Hey everybody
Longtime lurker, first-time poster here, hopefully this is the right section for my question...
I know from past experience that many if not all campers eventually develop leaks
recently I picked up a nice older aluminum truck cap/canopy/shell to build out into a small camper. It's taller than cab height, with a sloping frontside, 2 big sliding windows, and a huge clear glass window. I insulated it with 1/2 inch foam, then screwed & glued 1/4 birch ply on the walls, with carpet-covered luan on the ceiling, and a simple bench-bed system
just took it out for the maiden voyage up to the white mountains where it was POURING rain for a good 12 hours, like torrential, can barely see style. got in the camper that night & noticed water coming down the inside wall pretty steady. luckily I had a tarp to throw up on the roof
I'm thinking that it might be the one center seam on the roof of the shell. that's the only seam up there and it may have been tweaked slightly when I screwed the walls into the square tubing framing. it never leaked before, but also it was probably the worst rain Ive seen in years, plus we were on the highway in it for several hours
am trying to figure out the best fix...have read about people using JB weld, dicor, silicone, roofing tape, and something called snow job. I am eyeballing the Gorilla Waterproof Patch and Seal Tape and also the Eternabond RV Tape. both are uv-rated and made specifically for mobile/roofing applications. also where it would be on the roof nobody can really see it
would rather fix it once with tape once than have to reseal it up every year which seems to be the deal with silicone/caulk/dicor
I know the Eternabond is the industry standard, but its tough to find where I live. I can order it but it'll be a few days & its fairly $$$
the Gorilla Waterproof stuff I got at HD yesterday. it has good reviews online & one of the main applications on the package says "car roofs"
does anyone have any experience with this type of fix?
any advice or suggestions is much appreciated!!
Longtime lurker, first-time poster here, hopefully this is the right section for my question...
I know from past experience that many if not all campers eventually develop leaks
recently I picked up a nice older aluminum truck cap/canopy/shell to build out into a small camper. It's taller than cab height, with a sloping frontside, 2 big sliding windows, and a huge clear glass window. I insulated it with 1/2 inch foam, then screwed & glued 1/4 birch ply on the walls, with carpet-covered luan on the ceiling, and a simple bench-bed system
just took it out for the maiden voyage up to the white mountains where it was POURING rain for a good 12 hours, like torrential, can barely see style. got in the camper that night & noticed water coming down the inside wall pretty steady. luckily I had a tarp to throw up on the roof
I'm thinking that it might be the one center seam on the roof of the shell. that's the only seam up there and it may have been tweaked slightly when I screwed the walls into the square tubing framing. it never leaked before, but also it was probably the worst rain Ive seen in years, plus we were on the highway in it for several hours
am trying to figure out the best fix...have read about people using JB weld, dicor, silicone, roofing tape, and something called snow job. I am eyeballing the Gorilla Waterproof Patch and Seal Tape and also the Eternabond RV Tape. both are uv-rated and made specifically for mobile/roofing applications. also where it would be on the roof nobody can really see it
would rather fix it once with tape once than have to reseal it up every year which seems to be the deal with silicone/caulk/dicor
I know the Eternabond is the industry standard, but its tough to find where I live. I can order it but it'll be a few days & its fairly $$$
the Gorilla Waterproof stuff I got at HD yesterday. it has good reviews online & one of the main applications on the package says "car roofs"
does anyone have any experience with this type of fix?
any advice or suggestions is much appreciated!!
