UPDATE..with?..More MH leaky roof info, photo & questions

[Cloud_Dancer]

It took me forever to find a waterproof tape that was suitable for part of my troubleshooting procedures (gave up on pressurizing the "box" and applying soapy water).
It turns out that some of the water was coming in at the lap joint that goes all the way around the top side(flat). Newmar did a substandard job on this lap joint. And, some water was coming in at the rear A/C gasket.
But, the hardest to find was the final place (this one took another forever to find). This was at the, what they call, M73 Insert Gutter Awning Rail. It should've been the first place to look, except that nothing about it told me water was leaking through that area. The way I found it was mostly out of desperation. After several months of taping up the many more-standard locations/places, waiting for rain, and still getting water inside the thin spongy foam layer that is bonded to/above the headliner material, I finally taped all of the insert gutter awning rail. And, we finally got enough rain to convince myself that there no more water coming in. No matter how much I squeegee the headliner, I find not a drop of water.
BTW I won't start on the permanent fix until I get a "dry-weather" forcast.

Hopefully one of the technicians can tell me if the factory lays down/installs putty tape or other sealant behind the M73 insert-gutter-awning rail prior to screwing it down. I don't want to start prying on it until I can find out more about the repair procedure.This is what mine looks like:




This is the access hole after removing the rearward-most surround sound speaker. It's where the water first started dripping:




This is the way I taped all the insert gutter awning rail area:

[j-d]

An RV tech recently confirmed the issue of water getting behind the vinyl trim strip then soaking down the screw holes and rusting the screws out. I learned years ago, with water skis, that rusty steel screws are really the least of the problem: The Rust "Corrupts" the adjacent wood. So... Tapping a dowel in (given there's enough wood there to accept it) AND replacing screws with STAINLESS are both valuable considerations. I've used lots of those little dowels known as Tooth Picks. Wooden skewers might be good, never tried those...

[RayJayco]

rjsurfer wrote:
I had a leak in the very same area of the camper, definitely related to water getting behind the drip rail.

Rather than pulling the entire drip rail off and resealing it from scratch I purchased a roll of 4" x 50' roll of Dicor sealing tape and layed it from the roof over and down the drip rail assembly, being careful not to go over the drip rail itself rendering it useless.

Now my problem is how do I get the water out of the wall:-\

Ron W.

Same thing that I did, however...on mine, it was not just the drip rail itself, more-so the screws that attached the awning...
Found that out by accident as I was removing awning to replace. The wood that the screws went into was rotten... Water was wicking on the screws...

The good thing about wood is if you stop the water intrusion, the rot will stop. The problem is how much has rotted before you found it... And it needs to be allowed to dry thoroughly. This often takes longer than we think.

I filled the screw holes with water proof construction adhesive and inserted wood dowels. When I reinstalled screws for awning, I caulked before I drove the screw in as well as after...

Best of luck to you!

[John_Wayne]

I cut 4" eternabond tape to 2" and ran it down both sides on my rig to cover the drip rail leaving the gutter area open. No leaks to date.

[dsr27]

I'm curious- because I recently found that my fiberglass roof was no longer sealed into the trim rail on one side of the RV and awning rail on the other side- where is the entry point for water getting into the RV from accumulation in the channel? In my case, I have no evidence of leakage inward.... but I'm sealing it anyway .... and still curious

I would assume that the mounting holes in the rail are above the level of the outside lip. So that would only leave the ends of the rail and the lag screws that might be holding the awning to the side of the MH. Or is my assumption incorrect?

I would also think that a few drain holes along the bottom the rail would be prudent. I've fired off an email to Winnie, but I doubt they'll suggest that I do any drilling.

For those that have had water getting in, has it been determined where it got into the wall or roof? BTW, on mine, I'm pretty sure that the lowest point in the channel (top of outside edge) is below the roofline.

thanks
Gary

[westend]

If you want to seal a fastener fast and painless, use a small piece of Eternabond Webseal over the hole prior to running in the screw.

Eternabond video The Eternabond folks say to use their putty tape but Webseal does the same thing, encapsulates the screw and screw head.

[Cloud_Dancer]

Togger,

The tape is a 3-M product, and the label has 2 names on it: Stucco Poly Tape and Pro Series Shurtape. It comes in a roll (1.88 inch x 54.8 yards). I found it at one of the local Lowes, in the paint department.
Through the years, I've tried different types of tape, but this is the only one that is not bothered by the weather (rain/wind/sun), yet will peel off when you want.
The only thing I don't like about it is that it's RED. I never called 3-M to check if it comes in TAN. It would sure look better on my rig. Yes, I've driven it out on the road all taped up.....:B

I'm going to add that I'm using this 3-M Shurtape as a temporary measure for the purpose of a process of elimination in trying to find the location of where exactly the rain water comes into the inside of the RV. I know that this process is slower than the one where you pressurize the whole interior of the RV and than brush soapy water on the roof(suspect areas).

[Togger]

Cloud Dancer, can you provide some information on where you ended up finding the waterproof tape shown in the photo? Is it available on-line?

I am also hunting a leak and could use this as a tool to narrow things down. I'm wondering how long it can be left on and then removed without leaving residue.

I did a pressurization test and had air bubbles coming out each end of the gutter rail on my trailer, and am not sure if that is normal. Thanks.

[OldFogie]

rjsurfer wrote:
I had a leak in the very same area of the camper, definitely related to water getting behind the drip rail.

