Leaks, Leaks and More Leaks

I’ve been working with Cary since early November, which was when we discovered that we had a leak in the galley hatch where the hinge meets the curbside wall. As we’ve worked to solve that problem, other leaks have been discovered and solutions have been attempted over the past weeks, mostly to no avail. But at this point I am cautiously optimistic that we’ve found solutions to every problem, though we won’t know for certain until we can road test everything in the rain (and there is none forecast for the immediate future for our area). Most of these issues have been covered in various forum posts. But the forum search function is frustrating at best, so finding those past solutions can be vexing. And this is chance to cover a large number of similar, somewhat inter-related issues in one post. As such, it may be that there is something of interest here for anyone experiencing a leak of some sort.

Before getting started, let me go on record that I feel Camp Inn makes a superior, high quality camper and I applaud their efforts in this forum at learning about and solving all known issues, and incorporating that knowledge into changes in their production procedures to eliminate similar issues for future owners. They are also human, and one leak is the result of a seal being incorrectly installed at the factory, leading to its premature demise. In short, mudflaps and routine maintenance appear to have solved most of our issues, so I’d like to share our lessons learned.

We had owned our Camp Inn trailer for three years with pretty much no issues or worries. So we were shocked when we stopped for the winter this year (after three and a half years of ownership and four solid months of camping on the road), finding leaks in our cabin, at the top curbside of the galley and in both of our deep storage compartments. One leak would have suggested the inevitable aging of the trailer, but this was at least four different leaks! So what has changed since all these problems started? The main thing is that we changed tow vehicles. The other is that something had been knocked out of alignment.

Window Leaks

We are on our third tow vehicle, and have finally found our Goldilocks solution - the first tow vehicle was not economical, the second was under powered and too small, and our current tow vehicle is just right (almost). Our first tow vehicles were a 2001 Nissan Frontier 4X4 Crew Cab and a 2013 Mazda CX-5. We know that we had no leak problems with those vehicles, because in 2014 we had a little mishap (written about in Camper’s Confessional) which required us to replace our onboard battery charger and battery. So we’ve been under the false floor in the sink side deep storage and into the battery compartment (including under the false floor there). We had no leaks there at that time. And we’ve regularly emptied out the cabin for thorough cleaning and found no evidence of any water getting inside and have had no condensation problems. All of these issues cropped up after we acquired our current tow vehicle, a 2015 Ford Transit Connect Long Wheelbase Cargo Van.

We love our new van in every respect other than these recent trials and tribulations. It averages close to 23 mpg while towing, it has plenty of torque for easily getting up the steepest hills (allowing us to tow in cruise control on moderate grades) and we can access any piece of our gear without having to unload some other piece of gear (and we probably carry more gear than the average Camp Inn owner). So why is it causing leakage?

It is well documented on the forum that certain vehicles with a wheelbase wider than the trailer cabin can cause water to be forced upward into the side window condensation drains and thus into the cabin. In our case, that issue was particularly acute because the rear of the van is lower than, for instance, a typical compact SUV. That low rear end means that as the tires pick up water from the pavement it is ejected backward toward the trailer at a lower angle than most vehicles. In our case, the bulk of the water was thrown almost directly at the drains, which was forced inside the cabin by the wind vortex created by the vehicle’s shape and speed of travel.

The primary cure for this problem is to install splash guards, and Cary recommended in our instance that they hang within about 2” of the pavement. There are several styles of splash guards, but the old school, wide, heavy flexible vinyl sort are the only reliable solution (as opposed to the newer sleek, rigid, molded plastic versions). The 9”x15” Ford splash guards that we installed came with very minimal instructions about proper placement, being a “universal fit” for dozens of different Ford models. As a result, on my first attempt they were installed a bit too far inboard. In that configuration, they cut down significantly on the spray hitting the trailer, but some spray got around the outside of the flap, so water was still able to find its way inside the cabin, though at a slower rate. I reinstalled the flaps so that they extended outboard beyond the edge of the tires and feel confident our cabin leakage problem has been solved (but I’ll only know for sure the next time we get a good rain).

