Roof Leak = TM Factory Problem

[Virginia Deacon]

See my other posts for background on this. Ed (at TM) first told me that roof panels are "one-piece and cannot be the reason for leaking." Said "leaks are around vents," and "the outside roof strip is just for looks; there's no point in removing it." So, I caulked the manual vent and the leaks were still there, when it rained again."

At second call, Ed then told me that "it is a one-piece roof that is made up of two sections that are held together with an epoxied tape." Also, that "sometimes, the tape delaminates and the roof leaks." I climbed back onto the roof and removed the old caulk. About two feet back from the lip of the front roof, discovered a section of delaminated tape. Using mineral spirits, I cleaned the edges of the trim and the top of the roof, then applied new caulk, all the way around the trim and the ends of the trim. When it rained, there were no more leaks.

I don't like being mislead or lied to by factory representatives. That caused me to waste my time following advice from the factory, and meant several days were spent (between rain storms) climbing up and down and around on the roof. Thanks to all of you who advised me on fixing this problem caused by defective manufacturing and misleading factory advice.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Totally understand where you are coming from... Was told a few things in error ( and I am being kind here ) from sales when I purchased my TM from Mcdonough RV in McDonough GA. They still sell RV's but not TM any longer.

"ShrimpBurrito" has completely removed those plastic strips and carefully re-applied new ones from the factory using NO caulk. He describes the procedure on the forum somewhere.

But the strips on our trailer came from the factory with caulk applied, and like you, we had leaks, which I've described over in the Elkmont sub-forum. I fixed them by stripping out the old caulk and applying some new G.E. Silicone II external caulk.

Just yesterday I noticed another small leak and checked out the roof. Sure enough, there was one small section of original factory caulk that had pulled away from those &^%$ plastic strips. Not sure why I didn't replace it before, but I have now.

As before, the gap was between the strip and the caulk, not at the Al skin. I've posted pictures of the original caulk and the gap here: http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/...eat=directlink and here
http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/...eat=directlink

I don't have any leaks but one thing I've observed after replacing some caulking that had come loose when washing the roof off was that the mere fact of walking on the roof will break the caulk seal every time. The roof flexes quite a bit when you're on it but the caulk doesn't. It seems to stick to the roof material, just not to the plastic strips.

It would be nice if the roof sections were one piece. Not sure why they couldn't be.

Phil

[ShrimpBurrito]

As brulaz mentioned, I purchased a replacement white strip from the factory and installed it. It came with 3M VHB (Very High Bond) double sided tape on the back, which can be primed with 3M 54 primer for even better adhesion. I did not caulk it at all, and 3 years later, it is still on rock solid.

More info on 3M VHB tape -- it's designed to replace mechanical fasteners:
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/VHB/Tapes/

As you now know, the outer roof skin is NOT one piece. That plastic strip covers a seam. That seam had come apart on mine as well, and I glued it back together with (I think) polyurethane construction adhesive (PL brand).

Dave

Mine was the same on my 3326 between the two roof vents, almost the whole distance was open. I had posted with pics and seal it with PL construction adhesive. I finished off by pulling all of the trim strip off both shells and cleaning and reinstalling with PL construction adhesive this lead me to a leak in the bedroom I needed to fix.

That was two years ago and no leaks since.

Question: does anyone else use C-10 flow seal for caulking the TM, it's worked very, very well for me.

Happy Camping
Bob

I know you guys may not be fans but removal of this strip and replacement with a thin strip of eternabond tape may be a good solution

Originally Posted by greentrail

I know you guys may not be fans but removal of this strip and replacement with a thin strip of eternabond tape may be a good solution

If my re-caulk doesn't hold up, that's what I'll be looking at next. But so far, only the factory installed caulk has been giving me problems (knock on wood).

The only complaint I've heard about eternabond is that it looks messy. Well, you should see my caulking job if you want messy. And on the Elkmont, nobody's looking at the roof anyway.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by brulaz

If my re-caulk doesn't hold up, that's what I'll be looking at next. But so far, only the factory installed caulk has been giving me problems (knock on wood).

The only complaint I've heard about eternabond is that it looks messy. Well, you should see my caulking job if you want messy. And on the Elkmont, nobody's looking at the roof anyway.

It's not that eterna-bond necessarily looks "Messy". It does if one is not careful putting it on.

It just looks like real thick, sticky tape. It isn't something that one would want to put on the corner edge of the Elkmont (please don't do that ). However, down the center of the roof may be perfectly acceptable. In fact, I would prefer that you do that....sooner than later...... thank you very much.... Just be careful will ya...