Water damage in upper bunk

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I was speaking from experience.  Take a look at my web site and you'll see what I mean.  I hope yours isn't as bad, but I can tell you it's a lot like drinking from a spittoon...there's just no place to stop.  Joking aside, my web describes most of what I encountered, how my MH was constructed and what I did to correct it - the right way or not.  Maybe it will help you determine how to approach it.
 
Molaker said:
I was speaking from experience.  Take a look at my web site and you'll see what I mean.  I hope yours isn't as bad, but I can tell you it's a lot like drinking from a spittoon...there's just no place to stop.  Joking aside, my web describes most of what I encountered, how my MH was constructed and what I did to correct it - the right way or not.  Maybe it will help you determine how to approach it.
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Oh gawd...shoot me now. (before my wife can put my cojones in a vice!)

Maybe I need to do what the guy I bought it from did...dry things out and sell it to some other unsuspecting noobie!  ::)
 
I survived...somehow.  My wife even thought me a hero.  :)  It does take time, tools and a place to work on it, though...oh, and maybe a little skill or be a little crazy.
 
Molaker said:
I survived...somehow.  My wife even thought me a hero.  :)  It does take time, tools and a place to work on it, though...oh, and maybe a little skill or be a little crazy.
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Well then...I'm screwed...Not much room for working...very few tools of the type necessary for this job...virtually NO skill at this type of thing...but I AM bat-sh*t crazy...:p
 
Molaker said:
I was speaking from experience.  Take a look at my web site and you'll see what I mean.  I hope yours isn't as bad, but I can tell you it's a lot like drinking from a spittoon...there's just no place to stop.  Joking aside, my web describes most of what I encountered, how my MH was constructed and what I did to correct it - the right way or not.  Maybe it will help you determine how to approach it.
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That was an incredible amount of work. The end result was very nice. How has it lasted, any new leaks?
 
Molaker said:
I was speaking from experience.  Take a look at my web site and you'll see what I mean.  I hope yours isn't as bad, but I can tell you it's a lot like drinking from a spittoon...there's just no place to stop.  Joking aside, my web describes most of what I encountered, how my MH was constructed and what I did to correct it - the right way or not.  Maybe it will help you determine how to approach it.
Click to expand...

Oh my, my worse nightmare!
We've only had our new C out 3 times now and I have already been concerned about the cabover area...... Part of me wishes that i had never seen your blog!  I'll have nightmares for sure.....
One of the first thoughts i had was to be preimptive and seal the corner seams with eternabond tape, but my MH is grey color and the white tape would look horrible wraping around the nose....
There is a company nearby that does spray on RV roofs. i thought of having them spray my roof and wrap around the nose with clored roofing to match.... but for just the roof without the cabover was something just south of $5k.  I'd never get DW to agree to that on a brand new MH just to stop my nightmares.... :-X
 
John Hilley said:
That was an incredible amount of work. The end result was very nice. How has it lasted, any new leaks?
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Well, it didn't last, but not because of my work, interestingly enough.  I have to park in on a slanted parking area and because of the slant, water came in around the little side windows due to the excessive slant.  I wound up doing the job again, but it's not like I didn't know how to approach it.  Anyway, it has sat parked on the slanted drive for about 2 years due to health issues and no new leaks because I sealed the little sliding side windows.
 
OK...finally getting over the nasty head cold I caught last week...and it's supposed to stop drizzling for a couple of days... ::)

I'm still not sure whether the leak is the bunk window or the marker lights, but I need to get an appropriate sealant for both. Probably should get one in black for the window...and one in white for the marker lights...just in case)

Any recommendations for the best sealants for these items? I suppose I could just go buy RTV silicone...which would probably do the job, but is there a better sealant to use?
 
BoomerD said:
OK...finally getting over the nasty head cold I caught last week...and it's supposed to stop drizzling for a couple of days... ::)

I'm still not sure whether the leak is the bunk window or the marker lights, but I need to get an appropriate sealant for both. Probably should get one in black for the window...and one in white for the marker lights...just in case)

Any recommendations for the best sealants for these items? I suppose I could just go buy RTV silicone...which would probably do the job, but is there a better sealant to use?
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The windows should be sealed with butyl tape, not silicon.  Remove the window, apply the tape caulk and reinstall window - it's not that difficult.  The marker lights may need replaced, but sealing with a good caulk like Dicor (white) caulk may do the job.  Silicon is not recommended because nothing will stick well to it in the future, including more silicon.  Now, if the window is leaking around the rubber (vinyl) gasket next to the glass, silicon should work okay.
 