Battery Compartment Leak

A related problem to the above is that the stream of water hitting the trailer was ultimately focused at the bottom rear of the trailer, as the wind forces it along the side of the trailer and over the fenders - the airflow over the fenders helps to direct and focus water flow to the rear bottom corner of each side. On the curbside, that water made its way around the optional solar panel plug and into the battery compartment. Thus it was at least partly responsible for the leakage in our deep storage compartments. Hopefully this leak has been solved by removing the plug and pumping a very generous amount of Lexan silicone into the hole before reinstalling it.

Early Warning Signs

It is worth discussing some early warning signs that we might have heeded about these particular leak issues. A classic sign with this problem is that the cabin curtains get wet. This didn’t happen for us, because we drive so few miles between campsites - we generally only drive a couple of hours per day, often at fairly low speed, generally covering only about 10 miles before stopping for ten minutes or more, and rarely driving over 60 mph. (So a leak could start, but a short time later we would stop, allowing some of the built up water to exit back out of the window vents before we started moving again.) Another sign is damp bedding by the doors. Again, our low daily mileage kept this from being a glaring problem. And with an active dog, some dampness in our bedding is a fact of life, though we do try to minimize it to the extent practicable. Another sign of this problem is dampness under the mattress, though this could as easily be due to condensation, water from wet shoes or rain coats being stored inside at night and various other causes. However, condensation shouldn’t be an issue if the side windows and optional roof vent are kept partially open at night (except in very cold weather or in exceptionally high humidity - look for Craig’s postings on the Camp Inn website on the causes of condensation for more on this topic).

In short, I think this water intrusion problem may affect other people who are unaware of it, because their tow vehicle produces less spray at the required low angle than is sufficient to cause the problem to be acute. Some perceived condensation issues may in fact be small amounts of leakage caused by road spray working its way in through the condensation drains. In many cases, any such leakage is likely to be small enough and intermittent enough that the water will evaporate or absorb into the bedding, so that no staining of the woodwork would result. And for weekend campers, there should be lots of opportunity for things to dry out on their own while the camper is sitting at home in the garage, further masking this problem.

My suggestion to all Camp Inn owners is that it is a good idea to install mud flaps when towing, even if there is no obvious benefit to doing so. For us, it also means the trailer doesn’t get dirty as quickly, so we don’t spend as much for car washes while on the road (and we have more time for more enjoyable pursuits). In our case, it won’t take long for those savings to cover the cost of the new mud flaps/splash guards.

In the interest of full disclosure, Camp Inn has a new window condensation drain cap that fixes the window leak problem in some cases. I’m told it is not a particularly aesthetic fix, but you can contact Cary if you are wondering if it might adequately address any problem that you are having. In speaking with Cary it sounds as though it is a less than optimal solution, that it is far better to directly address the real culprit - road spray. There also is one test that you would need to conduct in order to eliminate one possible cause of the condensation drain leak that would not be fixed with the redesigned drain cap.

There is also a TEMPORARY fix to the window vent problem - simply cover them with tape when driving on wet roads. But you need to remember to take them off every night, or you’ll have interior condensation with no place to go.

Deep Storage Leaks

Our main deep storage leak was caused by a maintenance issue and the fact that we were towing with the trailer’s nose slightly down (we were within a quarter inch of being perfectly level). Part of the dust seal along the bottom edge of the galley hatch had been knocked out of alignment. I suspect this occurred when we tried closing the hatch when something was in the way, and it unintentionally got pushed outward at one end. The result was that water was given a wider pathway into the galley. With our nose slightly down, it followed the drains around the deep storage lids until the water level got high enough to spill over into the deep storage cabinets. (It also seemed to push that end of the hatch up a tiny bit.) The fix for this was quite simple - pushing it back in, then assuring that the entire length of the dust seal was in contact with the hatch drain pan (the part in front of the deep storage lids, above the license plate bracket). This was done by pushing the seal in or out, as needed.

So our trailer’s slightly nose down orientation prevented prevent water on the drain pan from draining out the back as it is designed to do. We’ve ordered a new ball mount with an offset that is ¾” higher than our old ball mount, which should eliminate this problem.

In attempting to determine the source of this leak, we found two other minor leaks, both of which likely would NOT have introduced enough water into the compartment to cause any significant damage or staining. A small amount of water was getting into the sink side deep storage via the propane conduit. This conduit starts adjacent to the propane tank and runs under the trailer, protecting the propane line from damage by road debris. I suspect this is a variation of the road spray issue, that a small amount of spray would get in the conduit and travel down the conduit to the deep storage. The fix was to seal both ends of the conduit with silicone.

