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jhammett54's avatar
jhammett54
Explorer
Sep 16, 2013

Begining to delaminate

Photo of damaged area

I am beginning to see some delamination on the sidewall of my RV. I probably noticed this about a year ago and wasn't too concerned until I pulled a screw out from the inside and could tell the wood was rotting.

I cannot see any visible flaws where the water could be coming from. Is this a common area? Is it more likely the window or the leading edge of the wall? What should I do?

The RV is a 2003 Dutchmen Express, does anyone know if the framing is aluminum or wood?
  • That is a rather unusual place for delamination, but I suspect you are getting water in through the seam behind the vertical corner molding. The screws are not sealed and that is usually where it starts. The material behind there is probably heavily rotted. Internal structure at the corners is frequently rotted by the time a coach is 10 years old. Just today, I did a repair on an '08 in this exact same area because the corners were all rotted and there was nothing to screw the molding into. When we pulled the molding screws out, the heads fell right off the rotted screws. I would suspect your repair will be more complicated than just running some glue down into the delaminated area. It is probably rotted and likely wet. There are a number of ways to approach a repair like this, but neither are particularly appealing. I'd start by removing the vertical molding and see what the structure looks like in the gap. If it is rotted and wet, you are going to need more than glue. You may have to cut the filon in this area, replace the underlying material and then refinish the exterior. Bottom line is that you need to do something. The delaminated area will expand if the situation is left unattended.
  • I could see the picture and from that point the water could be getting in at the seam from the roof, the seam where the sidewall meets on the cabover part or from the window. How is that for narrowing it down for you? My first suspicion is the seam at the cabover wall. There is flex created by that bed area hung out there with no support and that is a source of many leaks. I had 2 Cs and that was where mine leaked. Onceyou get the leak found and fixed that repair should be a simple one for delamination. Take the window out, pull the siding away and spread cement in there. Park it where you have a building that will give you some way to apply pressure to the glued part and hope for the best.
  • No framing, as it is a laminated panel wall. Dutchmen was using aluminum tubing to reinforce their laminated walls in 2003. It does not function as framing, it is a stiffener. Aluminum as stiffener does not mean there is no wood.

    You will have some wood framing in the rear wall, overhead forward and roof, in addition to alminum in the structure. These are not laminated panels in that year.

    What wood you find holding things to the wall inside should be plywood reinforcing plates, laminated into the inside of the wall where things have to be mounted. Some manufacturers also use steel plates for reinforcement, depending on the weight of whatever it is.

    If the area is under a window, leak is most likely the window. If on the inside of the wall, probably interior condensation which is supposed to channel in the window frame and run outside through weep holes, which tend to get clogged if not maintained.
  • If it has been leaking for a year you may have severe water damage and mold by now.
    At this point I would take it to a shop that can do a leak test by pressurizing the unit with a modest air pressure. Otherwise your just spinning your wheels trying to find the leak.