Rather than pulling the entire drip rail off and resealing it from scratch I purchased a roll of 4" x 50' roll of Dicor sealing tape and layed it from the roof over and down the drip rail assembly, being careful not to go over the drip rail itself rendering it useless.

Now my problem is how do I get the water out of the wall:-\

Ron W.

Drill a bunch of holes around where it is wet. Then use a dehumidifier.

Someone else will have to tell you what to do with the holes after it is dry since I haven't figured out a solution for that. 😕

[Cloud_Dancer]

Gjac wrote:
Cloud Dancer I was afraid to remove that strip also so I only peeled it back several feet. It was wet and moldy inside. I decided to seal the upper and lower portion of the vinyl trim rather than remove 30 ft of it and that worked. The 5200 should work a lot better than caulk because it is an adhesive. Before I found this leak 30 ft away I was convinced that my AC gasket was leaking water was running under the rubber roof to the rail, that was not the case but I tightened the AC gasket anyways. Just a few turns with a small torque wrench for an even torque down. Good Luck to you.

I don't have a problem removing the vinyl insert. I have to do that anyway in order to remove/replace all the screws.
The metal rail/extrusion is a different story. First of all, I have a long and heavy awning that is hung on it. Second of all I'm not convinced that there's anything that I can fix by removing it. I figure that since the metal itself is not cracked, once I seal all the screw holes, plus seal all the screws, the only way water can get behind it is from the top edge which rests against the fiberglass curved portion of the roof. But, I'm going to clean out the old caulk along that line(old caulk is all dry and full of holes), and after I prep it I'm going to lay a small bead of continous 3M-5200 sealant all along that point line. The bottom edge has a healthy looking bead of sealant that the factory/Newmar uses AFTER the rig has been painted. BTW they won't tell me exactly what they use, but it's clear, and it stays on "forever". I suspect that it's not "paintable"...probably silicon. They use it in other places/joints, but only on painted surfaces.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that my plan is to leave that gutter-awning rail strip completely sealed such that water can't get behind it. I'll replace the screws one by one(remove one and install a new one) so as to not disturb the bottom bead of sealant.
BTW I can buy the vinyl insert locally.
Right now the only hesitation is because of the forecast rain. I don't want to remove all my red tape and expose the whole thing to the rain.
It's the price of working outdoors. Thanks again.

[Gjac]

Cloud Dancer I was afraid to remove that strip also so I only peeled it back several feet. It was wet and moldy inside. I decided to seal the upper and lower portion of the vinyl trim rather than remove 30 ft of it and that worked. The 5200 should work a lot better than caulk because it is an adhesive. Before I found this leak 30 ft away I was convinced that my AC gasket was leaking water was running under the rubber roof to the rail, that was not the case but I tightened the AC gasket anyways. Just a few turns with a small torque wrench for an even torque down. Good Luck to you.

[rjsurfer]

Sounds like a good plan...best of luck.

The cost of new campers are so high these days you really have keep up with this stuff.

With all the options on my camper no way would I trade it in or sell it, so that means keeping up on the maintenance.

Any questions just ask..

Ron W.

Here is a link to a fellow that video the repair on YouTube.

http://www.loveyourrv.com/resealing-rv-roof-eternabond-tape

That's basically in the same camper as mine.

[Cloud_Dancer]

rjsurfer & Gjac,

I had seen some of your postings, but at that time I was involved with some other projects. And, RV-wise, I was still trying to learn about roof air conditioning leaks/gaskets. I learned a lot about that, and now I'm learning more and more about the insert-gutter-awning leak problems.
At this point, I'm leaning more towards a possible fix WITHOUT actually removing the IGA rail. The reason is that I too have thought much about how exactly the water comes into the inside ceiling area. I want to think that I too will find some screws that are almost completely rusted out, which would result in holes which lead directly from the gutter to the inside (at about the location/level of the ceiling/headliner).
I've yet to remove the long rubber insert because I don't dare remove the tape and risk being expose during the next rain (it's forecast for tonight and for another 3 or 4 days).
I too plan to replace ALL screws with stainless. As all of us have discovered, anywhere there might be a chance of moisture instrusion, you have to use stainless hardware. It's shameful that the manufacturers "cheap out" in this area.
I believe that I will fill the holes with "gasket maker" goop and also dab some on the new screws prior to install. Also, I will clean the caulk line above the rail and use my favorite sealant there (3M 5200). I'm also considering putting a narrow line of sealant where the new insert slips into the lower groove. This is the point that is underwater during a hard rain (which keeps the gutter full during extended periods).
Anyway, I will keep y'all posted (it'll be a while before I can get back to working on it).
Thanks for all your information.

[Gjac]

I had this same problem a while back and posted about it. It dove me crazy for a year sealing every thing in site and it still leaked. If you remove the rail you will probably find the sealing tape in back of the rail which was not the problem. In my case the water was getting into the top channel where the vinyl cover is and running all the way forward to the front cap. The MH is parked on a slight incline. The water eventually rusted out some screws and some water enter through the holes. I replaced these screws with SS screws and recaulked the vinyl cover, and continue to check every year. I found the Geocell caulk to not crack and drys harder than the Dicor more adhesive like.

[rjsurfer]

I had a leak in the very same area of the camper, definitely related to water getting behind the drip rail.

Rather than pulling the entire drip rail off and resealing it from scratch I purchased a roll of 4" x 50' roll of Dicor sealing tape and layed it from the roof over and down the drip rail assembly, being careful not to go over the drip rail itself rendering it useless.

Now my problem is how do I get the water out of the wall:-\

Ron W.