Has anyone seen this (sealant deterioration)?

I was up on a ladder waxing our 2017 (3760) and saw the caulking, were the rubber roof meets the side molding, is cracking. You can rub it with your finger and it crumbles off. All the other joints are just fine. On the front and back caps, the caulking is fine on the caps but, cracking on the rubber roof side. It's the same on both sides, the full length of the trailer. Has anyone seen this? Can I seal over the top of it? We are headed to Fallon Nevada then back to Oregon for a summer of rain and fishing. I think I need to take care of this before the rain.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

I've never seen that before. Has your roof been "treated" before, as far as you know? If so, maybe it's the treatment peeling off?

I suggest you contact Heartland to open up a case on this. Email them your contact info, VIN and pictures to service@heartlandrvs.com

They can confirm if this is Dicor EPDM or other and give you some general direction. If it's a failure of the EPDM membrane, the manufacturer of it may make good on it.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

I've seen this and it's quite common. The sealant is degrading. Some of us, on this forum, have put Eternabond tape between the roof membrane and trim connection point. You could remove the sealant and reapply, but you risk the chance of tearing the roof membrane.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

rxbristol said:

I've seen this and it's quite common. The sealant is degrading. Some of us, on this forum, have put Eternabond tape between the roof membrane and trim connection point. You could remove the sealant and reapply, but you risk the chance of tearing the roof membrane.

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Thanks for your response Rex. I misinterpreted the post and image as the EPDM membrane was cracking when upon closer examination, it looks like the sealant and not the roof material. Thanks for the clarification.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

I seem to remember something like this maybe 18 months ago where the caulking was deteriorating. You might call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. May have been a bad batch of caulk. Maybe they can add something.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

Yes I have had this happen to my BigHorn unit,mine unit is a 2012 model year.I cleaned as much as I could off both sides of the unit being careful not to tear the membrane,I then used alcohol to wash down the area and re- calked with non self levelling compound.This was about 3 years ago and no issues to date but I do monitor this area as well as all caulk points on my unit.

Re: Has Anyone Seen This?

I will reach out to Heartland today and see what they have to say. We bought the rig new and there is no treatment on the roof other then what Heartland did, if any. Funny that it is just in the same two places on both sides. Caulking right next to it is just fine. The trailer is 24 months old and I don't think Heartland will take any claim to warranty. If there are any links to repairs, I would appreciate them.

so my 2017 had the clear silicon along sides where roof meets metal trim disintegrate as have several others tati know of- thought possibly factory had wrong or bad batch -it all came off easily with my thumb , cleaned with alcohol and re-caulked wit dicor- yours looks like some other type of sealant -

I did this proactive fix on the edges of my rubber roof just above the gutters. I used 2 rolls of 2 inch tape. I am almost SURE I used Dicor tape, but can no longer find it on the internet in the 2 inch width. You CAN find Eternabond in the 2 inch width. I also sealed the end caps with 4 inch tape. I had some front hitch frame work done a couple of summers ago, and was able to remove the Eternabond tape over the front cap with patient judicious use of a large wattage heat gun.

Here's an Amazon link to the large rolls of Eternabond in several widths: https://www.amazon.com/EternaBond-RSW-4-50-RoofSeal-Sealant-White/dp/B002RSIK4G

After I did this, I can forget about inspecting roof caulking for a long while.

I had same condition on our 2012 BigHorn after about 2 years. I removed all the old and replaced with Proflex brand RV sealant... Best RV caulk I ever used and no sign of deterioration. I use it still around the house.

Same here. Scraped old off with a plastic putty knife and reapplied new.

Took me a week to clean off 84ft of bad caulking. I've never been up and down a ladder so many times in my life. Some of it came off with a large white eraser. Then six inches away it was still wet and sticky. The skin on the outside was dry but, under that was a gooey mess. Then I would go another four feet and it would just rub off. Got it all clean up wiped down and cleaned with alcohol. Used a high end rubber roof sealer that will last the rest of the life of the trailer. I'll let the caulking dry for a few days then I can wash off the millions of little flakes I have from one end to the other of this project. It's hard to understand why Heartland would use such a low quality caulking on a high end trailer. Ready for the Oregon rain test and more miles down the road. Going to hit Train Mountain this summer.