A small amount of water was also entering the deep storage via the hole where the air conditioner drain exits the bottom of the trailer (this is immediately below the sink). This looks like another road spray issue, and the amount of water getting inside wasn’t all that significant, and most of the water probably quickly drained back outside whenever we stopped. According to Cary this is not likely to be a problem on newer trailers, which have more precise, CNC machined openings. The solution was to seal the gap around the A/C drain with silicone.

Galley Hatch Leak

This was the first leak we had discovered. We had noticed some water stains in the cabinetry along the curbside of the cabin right next to the main shore power outlet. Cary suggested a fix that solved the problem of water getting into the cabin, but it didn’t solve a related problem of the same water getting into the galley.

The first fix is an issue on some trailers, and newer trailers have had additional silicone pumped into the top corners of the galley bulkhead to eliminate this as a potential issue. That fix was pretty simple, involving drilling some holes in the extruded aluminum at the top of the galley bulkhead and pumping silicone into them until it starts oozing out along the edge of the bulkhead where it meets the side wall. I won’t go into those details, as it should not be an issue for anyone as long as the external trailer seals stay intact (which wasn’t the case for us). If you have this issue, contact Cary, as there are different procedures for various trailer vintages.

Our issue had to do with the top and side seals of the galley being improperly installed. Along the top of the galley bulkhead is a cap seal that seals the gap below the hinge. This goes nearly completely across the hatch opening. The side hatch seals butt up against it and the intersection of the two seals is sealed with butyl (more commonly known as evil black stuff). In our installation, the side seals continued past the galley bulkhead and the cap seal was installed ON TOP of the side seal. It worked like this for more than three years, but the repeated opening and closing of the hatch meant the cap seal was continually being moved up and down very slightly (keep in mind we’ve camped about 300 nights in our camper). Eventually this caused the cap seal to tear, and once torn it started rolling off the top of the bulkhead. That cause water to enter the galley in heavy rain, where part of the flow followed the edge of the bulkhead into the cabin, though most of the water went directly into the galley.

Cary sent us a replacement cap strip. Installation was theoretically possible with the hatch lid attached, but that required a skill level well beyond what I was capable of. We unbolted the hatch brace, tilted the hatch lid up and lifted it off. Then we peeled off the old cap strip, trimmed back the side seal, installed the new cap strip, sealed the butt ends of the side seals with some auto glass sealant and cursed that evil black stuff for far too long afterward. Oh, and we put the hatch lid back in place (otherwise, we would have had a very big leak!). But after all that, the problem was not solved.

It is somewhat likely that the continuing leak problem may have been related to the bottom seal of the hatch lid being out of alignment, perhaps slightly pushing up in that corner of the hatch, creating a way for some water to leak inside. So there may have been two contributing causes to this problem.

After having addressed both issues, we followed Craig’s instructions for leak testing the hatch, which can be found here:
http://www.campinnforum.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=10877&page=3

The issue appears to be solved. Or at least it passed Craig’s leak test. We’ll have to wait for rain to know if it passes Mother Nature’s tests. Our fingers are crossed.

So the take away lessons from our experiences are:
Install mud flaps to cut down on the amount of water hitting your trailer.
It is better to tow your trailer with the nose slightly up.
Pay close attention to your trailer’s interior when you change tow vehicles. I’d recommend towing in the rain with an empty cabin and galley, as any issues will be very easy to detect.

HyperVent

In discussing our issues with other Camp Inn owners, a few suggested that HyperVent was the answer to life’s questions, at least in regard to dampness of one sort or another. While this was well intentioned and much appreciated advice, I felt that it attempted to cure the symptom, rather than curing the disease. For those who are unfamiliar with HyperVent, it is a roll material that is sort of like a large scale version of the hard, ‘hook’ side of a strip of velcro. So you have a sheet of fabric that holds a 1” or so mat of these stiff, squiggly plastic strands. Placing the mat with the strands facing down creates an air space, so that your mattress won’t come in contact with any moisture on the floor of the cabin, thus eliminating the potential for mold and mildew. The product is mainly marketed to sailors, which is appropriate, since a marine environment is far more extreme than that of a camper on land, since the difference between cabin temperature and water temperature can be enough to make it very easy for condensation to form. Camp Inn campers are designed for three season use, so it should be relatively rare that significant condensation forms, unless the cabin is closed up fairly tight at night (meaning any moisture in the cabin is very possibly from a source other than condensation) or you are camping at higher altitudes, where seasonal temperatures are lower.

