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jz1028's avatar
jz1028
Explorer
Feb 10, 2016

RV leaking

Just visited the RV in storage. Last time out was six months ago. Just found water leaking from the skylight over the tub. Probably dried out caulking on the roof. I can fix that. From the attached photos, you can see large gaps in the rubber molding. Is this a problem for water to get inside or just a piece of trim?[img][/img][img][img][/img][/img][img][/img]


  • Don't know why I am having such a problem posting these photos.
  • It appears the window perimeter weather stripping has shrunk and yes, I would replace the weatherstripping altogether. At least it would help to fill with black Eurethane caulk. I would replace it though. Not hard to do and can buy the material online.
  • I believe what you are seeing is just decorative trim strips. The purpose is to cover screw heads and improve appearance, not seal against water.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    It looks like there is some sealer (white)in your photos where the gaps are. That black rubber will continue to shrink with age making the gap bigger. Some times they pull away from the corners when they shrink. What I did was to push the rubber up to the top to eliminate the gap there then packed in butyl tape into the lower gap as shown in your photo. The tape comes in a roll and is the same tape you use to seal the windows to the sidewalls. It molds easily to the shape of the rubber and will seal better because there is no gap.
  • These rubber strips are not weather seals for the windows. The seal comes from the glass being glued/bonded to the frame on the other/back side of the glass; the strips are just fillers. They may help keep the glass in position some, though the adhesive that bonds it should be sufficient for that too. It's similar in concept to how most car windshields are installed.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    DrewE wrote:
    These rubber strips are not weather seals for the windows. The seal comes from the glass being glued/bonded to the frame on the other/back side of the glass; the strips are just fillers. They may help keep the glass in position some, though the adhesive that bonds it should be sufficient for that too. It's similar in concept to how most car windshields are installed.
    If water gets into the gap it will overflow the channel and into the inside of the MH. The window frame itself is sealed to the side walls as you describe but with a gapping space the weep holes designed to let water out of the channels won't keep up. I found out about this the hard way.

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