Roof leaking

We feel sick.  Last August we bought a really nice 2006 Forest River Lexington (28 ft) Class B+ motorhome.  It only had 8,000+ miles on it.  We took it to Texas for a month this winter, and now have about 11,000 miles on it.  Right after we bought it, we had a leak in one of the wardrobes when it was raining.  Luckily we were there when it happened, or we would have had some bad damage.  I was able to call the dealer (who was in the same town) and someone came down and patched the roof immediately.  The roof is fiberglass.
When we were coming home from Texas, I noticed some dripping above my head(passenger side) one morning.  It had been a cold night with the furnace running all night, so we though maybe it was condensation.   
Our first time out this spring, my husband woke me up on  a rainy morning, and said there was water dripping below the TV that is located above the passenger seat.  We were looking at the area, and I realized that there was water collecting in the headliners above both driver and passenger seats.  Called the dealer again and said we HAD to get it inside.  We were glad they were open and could take it down and put it inside right away. Luckily we were there again when it happened, because the remainder of the weekend we had about 2-3 inches of rain.!  I can't imagine what kind of a worse mess we would have had if we hadn't been there. 
We are sick about this.  I don't know what will happen as far as repairs, but I am concerned about mildew with the water mess in the headliners.  This is such a nice unit, but I told my husband I will be worried every time it rains from now on.    I am about ready to trade it off, but we can't really afford much more than we paid for this. 
We could certainly use some advice and suggestions! :'( :'(  Please!

Boater Kathy, you have had 11 views and no posts so I am going to post, although what I have to say is self evident.

Why don't you go up on the roof and stop the leak?

It's a fibreglass roof, like my Winnebago, so you go up there and check everything, looking for a pinhole, just a teeny little pinhole, in the caulking surrounding anything that pierces the roof, or the edges of the roof, or whatever.  That's stuff like skylights, TV and radio antennae, the edges of the fibreglass roof, screwholes, every darn thing that's up there.  BUT----------

Don't just look under the leak, because it depends on whether your rig is slightly tipped 'front down', or 'front up'.  If you are 'front down', the water may be gaining entry through the rear and then running down the inside of the ceiling till it drips on your head at the front.  The last leak I had was in the shower area, in the middle of the RV, but on different campgrounds I had leaks in the rear, and leaks in the middle, and leaks in the front, depending on the campsite, before I found the crack in the shower dome.  It nearly drove me crazy.  The water runs downhill, along seams or edges, and may appear as a drip several feet (or even yards) from the actual leak.  And the leak can be a pinhole, just a tiny pinhole, because when it's raining the pinhole seems to suck the water down into the RV.

There are all sorts of caulk, and tapes, and solutions to leaks, some of which will work while it's still raining and some of which have to be put on dry. You can find advice about them on this forum.  But if the leak is in the front of the RV, it might be a temporary solution to position the RV with the front end up a couple of inches, which will route the water away from the leak.

On my Winnebago, I repaired the side seams of the roof, took off the satellite dish we didn't use and glooped caulk all round anywhere it seemed possible a leak might occur, redid all the caulk on all the vents and 'stuff' coming through, had the windscreen recaulked (since I could actually see drips coming through there,-------- and eventually found the crack in the shower dome that was the main culprit, (though not the only one).

If you abandon an RV because of a roof leak, you are going to have a tough time RV-ing.  I'm not saying that ALL RV roofs leak, but most of them do in time.

So the message is -----------"Don't Give Up"

Offered to you with the greatest humility, since roof leaks confound us all, one time or another.

Rankjo



A leak in the roof is no reason to abandon an RV you seem to like.  You have to get your hands dirty.  Get the right caulk, or some

Thanks, Rankjo.
They are working on it at the dealers .  We are not very handy. :  We are just very frustrated and wonder if this is going to be a continuing thing.  We have had a few other issues, too. 
Hope to get some other input.  Do we contact the manufacturer with our concerns, since we have had several problems? 

While leaks on a 2006 aren't really expected, it is three years old and seam leaks ARE a fact of life in RVs. The many seams are constantly stressed as you drive down the road, park on uneven sites, and so on. Roof seams have to be inspected and touched up from time to time - an annual inspection is suggested. Surely as a boater you are used to preventive maintenance - the same thing applies to RVs.

It sounds like your dealer is taking care of things for you, so you should be ok soon.

