Community Forums

ronboc · 06-21-2007, 09:40 AM

I've been plagued by an intermittent small water-leak over/near the entry door for quite some time. Sometimes water would just sorta ˜appear' on the inside steps, other times I would get splatted on the head as I went thru the door (even with the door-awning extended), and sometimes the inside of the door-window would show evidence of a few drops running down the inside of the glass. Oh, and sometimes it would be dry as a bone... which usually was when I made it a point to try and find the source.

Well, I ˜think' I finally got it solved. After several days of frog-stranglers (that's Texanese for ˜one heck of a lot of rain'), I happened to see one little teeny drop oozing out from under the door-awning mounting bracket. Shouldn't be doing that because it's supposed to be sealed with silicone from above. And I knew that because that's one place I'd patched. All other activity stopped as I got out my ladder (in the pouring rain) and started sleuthing. Didn't take long to get soaked, but I stayed at it for almost an hour.

Turns out, there's a C-channel (about 1" tall and sticking out maybe ½") running the entire length of both sides of the coach where the roof curves to the wall that the slideout awnings material is locked into. That C-channel is (or is supposed to be) siliconed to the wall along the top and locked into place. Evidently air movement from wind and driving has caused the front and rear ends of the awning materials to ˜work' at the C-channel just enough to allow the silicone to start pulling away from the wall a tiny bit, and allow a minute amount of water to seep into the crack and travel to a potential exit point (which in my case, was around the entry-door).

When it stopped raining long enough, I got up there and ran a razorblade knife along the seams to remove the old caulk and gunned in new sealant. The very next storm told me the PROBLEM WAS SOLVED!!

I'd have never found it if not for the right events to happen. The slideout awnings had to be out far enough to allow water to pond in them and cause the C-channel to bend out a bit, and the coach had to be level enough to allow the water to trickle over the edge of the roof at the right spot(s) and into the crack(s) and run amock. I'd been up there a zillion times already looking for ANY cracks, holes, seams, etc, and never ever saw the culprit.

So, if you have a leak or two that seems to defy all attempts at reason, it may be that C-channel pulling away ... but only during a rainstorm.

ronboc · 06-21-2007, 09:40 AM

I've been plagued by an intermittent small water-leak over/near the entry door for quite some time. Sometimes water would just sorta ˜appear' on the inside steps, other times I would get splatted on the head as I went thru the door (even with the door-awning extended), and sometimes the inside of the door-window would show evidence of a few drops running down the inside of the glass. Oh, and sometimes it would be dry as a bone... which usually was when I made it a point to try and find the source.

Well, I ˜think' I finally got it solved. After several days of frog-stranglers (that's Texanese for ˜one heck of a lot of rain'), I happened to see one little teeny drop oozing out from under the door-awning mounting bracket. Shouldn't be doing that because it's supposed to be sealed with silicone from above. And I knew that because that's one place I'd patched. All other activity stopped as I got out my ladder (in the pouring rain) and started sleuthing. Didn't take long to get soaked, but I stayed at it for almost an hour.

Turns out, there's a C-channel (about 1" tall and sticking out maybe ½") running the entire length of both sides of the coach where the roof curves to the wall that the slideout awnings material is locked into. That C-channel is (or is supposed to be) siliconed to the wall along the top and locked into place. Evidently air movement from wind and driving has caused the front and rear ends of the awning materials to ˜work' at the C-channel just enough to allow the silicone to start pulling away from the wall a tiny bit, and allow a minute amount of water to seep into the crack and travel to a potential exit point (which in my case, was around the entry-door).

When it stopped raining long enough, I got up there and ran a razorblade knife along the seams to remove the old caulk and gunned in new sealant. The very next storm told me the PROBLEM WAS SOLVED!!

I'd have never found it if not for the right events to happen. The slideout awnings had to be out far enough to allow water to pond in them and cause the C-channel to bend out a bit, and the coach had to be level enough to allow the water to trickle over the edge of the roof at the right spot(s) and into the crack(s) and run amock. I'd been up there a zillion times already looking for ANY cracks, holes, seams, etc, and never ever saw the culprit.

So, if you have a leak or two that seems to defy all attempts at reason, it may be that C-channel pulling away ... but only during a rainstorm.

jelsema · 06-21-2007, 09:48 AM

Ron, Great Job on finding that leak! It's the small things like that, that can drive a person up a wall at times.

Pusherpilot · 06-23-2007, 11:58 AM

Great job!!! And thanks for letting us know!!
Had a pesky leak of my own.

Our read A/C has leaked from day one. Very intermittent! Took it back to the dealer after the first leak and it was "fixed". Wrong!!, it leaked again after a few months. Took it to Monaco in Ind and they "fixed" it. Wrong!!, it again leaked after a few months. While having our AquaHot serviced in Rapid City SD the mech there found that the bolts holding it on were too long and bottomed out on the inner upper cover before they cinched it down. R&R'ed the seal and put in shorter bolts. That was a couple of months back and we've been in some really nasty storms, still no leak. I bet that got it!!

ronboc · 06-23-2007, 12:15 PM

Thanks, guys. Hopefully things like this will help someone else in the future.

Never experienced the leaks from the AC's, but I've heard they can be quite difficult too. Glad ya found it. I like to sleep with the AC down COLD (and I DO MEAN COLD), so condensation has been an issue in the past but that's a bit different than yours.

(Y'all realize we just jinxed ourselves now, don'cha? We're going to be up to the window-level in water after even the next little shower

)

ronboc · 06-23-2007, 12:18 PM

Upon reflection, Pusher, I gotta ask ya why/how the AquaHot guy found a problem with the AC bolts

I've been in Dynastys before, but didn't realize the AquaHot was mounted in the ceiling

Pusherpilot · 06-23-2007, 02:24 PM

Failed to mention that we asked them to look at the leak. It was getting to the point that we couldn't leave the coach without covering the bed and waking up every time a drop hit the vent cover. I'm glad he did have the time to look at it and I'm glad that he had the basic mechanics instinct and experience to scope it out.