bigfoot owners

I was curious if Bigfoot put any kind of sealant between the overlapping shell joint. I suspected not, because it would be difficult to do and camper manufacturers don't do "difficult". They are depending on it shedding water - gravity is usually quite reliable after all - but the screw penetrations are many and vulnerable, and don't appear to have been sealed on the ones I have owned. Over time water wicks along the threads and eventually both rots the wood and rusts the screw. Some of the ones I pulled on my '86 were just heads and a bit of decayed shaft left. And as the metal and wood decay, the leakage increases, so its an accelerating process.

One day this summer I may take the time to remove all of mine, dip them in sealant, and replace. It would only take an afternoon with a good drill/driver.

But Bigfoot owners can take heart by reading the thread about repairing the rotting Lance...

Just went thru this with my 87.
Side seam @ joint. - many of the screws had rusted out and were loose. Looked like this:
There was NO buytl behind the edge rail or inside the seam. At the back and sides the plywood backing had rotted away. So, where the plywood was gone, we were able to get new wood strips in there and installed new screws. Where then plywood seemed good, we just drilled new holes between the existing holes and used new screws. Stainless would have been good, but went back with cad or black oxide coated screws. Figure with new vinyl cover and sealer it should last many years.
Sealer - used some stuff in a white & blue tube the local RV store reccomended. Sticky when it went on, sticks very well, a bear to get off your fingers. Will get the name of it. Sealed only the TOP of the side rails at the seam.
Windows - pulled and resealed them all with new buytl. Will use the same sealer as on the side seam, but not seal the bottom. It's been a few months and continues to ooze.

Q: how often do clam-shell camper owners separate the 2 halves of their camper structures (using a crane or similar, I would magine) ? Once a year? Twice every 4 years? Ever?

Why in the devil aren't the 2 halves permanently glassed, impregnable?

This was the 6 million dollar question for me that steered me away from the camper clam-shell in its current manifestation. Maybe in a decade or two, when construction/design is reconsidered, will reconsider them.

S-

Butch, personally I would leave it alone. I have had butyl oozing out of my window frames, for about five years. I remove the excess once a year. As you noted, it does look ugly, but it also tells you there is a good seal. In my 1988, the butyl as still sticky and pliable where it was originally applied. That is a good thing, no leaks.

Wayne

OK, so here I have a 2012 Northern Lite. The seam where the 2 halves come together was sealed with butyl and has oozed out since it was new and now it has stopped. I cleaned off the excess off the upper portion where it had oozed out(really looked ugly without cleaning up). I was going to seal this upper side (not with silicone) but what I'm hearing is I should just leave it alone and just check my screws around the two halves and put sealant in the holes of the screws and put them back in? My vinyl insert has the screws in the ends of them to keep them from pulling apart.

I originally posted this on another thread and meant for it to be here. If I sealed the top I would not seal the bottom. You have to leave an area for water to get out if it should get in the seam. I have looked at all of my windows and compartment doors and none of them are sealed on the bottom side for the same reason I would suspect.

Sorry, the 'best by' date was meant as humor - the vinyl gets faded and chalky with time (a long time, usually), and also starts popping out on the corners as it gets hard. On the newer Bigfoots, they put a screw through the vinyl trim at the ends to keep it there. Another thing that shrinks is the window insert molding. I replaced it on my last Bigfoot camper, trying my best to compress it in length as I knew it would shrink - and within a year it was 1/2" back on both ends.

Older Bigfoots (my '86 5th wheel and '98 camper) both had cad plated sheet metal screws in the joint. In places these got rusted enough to hardly even be there anymore. Other places just fine - it must depend on where the water collects. Both were kept outside. If I were to remove them I would replace with SS - a box of screws from McMaster is pretty cheap (don't buy those at the boat store, their markup on stuff like that is enormous!). My new Bigfoot ('08') has SS hardware at that joint and pretty much on everything else, a nice change.

They still smeared silicone on the outside of every joint though. For removing it I tried several commercial products and found this product worked the best. You peel and scrape off all you can then apply this to the nasty film that is left, works pretty good, takes a 1/2 hour or so. The insidious thing about silicone is that it sticks really well some places and not at all others - doesn't seal, and doesn't come off either!

