Community Forums

Frenic · 10-23-2016, 04:26 PM

We have an '07 Keystone Raptor toy hauler.

The other day, I noticed drips coming down from the left-corner nose, as if the A/C was running (it's not, as we're here in Connecticut and getting ready for winter). I noticed water is somehow getting behind what looks like a cosmetic strip, it's filling up and sitting there, slowly dripping out while the screws from underneath are gradually rusting. The bedroom and closet floors are all bone-dry, but this will eventually become much worse if we don't deal with it now. My husband used Eternabond tape on everything hoping the water was streaming down the nose and just "wicking" into the area, however today we found pockets of rainwater had collected inside the tape, making it useless. We've now ripped the tape off and will have to re-seal the top roof seam, along the tip where the gutter nozzle starts, and I hope we're able to find the culprit. The fact that there are holes in the metal seam from the previous owner tells me this has been seen before. Hopefully the pics I'll post will show the issue better than I can describe.

Tomorrow we're going to an RV store to buy some LAP sealant (while everything dries out) and keeping our fingers crossed that we somehow find the issue. Any tips (or if anyone has had something similar happen to them) would be greatly appreciated.

Ray,IN · 10-23-2016, 08:55 PM

I can't tell what area is wet from the photos, as they are all close-ups which give no perspective.
I will offer this. I once had a water leak that I finally determined was not from around a window or from a roof leak. By accident I noticed a water-line in a front clearance light lens. I removed the lens to discover it had been sealed to the base, which was sealed to the front cap. Somehow water was getting into the lens, filling it up to the wiring hole in the base, then running into the wall behind the cap.
I drilled a 1/8" hole in the bottom of the lens and VIOLA! No more water leak, so I drilled a hole it the bottom of all light lens-just in case another did the same thing.

Frenic · 10-24-2016, 09:04 AM

Thank you so much for replying.
The area I took photos of is now completely dry, but you can see the damage standing water has done to the area. Somehow, water is filling-up the cosmetic white strip that snaps into the metal seam holding the nose cap to the body. Since the screws are sitting in water all the time, they've now rusted a bit. We have no idea how the water is getting in. :/

raineman · 10-24-2016, 09:44 AM

As someone else mentioned, it is hard to tell what I am looking at. But whatever it is, it looks like it has some reasonable structural damage to it, not caused by water

Frenic · 10-24-2016, 11:16 AM

This is the area just under the nose of the fifth wheel. There's a metal seam that holds the nose onto the body. For cosmetic purposes, a plastic "bumper" is snapped over the metal seam.
The issue we're having is, water is pooling up inside this plastic bumper on the under-side of the nose on our fifth wheel. As for structural damage, perhaps the manufacturer or the previous owner removed the metal seam and ended up bending it, causing an area where that bump is on the metal seam, underneath the nose of our fifth wheel.

Today we bought some non-leveling LAP sealant and will start at the top where the gutters are and seal the corners there are, as it seems water is coming from the top, getting inside the plastic bumper (that runs along the sides, and curls under the nose section of our fifth wheel) where it collects and slowly drips out.

P.S. I keep trying to make this image right-side up, however everything I've tried isn't working, so it's upside-down.