Community Forums

lucasintexas · 05-07-2022, 08:55 AM

Looked everywhere before I posted. I have shower leak in 2109 Leprechaun 260 DS. Forrest River thinks it is from where the surround meets the shower pan. They suggest removing surround and should see where silicone may be missing or needs more. Leak not coming from drain. Sounds pretty straight forward but looking for video just to make sure. Any suggestions? Thanks

TexasJeff · 05-07-2022, 10:00 AM

I've got a newer Forest River LE and had a shower leak resulting in water coming from the pan out the front of the shower near the wall where the toilet is.

What I found was that the shower liner is glued (barely) to the outer wall and popped loose. The bottom of the liner was caulked to the bottom of the pan, but some parts came loose, or caulk wasn't continuously applied giving the water a path under the liner. The pan has a small lip that bends up behind the liner but if the water gets through, it flows to the path of least resistance which is right out the front.

I'm not sure if this is what you're experiencing. If so, I bought a tube of glue and fitted a small flexible hose to the tip of the glue tube which enabled me to inject glue farther up the back side of the liner. I used common tension rods (the kind you'd use for small drapes or put inside of your cabinets to prevent things from sliding out) to hold the shower stall against the outer wall until the glue set. I then reapplied the caulk on the bottom where it meets the pan being careful to completely caulk it all the way to the front shower screen. In my shower, the problem area just happened to be right where the shower head directed the spray.

lucasintexas · 05-07-2022, 11:38 AM

sounds similar as mine leaks from front near shower door opening. How did you know where to inject the glue?

lucasintexas · 05-08-2022, 09:12 AM

Update-- I just started taking screws out from surround, shower frame, shower holder, etc. Should have done video but I did not think I was going to keep moving. Also had to disconnect waterlines and remove shower knobs. After that I took the shower doors off and then frame piece by piece. Most of the walls are held in-place with the few screws and then alot double back tape. Just kept pulling wall and tape until everything was free and moved surround to another room. Will send pictures of pan to Forrest river but there is no caulk around the pan and the wall except about 2 inches at the front corner near the shower door.

TexasJeff · 05-08-2022, 10:06 AM

Sounds about right. For my leak, assume facing the shower - my nozzle is at 11 o'clock (my upper left), the leak is at 5 o'clock. The shower spray angles down to that 5 o'clock. That's where the lack of caulk allowed water seepage which collected against the lip of the shower floor pan and eventually running out the front at that corner.

I couldn't just apply more caulk as the double-side tape came unstuck which applied all the remaining force against the bottom where that thin line of caulk was. So, the key I thought was to get the liner to adhere better to the wall and then reapply the caulk.

I'm interested to see photos and your eventual solution.

lucasintexas · 05-08-2022, 11:18 AM

Thanks...would post pics as FYI to anyone but they want url of image and not just drop to forum..

**Lt Dan** · 05-08-2022, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucasintexas

Thanks...would post pics as FYI to anyone but they want url of image and not just drop to forum..

You don't have to have a URL to post photos. Here is a post in the Forum 101 thread that tells how to directly add photos.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f62/foru...tml#post477709

lucasintexas · 05-09-2022, 07:14 AM

here are before pics and waiting on forest river reply to fix

TexasJeff · 05-09-2022, 08:56 AM

Yep, that's the exact place where mine was leaking. I went ahead and put a line of clear silicone along the entire rim of the shower and special attention to the wall behind the drain where the force of the shower is hitting.

lucasintexas · 05-10-2022, 02:19 PM

Forest River said that since surround is off it would not hurt to caulk around where pan meets wall. Also, pull old caulk they applied and put heavy portion new caulk in the right corner. Caulk where shower frame meets pan but do not caulk surround to pan after it is installed. Sounds pretty straight forward and will post something if this does not work. Thanks!

TexasJeff · 05-11-2022, 09:23 AM

Re: "but do not caulk surround to pan after it is installed"

Why? This seems to invite water to pool under the surround (liner?) and will accumulate somewhere. I'd rather make sure the shower liner is securely adhered to the wall which is, I think, where their point of failure really begins. Once the liner pulls away from the wall it puts all the pressure on the caulk line at the bottom of the pan. Once that pulls away from the shower pan, the leak happens. So, I super-glued the liner, braced it till it was dry and then caulked all the way around the pan for a secure seal. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something?

lucasintexas · 05-11-2022, 12:34 PM

maybe I described wrong. Ok to caulk pan liner to wall but said after installing the surround do not caulk the surround to the pan. Something about breathing, air circulation, etc.

Diesel-Lover · 06-27-2022, 09:21 AM

Great pics and info, thank you for posting them.

Caulking the external wall of the bathroom if that is the concern, I would think that if steam/moisture gets between the inner and outer wall, they would rather it evaporate or drain instead of being soaked up by some wood and rot things out is my guess.

In one of the rigs we owned I had the pleasure of talking to the designer and engineers and their concerns were that flex should be able to occur and absorbed and so many things were attached with that in mind. On the boat the designers I spoke to did not seem to worry about flex so I am not sure which thinking camp is correct in their design fundamentals! Though the boat folks did account for rolling etc in the cooking stove and such but cabinets bath walls etc were firmly attached into the system even cast in place!

Have to get at my maintenance list soon as well! Wow what a hobby eh.