M-19 Rainwater and winter woes

Hi all - I have had my M-19 for a couple years now, and last season discovered that rainwater has been rolling off the roof on the sides and, over the course of time, has eroded the caulking around the front pass-through storage doors. Consequently, we woke up to a flood one night. I patched the worn caulking with some screen tape (Waterproof tape used in screenprinting), but am looking for a long term solution. There are no gutters, so those little clip on things won't work. Any ideas?

I am also looking for advice on repairing a HUGE tear in the linoleum flooring. It seems as though Alaska winters are tough on trailers... The expansion and contraction of the floor has ripped the linoleum flooring in half, going in a diagonal line from the front seating area to the back of the sink cabinet. I can't replace the whole floor without re-building the trailer, but was looking for ideas on patching or at least covering. I was thinking of just some duct tape and a strategically placed carpet... but you all might have better ideas.

Thanks!

You need to completely remove the old useless caulking and re-caulk it. This is a regular/normal maintenance item and looks like you're due.

Yep - I do need to do that. I'm just not looking forward to having to do it every year. It only took 1 summer's worth of rain to destroy the caulking. I'm trying to find a way to divert the flow of the runoff so it doesn't run right over the front hatch and chew away the caulking. Or maybe it's normal to re-do the caulking every year - I don't know. I don't have that much experience.

The rain gutters they use at the roof line would work. You should be able to get it a RV dealer or on line. A few screws, some Dicor sealer and you should be set. I bet the winters in Alaska are brutal.

As far as the floor. If you have the time and ability, you might install some laminate flooring. It might be more forgiving. Get some good flooring glue, glue the torn lino down and lay the laminate right over it. Leave about a 1/4" to 3/8" gap around the edges for expansion. You will have to use some 1/4 round to finish the edges. Lots of HL owners have installed laminate flooring. JMHO

CNCCornwall said:

Yep - I do need to do that. I'm just not looking forward to having to do it every year. It only took 1 summer's worth of rain to destroy the caulking. I'm trying to find a way to divert the flow of the runoff so it doesn't run right over the front hatch and chew away the caulking. Or maybe it's normal to re-do the caulking every year - I don't know. I don't have that much experience.

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Sorry to hear about your leaking. Move to West Texas and you want need to worry about rain.....

I have a 2010 M-22 here in Anchorage. I had to re-caulk most of the unit this spring. I think the caulk used on the trailers just can't handle the winter temperatures. I replaced it with silicone hoping it would last a bit longer. From what others at work tell me, you can just plan on touching up the caulk after break up and before winter...

Thanks for the ideas! I will be re-caulking the hatches, and will look into installing a rain gutter. I like (more importantly, my wife especially likes) the idea of the laminate flooring. Sparkinson - What kind of silicone did you use? I tried some last year after I discovered the leak and it just turned into mush and then peeled away.

Weather in general is tough on caulk. Hopefully someone can recommend good stuff. We've had the trailer in Arizona (120*F in the shade) in the summer and Colorado in winter (-26*F and 13 inches of snow) and I've had to recaulk twice in the last year.

I believe it does state in the manual that caulk inspection and yearly re-caulking is the owner's responsibility.

E

I agree with everyone so far that said you have to re-caulk all the joints (minimum check them every year) every year. I like to check my RV caulking before I store it for the winter and then in the spring when it comes out of the storage. I use to use the stuff that dealers recomend and to be hones found it to be pretty useless. The stuff is what we used in the construction industry 25+ years ago and the problem with it that it will dry out and crack and seperate creating a location that water can penetrate.

I have switched to using commercial grade caulking that is used in the construction industry. Here is a link to the brand I use and have not had any probelms with it http://www.tremcosealants.com/product_list.asp. I use to use their Urathane sealants but 2 years ago I cut out all caulking 100% and switched to silicone and have not had to recaulk ever since, still flexible and 100% contact on all surfaces. The main part on using silicone is that you MUST remove all of the old caulking you can not have anything left (it is very labour intensive but in my opinion worth it). I use the Spectrem 2 that you can find at the link. If you want to stay with a urethane type caulking their Vulkem brand is good or click on the "Urethane Sealant" and then go the the Trem Pro RV uses and click on it and they will tell you wich one to use.

Hope this helps.

Gord