leaky water thru the vents sides

[LoveToCamp]

Joesjunk, it is hard to see where the silicone is leaking. I had a leak around my Fantastic Van, so I replaced all the silicone that looked like it could be bad. Still leaked. Replaced all the silicone that looked like it had a good seal, and had no leak. Still don't know exactly where it was coming in, but it is not anymore.

I have seen the commercial that has the screen-bottom boat that they spray with some sealant. The boat does not leak, according to them. MAYBE, that could be a way to go - get some of that, tape-off everything around it, and coat the entire join area with the sealant (4 or 5 coats, enlarging each coat a little, so there are multiple seal points). Just a thought.

[Steppy]

Here's a link to my experience with vent leak repair. http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=11435

[pe1960]

What is the purpose for the wood that vent is on, on other campers i owned (not TM's) they were attatched to roof.

[scrubjaysnest]

Most likely because they put the lights there. Most 14"x14" vents will mount with an inch thickness minimum.

[daveinfl]

I too seem to have the leaky vent issue. I have re-caulked after removing the old stuff. Now I am about to do it again. I could see signs of a leak when removing the trim to clean under the screen. That is why I re-caulked.

I absolutely hate caulking. I have never been good at it as it is an art. I always leave a bead that is to large or to small. But I noticed on a couple other "general purpose" RV repair sites that some people recommend using a roof tape around vents and over all seams. There are two that I have found that seem like they would work. One is called Eternabond and the other is by 3M Extreme Sealing Tape. Eternabond is quite expensive and lists one of its uses for RVs. The 3M product is less expensive and also lists its uses for RVs.

I am going to start removing the caulk again today. But before I apply any new caulk, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the tape options? To me it looked very promising.

I too am curious about the spray seen on TV that will "float a boat". Has anyone tried that? Leaving on a 3000 mile journey next week, so trying to get everything ship shape.

[Padgett]

Have some rubber stuff that could do the boat trick. Once. Every year I have to reseal the skylights in my roof. Have had it done professionally three times including a complete reroof. Every year am back up there with a different miracle product. White ones, black ones, mat ones, again every year. Of course we have been known to get 20" of rain in a weekend sometimes with a bit of wind (am more sheltered than east side of Orlando so exterior only needs to have a 110 mph wind rating).

ps am out of date again. The last hurricane was in 2004 (cycle is about 30 years) and the 2007 spec for a home in western Orange county was 110 mph. For 2010 they changed the requirement to 139 mph. Wonder if they know something...

Sometimes the leak is somewhere else entirely and just finds a runway to where it appears. Those are a real bear to find.

[daveinfl]

Padgett, Thanks for your reply. I did find where the water was coming in ... but decided it would be worthwhile to redo the works on the roof. Worked all day removing caulk. Tomorrow I will go to LaMesa RV and get the best sealant I can.

Turns out where my antenna lays down, it is right up against the AC shroud. The wing (or whatever you call it) bounces and had wore through the caulk and created a small hole. I have cleaned it all up and will seal tomorrow. I plan to purchase some rubber bumpers to put under the antenna so that it has something to rest on rather than just bang away at the caulking and shroud.

I really worked to get the caulk off. I found heat worked wonders though. And then in the end I used the new low odor mineral spirits to clean everything. I think it came out really good. Thanks againg for your comments.

Dave

[oldstick]

Found this thread because I seem to have a small leak around the "fantastic" fan. Looking on top it might be from the corner joints in the wood frame but not sure yet.

Anyway I have decided I am not going to mess around with any type of caulk silicone or not. There was some sort of very strong adhesive/sealer made for gutter seams I used several years ago. I even used it inside a porcelain toilet tank to fix a hairline crack. It has held like that for years even being submerged. It is the kind of stuff you don't want on your fingers because you will need a solvent to get it off. Comes in clear so a little better than covering the whole thing with black roofing tar (which I also thought about).

Can't remember the name but I am going to see if I can still find it at Lowes and will report back.

UPDATE: Not 100% sure but this sounds a lot like it: http://www.osipro.com/products.pl?id=MICRO
Apparently it's available at Lowes in this area. So I stopped by this afternoon and sure enough, that is what they had back in the gutter supply section. About $5.50 for a 10 oz. calking tube, so that is what I am going to try.

[LoveToCamp]

I had a leak around my Fantastic Fan, also, on my 2012 TM. I removed all the caulk, and re-caulked every seam around the frame of the fan mount, top and bottom. I think one of the corners was leaking. That took care of it.

I imagine your solution should work, as long as you overlap all caulking, and not just do the seams that appear to be the culprit. I did some of mine, and had to do the rest (around the Fantastic Fan). Turned out that the culprit appeared to be a good seal. Looks were deceiving!

[Bill]

Remember that according to the manufacturers, new caulk will stick to almost anything except old caulk. Be real careful about just patching gaps in the seams with new caulk, and expecting it to seal to the old stuff at the end of the gaps. Perhaps with enough overlap onto the substrate, it will work, but as LovetoCamp notes, a better idea is to clean out any old caulk that is even a tiny bit loose, and go from there.

Bill