We purchased a 2002 Salem by Forest River 27' bunkhouse from my childhood neighbors last fall. We parked it & over the winter the inside ceiling panels rippled down the entire length of the camper. The rippling begins at the side walls (but the walls are fine) & extends up to a foot towards the center of the camper in some spots. Obviously we bought a dud & have water damage. We brought it to a local rv retailer (who didn't even get up & look at the roof) & was told it is totaled. Our insurance will do nothing. SO we decided to have a buddy who worked at an rv retailer in service just reseal/recaulk it as best as he could & we would just use it until we couldn't anymore. He found a tear in rubber roof, so we told the insurance again (who denied the claim again). So he did do most of the resealing/recaulking before he found this tear. He also filled in the tear for now. So then we started thinking twice - should we keep this & fix it, should we sell it as is (& lose a ton of money on a camper we used a few times this past summer), should we part it out?Well - the rest of the camper (outside & in) is beautiful & in great shape according to everyone who looks at it. We had upgraded from a pop-up, so I love the room (we have 3 kids) & my husband loves the conveniences like air conditioning. SO - we decided to baby it along as long as we could. DOES ANYONE HAVE ADVICE ON HOW TO BABY THIS CAMPER ALONG IF WE CAN'T AFFORD TO REPAIR? We have had a "when it rains it pours" year & just can't afford much (the lowest quote we got to replace rubber roof down to ceiling panels was $4800 up to $9200 at a retailer...not in the cards for us right now) & WE ALSO CANT AFFORD INSIDE STORAGE RIGHT NOW. We live in a climate with a ton of snow. Do we just tarp the roof of the camper (I have seen not to wrap a tarp around camper itself) & make sure snow is shoveled off all winter? What would you rv'ers do?

Our 5er doesn't leak but I tarp it every winter. Never had enough snow on it to shovel it, as it would take quite a bit. If it was built to hold a person standing upright, it can take some snow.

The roof can be fixed. If you know a good finish carpenter, the panels can be replaced.

If your husband is handy you can repair the damage yourself. Several on the forum have put on a new roof, It is a major job. You might find a mobile rv tech that would do it for less money then a RV shop as well. If you don't want to deal with it you can sell it for a loss to someone who will repair it. Do you have pictures of the damage?You should inspect the roof every Spring amd Fall for damage so it does not turn into a major repair.

Stock up on beer and BBQ. Buy the materials and invite all of your handy friends over for a weekend roof party. Make it fun. Without beer and vittles, the material costs should be under $500. Even less, if you shop carefully. A caveat: I've repaired a few RV roofs and read a lot here. I've never seen an RV with substantial roof damage that didn't have water in the walls. Be prepared.

Thanks for all the ideas so far! We did get a quote from an rv retailer for over 9 grand. We found a private rv repairman who quoted $4800. We, however, did not even spend this much on buying the camper! We have asked around for other people who may do these sorts of things as side jobs, but have found no one so far (we'd be willing to spend a couple thousand, but we know it is a major repair, so it would be hard to find someone for the job).I don't have pics of the damage yet - we have it parked outside of town at my in-laws & are going to get it all packed up for the winter in a few days - I could add photos then. We would rather just baby it along if people think that we could for a few more years! We'd rather tarp it maybe & take our chances getting a couple more summer's worth of use out of it if we can than selling it for a major loss. But we aren't huge camping people - this is our first big one, so we aren't sure! This summer everything that could break in our house did - we just can't afford another huge repair...& unfortunately I am the "handywoman" in our house ;) My husband is not handy at household fixes at all! I'm lucky I got him to figure out how to hook the camper up, tow it, & take it off the truck to park it ;)

Travel Trailer CEILING/ROOF WATER DAMAGE - need advice!

13 Replies

RVcircus
Explorer II
Nov 03, 2014
JL81 wrote:
Hahaha...rvcircus...believe me...there are some days that that sounds pretty darn good ;) So I will post pics soon of the damage that has happened. The only visible damage from inside is the ripples in the ceiling panels. We did have someone reseal/recaulk & he filled in the tear. So if we did nothing to it in ways of repair this winter & just put a tarp over it & kept snow off of it as much as possibly how much longer would you give a camper with water damage? If we notice in the spring that the damage didn't seem to get worse could we still take it out next summer?

I would go with an RV cover instead of a tarp. Tarps tend to hold in moisture instead of breathing. I would also use Eternabond to seal the rip in the roof (clean the area and go right over the area if he used Dicor lap sealant). Do you know what product was used to reseal/recaulk?

I'd also be concerned with mold or rot if there is wet insulation in the ceiling. I'd be inclined to open up the ceiling to get an initial look at what you're dealing with and let it air out.

If you have any photos please share, but it doesn't sound like anything is really visible to determine the extent of damage.
navegator
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014
Buy a tarp that covers the top and at least 2 to 3 feet on both sides and the front and back of the RV, and have it tied down, on the center roof of the RV plave a ridge manufactured with white pvc irigation pipe.

