Can’t hide from leaks…….
We are hiding out in central Illinois hoping the virus blows over without taking any family and friends with it. Yesterday, we noticed a bit of water in the middle of the main room across from the entry door. We couldn’t figure out where it came from and chalked it up to a spill.
Today, it rained and blew and rained for hours, hitting the right side. Another puddle, bigger, showed up. This time we traced it under the kitchen cabinet. It was wet under the front drawers. I removed the water heater access door – no water. We pulled the bottom large door under the stove – no water. I pulled the back off the inside of the cabinet behind the sink plumbing – there was water puddled on top of the water heater. Great….. I went outside and opened the door (which hides the seal between the heater and the fiberglass wall) and of course, there was almost no sealant and what as there was hard and cracked. This is in a nice Tiffin, Class A, 15 months old. It was blowing hard and raining – I grabbed some roof patch tape and tried to dry off the fiberglass and install the tape as a quick, temporary fix. It looked like it would work, but it didn’t. Back out and with a little less rain, I grabbed a tube of clear silicone caulk and dried a few inches at a time and applied it to the top and sides. That seemed to work. We left a small space heater running on fan mode only blowing into an open drawer slot, venting out a cabinet door for several hours to dry the undercabinet area.
We don’t full time in our RV, yet. It sometimes sits in storage for a couple of months. If we had not been in the RV, I hate to think how much damage would have occurred. Thus I will be doing a full inspection of seals on the RV to make sure we don’t have any more that could start leaking at any time. Just not now, its 40 degrees and 20 mph winds.
Thought the story was over? When we went to close all the shades for the evening – the front shade wouldn’t go down. It moved a couple of inches and stopped. The sunshade worked, so I expected power was ok. I started looking/feeling around the upper left corner – and yes, water! Dripping down from above, it was hitting the motor end of the shade. I pulled the back out of the cabinet above the driver and traced the water to the fiberglass lip just above the upper left corner of the windshield. I went outside with some silicone – and the windshield seal was fine – it was the marker light, not sealed against the body. They had tried to seal the through hole from the inside but not well enough. I sealed it quickly with silicone. Then we put our fan to blow air up toward that corner and a couple of hours later, it worked. Today, in the daylight I have to go up and check the other four marker lights on the front.
Add to that, a slide that may not be working correctly, a slow bathroom sink drain and a plugged black tank flush…
Stay tuned…..
Mike