camperdave mentioned leaking clearance lights in another thread. Thanks to that tip, I was able to locate a mystery leak in our C at the back. I was running out of Eternabond sealing everything above there to no avail. Gottaluv this forum for good tips! Thanks. :)

One of the first things I did when I took possession of our RV is to caulk the top and sides of all of the clearance lights. That stopped the leaks but now all of the caulk is an ugly black and won't clean off. I wonder what paint would stick?

You should be able to seal the lights without any sealant being visible. Remove the lights and seal under them. Wipe away any excess that squeezes out.

A tip from my boating days... When you are attempting to seal anything keep in mind that the caulk product is there to form a gasket not to glue things down. You should apply the caulk and lightly tighten the screws/bolts etc., and then let it cure for 24 hours. Then after it has cured tighten everything down. If you apply and then tighten you merely squeeze the caulk out from where it needs to be.By waiting until the new "gasket" has cured before torquing down the fasteners you get a long-lasting watertight seal.:C

Many class C units have phanthom leaks that the owners go nuts looking for and it turns out to be either loose clearence units or bad caulking or cracked lenses or improperly installed new lenses, I had one instance of a leak and remembered that we had a bird strike the day before, climbed to check and did not notice anything wrong until I started phisically trying to wiggle the units and found the center one cracked and that allowed water to get inside the unit and throug the cable hole, used awning tape as a stop gap until I replaced all the marquer lights with new ones a few days latter, so do check those lights they also deteriorate with the sunlight and time.navegator

Clearance Lights Leaking -Thank you For the Tip.

Desert_Captain
Explorer III
Dec 14, 2018
A tip from my boating days... When you are attempting to seal anything keep in mind that the caulk product is there to form a gasket not to glue things down. You should apply the caulk and lightly tighten the screws/bolts etc., and then let it cure for 24 hours. Then after it has cured tighten everything down.

If you apply and then tighten you merely squeeze the caulk out from where it needs to be.
By waiting until the new "gasket" has cured before torquing down the fasteners you get a long-lasting watertight seal.

:C
ScottG
Nomad
Dec 13, 2018
You should be able to seal the lights without any sealant being visible. Remove the lights and seal under them. Wipe away any excess that squeezes out.
camperdave
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
glad you found it!
Dick_B
Explorer
Dec 13, 2018
One of the first things I did when I took possession of our RV is to caulk the top and sides of all of the clearance lights. That stopped the leaks but now all of the caulk is an ugly black and won't clean off. I wonder what paint would stick?

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Clearance Lights Leaking -Thank you For the Tip.

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