Well I have a leak in my camper I'm trying to trace down. I am getting water at the front passenger corner at the bottom of the mattress. With it being a Northern Lite camper with full fiberglass the possible locations for the water to get in are limited. As far as I can tell the only locations could be the upper windows, the marker lights up front, or the center seam. I guess I could add the skylight above the bed to that list but I just re-did all the sealant on the roof cutouts this summer. I put many coats of the sealant up there so I am pretty confident anything on the roof is sealed.
At first I was going to take out the two upper windows in the cabover and re-seal them but I am now unsure those are the issue. I think its more likely the water is getting in at the center seam that joins the upper and lower halves of the camper.
I have tried several attempts at using green painters tape to seal up various location with mixed results. I have also tried leaning the camper in different directions to see if I can get the leak to stop.
So now I have decided to do my own pressure test to see if I can really find out the exact location of the leak without guessing.
Here is what I've done. This first photo shows the 1/4 mdf sheet that I cut to the size of one of the side windows. It will be easy to tape it to the outside of the camper with the fans sitting on a table outside. I used a new unused sewer hose that fit onto the fans perfectly. I also have my manometer that I had sitting around mounted through the mdf as well to monitor the proper pressure.
This shows the sewer hose through the mdf which fits quite tight as well. I may not even have to seal/tape these spots. I had to thread it through the holes. The manometer will tell me if I need to address this.
Another shot a little closer showing tubes coming through.
While its been raining here nicely to test the green tape and leaning camper part of the testing, it would be nice if the rain stopped so I could try out this air pressure testing setup. With the camper wet the tape to hold the mdf in place won't work very well. So, here I am ready to test and waiting on weather.
Anyone see any issues with my testing setup?
At first I was going to take out the two upper windows in the cabover and re-seal them but I am now unsure those are the issue. I think its more likely the water is getting in at the center seam that joins the upper and lower halves of the camper.
I have tried several attempts at using green painters tape to seal up various location with mixed results. I have also tried leaning the camper in different directions to see if I can get the leak to stop.
So now I have decided to do my own pressure test to see if I can really find out the exact location of the leak without guessing.
Here is what I've done. This first photo shows the 1/4 mdf sheet that I cut to the size of one of the side windows. It will be easy to tape it to the outside of the camper with the fans sitting on a table outside. I used a new unused sewer hose that fit onto the fans perfectly. I also have my manometer that I had sitting around mounted through the mdf as well to monitor the proper pressure.
This shows the sewer hose through the mdf which fits quite tight as well. I may not even have to seal/tape these spots. I had to thread it through the holes. The manometer will tell me if I need to address this.
Another shot a little closer showing tubes coming through.
While its been raining here nicely to test the green tape and leaning camper part of the testing, it would be nice if the rain stopped so I could try out this air pressure testing setup. With the camper wet the tape to hold the mdf in place won't work very well. So, here I am ready to test and waiting on weather.
Anyone see any issues with my testing setup?
So today the rain decided to take the day off which means I finally had a chance to test my DIY pressure test setup. I taped the MDF sheet to the side window of my camper and fired it up.
I taped the inside drains in the sinks and shower and made sure everything else was closed up tight. I didn't do anything with the hood fan until I tested the pressure first. I was happy to see that with just the sink and shower drains taped off I got a reading of about .5 inches on the manometer. Perfect.
So I proceeded to spray the bubble/soap solution all over the camper with good results everywhere until I got to the front upper passenger side area. This is the area I was getting water inside at. On the upper passenger window in the cab-over I was getting bubbles on the lower right corner. I took note and carried on. For some reason I also got some bubbles at the clam shell seam at the passenger upper corner as well. But, the strange part was that I only got the bubbles for a very short time on the clam shell corner. It bubbled once and then I could not get it to do it again. Still puzzles about that.
Anyways I proceeded to spray the camper many times until I was satisfied I had the problem spots figured out.
Next plan was to remove the upper passenger window in the cab-over to see what was going on. Once removed it was easy to see what the issue was.
In this shot below with the window removed you can see the outline of the sealant that has a fairly even 1/2" to 5/8" of contact all the way around. That part is perfectly fine.