Molaker said:
Silicon is not recommended because nothing will stick well to it in the future, including more silicon.
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I jusr recently pulled the silicone out of my shower.  Amazing that the showe rin a brand new coach was leaking..... 98% of the silicone just pulled out easily in one long strand with no effort at all.
Very much work to remove the remaining residual.....
DW said that should be a warranty repair.  i agree, but i said I didn't want to have to wait weeks for an appointment just so they could put silcone on top of bad silicone.

So I'm still trying to figure out where silicone would be my sealant or adhesive of choice..... can't think of a single application anywhere.  Why did they even invent that infernal stuff????
 
Molaker said:
The windows should be sealed with butyl tape, not silicon.  Remove the window, apply the tape caulk and reinstall window - it's not that difficult.  The marker lights may need replaced, but sealing with a good caulk like Dicor (white) caulk may do the job.  Silicon is not recommended because nothing will stick well to it in the future, including more silicon.  Now, if the window is leaking around the rubber (vinyl) gasket next to the glass, silicon should work okay.
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That's why I hesitate to use silicone for almost anything.

Remove the window and do the job right?  :p I'm sure that's definitely the proper way...but that will require a trip to the shop...about 40 miles away. (and with some stripped screws, I'm sure they'll want to completely replace the window frame...not re-drill the holes.)

Unfortunately, with two bad knees and a FUBAR'd back, a lot of RV maintenance is going to have to be done by someone else...I just physically can't do most of the kinds of stuff I did all my life.
 
BoomerD said:
That's why I hesitate to use silicone for almost anything.

Remove the window and do the job right?  :p I'm sure that's definitely the proper way...but that will require a trip to the shop...about 40 miles away. (and with some stripped screws, I'm sure they'll want to completely replace the window frame...not re-drill the holes.)

Unfortunately, with two bad knees and a FUBAR'd back, a lot of RV maintenance is going to have to be done by someone else...I just physically can't do most of the kinds of stuff I did all my life.
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One thing that can be done with stripped screw holes is to put the inside trim back one with the top and bottom flipped (rotate the frame 180*).  The holes in the inside frame will likely not line up with the stripped holes in the outer frame and the screws should tap in good.  Of course, this does not help working with bad knees, but maybe the "shop" would try it to see if the stripped screw problem would be resolved.

Now, if you would rather not remove the window, some Dicor caulk will seal the windows as well as silicon and not be the latent problem silicon can be.
 
Silicon sealant has its place and will adhere nicely assuming the surfaces are properly prepped, however considering it as an all-purpose do-all sealant for every application is just begging for trouble.

Stripped screw holes in the aluminum frame, not a big deal.  Molaker had a great suggestion to flip the frame.  Also, with a hammer and punch, you can dimple and force the hole margins in.  If that doesn't work, epoxy the hole and drill for the screw.
 
John Canfield said:
Silicon sealant has its place ......
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What is that place?  I've been pretty handy all my life doing all sorts of construction, home repair, tinkering on boats, cars, working wth industrial equipment, and now RV's..... I've seen it used all sorts of places and have used it myself.....  But as I think about it, I can't think of a single application for it that there's not another adhesive or sealant that would be better or at least as good.....  I'm not trying to be argumentative.... I just really don't know.

Well now, RTV silicone just popped into mind used as gasket sealant in engines..... but I'm thinking of the regular home depot caulk stuff.
 
blw2 said:
Well now, RTV silicone just popped into mind used as gasket sealant in engines..... but I'm thinking of the regular home depot caulk stuff.
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Years ago, I worked for a TV mfgr.  This was when TVs still used vaccum tubes.  We ran a strip of RTV down the side of the larger tubes (horizontal output and damper) and onto the tube socket to keep the tube in place during shipping.  That worked and was relatively easy to remove (or cut) if the tube needed replaced.  Another use, is sealing fish tanks.  Other than that...???
 
love it!
especially the boat,,,,, er truck!!!

Seriously they had this stuff at my local Ace hardware the other day.  i was looking for something to coat some aluminum framework under the new batteries in my golf cart, so I figured why not :-\  I'd usually stay far away form any product with adds like that but since it was there, and cheaper than the rattle can undercoating I was considering as an alternative....
But wait folks, it's now available in clear! ;D
Well, it seemed to coat and stick very well.  Actually looks like ok stuff.
 
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