Truck Camper - RV Leak Check In The Rain 12 02 2017

[Camper_Jeff___K]

VIDEO: Truck Camper - RV Leak Check In The Rain 12 02 2017
An Update on the performance on the recent Drip Rail over the dinette window installation.



We're having a good rain storm tonight. I went out to check on the Truck Camper as usual when there's a good rain going. The newly installed drip rail over the side dinette window is doing it's job nicely, keeping water from flowing like a river over the window causing wetness inside. You can see the volume of water involved and how the drip rail is deflecting it.
The inside is dry...

[Camper_Jeff___K]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Being way off topic, Savage 11-111 Long Range Hunter in 338 Lapua with a 300 grain Berger and 102 grains of H1000 in Lapua brass of course. Supersonic past 1000 yards. In the real world, loaded right and jumper properly, will out shoot the Barrett 50. Just the rifle for Northern Michigan deer hunting.... It's a toy, nothing more. Something I acquired prior to retirement and will never sell.

Of course that is as far removed from a rain deflector as one can possible get.

Far as I'm concerned your solution was a good one.

Yes, your reply is way off target from a rain deflector and no, I don't think Lapua makes brass that can be easily adapted to the purpose. Couldn't resist the pun. Very interesting information none the less.

[SidecarFlip]

Being way off topic, Savage 11-111 Long Range Hunter in 338 Lapua with a 300 grain Berger and 102 grains of H1000 in Lapua brass of course. Supersonic past 1000 yards. In the real world, loaded right and jumper properly, will out shoot the Barrett 50. Just the rifle for Northern Michigan deer hunting.... It's a toy, nothing more. Something I acquired prior to retirement and will never sell.

Of course that is as far removed from a rain deflector as one can possible get.

Far as I'm concerned your solution was a good one.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

Kayteg1 wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:
Keep your roof clean of bird poo and road dirt and the water collected should be fine? :B

What about scorpions and cockroaches washed down?
At least lizards are eaten by roadrunner.
BTW my next door neighbors keep their lawn and landscape green.
My dogs love it, so do I since the $600 water and $200 gardening bills are not coming to my address.

I'm not drinking roof swill. At least not without a good filter. I live where some of the best drinking water on the planet flows from the tap. I think the Bro in Lost Wages has a round red rock ground cover with desert plants. 1500 yards! That's shooting if your hitting the target. I doubt any of my rifles would be worth a pound of salt in that competition.

[SidecarFlip]

Too much information.....

[Kayteg1]

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:
Keep your roof clean of bird poo and road dirt and the water collected should be fine? :B

What about scorpions and cockroaches washed down?
At least lizards are eaten by roadrunner.
BTW my next door neighbors keep their lawn and landscape green.
My dogs love it, so do I since the $600 water and $200 gardening bills are not coming to my address.

[SidecarFlip]

Don't they have green gravel 'lawns' in Vegas? I was there once for an invitational long range shoot but that was it. Great area for ultra long distance shooting. We were shooting at 1500 yards and using closed circuit television to watch the targets. Was fun for a visit but way too arid for my taste.

Sort of like New Mexico. I like to hunt there but to live there, no way.

2 years we were hunting elk in the Ghila and I bent over to touch what I thought was some pretty grass. Turned out to be some sort of succulent with razor sharp leaves.

Glad to know that we aren't the only people with bad water. Not really bad, just mineral loaded, but we have plenty with lake Erie only 15 miles away.

Water has never been a concern though I hear it is for many.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

Kayteg1 wrote:
The 21st second was dedicated to Flip and his glasses 😉
We do have extreme calcium in LV water and water softener is a band-aid only.
Wish I could collect rain water. Not that with about 4000 sq ft of roofing I could not, but last time it rained here was March (from what I remember).

Not met Flip but i guess you guys are buddies.
That's funny. I was just talking to my brother in Las Vegas about his water system. Hard water issues and his softening system where he I guess just had a 5 year service done and he adds a bag of salts a month. He was also having issues with his hot water recirculating pump. Seems the check valve stuck open and he was getting hot cold mix instead of hot at his fawcett locations. Keep your roof clean of bird poo and road dirt and the water collected should be fine? :B

[Camper_Jeff___K]

SidecarFlip wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Never seen a 'downspout' on an RV but there is a first time for everything I guess.

I had thought to install 1" PVC tubing at the drain ends of the two rear gutter ends and run the tubing down the back corners of the TC. The gutters now drain out directly onto the top of the rear jack motor housings causing lots of splatter. Not good placement but that's were the two items intersect in function.

