How to seal these corners? Eternabond tape?

[pcoplin]

Hello all. I'm slowly resealing up the the roof on my 2001 Lance. It has an aluminum roof, so I'm just doing the perimeter and the vent openings.

How would you reseal these corners? Proflex only seems to work a few years. Dicor lap sealant will run down (although I haven't tried their vertical style yet).

I was thinking of just wiping right over what is there and taping over the entire strip from roof to side with Eternabond tape. Thoughts?




Also, this original orange stuff Lance put on here is still quite pliable, but cracking just enough. However, it sticks like welded steel to the aluminum. I'll proboably just Dicor over it. I dont have an entire day to spend on each vent. Haha



Thanks

[SidecarFlip]

I'm allergic to waxing anything myself.

[JimK-NY]

I recently tried the blower test. I did not find any leaks but was not impressed with this method. My camper has too many big leaks to make me confident about finding small ones. Big leaks included the Heki. There is no seal just a lip to prevent water from entering. The outside shower area also leaked. There is a big hole through the camper for the shower hoses. The door is just plastic without any seals. Water that enters just drains out but that system is another big leak that does not allow pressure to build in the camper.

I can also add that it is a waste of time to wax the camper and then test for leaks. The soap solution partially removed the wax and caused streaking. Afterwards I had to strip off all the recently applied wax and start over.

[SidecarFlip]

3 tons wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Instead of going over all of it willy-nilly, I'd do a blower door test first (apply positive air pressure) to the unit and see where it's leaking at and then fix the leaks. You might very well be sealing areas that don't need sealing and not sealing areas that are leaking.

Only a blower door test will tell you for sure. TC's and most RV's tend to leak (have water intrusion) on the frontal areas where the rain is pounding hard while you are driving, Imagine a tropical storm pounding on the frontal area with 60 mph plus wind driven rain....

Be advised that Blower door test will not always work...I had a persistant roof leak, only much later to be discovered to be around shower skylight... Using two leaf blowers and with sink drains taped off, the pressure would not communicate through the styrofoam roof insulation... I tried at least 6 times to zero avail, even using kiddy bubble blow solution, soap and gas leak detector directly atop actual leak source!!....I'd previously had luck with this blower method on my older camper but it apparantly had f/g batt insulation in the roof instead of glued styrofoam block

Leak was ultimately found only by using Harbor Freight battery digital moisture meter and a bit more sluth work confined to the immediate proximity of the skylight.... recaulked around the eternabond surrounding skylight and leak finally stopped!!

Interesting. I could see where glued in foam sheet insulation would stop airflow. At least you found it. I'm always concerned about side and nose leaks.

[3_tons]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Instead of going over all of it willy-nilly, I'd do a blower door test first (apply positive air pressure) to the unit and see where it's leaking at and then fix the leaks. You might very well be sealing areas that don't need sealing and not sealing areas that are leaking.

Only a blower door test will tell you for sure. TC's and most RV's tend to leak (have water intrusion) on the frontal areas where the rain is pounding hard while you are driving, Imagine a tropical storm pounding on the frontal area with 60 mph plus wind driven rain....

Be advised that Blower door test will not always work...I had a persistant roof leak, only much later to be discovered to be around shower skylight... Using two leaf blowers and with sink drains taped off, the pressure would not communicate through the styrofoam roof insulation... I tried at least 6 times to zero avail, even using kiddy bubble blow solution, soap and gas leak detector directly atop actual leak source!!....I'd previously had luck with this blower method on my older camper but it apparantly had f/g batt insulation in the roof instead of glued styrofoam block

Leak was ultimately found only by using Harbor Freight battery digital moisture meter and a bit more sluth work confined to the immediate proximity of the skylight.... recaulked around the eternabond surrounding skylight and leak finally stopped!!

[joeshmoe]

I'll be trying sikaflex 1A. Appears to be superior to most all the consumer "RV" sealants, like dicor. Lasts for many years according to everyone who uses it.

[pcoplin]

I scraped the top edge off, and just used Dicor in the crack. I haven't taken the strip off, but I believe the aluminum roof has an edge that hangs over the side filon. There's butyl sealant under the trim, so Don't even need the Dicor probably. Just gonna dab all the screw heads with sealant.

Thanks all!

[Buzzcut1]

My wife scraped open the entire right edge of our rubber roof on a tree branch. I cleaned up the ragged edges the did a strip on the roof and side of the Tc with denatured alcohol to clean it. I used 4" wide Eternabond tape wrapped over the edges (2" on the roof 2" on the side then sealed the edge of the tape with non self leveling dicor. No leaks no issues in over 3 years

[ReneeG]

We sealed the front and back seam of our FW with Eternabond and purchased the wider tape to seal the side roof seams too.

[pcoplin]

That is true. That sealant that has turned orange is still very pliable and sticky, and I suspect that it seals well. I may clean up the edge and just dicor over the top edge. Not sure what to do on the bottom edge. .

[SidecarFlip]

Instead of going over all of it willy-nilly, I'd do a blower door test first (apply positive air pressure) to the unit and see where it's leaking at and then fix the leaks. You might very well be sealing areas that don't need sealing and not sealing areas that are leaking.

Only a blower door test will tell you for sure. TC's and most RV's tend to leak (have water intrusion) on the frontal areas where the rain is pounding hard while you are driving, Imagine a tropical storm pounding on the frontal area with 60 mph plus wind driven rain....