So while I’m not convinced that HyperVent solves any problems, I do think it helps minimize potential damage if there is an undetected leak or unusual condensation, so we’ve ordered some for our camper. By providing air space under the mattress, it should help make it more evident when there is a leak, and if so make it more likely that the moisture can evaporate on its own, and make it a bit easier for us to mop up any rogue liquids on the cabin floor. But getting enough to cover our floor ran about $115, and that was at a discount price with free shipping and no sales tax. So it is fairly expensive insurance, thus probably only really practical when your camper gets used a LOT!

That’s all I’ve got to share. Hopefully this can help someone else solve their problems. And hopefully prospective Camp Inn owners won’t think leaks are an endemic problem with Camp Inn trailers. Most of our problems were addressed by taming road spray, plus we use our camper quite a bit more than the average owner. And my wife should have had a career in torture testing, so we are also a bit harder on everything than the average owner (I suspect if we had opted for a competitor’s fiberglass product that it would be in pieces by now).

Anyway, have fun and stay dry!

 

Nice detailed overview of problems and fixes you have encountered.

Bob

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I think it is heavy users like you who help CampInn to continually improve their products. Keep up the good work and keep sharing.

 

One thing I think that I forgot to mention was that the outside width of the rear wheels on our van was almost identical to that of our old CX-5. I recall having read the threads about the condensation drain leaks and specifically remembered that it was related to that aspect of certain vehicles. I mistakenly thought since the dimension was the same and it wasn't an issue with the CX-5 that it wouldn't be an issue with the new van.

If we change tow vehicles again any time soon (highly unlikely), we'll be sure to remove the mattress and do a road test on a wet, rainy road before doing any extended traveling.

 

Wow! That was like reading a dissertation on engineering!! Actually it was so well thought out and explained. Thanks for taking the time out to share your experiences and fixes. Fortunately, we haven't had any leaks and I hope I didn't just jinx us! But, regarding hypervent, you are correct in that it doesn't prevent a leakage problem. Rather it allows condensation (and other) moisture to avoid contact with the mattress. The little nylon polymer curly strands (in contact with the cabin floor) offer enough distance between the floor and mattress to keep the mattress dry. We check regularly for moisture under the mattress, and even with a wet floor, our mattress has remained dry.

Enjoy your winter break!

 

Great job, Steve and Alea. Lots of good info and thanks for sharing. This will be of great use to the forum crowd.

The sun must be out by now....bike on!

Sue and Jim

 

Hi Sue & Jim!

There has been no shortage of sunshine since we arrived on Florida's Gulf Coast (which is why we are still waiting to perform a final field test to confirm that all of our problems truly are solved). This whole week there will be highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s - it is and has been unseasonably warm and dry here.

It will be late March or early April before we get rolling again. At that point we'll be headed for Maine, but we don't want to get there until around the beginning of June.

 

An update on this thread - I was able to road test the new mud flaps and higher ball mount in the rain.

The mud flaps killed virtually all of the road spray and greatly increased rear view visibility. There was no sign of any water being forced into the condensation drains and very little water getting sprayed up onto the side of the camper. What water was thrown up on the side of the camper was fairly static - the slipstream of the van wasn't creating an airflow that was being forced up over the fenders (which is what had forced water into the drains). This problem has been fully resolved.

The higher ball mount has solved the issue with rain water finding its way into the deep storage. There was absolutely no sign of any water in the lid drains, under the lids, or along the sides of the deep storage (as had been observed previously). This problem has been fully resolved.

 

Well, the leaks are back.

Earlier, I had tried twice to fix the leak at the solar plug, to no avail. And this time the amount of water that got in was much more significant. So yesterday I caulked around the outside of the plug. It may not look as pretty, but hopefully it works. Constantly having to disconnect and remove the battery to deal with this is a major PITA.

