Preventative Caulking...What First?

[Excel-in]

Hi,

We we are the (very excited) new owners of a 2008 33 RSO. The unit is new. Due to the recession, it never was sold. As this coach is almost three years old, I am trying to figure out what pereventative maintenance to do first. After reading lots of threads on this forum, preventative caulking seems in order. Although I cannot find anywhere that tells me where to look/check, what areas are critical, or maybe a procedure (do these areas first) for preventative caulking. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[ExcelRVGuy]

Please call Jack or Ralph at our Excel Service Center. (800.368.3759)

They will give you some good advice as to what to look for and how to maintain your coach.

Kudo's to you for being interested in preventive maintenance. Most of the family members who frequent this site are here because they care about their coaches and take very good care of them. But away from this forum, it surprises me that there are some who never (literally) do an ounce of maintenance.

Congratulations on your new coach. The 33RSO has been one of our best floorplans.

Bryan

[BookIIRoadtrash]

Excel-in, you should have done a PDI before purchasing any RV. Honestly I do not have the time to caulk myself so I let my dealer go over my rig twice a year. It takes them about an hour each time. I find this cheap since they know the critical points and what to look for. Maybe when I retire I'll take over this task. You never explained what climate your unit sat in that is raising your suspicions.

[Excel-in]

Hi Book2,

Thanks for the info....thanks to all the great info I have found on this board, we are planning quite an extensive PDI (we have not taken delivery yet). So I am sure the unit wil be good to go when we leave. I am a planner and just wanting to get a plan together for routine maintenance. The unit has just sat on the dealer's lot thru the recession. The dealer location is the mid-atlantic states so no huge extremes of weather (Heat like Texas or cold like Minnesota).

Thanks again

[Workshop]

Excel-in...welcome to the Forum. When do you plan on taking delivery of the unit?

Being a 'new unit', would assume they would check the caulk and correct any initial problem areas.

Don't know what happened...but after spending some time with my first responce on areas to check, when the preview post was selected....I lost everything from that prior responce and had to log back in...?

Does this system have a time out function?

Anyway...I've been going through the photos on my unit that relate to caulk and trim....will look a doing a photo post on areas that concern my unit.

In general...any horizonal trim first, areas around the slide opening, and the trim where the diffenent components joint. This is the roof/sidewall, roof and front/rear caps and roof/wall/cap areas. Any place where movement of different components could cause flex and a weaking in the sealant.

No preview post this time!

[Excel-in]

Hi Thanks for the welcome....

I will probably take delivery in about a month. I am spending my time now learrning everything I can about doing a complete PDI and how to maintain our new Excel.

The advice on horizintal trim first makes sense...I have read to pay particular attention to the Roof/side-wall/end-cap joints... I guess at some point you actually remove the old caulk and apply new? Figuring that will be a few years down the road

I should mention I am particularly sensitive to the water issue because water leaks did in the roof on our Coleman Popup...

[copilot]

Bryan's right about people not checking. Visited some people had 6 year unit never checked anything & wondered why their slide out had to practically rebuilt because of water damage. Go figure.