Cannot find source of water leak on slide
We have a 2010 Passport 2910BH. It has one slide that contains the sofa and dining table. The dining table has three bench seats with storage underneath. This summer we noticed when we opened the st...
Forum Discussion
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This is long and I apologise for that. I given it a lot of thought.
We have the same problem on our older TT (2004 Cougar Keystone M-294 RLS). It has the same daven/dinette slide type. We discovered damp carpet in much the same way, but the cushions nearest the outer sidewall were also damp. On ours, the leak only apparently occurs when the slide is in and the camper leveled.
The first suspect was the window since some water is found in the track. But a close inspection of the window reveals no obvious seal leak. In addition, a water hose vigorously aimed directly at, and around, the window does not admit water inside.
Looking further up, the inside wall is dry, but it could be coming in from the top and running down the interior wall cavity. Looking at the slide roof, their is no obvious crack or hole up there, but I thought maybe the seam along the outer wall leaked. So I got some 4" Eternabond tape and attempted to fold it into the angle where the outer wall lip rises. The plan was to overlap the seam on the roof itself and form a curved seal right up the vertical lip.
Working with Eternabond is easier said than done. It is aptly named. The product is basically the stickiest gum you can imagine sandwiched between two paper-thin outer vinyl films. It is applied by removing one film and pressing the exposed sticky gum to the surface one wishes to seal by burying. Pressing is an overstatement, as this tape seems to frantically jump, and bond, onto any nearby surface under it's own volition. I'm just lucky a bird didn't fly by, or the roof would be feathered. I should have video-taped it for the entertainment of all (How Not To...). The idea of creasing it neatly into an angle was nearly impossible; I should have arranged help and probably split the protective film layer down the middle to groove/apply one side at a time. The end result was a rather crooked application that I will end up going back over with help. I only hope it finally solves the leak and doesn't add too much weight to the slide.
It is rather curious that the leak only occurs when the slide is in, the TT is level, and the jacks are down to steady the unit. This turned out to be a likely key to the leak. I noticed that sighting down the rain gutter reveals that very moderate jack pressure immediately "swoops" the shallow rain gutter (actually the whole camper roof). The TT rests quite level when supported only by the axles, probably a circumstance dictated by being factory-built resting only on the axles. Anyway, when the slide is in, and the jacks are barely down, rain then gathers towards the center of the roof, spills over the side, overpowers the useless token rain gutter, and runs directly across the joint and seal that is supposed to seal the slide roof when closed (if that makes sense). I'm not sure how the rain is ultimately getting in, but there is plenty of it available in the directed white-water stream, that is inadvertently created.
Now this poses an interesting situation. I will bet that all travel trailers suffer from the slight swoop or sag when the jacks prop up the ends of the frames. All frames give somewhat, even the sturdiest. This is likely made worse by the large sidewall hole cut out for the slide. When the camper is built, the frame is likely naturally sagged ever so slightly down away from the axle supports. No doubt an attempt is made to build square on the bowed frame. The when the frame is slightly sprung back up and more straight by end jacks, the entire cabin structure then slightly sags in the middle. This certainly not a problem for 5vrs that often have a sloped roof from the front on back. But for TTs, most theoretically have level roofs from front to back. The rain gutters are probably 3/8s to 1/2 inch deep max. There is no way that they even begin to drain to the ends when the cabin is sagged. If you don't believe me, sight down your gutters before and after the jacks are down. I would be interested in hearing the results.
I hope the OP found some useful info in my lengthy rambling. Good luck and be sure to let us know if you find your culprit. Thanks.
Wes
...
This is long and I apologise for that. I given it a lot of thought.
We have the same problem on our older TT (2004 Cougar Keystone M-294 RLS). It has the same daven/dinette slide type. We discovered damp carpet in much the same way, but the cushions nearest the outer sidewall were also damp. On ours, the leak only apparently occurs when the slide is in and the camper leveled.
The first suspect was the window since some water is found in the track. But a close inspection of the window reveals no obvious seal leak. In addition, a water hose vigorously aimed directly at, and around, the window does not admit water inside.
Looking further up, the inside wall is dry, but it could be coming in from the top and running down the interior wall cavity. Looking at the slide roof, their is no obvious crack or hole up there, but I thought maybe the seam along the outer wall leaked. So I got some 4" Eternabond tape and attempted to fold it into the angle where the outer wall lip rises. The plan was to overlap the seam on the roof itself and form a curved seal right up the vertical lip.
Working with Eternabond is easier said than done. It is aptly named. The product is basically the stickiest gum you can imagine sandwiched between two paper-thin outer vinyl films. It is applied by removing one film and pressing the exposed sticky gum to the surface one wishes to seal by burying. Pressing is an overstatement, as this tape seems to frantically jump, and bond, onto any nearby surface under it's own volition. I'm just lucky a bird didn't fly by, or the roof would be feathered. I should have video-taped it for the entertainment of all (How Not To...). The idea of creasing it neatly into an angle was nearly impossible; I should have arranged help and probably split the protective film layer down the middle to groove/apply one side at a time. The end result was a rather crooked application that I will end up going back over with help. I only hope it finally solves the leak and doesn't add too much weight to the slide.
It is rather curious that the leak only occurs when the slide is in, the TT is level, and the jacks are down to steady the unit. This turned out to be a likely key to the leak. I noticed that sighting down the rain gutter reveals that very moderate jack pressure immediately "swoops" the shallow rain gutter (actually the whole camper roof). The TT rests quite level when supported only by the axles, probably a circumstance dictated by being factory-built resting only on the axles. Anyway, when the slide is in, and the jacks are barely down, rain then gathers towards the center of the roof, spills over the side, overpowers the useless token rain gutter, and runs directly across the joint and seal that is supposed to seal the slide roof when closed (if that makes sense). I'm not sure how the rain is ultimately getting in, but there is plenty of it available in the directed white-water stream, that is inadvertently created.
Now this poses an interesting situation. I will bet that all travel trailers suffer from the slight swoop or sag when the jacks prop up the ends of the frames. All frames give somewhat, even the sturdiest. This is likely made worse by the large sidewall hole cut out for the slide. When the camper is built, the frame is likely naturally sagged ever so slightly down away from the axle supports. No doubt an attempt is made to build square on the bowed frame. The when the frame is slightly sprung back up and more straight by end jacks, the entire cabin structure then slightly sags in the middle. This certainly not a problem for 5vrs that often have a sloped roof from the front on back. But for TTs, most theoretically have level roofs from front to back. The rain gutters are probably 3/8s to 1/2 inch deep max. There is no way that they even begin to drain to the ends when the cabin is sagged. If you don't believe me, sight down your gutters before and after the jacks are down. I would be interested in hearing the results.
I hope the OP found some useful info in my lengthy rambling. Good luck and be sure to let us know if you find your culprit. Thanks.
Wes
...
