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Showing results for tags 'cabover window leak'.
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My Sunraders cabover area has been getting damp. I very carefully caulked those windows last fall but still had some damp coming in over the winter. Not a major leak so I left it on my to do list for this summer to try resealing them again. Today I cut the plywood on the overcab sidewall further back so it was completely clear of the wrap around windows. Surprise it was not the windows that were leaking. Very pleasant surprise actually because it won't be difficult to fix the source of the leak. What happened is the original installers when they put on the exterior aluminum trim that wraps around hiding the body join had run the several of the screws all the through the fiberglass. It only happened on the side of the coach just under where those windows wrap around. That error happened on both sides of my rig. That trim channel does fill up with water to a height where it can run in along the mounting screw threads. Or water could have been running behind the channel, maybe even both things were going on. Not a major leak but enough to cause some mold and decaying materials over the years. If I had not removed the interior wood paneling under that area I would have been convinced that I would absolutely need to replace those windows and their gaskets. Or I would have opted to fill in the window area with fiberglass. But I will water test those windows with a hose before I start putting new interior finishes in. If the windows do leak then that should easily show up with nothing covering up the walls around the windows. But this particular issue can be solved with a little bit of epoxy putty to fill in the holes. As I am going to be doing some fiberglass work this month I will go ahead and build up that area below the windows (in the interior) with several extra layers of fiberglass tape and resin. It won't affect any of the interior finishes to make it thicker in that area. I don't want any more screws breaking through that skin. I am going to pull the sliding window in the overcab area out on the passeger side and remove that wall paneling for a visual inspection. I suspect there is a another screw coming through in that area as well.