Community Forums

Fugitive861 · 11-05-2019, 12:40 PM

On our last motorhome, which was a 34 foot Tiffin, the windows were sealed only with butyl tape. We removed windows, cleaned up old butyl tape and reinstalled.

Our current motorhome, 1999 Bounder has what looks like clear silicone covering the upper edge and running around the upper radius corners and down the sides 3-4 inches.

My question is should I replace the silicone as it came from the Fleetwood factory? If so, any ideas on getting the old silicone off? I was thinking a plastic razor blade or one of these rotory bristle brushes on a die grinder.

keymastr · 11-05-2019, 05:51 PM

It is not clear silicone, it is urethane, probably Geocell "Pro-Cell". Not only will it far outlast silicone caulk but it can be applied over itself. Nothing can be applied over silicone, even more silicone so when it needs touched up you have to remove it completely. That makes silicone a poor choice.

Gary RVRoamer · 11-05-2019, 06:32 PM

Agree with keymastr, but there is nothing wrong with using silicone around window frames. It's easy enough to peel off if ever needed - a plastic or wood blade and some mineral spirits.

Pure silicone is a poor choice for roof seams and around roof openings, but that doesn't mean is has no uses at all on an RV.

hypoxia · 11-06-2019, 05:38 AM

There are silicone lovers and there are the rest of us. I have removed a lot silicone from campers and stick houses. Usually it just falls off due to being installed incorrectly and frequently allows water to seep in and stay there long enough to damage what it was supposed to protect. Using a silicone not suited for the application is another cause of failure, they are not all equal.

I'm in keymastr's camp.

THenne1713 · 11-06-2019, 08:10 AM

Well, that explains (some of) the silicone confusion!. Knew I was confused on silicone, I thought there was just a difference between silicone and silicone adhesive, but never could seem to find a sales clerk that could tell me anything, and usually would not have what I thought I was looking for. :-) Musta been Geocell I was using the other day, it was great.

153stars · 11-06-2019, 10:42 AM

The PO of my old TT used silicone on two windows that were replaced over alum. siding .There was a ton used they still leaked .What a huge problem to repair it . Even thought they leaked 99% was stuck like crazy . I used 1/10 of amount a neat bead of acrylic siding caulk didn't leak for 20yrs.