We had some minor leakage around the deep storage lids and more water getting in through the window condensation drains. We were driving in heavy rain for a few hours at up to 70 mph (more like 45 mph in the heaviest rains, where visibility was near zero).

I think some additional silicone on the rear drain pan will likely solve the deep storage leak. It was a fairly small amount of water that got in, so it wasn't likely to create a serious problem for us.

Earlier, the window leak had appeared to be solved when driving around at 55mph. Did the increase in speed to 70 mph change the slipstream so that it once again forced water into the drains? That's hard to say, though it didn't look as bad from driving on the freeway as the evidence of the slipstream had been prior to installing the mud flaps. Or did the water come from spray caused by adjacent freeway traffic? It could be the latter is the most likely cause, as the leakage seemed to be worst on the driver's side (we were often in the slow lane with no traffic on the passenger side, and sometimes in the middle traffic lane). Or perhaps it was a bit of both? Whatever the cause, we are glad we installed the HyperVent. It was clear that water had gotten in and we had it all mopped up within a few minutes. Without the HyperVent, the bottom of our mattress would have been wet, requiring us to strip the bed and try to find a place where it could be air dried (not so easy to do on the road with intermittent rain). So the HyperVent has turned out to be a very good investment for us.

After our planned minor fix to address the deep storage leaks, we hope that we will get stuck in a few more heavy rainstorms before leaving Florida: we'd like some assurance that these problems are solved and won't crop up later when we are traveling in places where we will have fewer resources for solving them.

We're starting to think it is a good idea for us to carry a 2" wide roll of painters tape with us, so that we can cover the condensation drains when it looks as though rain is going to be likely. It may look cheesy, but it's a cheaper fix than the HyperVent, and the HyperVent doesn't solve the problem, it only makes the problem easier to deal with.

 

So sorry to hear that the leak issues have cropped up again. Hope there is a resolution that is more permanent. Safe travels.

 

With my fingers crossed, I'm thinking that the battery compartment leak is finally solved. We learned a couple of weeks ago that this leak was NOT related to the camper being in motion (which was our initial thought), as we had an overnight rainstorm and found that water had gotten in, despite the triple-sealed solar plug. So it was clear then that the solar plug wasn't the problem.

I e-mailed Cary, including a photo of a water droplet ABOVE and an inch or so inboard and away from the solar plug. So the water was coming from somewhere else. I didn't think it was a marker light leak, as that was on the lee side of the trailer, plus we had the side table deployed and slightly sloping away from the camper, providing additional shelter from the rain. But upon Cary's advice I opened it up and sealed where the wires enter the camper, just in case.

He also assured me that the possibility of a leak from the side table mounts was very small, and a quick check found their screws firmly in place.

My own suspicion was that the leak MAY have come from the point where the galley drain pan meets the side wall (the lower right hand corner of the galley hatch). When it rains, a LOT of water can get channeled down the galley drains, and I suspect it might only take a very small leak to cause the sort of problem that we've been experiencing. After checking with Cary to see that doing so wouldn't cause any unforeseen problems, I sealed up the corner with some Lexan silicone sealant.

After having light rain a couple of days ago and a pretty good downpour this morning I inspected the battery compartment, which means pulling the battery out of the compartment. We found no signs of any moisture inside. So we are cautiously optimistic that we have solved that particular problem. We aren't really concerned about which of our fixes was the solution; we're just thankful that we seem to have that problem behind us now.

I also spoke with Cary about the window drain leak issue, so there is hope that that may have a solution. I'll want to road test that in the rain before reporting back on that, and we aren't likely to be driving in the rain for the remainder of this week.

One final thing. Cary was pretty upset that my post from Feb 6 was, intentionally or unintentionally, critical of Camp Inn. While I think some portions of the second paragraph could have been written with more clarity, I fail to see any criticism of Camp Inn. I merely corrected an earlier post that reported in error that the issues had been resolved.

All that being said, I suspect the real issue is that the thought of leaks might scare off potential customers. As I stated before, Camp Inn has redesigned new models so that they won't experience some of our issues. And I suspect with their new CNC machine the tolerances of things have improved greatly, and thus the overall quality of their product has stepped up another notch. After our recent minor tribulations, I still wouldn't be hesitant about buying another Camp Inn trailer, even one of the same or earlier vintage than ours. Far too many other campers are poorly built and end up in the scrap heap within a few years. I suspect our Camp Inn will still be around 20 years from now, even with the amount of heavy use that we anticipate for it.

