Leaking roof on Burstner

[Davb]

The roof on my Burstner T615 (2005) has decided to let the rain in from the bodywork join that sits just behind the front seats. When I looked at the roof, the whole roof had a fair bit of standing water on it as if the roof is slightly concave. I have put it on ramps for now to make sure the roof drains off. I can see that the join where the leak is has had a rather shoddy repair to the join, with silicone slapped on in the style of a two year old. My main concern is the amount of standing water on the roof, has anyone any thoughts on whether I should be concerned about this, or due to the relatively flat nature of motorhome roofs is this normal during heavy rainfall?

 

[Boringfrog]

I have the same Motorhome and have noticed the rain collecting at that joint, no ingress as yet, but will keep an eye on it.....

 

[GJH]

We have the t625 (2003) and get the same puddling, though not over the whole roof (probably as our drive slopes slighty so it settles on the front nearside.
No ingress there so far but I did overseal it some years ago at the same time as oversealing the joints along the side of the roof where we have had ingress.
It's something I have kept an eye on and renewed from time to time.
From experience and advice I use a sealant removal tool to remove what I can of the old sealant, run some Captain Tolley into the joint and then overseal with Puraflex 40.

 

[Davb]

Thanks for your replies, it seems a bit unfortunate that the rainwater tends to gather at this joint in the roof. Ho Hum, something else to fix.

 

[movan]

I have the t680. Same problem.

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[Geistguy]

A lot of motorhomes suffer from water gathering on the roof, we find using ramps to create a run off helps. Remember to have the run off the opposite side to the habitation door !!

 

[Gellyneck]

We've got two seams over the roof of our AT where the sealant was starting to look blackened, worn, etc. No water ingress though.
Rather than try and remove the sealant and the "D" shaped cover I just over-sealed it with Eternabond tape.

 

[Davb]

Thanks for all the tips, I am waiting to see what AJM Leisure have to say on Monday as the vehicle still falls within their warranty period. Personally, I am hoping for some money back and then to do the work myself, as driving 550 miles to get the roof sealed would take longer and cost more in fuel than doing it myself. There have been a number of faults on this vehicle which I am working through, and I kind of get the feeling that motorhome dealers tend to just give their trade-ins a quick clean and then bung them out warts and all, in the hope that they will only have to work on the things if you complain. After all repair work eats into their profits.

 

[Mike800966]

Perhaps you have it sorted by now but if the joint is between say a nosepiece and the main roof I have used Flashband tape very successfully in the past.
Take your time to clean off the area and press down hard
Lasts well, perhaps doesnt look the best but it dont leak and who looks at the roof?
Mike

 

[Jamesh]

I don't think any sellar would warranty bodywork on a 16yo van.

Too much stress and fatigue to do so. Our old caravan leaked after 8 years!!

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[Davb]

I have done a temporary fix using T-Rex tape. The biggest problem was that the area that was leaking had some sort of non-setting putty smeared all over it that was difficult to remove. I will strip it all properly next summer, as at his time of your you are always fighting the weather. Currently I am sat in the Trossachs in the pouring rain and all so far is well. AJM did offer to fix the leak, but due to distance and time, they agreed to a £600 refund to go towards sorting it out.

 

[KarlosX250]

Our Nexxo T660 had this exact same fault at the same place, apparently it's a common problem going on what i found from searching t'internet.
Thinking it was just a simple break in the sealant, I tried to seal it myself but without success so i called in Kev from Race and Leisure MoHo repairs and he sorted it (12 months and no leaks). He said that bathroom/silicone type sealant isn't good enough as there's not a lot for it key to, and the non-setting stuff (possibly the stuff you mentioned) is better as it remains plyable even if the panels move about a bit.
He also mentioned that just because the joint from cab to hab is where the leak appears to be on the inside, it doesn't necessarily mean that that's where it's leaking in from on the outside, it can actually be from almost anywhere from that point backwards e.g. roof lights, etc due to how the joints on the roof boards are laid out. He went about halfway down the side rails and around the roof lights with his sealant.
If yours has the same wood cover panel as ours on the inside where the hab and cab meet it might be worth checking that someone hasn't had this off previously and used different length screws when it was put back i.e. the roof seal isn't being punctured from the inside. The same applies to the plastic corner mouldings on the outside, ours had unneccesarily long screws through them that weren't stainless and had rusted through the sealant.

Ours puddles at the front due to the cab/hab lip and the corner mouldings, I think it's unavoidable. We have to remember not to open the windows for a while when driving off if it's been raining the night before or we get deluged when the roof runoff sloshes over the side.

 

[Davb]

KarlosX250 like you we have had the odd soaking when getting in the motorhome, the leak only ever happened when we were parked at home which was probably because it's the only place we ever parked that was actually level At the weekend we had a break in the weather and I decided to do a permanent repair I already had a tube of Sika 522 which turns out to be the non-setting stuff that was smeared on the roof. It took the best part of a day to remove all the gunk, I then resealed the joint with the Sika. The next day I then went over the join with Gorilla patch and seal tape I also went partway down the sides and next year I plan to continue the seal down the sides and to reseal all the roof vents. It did rain later in the night and nothing leaked through.

This is what I was up against.

I Dont know if the solar panel was fitted by a professional or amateur, but I can confirm that they were idiots.