HMS Beagle wrote:
... But more to the point: the joint on a Bigfoot and the copies is constructed by overlapping the top shell outside of the bottom shell. Then a piece of decorative trip is placed on top of the overlap and screws driven though to hold the two together. The overlapping seam is by its nature leak proof - or would be until they drilled a bunch of holes through it.

The photo is from a Northern Lite, but the construction is the same on the Bigfoot.

HMS Beagle wrote:
Many people (including the factory!) insist on smearing silicone at the edges of the decorative trim to give it the 'appearance' of being sealed. This does little or nothing to seal the joint, and may actually have the effect of creating leaks: if the top fails and the bottom holds, you now have a rain catchment directing water at the screw holes, which is the vulnerable point.

This is what I experienced with my Bigfoot.

HMS Beagle wrote:
If you wish to seal it, or are having problems with leaks at the joint, I would remove the vinyl trim strip in the decorative trim (it just peels out), remove the screws one at a time, put polyurethane sealant on the threads, and reinstall. This will seal both the threads and the head, and is as good as you can do without a lot of work. If it is an older Bigfoot the screws will be cad plated and will have rusted, now would be a good time to replace them with stainless steel (which newer ones will already have). If the vinyl trim is past its 'best by' date it is a standard item at RV stores.

I replaced the vinyl trim strip insert on one side of mine. With the idea the vinyl would stretch when hot, and shrink when cold, I installed my trim in cool weather, trying not to stretch it during the install process. Within three years, the vinyl shrunk over 1-inch. I was not aware of a 'best by' date on the vinyl, what is its purpose?

My 1988 Bigfoot has the cad plated screws. I removed and inspected a couple of them, saw no problem and re-installed them.

HMS Beagle wrote:
The silicone applied by the factory will eventually fail, begin collecting dirt and mold and generally look bad, until it is removed.

This is exactly what I experienced. I will also add, it was still hard to remove in many places.

HMS Beagle wrote:
The idea of smearing sealant around the outside of joints, rather that between the two things being joined, is a strange and useless endeavor in any case. It may work temporarily for a quick fix, but will not last and just makes a mess.

It is so common to see this, especially in older RVs, but still a fairly common practice on new RVs. I read where people say there are engineers working with the RV manufactures. I really doubt there is, or they would not still be smearing sealants on the outside of joints, certainly not silicone.

Wayne

I would echo that silicone is better used for implants than sealant.

But more to the point: the joint on a Bigfoot and the copies is constructed by overlapping the top shell outside of the bottom shell. Then a piece of decorative trip is placed on top of the overlap and screws driven though to hold the two together. The overlapping seam is by its nature leak proof - or would be until they drilled a bunch of holes through it. Many people (including the factory!) insist on smearing silicone at the edges of the decorative trim to give it the 'appearance' of being sealed. This does little or nothing to seal the joint, and may actually have the effect of creating leaks: if the top fails and the bottom holds, you now have a rain catchment directing water at the screw holes, which is the vulnerable point.

If you wish to seal it, or are having problems with leaks at the joint, I would remove the vinyl trim strip in the decorative trim (it just peels out), remove the screws one at a time, put polyurethane sealant on the threads, and reinstall. This will seal both the threads and the head, and is as good as you can do without a lot of work. If it is an older Bigfoot the screws will be cad plated and will have rusted, now would be a good time to replace them with stainless steel (which newer ones will already have). If the vinyl trim is past its 'best by' date it is a standard item at RV stores.

The silicone applied by the factory will eventually fail, begin collecting dirt and mold and generally look bad, until it is removed.

The idea of smearing sealant around the outside of joints, rather that between the two things being joined, is a strange and useless endeavor in any case. It may work temporarily for a quick fix, but will not last and just makes a mess.

As posted, I would not use silicone for anything on a camper. As for the seam, my TC is a 1988, I an the second owner, it has never been stored inside, and never had the seam caulked.

I think this question would also be of interest to Northern Lite owners.

Wayne

diver57 wrote:
Just curious do you silicone around the seam where the top half and bottom half of camper meet thanks

I would give Grant at Bigfoot a call. He is a bit tough to get hold of but give the factory a call or better yet email him at the factory. If you have a tough time tracking him down (he is major busy this time of year) let me know and I'll ask him.