With tubing downspouts you could use the water for your morning coffee...lol Rainwater makes good coffee water. I've used it more than once.

In fact I collect rainwater from the shop and garage roof in 350 gallon totes. Not because I'm 'green', because out well water is death on anything with a finish on it, loaded with calcium.

I collect the rainwater and use it in my pressure washer and suds bucket to wash the vehicles and farm equipment with.

Again, very nice camper. Always have liked S&S campers.

The S&S is a 2000 model year. Nine and a half foot. The bathroom is a little tight for a big guy but since I've lost 75 pounds, I fit in there a lot better. S&S did a pretty good job planning the storage space which for this size camper is really good. There is a +/- to every +/- in design and the balance is good. We'll keep this setup another 2 years before I start at working on a Transit or Sprinter conversion Class B.

[Kayteg1]

The 21st second was dedicated to Flip and his glasses 😉
We do have extreme calcium in LV water and water softener is a band-aid only.
Wish I could collect rain water. Not that with about 4000 sq ft of roofing I could not, but last time it rained here was March (from what I remember).

[SidecarFlip]

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Never seen a 'downspout' on an RV but there is a first time for everything I guess.

I had thought to install 1" PVC tubing at the drain ends of the two rear gutter ends and run the tubing down the back corners of the TC. The gutters now drain out directly onto the top of the rear jack motor housings causing lots of splatter. Not good placement but that's were the two items intersect in function.

With tubing downspouts you could use the water for your morning coffee...lol Rainwater makes good coffee water. I've used it more than once.

In fact I collect rainwater from the shop and garage roof in 350 gallon totes. Not because I'm 'green', because out well water is death on anything with a finish on it, loaded with calcium.

I collect the rainwater and use it in my pressure washer and suds bucket to wash the vehicles and farm equipment with.

Again, very nice camper. Always have liked S&S campers.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

Kayteg1 wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
I still consider that covering the problem without fixing it.
Some wind and the whole idea goes down the drain.
Your roof gutter seems to have a problem dumping all that water into window area instead of downspout.

Part of the problem is the top mount of the awning is designed to use the gutter as part of the support for the awning. It hooks down into the gutter and has two bolts that go through the top edge of the Truck Camper framing just below the roof and above the gutter. The mount effectively blocks the flow of water in the gutter causing pooling which you can see in the video, surges out over the gutter, directly above and flowing like a river down over the window frame. I don't think any sliding window can really stand up to sealing out that much water. With the amount of continuous flow, it's virtually submerged in water. Last night, we had windy conditions and it was blowing significant rain onto the area around the window and it was still dry this AM when I checked. Personally, I think this drip rail is the proper fix for this particular situation. It's working and that's what matters on an 18 year old truck camper.

I would check with manufacturer if they have fix for it. When your siding works as a waterfall, sooner or later you will find more problems.
It is always better to fix the source of troubles, than band-aid the results.
Flip time to put your glasses on and check video at 21st second.

Not sure what you want me to look at at the :21 second mark in the video.
At 1:18 in the video, you can see the two weep holes at the bottom of the window that before the drip rail, would be flooded with rain water flowing down from where the awning mount causes a blockage in the gutter, forcing water to surge and pour out down the side and over the window. The weep holes do not face that surge of water now. Neither does any part of the window frame.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Never seen a 'downspout' on an RV but there is a first time for everything I guess.

I had thought to install 1" PVC tubing at the drain ends of the two rear gutter ends and run the tubing down the back corners of the TC. The gutters now drain out directly onto the top of the rear jack motor housings causing lots of splatter. Not good placement but that's were the two items intersect in function.

[SidecarFlip]

I stand corrected. Not really a downspout like on a house but I guess it is...

Nice S&S by the way. What year is it?

Come to think about it, my Lance had a similar arrangement but the awning on my Lance was in a hard case and self contained.

None of than on the new one. The water runs off the roof via the front or back, depending on which way it's levelled.

One thing I did with my clearance lights is, I replaced the incandescent bulbs with LED's and sealed the mounts to the siding with Dicor and sealed the lenses to the mounts with the dreaded RTV. Clearance lights have a bad habit of leaking. All the lenses have a weep hole molded into the lens. I sealed the weep hole, don't need it and I won't ever have to pull the lenses off with the LED's installed so no point in having the removable lens removable.

[DSSAMP]

Jeeze, if it works, what's wrong with that???