But, in this next shot you can see at the bottom right corner there is only maybe a 1/4" of contact for the sealant to do its work. This is where I was getting bubbles. And yes, the foam board and inner paneling was wet at this location. Clearly when this window was cutout at the factory this radius turn was done a little quick and eventually the sealant failed or its just been leaking the whole time. Who knows.
I reinstalled the window and kept it as close to the right side as I could to have better contact for the sealant for this bottom corner. I did have to do some trimming on the inside for the window trim ring to line up with the old screw holes but that wasn't a big deal to trim. I think this window is now sealed and shouldn't be an issue again.
This left me wondering about the clam shell seam and what I should do about it on that corner. The bubbles I did get were right at the top where the sealant had oozed out and was quite dirty and unsightly. I couldn't ignore that I did get some bubbles there. So I made a quick decision to trim away the dirty sealant above the seam and caulked it with some proflex. I didn't go all the way around the camper, only the upper area around the cab-over. I know some people say to not caulk this but the only other way to seal it would have to been to remove all the screws and take the whole thing apart. I wasn't prepared to do that on this day.
I put a tarp over the camper for the night to give the sealant a good chance to setup before weather gets a chance to to attack it again. I hope this takes care of the water issue I had. Rain is expected this week again so I'll remove the tarp in a couple days and see what happens.
For anyone who has a possible leak I highly recommend the pressure test to ease your mind. Get it done professionally or a make-shift set-up like I have done. I plan on pressure testing every year to stay ahead of possible issues.
I taped the inside drains in the sinks and shower and made sure everything else was closed up tight. I didn't do anything with the hood fan until I tested the pressure first. I was happy to see that with just the sink and shower drains taped off I got a reading of about .5 inches on the manometer. Perfect.
So I proceeded to spray the bubble/soap solution all over the camper with good results everywhere until I got to the front upper passenger side area. This is the area I was getting water inside at. On the upper passenger window in the cab-over I was getting bubbles on the lower right corner. I took note and carried on. For some reason I also got some bubbles at the clam shell seam at the passenger upper corner as well. But, the strange part was that I only got the bubbles for a very short time on the clam shell corner. It bubbled once and then I could not get it to do it again. Still puzzles about that.
Anyways I proceeded to spray the camper many times until I was satisfied I had the problem spots figured out.
Next plan was to remove the upper passenger window in the cab-over to see what was going on. Once removed it was easy to see what the issue was.
In this shot below with the window removed you can see the outline of the sealant that has a fairly even 1/2" to 5/8" of contact all the way around. That part is perfectly fine.
But, in this next shot you can see at the bottom right corner there is only maybe a 1/4" of contact for the sealant to do its work. This is where I was getting bubbles. And yes, the foam board and inner paneling was wet at this location. Clearly when this window was cutout at the factory this radius turn was done a little quick and eventually the sealant failed or its just been leaking the whole time. Who knows.
I reinstalled the window and kept it as close to the right side as I could to have better contact for the sealant for this bottom corner. I did have to do some trimming on the inside for the window trim ring to line up with the old screw holes but that wasn't a big deal to trim. I think this window is now sealed and shouldn't be an issue again.
This left me wondering about the clam shell seam and what I should do about it on that corner. The bubbles I did get were right at the top where the sealant had oozed out and was quite dirty and unsightly. I couldn't ignore that I did get some bubbles there. So I made a quick decision to trim away the dirty sealant above the seam and caulked it with some proflex. I didn't go all the way around the camper, only the upper area around the cab-over. I know some people say to not caulk this but the only other way to seal it would have to been to remove all the screws and take the whole thing apart. I wasn't prepared to do that on this day.
I put a tarp over the camper for the night to give the sealant a good chance to setup before weather gets a chance to to attack it again. I hope this takes care of the water issue I had. Rain is expected this week again so I'll remove the tarp in a couple days and see what happens.
For anyone who has a possible leak I highly recommend the pressure test to ease your mind. Get it done professionally or a make-shift set-up like I have done. I plan on pressure testing every year to stay ahead of possible issues.
GOOD IDEA.
Forget soapy water. On cars vacuum system leaks, I advise a cigar.
If you want quality test, make it Cuban cigar.
Forget soapy water. On cars vacuum system leaks, I advise a cigar.
If you want quality test, make it Cuban cigar.
