What to do about it? (1 Viewer)

[WinnietheBrave]

I have a couple of areas on my RV that have had water ingress over the years and the outer skin has come away, a bit like air bubbles under wall paper but on a bigger scale.
I would imagine it needs re glueing and sealing, but where would i get this done or is it a job that could be done DIY so to speak?

 

[Dodgey]

On the outside?

Delamination, we have a small bit recently appeared between the lower fridge vent and heater cover...

Researching, and consulting the oracles, here abouts and Duncan at Star Spanngled Spanner unless the fiberglass has cracked leave well alone, ONCE you have found and stopped the leak. Ours was the tinyest of leaks on the outer of the fridge ventoh:

The consruction means the slightest leak can cause a fair old 'buldge'.

If you look to the US there are various bods have tryed re glueing but success seems limited and use the wrong glue and all you polystyreen insulation meltsoh:

We are now on a mission resealing, when the weather lets us, EVERYTHING on Winne, windows, lockers, doors, round the mirrors, anywhere a hole has been made basically, Duncan does some great goo, if he has any left, I had three tubes off him at Malvern, nearly through the first, thats almost one side doneoh:

 

[WinnietheBrave]

Yes, we have a fair old bulge, our door has gone, and the panel beneath the o/s/f window, haven't got any visible leaks but that doesn't mean there aren't any.
The runners that the widows sit in look to be soaking up the water, could this be a cause, if so what would be a solution to it?

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[rangi]

Yes, we have a fair old bulge, our door has gone, and the panel beneath the o/s/f window, haven't got any visible leaks but that doesn't mean there aren't any.
The runners that the widows sit in look to be soaking up the water, could this be a cause, if so what would be a solution to it?

I am not familier with the make up of you m/h, however, if you have an Alloy outer skin, polystyrene inner, then some form of inner wall covering, ply etc, give me a PM and I may be able to pass on a tip or two. I give you fair warning however, it's not for the faint hearted ! If the construction of your unit does not conform to the above, It would not work, so I would be wasting your time!

 

[WinnietheBrave]

No, the outer skin I believe is fiber glass ? and my guess would be some form of insulation sandwiched between plywood?
From what I can tell, water must have gotten between the outer glass and the ply beneath.
All guess work of course

 

[Dodgey]

Chances are the water has got in round the window frame, and as said earlier it takes very little water to damage the panel. It is indeed fiberglass on thin wood (ply?) on poystireen type material then wood on the inside all samwiched together.

We are simply sealing around everything to protect from further ingress but we did remove and reseal the fridge vent have identified it as the culprit for ours, actually once removed I could see exactly where it was getting in, and it was a ludicrously small leak but, repeating myself, that's all it takes.

The proper solution would be to remove the window complete and check reseal but if I understand which window it is it's a bugger to get out so maybe take a chance and just seal it up?

Drying out is going to be you problem here as where can the moisture go, withour removing the window and keeping the RV warm for a few days, large heated garage requiredoh:

Not meaning to alarm you but doing something PDQ would be advised because if the moisture is still there come winter and freezing weather logically it could crack the fiberglass and then you're into a major repair, well actually the repair itself is in theory pretty simple it's the finishing that's the problem, ie the repair will stand out like the preverbial sore thumb and paint is to my mind the only option BUT, that would be a full body paint really.

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