Let's start with the bad news first. I opened Frostbite up just enough to get inside and saw this:
Dang it!
On a postivite note, unlike the last thunderstorm test there was no water on the opposite bunk
yay!
or in the center of the floor
WooHoo!
The good news is that I have finally found the source of the water. The rain just stopped earlier in the day so there was not too much time for the water to dry up. I ran my hands all along the roof and especially around the troublesome vent.
nothing. Dry as a desert.
Just like the last leak inspection following a thunderstorm, there was a puzzling wet strip on the canvas about six inches long near where the canvas is attached to the galley wall.
Hard to see in the pic but the strip is center frame about an inch above the metal rim
Trust me, this was the ONLY water I could find except for the small puddle on the bunk. It was as if the water magically appeared here on the canvas.
There was noting obvious or interesting about the canvas from the outside and again no sign of water ANYWHERE except for the strange wet spot on the canvas.
Here is the same spot from viewed from the outside
Frustrated, I had to lower Frostbite so my wife and I could go and pick up my daughter. Once it was down and latched, I went around to look at the spot again and it all started to make sense. I'm sure some of you have already figured out the problem but please forgive my ignorance in these matters. I found this:
That large black space you see between the two metal pieces is where my roof is not touching the wall. I reached in and ran my finger along the gap and felt, you guessed it, wet canvas.
aaaaahh!
Further exploration uncovered why the gap was there. Here is a picture of the right hand corner, this is the side where water comes in:
Here you can see where the roof hangs over the right edge about a quarter inch.
Here is the left hand corner:
aahHaa!
The roof is actually sitting ON TOP of the edge it should be slipping over.
Now this poses two problems that have to be solved. First, the roof should set square on the bottom box. I never gave it any thought before and, for all I know, a little pressure on that side while lowering it the last foot or so is all that is needed to make it sit square. I'll explore this a bit when I get home this evening. Also, the camper may not be side to side leveled perfectly which might cause the roof to lean to one side while being lowered.
The next obvious problem is the canvas. Remember, the gap between the roof and the box does not directly expose rain to the inside. There is a large piece of canvas in between that should generally be considered somewhat waterproof. My canvas has apparently lost that ability long ago. I would have found this one out the hard way once I moved past the popped down rain test and on to a popped up rain test so it's a lucky break that I found this out now.
I'll task my go-to girls at the Tool Box to find me some goo that can be sprayed or painted on canvas to make it waterproof again. I assume such a thing exists.
It better.
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