Leaking roof vent

[Expanderoo]

Originally Posted by Bill

Although it seems unlikely, based on the location where you see the water, it is possible that water is coming in through the crank-up TV antenna. The caulking under this thing is prone to failure, which is easily visible. What is not so visible is that you are supposed to drop some oil down the central shaft (I think that's where it goes). Take a look at the Owner's Manual, either in hand or online, to confirm.

Thanks for bringing this up Bill. I read about this in prior threads while researching leaks and I made a mental note to check my blue binder. I just did and unfortunately mine doesn't include the manual for the antenna. I'll have to search for the manual.

That said, the boot was up above the roof line so I went and lowered it down. I should put that on the checklist of things to do before raising it (not using checklist yet but makes sense to me to do so). I noted the boot is definitely getting towards end of life or at least middle aged but hopefully it has a couple more years in it.

I've mulled over completely removing the antenna if/when I have to do the bag seal. I'm hoping if I have to do the bag seal, I can do it later and by then we'll hopefully be certain we're keeping the TrailManor long term and customizing it to our needs (without worry about resale) will make sense. I'm on the fence on that idea.

[Expanderoo]

@FlyboyTR Thanks for rambling actually -- it's really helpful. I'm handy but I'm new to RVs so this is all new to me and interesting. I'm personally sold on Eternabond tape and I'm going to order some to have on hand during our trip.

It's helpful to hear about how your leak happened. I'm going to look for the same on mine of course.

After finding the clear leak on the fan vent, I know what that brown stain looks like that seems to go with a leak. I found one or two spots on the non-fan vent (curbside) that might be leaks so going to look closely at it when I finish disassembling it. I'll carefully inspect the vent components for cracks.

[Expanderoo]

I took the fantastic fan vent off completely. I observed the riser board square is assembled with small staples. The boards were cracked in some of the places where the staples were used (too close to an edge -- the staples are inappropriately small in my opinion) and some were rusty. I think that explains the brown stain where the leak was were -- the rust from the staples. And two of the other corners were very similar in terms of rust so I expect they would have started to leak eventually.




I went to Menards and picked up two 8 foot pieces of 1" x 2" PVC trim along with the purple PVC primer and cement. My plan is to cut them to size and glue the corners with PVC glue. One face of the PVC trim has a wood texture and I think I'll put that face upwards.

I settled on using Eternabond doublestick 2" tape to put between the riser and the roof and also between the riser and the fan/vent. Although the 2" trim is really about 1.3". So I'll trim the tape down down or roll up one edge and use that excess as caulk (on the inside edges of the riser boards/vent). Then caulk with 3M 4000 or lay 6" of Eternabond RoofSeal tape over the whole thing (could make future removal interesting but it might also delay that need so long as to be worth it).

I went a little crazy and ordered:

• Eternabond doublestick 2" tape (50 ft)
• Eternabond 6" RoofSeal Tape (50 ft)
• EternaPrimer 24oz spray can

This is way more than I need of the tapes but the bulk pricing is reasonable. My thinking is I'll do the 6" down the center seam (but I want to go dig into that before deciding of course). I also read in the application notes that for a seam like the center seam, they recommend putting some double stick tape down the seam and then the RoofSeal tape on top of that. So that will use up some of that extra doublestick.

[FlyboyTR]

Sounds like you have working plan!

[oldstick]

If it is the riser boards on the fan vent or riser boards on the other vents, search for information on this board. The riser boards need to be completely re-coated (top and bottom) with a very sticky, adhesive and waterproof sealer of some sort. Something like the roofing sealer they would use around the vent pipes if leaking on your house. I can't recall off hand the brand I used from Lowes, but you will get the idea if you look in the roofing sealer department for tubes of roof sealant. Plain silicone caulk not good enough to cover and seal the wood riser trims on the vents. Not for very long at least.

[Expanderoo]

@oldstick Mine is a 2007 so apparently by then they had switched from wood to PVC for the risers. I'm going to rebuild the risers in PVC again but this time gluing them with PVC glue in the corners (note this is just rebuilding the riser -- not trying to use PVC glue to attach them to anything else). I think a chemical bond is better than using a metal fastener like a staple or a screw. I picked up a strap 1 In. X 15 Ft. Ratcheting Band Clamp from Harbor Freight and am going to use that to clamp together the 16" PVC trim pieces. The big box home goods stores sell this PVC as 1"x2"x8' trim although that is a dimensional 1"x2" (so not really 1"x2" just like a 2x4 is not 2"x4").

I'm planning on using EternaBond DoubleStick to attach the riser to the roof (and the vent to the riser). I am going to use their special primer on the top and bottom of the risers. And then the tape between the riser and the roof and the riser and the vent. I've never used it before so I'll have to see the physical properties when I put it together. I'm curious if the light clamping force of a screw in each corner (as the vents/fan are mounted now) is enough force on the EternaBond DoubleStick but based on what I've read and watched (Youtube), it should hold just fine. After all, DoubleStick is apparently the exact same sticky material as used in their tape with just one sticky side. Only difference DoubleStick is nearly 2x as thick and it's sticky on both sides. I might try heating it with a hair dryer to try to get a nice gooy bond.

[Expanderoo]

I received the EternaBond supplies from Builders Warehouse. They seem to have the best deal on these products. I went with 6" for that main seam piece because I read someone else used that size but now that I have it, I'm looking at the roof seam and 6" is awfully wide. I suspect 4" would be plenty. I might try cutting a 15' piece down to 4" or so if it's easy enough to do just so it doesn't look wonky (here I am talking about looks and EternaBond ).

