Rain leaking into water fill door

We are fairly new RV owners, having purchased our unit used in April, 2017.  Have rented and driven thousands of miles over the years and aren?t brand new to RVs but are having our expectations met about the on-going work involved in upkeep and maintenance.  It?s an adventure we were prepared for and expecting.  We are definitely learning as we go along and fix things; I am very handy and capable around the house/cars and prefer DIY for the RV too when it is something I can do and maybe do better myself.  I?m looking forward to learning a lot on this forum.

Currently, we are having an issue with rain coming in around the door for the fresh water fill.  It seems to come down the side of the RV and then flow over the door, coming inside around where the door closes off the water inlet.  In one picture, you can see where dirt is coming into the area and a small line indicating where the rain level gets to.  My fresh water inlet is sealed fine and doesn?t seem to be allowing anything into the fresh tank. 

My problem is that the latch on the door fits into a slot on the right side of the housing and when the rain fills up the space, it runs over into the slot and thus into the inside of the space behind it.  This allows the water to run down the wall and soak the inside of the large compartment right below it.  You can see where the latch has rust on it.  In the second picture of the housing from the inside, you can see to the left side there is some clear silicone looking caulk in the slit where I think a previous owner had this problem and tried to fix it.  Of course, the latch won?t close if the slot is sealed up and so they cut a hole in the caulk and basically wasted their time.  You can also see some of the dirt like in the first picture underneath the pipes in the second picture; this is Styrofoam and the rain runs from this area down the wall to soak the compartment?s carpet.

I have looked at other water fill housings and don?t see any that come with a seal around the door itself.  Has anyone else with a Winnebago similar set-up had this problem?  If so, what was your solution?  I should mention that the water fill door is located at the back of the rig where the rain from the gutter above flows down and over it copiously whenever the RV is on a slight grade and the back end is lower.  I am considering adding gutter extensions to the unit anyway but am not sure that it will completely alleviate this leak.  If not, I?m open to any and all ideas on how to stop this leaking.  Thanks!

edit by staff - changed message icon to topic solved

Wow, goofy setup. I can think of two possible solutions:


1) research other water fill door designs and consider swapping in one that fits but doesn?t have this issue
2) drill a drain into the area that fills, glue a nipple on the underside, and attach a small hose to drain rainwater overboard

I'd try some thin weather stripping along the top and latch side. Not sure how to seal the hinge side though. Don't seal the bottom side - instead, file/sand the bottom of the door a little or create some "weep holes" to allow any water that does get in there to flow out (like a window).

Remove that rusty latch and treat the rust with Ospho, then prime and paint. Clean the plastic housing with alcohol and make a thin bead of silicon caulk along the upper area in the shape of an upside down "U" . You could make this "gasket" on the door, housing or both.

I would drill a small hole, (1/8" dia) at both bottom corners of the door.

I am finally back to report on the situation.  Appreciate the suggestions and considered them all and decided to start small and work my way through them until I got the leak corrected.  What I ended up starting with appears to have done the trick and was blessedly simple:  I caulked all around the back of the door (where in the interior picture there was just a bit of silicone caulking) and went all the way around it.  I found no need to cut a hole in it like the previous guy for the door latch to go in.  Then I tried running water off the roof and watching it go down the side and over the water fill door as usual.  This time, it did not fill it up and run into the latch, just continued on out the bottom of the door as I guess it was designed to do.  Then I waited for some rain (it's been dry here and so that took a few days) and checked again.  No new wetness in the compartment at all either time so I am hopeful that this has fixed my issue.  I then put a unit on the end of the gutter to divert the rain away from the side of the camper for added insurance.  Time will tell if this is a successful resolution....

Thanks again for the warm welcome to the forums and the help.

Good for you and thanks for getting back to us.

Good show! Like Rene said thanks for checking back in with the resolution.

Count me as skeptical...

The little bit of rain that was getting in at the top of the door should have simply drained out the bottom of the door.

How about this?

The foam seal that is supposed to cap the gravity fill opening isn't sealing well. Go around a corner with a full tank of water and you could get a decent amount of water running up the fill tube.

You may have fixed the water's path to the interior though, so you basic problem may be solved. I'd be tempted to still make sure the foam seal is doing it's job.