First Leak

[KJRitchie]

Not sure how much it rained early this morning, there was thunder and lightening that woke me up at 3am. Heading out to work I checked the trailer and no leak from the screw head.

Maybe one of those 6 rivets I sealed. Not calling victory. Still have more tape to pull.

I've noticed a few rivets where the rivet hole is exposed. It seems the rivet hole was enlarged during manufacturing to get the rivet to pass through both panels. Some of the rivet heads don't cover the holes completely but looked sealed or don't have a tight fit to the panel, there is a tiny gap.

Watching water flow down the aluminum the sheet of water is held by water tension and when it hits a rivet its like a rock sticking up in a river. The water doesn't go over the rivet head but goes around so there is the force of the water hitting the rivet and the backside of the rivet doesn't have any visible water.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

Dry day yesterday. After work I ran the water on the roof for about 25 minutes, and no leak reproduced. Then I pulled the tape down to expose another 6 rivets from the center roof panel seam. Repeat the water for 20 min. So far so good. Repeated this procedure until all the tape was removed from that seam. Still looking good.

Finally test was to remove the tape from the seam that runs to the side that joins the roof panel and the end cap panels. Ran the water up there for over 1/2 hour. Still looking good.

We have rain coming this weekend so I'll leave the trailer out to test. I'm going to check the curb side end cap and do some clean up.

Kelvin

[dznf0g]

You're getting there!

Just for giggles, I used the suction cup method on all my side panel rivets this weekend. Found a half dozen or so, that wouldn't hold vacuum. Tolleys.... This doesn't work for seam or framing rivets though. I had previously Tolley'ed all the white panel roof rivets as a maintenance item.

[KJRitchie]

Heavy rain on and off since yesterday and now steady rain. Rain is forecast until Sunday. I went out to the trailer this morning and no drip showing up. I still have the bug screen down so I can touch the screw head that is the point of leaking down the bug screen and its been dry. If the trailer gets through this weekend's weather I will announce success.

The location of the leak was some rivets on the street side rear end cap center panel. From the top rivets #6 through #12 where sealed temporarily with some gray Trempro. The final fix will have to be Olympic rivets.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

It's been raining all day. Went out afterwork and it was dry. Just went out now while it's raining and the curb side is wet. Went to the street side screw and got water. I guess I've slowed the leak. Could be the curb side panel seam and rivets are compromised. I'll have to wait probably until Sunday when the rain is forecast to stop to inspect the curb side panel seams/rivets and reseal.

It will probably be hard to reproduce now so I'll just reseal the curb side seal and rivets then run the water on it for a couple of hours.

Kelvin

[RandyNH]

Kelvin, it sounds like your so close... I would have to say that going from 10 minutes to 2 days for it to show, is success in and of itself.

[KJRitchie]

I stuffed some paper towel up between the interior trim flash and the upper window bow last night. This morning the street side was dry but the curb side was damp. There is a break in the rain so I taped off the curb side center panel seam. Only 60% chance of rain today but the temperatures have dropped to the 40s again. I hope we get more rain today.

The leak I'm seeing comes out the two end screws in the upper window bow. I believe the purpose of these screws is to mount a plate to the upper window bow which is used to support the upper cabinets. There are no internal ribs above or to sides of the cabinets so it can only be secured from below as far as I can tell.

The window bows that run from the door frame all the way around to the opposite side are U shaped. To make the curve Airstream must cut out some of the inside edge when the curves are made. I'm thinking water is dripping inside on the upper window bow near where the curved windows and rear window meet and drip out one of the inside cuts and wicking to the plate. When the water wicks to the first screw it exits that is why I'm seeing water drip down the bug screen about a foot from each end. Directly above are the screw heads.

Kelvin

[dznf0g]

Try tilting the trailer side to side and changing the drip point in order to further isolate and eliminate a corner.

[John Geisen]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I stuffed some paper towel up between the interior trim flash and the upper window bow last night. This morning the street side was dry but the curb side was damp. There is a break in the rain so I taped off the curb side center panel seam. Only 60% chance of rain today but the temperatures have dropped to the 40s again. I hope we get more rain today.

The leak I'm seeing comes out the two end screws in the upper window bow. I believe the purpose of these screws is to mount a plate to the upper window bow which is used to support the upper cabinets. There are no internal ribs above or to sides of the cabinets so it can only be secured from below as far as I can tell.

The window bows that run from the door frame all the way around to the opposite side are U shaped. To make the curve Airstream must cut out some of the inside edge when the curves are made. I'm thinking water is dripping inside on the upper window bow near where the curved windows and rear window meet and drip out one of the inside cuts and wicking to the plate. When the water wicks to the first screw it exits that is why I'm seeing water drip down the bug screen about a foot from each end. Directly above are the screw heads.

