The sins of the previous owners...
...are visited upon the subsequent owners.
The awning on our Itasca is fastened to brackets that stand it off from the side about an inch at the narrowest, an inch and a half at the widest, and about five inches high. One of the two previous owners - I suspect the original owner - decided to glue some weatherstripping, of the type used to seal car doors, at the bottom of this gap. I'm not sure what the goal was. To keep water from dripping down behind the awning (that you're not supposed to leave open when it rains anyway)? To reduce wind noise?
Whatever the intent, the effect was to trap leaves and other detritus on the gap, which buildup then trapped water. Fortunately, the awning's backplate is aluminum, and the RV in that area is fiberglass and aluminum; so there's no rust-through (there is some rust on the brackets to which the awning gets fastened; I'll need to address that before putting the awning back on).
Removing the weatherstripping took several hours, about an hour of which was dedicated to figuring how to to strip the adhesive off (Goof-off and a sharp, stiff putty knife was the final answer). At least I won't have to do that again.
The awning on our Itasca is fastened to brackets that stand it off from the side about an inch at the narrowest, an inch and a half at the widest, and about five inches high. One of the two previous owners - I suspect the original owner - decided to glue some weatherstripping, of the type used to seal car doors, at the bottom of this gap. I'm not sure what the goal was. To keep water from dripping down behind the awning (that you're not supposed to leave open when it rains anyway)? To reduce wind noise?
Whatever the intent, the effect was to trap leaves and other detritus on the gap, which buildup then trapped water. Fortunately, the awning's backplate is aluminum, and the RV in that area is fiberglass and aluminum; so there's no rust-through (there is some rust on the brackets to which the awning gets fastened; I'll need to address that before putting the awning back on).
Removing the weatherstripping took several hours, about an hour of which was dedicated to figuring how to to strip the adhesive off (Goof-off and a sharp, stiff putty knife was the final answer). At least I won't have to do that again.