Well, supposedly a leak was taken care of right after we bought it last August.  And supposedly the roof was checked in Dec. before we left for Texas.  So things have been inspected.  BUT now we have another leak.    It is just very frustrating, considering we haven't even had the thing a year yet and have only used it maybe 4 months!     

eternabond tape. 4 in wide. put it along all roof seams. A quality product. I always carry a roll of it onboard.


best materials
2338 n 33rd ave
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Ditto on the Eternabond.  I reinforced every seam on my RV's roof, using about 75' of the 4" 1-step Roofseal line of Eternabond. 

boaterkathy said:

We are not very handy. :

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Well now is the time to GET handy.    If you don't begin experimenting and figuring some of this out with your own two hands, RVing will become a very expensive hobby.  Maybe the rig is under warranty at the moment, but don't get in the habit of dealer service only which can result in taking your B+ out of commission for days/weeks/months every time something goes awry and a part has to be ordered or installed.  Especially when you could do it yourself in less time for less money, while sitting at a campground or somewhere else.  You've already got the best resource imaginable (this forum) to help with almost any problem you could imagine! 

Roof leaks are tricky indeed, so best to take care of & reseal the entire roof now as a preventative measure.  Then you don't have to try to figure out exactly where the water is coming in, and sit around wondering every time you camp and it rains.

Eternabond.    Thanks!  We will get some to have on hand!

Kathy,

One thing that has not been mentioned - when you begin to take care of your own maintenance,  DO NOT fall into the trap of using silicone sealants.  Yes, they are widely available and relatively cheap the first time you use them. 
BUT... silicone will not stick to silicone, so there is no re-caulking.  Paint will not stick to it, nor will anything else except dirt.  It is virtually impossible to remove once applied.  Use a good butyl calk or the Dicor products.

Excellent advise re silicone.  Silicone has its uses but RV/s is not one of the recommended uses.

Thanks, Ron.  I learned that here on the forum.  Ain't it great!

dvsmith86 said:

Thanks, Ron.  I learned that here on the forum.  Ain't it great!

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I had my lessons on silicone shortly after we bought our first motorhome from the dealer that sold it to us.  Just offered the advice along with much other useful information.  Then I met an individual that had received the same advice from the same dealer but chose to ignor it and was dealing with the consequences.

boaterkathy said:

Eternabond.    Thanks!   We will get some to have on hand!

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There are some great threads archived somewhere with a bunch of videos on using the stuff, or check the manufacturer website (www.eternabond.com) and they are all there too.  Really great product.

I believe Scot is referring to these Eternabond videos.

Hmm, I am thinking it looks like silicone on some of the seams now.  ???
I think the first repair was done with some type of wide tape.  I wonder if that was some of that eternabond?  That one has held.  Appreciate all the helpful hints!

Probably is Eternabond. The standard stuff is 4" wide.

On another forum, I read about a chemical that is supposed to "soften" silicone to make it easier to remove.  Rain has delayed the user from trying it.  I will keep an eye on that thread and report or link to results here.

The problem with silicone is once applied nothing will completely remove it short of sanding the surface.  IMHO silocone is one of the most mis-used products today.

BoaterKathy, I also am a boater, or WAS a boater (I don't count my open 20ft keelboat now).

RVs are a completely different thing from boats. On sailboats, at least, you expect to have leaks and get wet,
and endure discomfort at times.  Boating is tough, whereas RV-ing is supposed to be comfortable and easy.

I did sailboating, and expected to spend my retirement years on a sailboat, but we gave that up when we
realized that boating was a solitary, and sometimes frightening, pastime.  Howling winds, uncertain anchors,
navigation horrors, and all that. I'm sure you have done all that.  It's different if you just have a boat in a
harbour and use it as a cottage.

In comparison, RV-ing is supposed to be soft, but it isn't always.  RVs are so complex that they tend to fail
in the rain and in the heat and on long trips, and so forth.

So a leak in the rain is nothing to get excited about.  Not like a dragging anchor, or an overnight passage
when the wind gets up to what seems like hurricane level (but isn't).

I hope I'm not being patronizing, but even if I am, I enjoyed writing it anyway.  RV-ing is so much more
a quiet and restful pastime for the retired, and we love it.  It allows us to reap the benefits of the Florida
winter, and go home to lovely New Brunswick Canada in the summer.

Best Wishes
Rankjo

rankjo said:

RV-ing is so much more a quiet and restful pastime for the retired, and we love it.

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Truer words were never spoken. We gave up boating on Lake Ontario because of the unpredictibilty of the weather and limited areas to visit. We have been RVing for 14 years and haven't regretted a moment without our 30 ft. Trojan. In addition, my wife has never been seasick since we started RVing.