I hope to get back to the TrailManor maintenance shortly -- I'm up to my armpits in tow vehicle maintenance. I'm pulling with a 2006 Toyota Sequoia and the timing belt was due. So I bought a kit with water pump, tensioners, etc. Good thing too as the water pump was going out. This is my first SUV and the first time working on it (besides doing the brake pads and rotors a couple days ago) and it is really nice to work on a vehicle that isn't super cramped like most cars are. The special tool to hold the crank made getting the harmonic balancer off easy. The timing belt went on way easier than I expected. And then the tool made it easy to torque the harmonic balancer bolt back on. I'm happy to do this before we get on the road plus I'm replacing the radiator and the upper and lower coolant hoses, new thermostat, new spark plugs, etc. Hopefully, should be good for quite a while.

But I got distracted... I'll get back to the EternaBond experience shortly. I know some of you are probably skeptical and I am too. But I'm optimistic that this will work out well and I'm glad to have plenty of extra supplies to bring along so I can fix any leaks on the road. That way, I probably won't have any leaks on the road .

[Expanderoo]

After finishing up the tow vehicle maintenance, I started on the vents today. I cut the PVC board to roughly 16 1/8" pieces and then used PVC glue to glue them together. The first one I did on a glass table and that went well. The next was on top of cardboard and that was okay (some sticking). The third I did on top of a piece of foamboard with a garbage bag underneath. That one ways okay too although some wrinkles in the PVC cement from the bag.

I didn't realize PVC glue was flexible. Not too confident about the joints. I think they are fine but if I had more time, I'd probably use some scrap and figure out a better way. Maybe it would be best to drill a hole and use one screw on each corner just for the gluing phase.

That said, I then used the EternaBond DoubleStick tape. I used 2" and the trim is fake 2" so there was excess which I put towards the inside edge. I then folded that up on the inside. I put a little extra in the corners but later came back and put a 1/2" x 1/2" or so square in each corder so any water that made it's way in on the PVC joint would be blocked.

Working with the EternaBond materials is interesting. I was able to cut them with scissors however they got gummed up after a bit. And once I got a little on my hands, it was much more likely they would stick to me so some care was required. It is super sticky stuff though and I grew less worried about my PVC bond.

I had completely removed two vents (one with Fantastic Fan, other regular vent). I got a PVC riser back on both of those after cleaning the surfaces really really well. I used some of that Lift Off caulk remover (surprisingly thicky/goopy and more seemed to take off the paint than the caulk itself). I cleaned all the surfaces well with alcohol and then used the Eternabond primer and put down the riser square and used clamps to hold it in position. I hadn't realized that the boards would need to conform to the crowning of the roof so that was interesting but it seemed to work out well.

I used two layers of EternaBond DoubleStick tape beneath each riser. After working with it, I decided to go with 3M 4200 to connect the vent/fan to the top of the riser. That should make future removal easier compared to EternaBond.

Lastly, the purple PVC primer is a bit ugly. I read the Rustoleum 2x white paint is close to the TrailManor white so I think I'll get some tomorrow and paint the risers. I removed a little bit of paint while cleaning the surfaces so it would be nice to touch things up anyway although the roof is super dirty so it's going to stand out (I guess I just need to clean the rest of it well ).

Photos tomorrow.

Most interesting discovery was a small dent towards the center seam that had one or two small impacts within it. It was hard to tell if the metal layer was pierced but it didn't look good. I clean it really (the Lift Off took the tape right off in that spot) and then filled the dent with EternaBond DoubleStick tape and then cut an oval out of 6" EternaBond tape and put that over the top. I actually did this first before working with EternaBond for the other parts so it was a good introduction. I can kind of see why some people aren't too enthusiastic about the EternaBond products but I'm still in the camp of not wanting any leaks no matter the cost so I'm okay with it.

[Expanderoo]

Leaking again! Unfortunately, I didn't put enough 3M 4000 between the first roof vent I installed and the riser. Very annoyed with myself but an easy fix when the sun comes back tomorrow. I verified with a hose that the leak was in this spot and it isn't through the part that has the EternaBond DoubleStick tape (that is between the riser and the roof and folded up the inside edge of the riser).

Last night, I removed the 3rd vent, cleaned the surface, added DoubleStick to the riser, installed it, cleaned the vent surface (lower part towards riser) and installed it. That took about 1.5 hours or so -- so much faster than the first two. Now that I know what I'm doing! I also used much more caulk on that one (although still not enough). These metal vents require a surprising amount of caulk/3M 4000 because they have little metal feet at each corner that result in a fairly large gap between the vent and the riser. I guess this is intentional to allow a hefty caulk amount but it seems excessive.

Thankfully, the mating surface for the Fantastic Vent/Fan is nice and flat and although I should have used more caulk on that, I got enough on there for a good seal.

[Expanderoo]

Some photos:













This vent opening had a big gap towards the rear of the trailer -- it was the same on the other (forward) vent on the other side. I'm not sure why but I roughly cut some pink foam board pieces to fit (compressing them between my fingers) as having an empty unsupported gap seems like a bad idea. I didn't use any adhesive but rather just inserted them and let friction hold them in place (and of course the trim garnish will do so too).

I realized I could fold the edge of the EternaBond DoubleStick tape up on the inside edge of the riser before removing the plastic backing. That resulted in a much smoother surface than my other attempts at trying to fold the tape up after putting the riser in place.

As with the other risers, I used the EternaBond surface primer after removing the old caulk (using Lift Off caulk remover and isopropyl alcohol -- both of which seem to remove the paint/gel coat).