Mysterious Wet Spot in Argosy

[sierrajb]

Yes, Canoe Stream...this is a new one for us. A year ago we bought a 67 Overlander, but finances forced us to sell. Never got the aluminum out of our blood, and found this one 2 weeks ago in the classifieds of this forum. This one's better for our family and is definitely a keeper. Everyone's been so much help!

[safari57]

This is a better mystery/detective story than the novel I'm trying to read right now. I have to check in frequently to get the next chapter.

I must admit, it's looking a lot more like the puppy versus the butler or the much younger wife by a long shot. Where the heck is Columbo or Perry when you need them?

It will be very interesting to see if the wet spot returns or was a one time event.

Barry

[CanoeStream]

sierrajb -- a little off topic but some points relevant to a new Argosy owner.

The gasket on your water fill door is probably hardened and allows rainwater down the exterior of the trailer to enter the water tank.

The gasket on the battery compartment door is truly on the sides only, with none at the top so hydrogen can vent. Since moisture can get in make very sure that the aluminum bottom pan is very well caulked with Sikaflex or Vulkem to the inside black plastic shell -- this would be a very easy place to get floor rot. The old battery had dropped through and was resting in the banana wrap on mine. The plastic shell is fragile and would be hard to replace, so be careful.

[sierrajb]

Safari57,
Is that a gorgeous 57 Nomad you have in your picture? Love it! I'll keep you and the others posted on what I find in regard to this "mystery wet spot." Lots of helpful (some humorous) ideas concerning the source of the moisture.

Canoe Stream,
You must be reading my Argosy's mail. I have issues with BOTH doors you mentioned.

1. Water fill door is locked shut for eternity, I think. The PO lost the key and I have no way of opening that door. I pulled part of my dinette out to look in that area, and all the wood looks great.....so far. How can I get another key, OR, how can I replace that lock with another cam lock? Mom will never go boondocking with me, but I'd still like to have that door operable.

2. You're 100% correct about my battery door. So much water had leaked in that it destroyed the wood below the battery box, and my battery ALSO was almost on the street! It looks like the rotten wood went right on top of the existing floor to elevate the battery just a bit. Am I right? I plan on replacing all that wood under the battery when my new converter and battery arrive. I'll certainly take your advice and any other suggestions you have. Thanks a million!

[CanoeStream]

First, take digital photos of everything as you take it apart. It will be good for stories afterward -- and also to help you reverse the process and put it back together.

I haven't heard if you have the twin bed or double. I have a twin. It's just a number of screws to remove the thin plywood under the roadside twin mattress. I opted to remove the entire bed frame and tambours -- it comes out easily as one unit with all perimeter screws removed. Haven't done it yet but I need to repair rear floor in the future -- taking the wardrobe and bathroom apart looks pretty tough.

See the Argosy Water Leak thread for an explanation about how I did this. Unhook your battery power cables at the Univolt end under your wardrobe. I had to remove the battery compartment door and black plastic battery enclosure. On your trailer you will observe that the battery sat at the back corner of one piece of floor ply; a different ply sheet for the bathroom area begins directly under the bed-wardrobe wall. My plywood overlay spanned onto both sheets so I could screw it down well.

There was originally about a foot square of 1/2" plywood under the battery compartment between it and the floor. Rivets in the black plastic enclosure only line up to those in the compartment door if you add this height back. So I simply used a larger rectangle of 1/2" ply extending over the top of sound floor all around the cut out rot. It made it fairly easy but was still a time consuming repair. You'll find that Airstream used a lot of double-sided foam tape to seal back then. A line of Sikaflex should work very well instead. I caulked everything up with Sikaflex 221 as it went back together and used Olympic rivets to reinstall the door. It's a very sound repair!

That's the simple version -- the leakage in mine went on long enough that the outrigger underneath was totally rusted away. Of course I wouldn't want the base of the corner rib suspended in mid air like it was! So it took some welding shop work before I could even do this repair.

For your water door -- RV keys were made in a very limited number of patterns. Pull your Argosy around to a few SOB RV dealers -- the crustier looking the better. You'll know it's your lucky day if they pull out a Mason jar of old keys.

Please ask if you have any questions -- and all you owe is to hang out here and practice a lot of teamwork! BTW, if you have a dinette I'd appreciate your posting a digital pic of the water tank layout. Thanks!

[CanoeStream]

Okay sierrajb -- it is very rare that a mod ever hijacks a thread ( yeah, right!) from the original question. So I owe you one!

Attached is a pic of the grey water tank when I had my back belly pan off. It is taken looking aft at the roadside front corner of the grey tank. You can see the city water intake at the bottom right edge of the photo. I know the grey water pipe was not above the floor on that side. This photo shows the grey pipe just inside the roadside fore-and-aft main beam (the one just inboard of the brake drums). There is no water use and no spigots or sinks on the streetside up front, so it never made sense that this line would be at the midline where your wet spot was. This photo establishes that they "stayed home" with the drain pipe on the street side. (Incidental: The powdery white appearance is from Metal Ready pretreatment of the Por-15 system. The outer shell of the grey tank is a galvanized steel box with what appears to be an inch or so of styrofoam insulation before getting to the plastic tank on the interior. And yes, in other pics it does have a heat duct from the furnace routed to this interior.)

[sierrajb]

Canoe Stream,
FYI, my 75 Argosy has a twin setup also. Your description of the battery, etc. location is exactly as mine. I've printed both of your posts for future use.

I understand what highjacking a thread means, now. ha! My fault, I guess. We'll keep this thread focusing on the wet spot. I'll post a pic of my dinette and continue our discussion of the battery compartment repair on another thread.

Thanks for the priceless info. I'll try to contribute all I can to the forum.

[galfoman]

Hey,
I'm having the same problem in my 2002 Bambi. It's been raining here for a few hours in Boston and tonight I removed all of the carpet to later install vinyl tiles.
I found a large wet spot on the floor at the left side of the refrigerator. The carpet was not wet and I have not had the fridge running in over 2 weeks so I think it has to be a leak in the A/C gasket and is leaking between the roof and wall panels.
It is very wet at the rear of the fridge and exterior wall and it flows inside of the cabin towards the front left corner of the fridge. The cheap plastic coated particle board cabinet that encases the fridge is soft with water damage from the floor up 4 inches. I will probably dry the spot with a space heater tomorrow and then spray the roof with water to make sure its the A/C but I have already scheduled to have it serviced.
I'll let you know what they say.

[Phil Gobie]

I am with Terry check your Ref. drain.

[galfoman]

Ok I will check it today,
But it has not been running in 10 days or more.
Would it still have water in it?
G

[sierrajb]

Hate to return to the original discussion so quickly, but I figured someone out there may wonder if I ever discovered the cause for this "mysterious wet spot." The answer is YES!

Without going into all the detail, let me just say I had MULTIPLE, undetectable water leaks from swollen copper pipes that I had to replace every copper line with PEX. The mysterious wet spot was a result of one of these "hidden" leaks in the copper line from my hot water heater that ran under my furnace duct. This was the source of the original "wet spot." I believe someone in this thread called the leak a "traveler" or something like that. Whoever you are, you were right.

So, with 98% of all copper replaced with PEX (still need to pipe in the bath/shower), we're in the dry. We had to chunk the soggy carpet padding and berber carpet. Next...new floor covering.

....Okay, guys, you can resume your discussion, now.