Kelvin

Kelvin, I've been following your leak issue from the beginning and hope you are successful in repairing your leak. I do have one question if you don't mind. When you tape the seams in order to apply the Acryl-R, do you run the tape just below the seam below the rivet? Thanks for your help. -John

[KJRitchie]

I tape the seam on the upper panel about 1mm from the edge and about 2 or 3mm on the lower panel. I then apply the Acyrl-R and run a gloved finder down the seam an then quickly pull the tape. Acyrl-R seems to set fast and pulling the tape gets some fine stringing. A little Xylene cleans up the stringing.

Today, rather than running water on the curb side to reproduce the leak, basically I'm worn out doing this, I decided just to reseal the seams and then put a drop of gray Trempro and with a gloved finger work it into the rivet heads then use a little mineral spirits on a paper towel to clean up around the rivet. Hopefully any void between the rivet head is sealed.

Rain coming in a couple of days. We'll see.

If there is still a leak I'll have the rear cabinet removed to expose the upper window bow. There is no inner skin behind the rear overhead cabinets and when removed should expose the upper window bow framing.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

Heavy rains due this weekend. I've got paper towels stuffed up against the leaking screw heads.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

Southwest Missouri has been drenched over the last four days with many towns, roads and rivers flooding. They predict worse than 2015. The campground at Branson Landing on Lake Taneycomo was evacuated on Thursday as a preventive measure. Its probably flooded now since Table Rock Lake damn has the flood gates open.

Checked this morning and the upper rear window is dry but I found the mouse fur along the floor from the rear door frame to the end of the curve is wet. The same area under the street side dinette is dry.

I'm guessing either the door frame, mid-body rub rail or the rear tail light housing. I pulled the wooden threshold strip and it seems dry between the door frame threshold and subfloor/marmoleum.

When the seal test was performed no bubbles were noticed around the tail light.
The rear awning bracket was resealed.

I've placed a fan to blow air on the area. I've pulled the silver trim strip away and taped up the lower 2" of mouse fur and the lower part of the door frame trim. Its dry along the door frame trim. When it was raining hard there was a river of water flowing down off the door rain gutter and roof along the door frame adjacent to the curved window frame.

Considering the amount of rain we've gotten it could've been worse.

Kelvin

[Troutboy]

Wow. What a ton of work..... I hope you find it soon and I hope to never have to deal with it. You have incredible patience.... and perseverance.

[dznf0g]

Get your level out and see how the as is tilted fore and aft and side to side. If it is low in front, door is not the source. If front is low and curbside low, it could still be in the window area, but probably right side

[dznf0g]

We got 4.5" yesterday and more today. Fox river will be over rt 25 by tomorrow. Knock on wood, my water alarms in as have not sounded. Gotta go out and inspect, to be sure.

[KJRitchie]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Get your level out and see how the as is tilted fore and aft and side to side. If it is low in front, door is not the source. If front is low and curbside low, it could still be in the window area, but probably right side

I laid my level next to the door frame. The bubble shows slightly high from the rear. With the level in the middle of the floor its dead on level.

So if slightly high on that side the water entry point would be towards the rear under the windows or maybe the rear curb tail light house.

The shop that did the seal test never saw bubbles from the rear window on the curb side. I'll check the sealant around the curved window and rear twilight housing. I think if I remove the lens I will be able to feel in there hopefully.

Kelvin

[dznf0g]

There will be a blob of vulcum where the wires come through the outer skin. BE VERY CAREFUL, if yours is like mine, the pigtail is a 3 prong plug connector which is not locked. I lost the trailer end of the harness between the skins. Took a couple hours to fish it back out. I zip tied them together upon reassembly. Insulation will be wet if there's a leak there. Reapply polyurethane sealer.

[KJRitchie]

Took the curb side tail light covers off. I found a lot of water in the left most tail light housing. I removed all the mounting screws but the darn housings will not come out. There must be some adhesive back there. I didn't want to force them. The wires have a tie wrap on them where they come through. The middle and end lights didn't have water in them. I put a blob of Trempro on the wires on the left most light and on the mounting screws of all the lights and a little dab on the lens mounting screws.

I resealed the bottom of the curb curved window. Put a dab of Probond aluminum where the door frame meets the rub rail end caps.

The mouse fur is drying out as its partially sunny today. I'll probably blast the curb side with water tomorrow after work unless it rains tonight.

Kelvin

[KJRitchie]

The floor is area is dried out. I decided to put some clear silicon in the gap between the edge of the Marmoleum and the shell so if it leaks again only the mouse fur end will get wet.

I decided to reseal the edges of the tail light housing using aluminum Parbond. Taped up the sides and top but didn't seal the bottom edges. The underneath of the curb side has a gap, i guess for water drainage, but the street side it a tight fit to the shell. When I was cleaning off the dirt on the street side lower edge I noticed it started to drip water. I suppose its easy for water to get past the plastic tail light housings inside the housing but the street side of the dinette wasn't wet from the heavy rains this past weekend. I wonder if there is a way to drill a weep hole in the bottom without goofing it up.

Kelvin

[dznf0g]

My taillight housings were no sealed on the bottom edge from the factory...and there is a little offset in the outside corner...presumably to act as a weep hole.