber roof applied (painted on) which improved it greatly.  The rubber roof runs up & over the vynal insert in the edge extrusion (screw cover).  Undoubtably the camper putty failed but removing theextrusion is a one way street...  to the junk yard.  

I'm really hating this type of construction.  We were getting rain water in the window tracks whch I now suspect was running inside the walls, entering the window channels & flooding the window tracks.  After drilling additional the drain holes in the window tracks, the window tracks werestill flooding until we did the rubber roof...  seldom overflow now. 

 

The shop used vynal siding edge pieces as rain gutters over the windows...  wedged into the aluminum siding seams... I need to add some more but it has pretty much stopped the water from running down the exterior & into the window tracks. 

 

BUT We are still finding water in the interior wall surfaces & runing into the storage compartments underneath.  There's still water running over the sides...  despite the slope of the roof.  How can this be?   My only thought is when the rain is heavy enough, it does indeed build up on the roof & come over the side edges.  It's only the height ofthat extrusion.  The rubber roof does completely cover that extrusion... as far as I can tell... 

 

Thoughts:

If water gets under the vynal cover strip...  it can run the length of the extrusion until it finds a screw hole to leak in. 

When the water comes over the side extrusion...  it is wicking back under the extrusion? 

The roof has a redicious mini-gutter system...  cannot handle the water flow...  can also get plugged with pine needles & debris.  Water can back up from this mini-gutter system, between the gutter & the extrusion, and into the walls? 

 

I can not go on the roof.  Wife thinks she can caulk this with Marine Life Caulk.   

[Mopar1973Man]

I would get a few tubes of caulk and go for it.

[KATOOM]

My trailer is long and the gutter material for RV's seemingly only comes in lengths of about 20 feet or so.  That means that the gutters are pieced together in a couple spots over the entire length of the trailer.

Well one of the gutter seams happens to be located right above a window, and a small stream of water escaping that gap between the two gutter sections was running down the trailer side right onto the window frame.  And it just so happened that the window seal was barely loose enough that it allowed enough water to find its way into a small open spot and wick its way right into the trailer.  The odds.....

But thankfully I enter the trailer often in bad weather just to make sure all is well and I found the leak before it did any damage.  My trailer has fiberglass sides so I took a piece of duct tape and ran it across the top of the window frame until the rains stopped.  Then when the weather let up I pulled the window out, let it all fully dry in there, and used an abundance of sealant when I re-installed it.  I also ran some sealant material on the inside of the gutters at the seam to help stop water from running down the sides again.  What you use for sealant is also important as most RV people will tell you not to use the everyday silicone but some other RV compatible material.

So in point, you'd be amazed where the slightest leak can find its way in.  Unless its down pouring outside, you can generally find the route the culprit water is taking and possibly block its path.

Another items which is a much have at all times in an RV/trailer is Eternabond tape.  Stuff is amazing and will make a quick fix out of most situations.  Especially like accidentally running against a tree and damaging the roof.  The only thing it doesn't stick well to is silicone.  Check out some RV forums and you'll find most people carry a roll with them all the time.

[Mopar1973Man]

Sealants... Touchy topic. I've seen what different sealant have done on my RV. The previous owner used some sort of caulking that as it ages it gets brittle and cracks open and water start to leak behind the fiberglass body (delamination issues). I typically head for 50 year silicone of a good name brand. Just need to prep the area good and clean all the old sealant up. I typically cut a very fine bead and to seal the seam or item. Last batch of caulk that some suggested I used didn't work very well. To me its a trial and error thing on sealants.

As for the Eternabond tape. It can also cause issues. Again the previous owner had a water leak issue in the dining area of the slide and use Eternabond tap on the corner to attempt to seal the corner. Sad to say it still leak about year after I bought it. Carefully removed the tape and again cleaned the corner up. The with a fine bead silicone I was able to inject the silicone into the corner gap and seal it up permanently.

Like this summer I got to re-do all the corner trims on the RV and the clearance lights.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[Killer223]

water leaks are tough. we've had issues on ours. this what happens when siding comes off at 60 mph.

the discovery.

more discovery and rebuild.

almost finished up.

we used Big stretch under the fiberglass, and

 http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/dicor-non-sag-lap-sealant-bright-white/32129 

for the corners and windows.

no more leaks so far.

as you can see the highly suggested eturnabond or bitchathane tape did little to stop the leak. and it's a PAIN to remove and clean off.

[Mopar1973Man]

Wow!

You done an awesome job of repairing the RV. Question how did you seam the fiberglass on the side?

[Killer223]

you glue the fiberglass to the underlying wood panel with contact cement, then were they join together i used fiberglass embedded bondo, let dry then hit with palm sander. it still awaits paint. but it's smooth. and didn't crack at hunting season.

[JAG1]

Did you reframe a lot of it making it stronger?

[KATOOM]

It looks like people are more using Eternabond as a permanent fix instead of the temporary fix until you can get it done right.....  I've used the stuff and it works amazing.  But 1) you cant expect it to do miracles, and 2) it does require proper prepping procedures with primers, and not placing it on existing silicone if you want it to work.  But as with most things in life.....people tend not to follow the rules and then get upset with things dont work.   Hey I'm certainly guilty of simply wiping the area with a dry rag and sticking it down when I was in a hurry.....

Thats not me making the assumption that anyone in this thread has done this but I'm also a member of a few RV forums and applying Eternabond correctly is a well discussed topic.

[IBMobile]

I had a small tear in the roof membrane at the front right corner of the 5er.  Eternabond with a bead of Dacor non-sag lap sealant on the edges was used to seal it.  I check it once a year and it's held up for about 6 years now.   

[Mopar1973Man]

Kind of like I've got a small nick in the rubber roof. About the size of a pencil eraser. I put one dab silicone on it. Still holding solid. As for recoating the roof I did use Dicor roof coating to seal and recoat the rubber roof.