Fixing water damage is pointless unless you first address the source of the water that caused the damage in the first place.
I've already pointed out a couple of places on the roof that are highly suspect. I will fix those once I know for sure what the roof is actually made of. I made a post on the popupportal forum inquiring about this. You can find it here:
http://www.popupportal.com/index.php?topic=32959.0
I just want to be sure that I put the right kind of goo on the roof. I'm assuming that different materials require different goo. I suspect that I can use Silicon Caulk on the roof to fill in the holes and around the vent (I will probably look into replacing the vent entirely.) However, I've been told that Silicon cannot be painted so I will need to paint first.
Herein lies the problem. I had hoped to finish the outside (paint, decals, etc) AFTER I finish the inside. I must repair the roof damage first though but that requires using Silicon before painting. I intend to paint the roof white and you can get Silicon in colors, white is one of them. What happens if you paint Silicon anyway? Does it dissolve? Turn black? what?
I'll probably have to answer this question myself by doing it anyway. I do NOT want to spend money on the outside of the camper until I am sure that the inside is finished and the wheels and axels are checked out.
Anyway, here is what I suspect contributed to the water damage in addition to the roof:
Corner 1
Corner 2
Corner 3
Corner 4
As you can see from the pictures, the caulking has completely eroded from the base of all of the lift poles and the caulking is cracked and gaping in all the corners. I have no way of knowing how this camper was used in the past. I assume that it was used fairly regularly for camping due the all the wear and tear inside. If the camper was popped up at anytime when it was raining, you can see that water can just pour into all the corners.
I'm hoping recaulking these areas will greatly improve if not resolve the water leak problems.
Unfortunately it has turned cold again here in TN. The weather folks are calling for a "Winter Storm Watch" on Thursday-Friday this week so it looks like I will be stuck with putting the tarp on and off and cutting out the water damaged wood and insulation this weekend.
I also realize, believe me with a knot in my stomach, that I should probably rip off the side panels inside as well since there is surely water damaged insulation on the sides too. On the bright side, if I can find nice white paneling, I won't need to paint the inside walls, just the wood boxes. What's the worst that can happen?
You really need to address the leaks before you start working on the inside of your pup. I’d hate to see you do a lot of work for nothing if it all gets ruined in the next heavy rain.
ReplyDeleteThere’s no doubt your trailer box corners need re-caulking. Peel and scrape as much of the old caulk as you can get off with a single edged razor blade, then use denatured alcohol and a rag to remove the rest of the old caulk. Let it dry, then just apply the new caulk. Wear gloves when you use the alcohol because it’ll burn your skin, and remember that denatured alcohol is extremely flammable. Let the alcohol on the rags evaporate, then throw them away when you’re done with them because they’ll be useless for anything else.
Next time you raise the top, crank it up to about eye level and check the edge of the roof that actually sits on the trailer box when it’s closed up. There should be a rubber gasket that goes all the way around the perimeter of the roof. If that gasket is crushed flat, ripped, torn, the corners don’t meet, or a piece of it is just plain missing, you’ve found the major source of your water damage. A bad roof gasket is the most common cause of water damage on pups that don't have an air conditioner. You also need to address those holes in the roof, but you knew that.
Oh – to answer your question, the reason you can’t paint silicone sealant is because the paint won’t stick to it. It’ll just flake right off, but it won’t hurt anything if you do paint it.
yeah, but with the rotten weather we're supposed to have here this weekend, I might not get to the outside work. The most I would do inside anyway to continue to rip the water damaged stuff out.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the advice and will get the solvent and extra rags this weekend. It's really too bad it winter-time. This is stuff I could do during the week. Right now, when I come in from work, it's nearly dark.
Plus, it's frigid outside.
I'll check the roof gasket (I didn't even know such a thing existed until you pointed it out) but I would be willing to bet a nickel that it is either wasted or completely missing.
I wonder where I could get a replacement. Is this something I can make with some glue and the right material?
I did find some posts on the portal about these things so I'll look into it further. My initial research seemed to point out that it was pretty time-consuming, labor intensive to replace.
oh, joy.
Thanks again, Dusty
I hear ya - we're in the same boat. I have several projects started and I'm not able to finish a single one of them because of the weather. It's either raining, snowing, too flippin' cold, or all of the above. I just need a day or two of clear weather in the 50s so I can get out there and set it up long enough to rehang some canvas I repaired, check the fit of my new lift arm cover prototype, and take a couple of pics. It seems that it's either too cold for adhesives to dry/cure, or too wet to open the pup up for even a few minutes. Oh well - such is life.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to go to the Starcraft dealer to get the roof gasket if you need one. From what I understand, based on what I've read, it's not the total SOB to replace that some have made it out to be. Yeah, it's time consuming, but not difficult. I'll have to replace ours in the next couple of years, but so far it's working, so I'm in no rush.