More chores

I have gotten more done this winter than any other winter I have been in Texas.  No I haven’t been working all the time but I have accomplished more than usual.  My last job was to fix the seam between the back cap and the roof of the motor home.  A couple years ago I had to have the air conditioner in the bedroom replaced and while I was at the RV repair shop they ask if I wanted to put some caulking on the seams between the roof and the front and back caps.  Not knowing any better I agreed.  I got a bill for close to $250 and it said they had used about a dozen tubes of caulk.  This is what the front seam looks like so I guess they did.

In my opinion, they used quantity instead of quality.  The front seam is doing alright at this time.  It may be hard to tell but the seam is about 3 to 3 1/2 inches wide.

The problem was the back seam.  It had cracks that were 1/32 to 3/32 of an inch wide and running most of the way down the seam.  I went to a local RV supplier and he recommended a product called C-10 Flow Seal.  It is designed to be self leveling.  They said to clean the crack real good and then let the product flow into the cracks.

The problem was the cracks were too narrow to be able to clean down into them.  I started to widen the cracks and found they went all the way down to the bottom of the seam.

I went back out to the RV supply and explained what I had found and asked them if I needed to use something to keep the Flow Seal from running into the inside of the coach.  They recommended I use a butyl rubber caulking tape.  They said it would stay flexible and never harden.  I ended up making a “V” shaped groove that was close to 1/2” deep in order to get the joint clean.  It appears that 2 years ago the RV repair shop just put caulking on top of cracks instead of cleaning the cracks and surprise, surprise it just cracked again.

As you can see in the above picture, I folded the tape to double it and then pushed it down into the groove.

This is a picture of the groove about half full.  I filled it up to the top and smoothed the edges to blend into the rest of the caulking.

The next step was to completely clean all the caulk prior to covering it with the roof sealing tape.

The last step was to use the C 10 Flow Seal to cover the edges of the tape to ensure no wind can get under the tape.

I don’t know why the manufacturers don’t seal these seams better before they sell them.  The roof is fiberglass and these seams are the major area for leaking into the coach.  I don’t think I will ever have a problem with the back seam again.  I hope the front seam is OK.

OK enough ranting and raving.  We are the only ones left in Texas except for Larry and Catherine Johnson.  They have bought a trailer house in the park.  They are leaving a little earlier than we are.  I think they are leaving the 15th and we are leaving the 17th.

I thought you might enjoy this picture of some of our group at a local restaurant.

Jana Huffman got their Bacon Cheese Burger.  I have never seen anything like it.  She had to take at least half of it home.