First major leak

Lothlorian · 07-08-2008, 09:45 PM

I sat in the trailer for the first time with the rain coming down in buckets. I had witnessed a nasty leak coming in around the vista window on the front left side. It was coming in at the bottom of the vista window and leaking down to the credenza. I really do not think it is the widow because I was very careful about reinstalling it. The vulkem was put on throughly. I do not think it is coming from the new vent. I do have a TV antenna wire sitting on top of the trailer coming out of a hole on the trailer. Any thoughts?

Georgia has been in a drought for a long time. My trailer has not had any hard rain hit it since I bought it last October. I am very close to being finished with much of the restoration I wanted to accomplish this year. I pulled the Vista windows cleaned and reinstalled them, replaced two of the old vents with new ones. I used Vulkem on the vista windows and the vents. I put new gaskets on all the doors.

SIU Bound

Brian

cameront120 · 07-08-2008, 10:18 PM

Left side from front or rear? Curbside? My first guess would be that it might be coming in from the roof vent or possibly a loose rivet in the awning rail.

Lothlorian · 07-08-2008, 10:26 PM

The vista window is on the front left side. Opposite of the door into the trailer. The vista window next to the door does not leak.

Brian

**azflycaster** · 07-08-2008, 10:52 PM

I use the hose and ladder method when looking for leaks. I set the ladder next to the trailer and run water on the area that the leak might be starting with the lowest locations first. Let the water run for 5 to 10 minutes at each location (water is flowing slowly) until you see the leak. Once you start putting water on a leak area it doesn't take long to show up.

Bambi_Bandit · 07-08-2008, 10:55 PM

I had a similar leak before - turned out to be overtightened sklight install from the factory resulting in cracks which led to water running and following the nearest RIB down to the wall next to the vista view...

In other words, the riw was acting as the channel for the water, whereas the leak origin was actual far from where the water was coming in from...

So, I'd suggest a check on the roof to the nearest rib to your leak and see if any gaps or cracks in the area (even if you don't have a skylight).

Lothlorian · 07-09-2008, 05:05 AM

Thank you very much for the info. I am going to get up on top today and try your techniques.

Brian

Aerowood · 07-09-2008, 07:48 AM

Did you check the clearance light to see if it is leaking. it's in that area.

jkcru · 07-09-2008, 08:57 AM

My best guess is the TV ant

**Chuck** · 07-09-2008, 08:58 AM

If you have the original skyliner antenna up there, it is almost surely leaking...even if it isn't "the" leak you're seeing now, you probably want to get rid of it. The pot-metal base in contact with the alluminum skin corrodes, and develops almost invisible pin-holes. Mine was leaking right down the shaft, though. couldn't see this until I dropped the ceiling panel and did the hose test.

Lothlorian · 07-09-2008, 03:31 PM

The clearance lights are new and I made gaskets and sealed the exterior on all of them. I don't think it is the lights. It could be the antenna. I went to buy parabond today and the RV place was out. I bought sikaflex 211 and put it around the antenna. Quick fix because we are going to take it camping in a couple of days. I also found a seam in the area where it could be leaking. The skin was pulled up enough that water could get under. It was about 1/16" from the other seam. It looked like somebody used a small screw driver and lifted it a very little. This was above the Vista window on the left. I carefully used the sikaflex to fill that little gap.

The rain is moving in right now so I will be able to see if there is any leak stoppage. I will remove the antenna when I get back from camping. How big of a hole will there be when I take the antenna off?

Brian

**Chuck** · 07-09-2008, 04:06 PM

The hole itself isn't that big...size of a silver dollar, maybe? but the thing is, the entire area under the base plate will be all corroded...possibly to the point of having pin-holes in it.

have you seen Rich Luhr's "Vintage Thunder" restoration blog? He had pictures that showed this in detail.

After removing the antenna, I sanded down all the corrosion with a wire brush...which leaves the spot looking rather nasty, (but I hope removing the corrosion will be like removing a cancer, and stop further deterioration.). I cut a patch out of a piece of aluminum that I picked up at HD, using the antenna base plate as a stencil. traced around it and marked the holes with a sharpie...cut/drilled, squished it on the roof into a bead of vulkem, and riveted it in place w/ olympics. Looks great...but you'll only see it if you're 9' tall.

now, the corrosion on my roof wasn't as bad as on Vintage Thunder, but it still looked like crap. The skin itself wasn't leaking; it was coming in right down the crank shaft of the antenna. I though I might be able to repair it, at first, but when I got it out, I found the innards to be so heavily rusted that they were just frozen. too far gone. No parts (o-rings?) are available for it, so anything done would have had to be improvised...I decided it just wasn't worth it.

Maybe if you can get the handle off the shaft on the inside, you can get a finger up in there and feel around and find out if there's water getting in there. When water comes down around the shaft, it hits the insulation, and wicks off every which way. I only saw water dripping from the antenna handle during heavy heavy rain. And even then, I didn't **know** that the water was getting through the roof there; it could have been coming in somewhere else, (nearby vents) and just finding its way into the interior of the trailer through that hole. can't tell for certain without dropping the ceiling.

Lothlorian · 07-09-2008, 05:25 PM

Back to the drawing board. A storm rolled in for about 30 minutes and it leaked again. I think I will use a tarp over that area and fix it when we get back. I still have to finish the bathroom and some shoe molding.

Brian

Aerowood · 07-09-2008, 05:47 PM

My TV antenna leaked real bad too. Must have been different then Chucks because it left about a 3" hole when I took the base off. It also was leaking where the antenna shaft went through the base plate. Of course mine were real easy to find as the GT was completely gutted.

r&kweber · 07-09-2008, 06:15 PM

I chased a leak around for a month in the front end of our trailer. We finally used compressed air to find the leaks.

Our method was pretty simple, I think we read about it in another thread.

Here it goes:

- Place a rubber cone shaped nozzle on the air blower tool connected to the air compressor.
- Set the regulator on the compressor to approx. 40 psi.
- Remove a screw or rivet in the area you suspect the leak is.
- Have person 'A' hold the air gun in the hole and blast away.
- Person 'B' is on the outside of the trailer working from top to bottom spraying the skin with a very soapy solution from a squirt bottle.
- The soap will bubble where the leak is.

We ended up finding two seams that were leaky. They looked as though they had no business leaking. After we cleaned and dried the seams, I applied Acryl-R with a plastic syrenge. Let it dry and hose the area to test. No leaks!

I would use this method again (and hope I never have too).