Rain gutter removal

[VanDiemen23]

So I've finally figured out that the water intrusion on my 99 Beaver is coming from the rain gutters for the most part. Water gets behind the gutters and goes through the rivit holes.

Usual solution is to drill out the rivits, scrape off all the old sealant, put butyl tape on the back of the gutter, re-rivit, and re-seal.

Just got to thinking though, are gutters really needed? There's a secondary gutter over the entry door. All the windows have awnings, and the metal covers for those re-direct water. In a couple of cases the gutters actually send water where I don't need it - like streaming down the driver's side window and then into the coach through there.

Since it's a Safari Beaver, the slide out doesn't have an awning, so a gutter over the slide area would probably be a good idea.

But I'm thinking that minimizing the length of gutter to just those areas that really need it, (and the associated dimensional changes over the seasons that help break the seal) and minimizing the holes through the side of the coach might be a better idea than trying to make the gutters work.

We live in the desert, so not much rain here, although we do occasionally encounter it elsewhere on our travels.

I'm just trying to think through the unintended consequences.

[Argosy]

You need to seal the seam between the roof and sidewall some way. There are a lot of relatively flat extrusions online if you don't want to use the gutter.

I'm not a fan either but do reuse them. I put butyl tape on the back and use the flat end of a drill bit the same size as the hole in the gutter to punch through the butyl tape from the back. I drill a few strategically placed holes in the bottom of each section so the water doesn't back up as much. I use screws instead of rivets to reattach the gutter, it's easier to control the pressure used to attach it.