The construction of the ridge shoul look like an inverted "T" the upper part of the T long enough so that it does not tip over, place several of these inverted T's and connect them together at the bottom of the T's with t fittings and pipie running from one to the other, remenber that the "T"'s are upside down.

This ridge keeps the tarp of the roof and allows some of the water and snow to shed off, make shure that the tarps is tight on the sides, even if you have place more gromets to pass ropes to tie the tarp.

I hope it helps a little.

navegator
HJGyswyt
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014
My heart breaks for you with this story, I have been down the dry rot road with numerous RV projects. After buying and repairing several older RV's we bought a brand new unit that leaked from day one unbeknown to us and it took 5 years before it became unusable. Luckily the manufacturer rebuilt our RV at no cost to us, but we know most manufacturers would not do this.

The sad part is, most leaks go undetected for a long time, and even if you find the obvious cause of the leak, there is a lot of moisture still in the structure after you seal it up. I recently attempted to rebuild an RV as a project, I have a large shop I can work on RV's inside. I parked the RV inside, turned on electric heat inside and waited 6 months to start work. When I removed the outside skin, the foam and fiberglass insulation was still so wet I could ring it out.

The damage was so extensive, the more I opened it up the more I realized that my little repair job was going to be much more than I wanted to do. I had to factor in my time and materials and it made sense at that point to just scrap the RV, though I did love it. I actually made more money selling components on Craig's List than what I paid for it originally, but here again a person has to have time and space and know how to sell things with quality pictures.

Sadly, you are in a tough spot. If you are only into the trailer for a couple thousand, enjoy it while it's still usable, don't put too much into it. Yes there may be mold in the walls, but make sure you sleep with windows open and keep it ventilated.

Is it a stick and tin trailer, or a smooth sided fiberglass exterior? Stick and tin trailers are easy to repair, vacuum bonded fiberglass exterior units are much harder to work on because of delamanation issues after leaks.

All the best, Hans
Jim-Linda
Explorer II
Nov 01, 2014
It is possible that with that much water leaks, you will have a large amount of mold. If so, it would not be healthy for you to spend time and money and attempt to use the trailer.

Jim
JL81
Explorer
Nov 01, 2014
Hahaha...rvcircus...believe me...there are some days that that sounds pretty darn good ;) So I will post pics soon of the damage that has happened. The only visible damage from inside is the ripples in the ceiling panels. We did have someone reseal/recaulk & he filled in the tear. So if we did nothing to it in ways of repair this winter & just put a tarp over it & kept snow off of it as much as possibly how much longer would you give a camper with water damage? If we notice in the spring that the damage didn't seem to get worse could we still take it out next summer?
beemerphile1
Explorer
Oct 31, 2014
Commonly a leaking roof results in a rotten roof and rotten floor. That is why the dealer said it is totaled.

Inspect very thoroughly before deciding a course of action.
RVcircus
Explorer II
Oct 31, 2014
JL81 wrote:

This summer everything that could break in our house did - we just can't afford another huge repair...& unfortunately I am the "handywoman" in our house ;) My husband is not handy at household fixes at all! I'm lucky I got him to figure out how to hook the camper up, tow it, & take it off the truck to park it ;)

Now may be the right time to trade him in for a handy model husband;)
RVcircus
Explorer II
Oct 31, 2014
We just did our roof and hit a lot of damage in the walls and floor. It took a lot of hard work, but the materials for the roof including all new EPDM, sheathing, rafters, etc. was well under $1000. We spent more that on the total project, but we also upgraded/remodeled while we were at it. I'm handy, but certainly no carpenter, so it's a very doable project. I would start by peeling away the ceiling to see what damage you can see by removing the obviously damaged panels. My guess is you'll eventually get into the walls and maybe the roof.
JL81
Explorer
Oct 31, 2014
Thanks for all the ideas so far! We did get a quote from an rv retailer for over 9 grand. We found a private rv repairman who quoted $4800. We, however, did not even spend this much on buying the camper! We have asked around for other people who may do these sorts of things as side jobs, but have found no one so far (we'd be willing to spend a couple thousand, but we know it is a major repair, so it would be hard to find someone for the job).

I don't have pics of the damage yet - we have it parked outside of town at my in-laws & are going to get it all packed up for the winter in a few days - I could add photos then.

We would rather just baby it along if people think that we could for a few more years! We'd rather tarp it maybe & take our chances getting a couple more summer's worth of use out of it if we can than selling it for a major loss. But we aren't huge camping people - this is our first big one, so we aren't sure!

This summer everything that could break in our house did - we just can't afford another huge repair...& unfortunately I am the "handywoman" in our house ;) My husband is not handy at household fixes at all! I'm lucky I got him to figure out how to hook the camper up, tow it, & take it off the truck to park it ;)
westend
Explorer
Oct 31, 2014
Stock up on beer and BBQ. Buy the materials and invite all of your handy friends over for a weekend roof party. Make it fun. Without beer and vittles, the material costs should be under $500. Even less, if you shop carefully.

A caveat: I've repaired a few RV roofs and read a lot here. I've never seen an RV with substantial roof damage that didn't have water in the walls. Be prepared.