The challenge for full timers is that Camp Inn can't realistically offer 24/7 support. And the time to solve leaks is as soon as possible after they are discovered. That makes this forum invaluable, offering potential solutions immediately rather than waiting out the weekend or holiday to get help.

But providing that sort of convenience for the small number of full timers can be a double edged sword for Camp Inn, if potential customers focus too much on minor problems. To them I'd recommend that they hang out with full timers in big rigs, who have to seal their roofs every couple of years. Leaks in RVs are a fact of life, but they are much easier to diagnose in a small trailer than a big rig, and much cheaper to fix. Oh, and I'll also add that we talked to an RV repair guy that was replacing a refrigerator in a motor coach. To do that, he needed to remove a side window to get the old refrigerator out. The cost for the labor alone was $800! That just shows that simpler is better. And Camp Inn has given us campers that are full featured, yet still remain simple enough to work on when you are thousands of miles from the factory and need to rely upon your own abilities.

 

A partial update on this thread: we received some replacement condensation drain covers from Camp Inn and I installed them. There has been no rain here, so we haven't been able to road test whether our issue of water getting into the cabin while driving has been completely solved. But we are hopeful.

One thing that Camp Inn had recommended was mounting the mud flaps so that they are only a couple of inches above the pavement. As a result, they hit the ground a lot, especially when driving over a rolled curb, but also when hitting a pothole. This has caused all of our mud flaps to be curved backward. We also discovered where one had bottomed out hard enough that two of the four self tapping screws holding it in place were ripped out. Either of these issues MAY be why we had our most recent condensation drain leak.

I'm pointing this out because Cary's thought was that with the mud flaps installed, there was no need for the replacement condensation drain caps. I think our situation proves that the replacement drain caps should ALSO be installed, as insurance against any sort of mud flap failure.

It will likely be 10 days of so before we see any rain. Once there is some rain we can road test the mudflap/replacement caps to see if our problem is fully resolved.

 

Steve,

Quick note on that. The window drain issue is always specific to certain tow vehicles only depending on the track width. So no, we don't recommend everyone put alternative drain covers on. If we did they would be standard features on the trailer.

Cary

 

Right, I mentioned the track width issue at the beginning of this thread.

My point specifically is that if the problem has been diagnosed to be the result of the track width and the resultant slipstream created by the vehicle (and not related to a separate roof vent issue that creates the same symptoms) and mud flaps are installed successfully to correct the problem, then IF the mud flaps are required to be installed low to the ground, the replacement drain covers should be added as insurance against a mud flap failure.

I'm not advocating that the covers be changed on all trailers. After all, we had our camper for three years and had zero problems with this issue with our prior tow vehicles.

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear in my post, but I've been burned a few times by long messages getting lost before successfully posting on this forum.

 

This is an update to our issue with replacing the incorrectly installed cap seal.

At the factory, the cap seal and side galley hatch side seals are attached to each other and various extruded aluminum bits with butyl, a nasty black rubbery goo. I needed some to fix a small problem with the connection between the cap seal and galley hatch side seals. But when I searched for available options, I only found it in large, caulking gun-sized tubes. And I was going to need to apply it in a very small, cramped space.

I asked Cary for alternatives, and he told me to look for "windshield adhesive" at an auto parts store - that there was such a product that contains butyl. I had no luck finding any such product, likely because what Cary was talking about had been discontinued. The only windshield adhesive that I found was flowable silicone, a very liquid form of silicone that wasn't going to provide the required adhesion, plus silicone is not a good choice for the needed repair.

I checked back with Cary and offered a couple of products that I felt might be possible alternatives. Of the two, he suggested that I go with a product by 3M, some Weatherstripping and Gasket Adhesive, part # 08008 (about $13 with tax). He warned me in advance that it was nasty, stringy, messy stuff, but that it would work well for the intended repair.

Luckily I only needed to use a little, as it managed to get everywhere. So it took longer to clean up than to apply, but it has everything looking like it is supposed to. Mission Accomplished!

The reason why we had to correct this issue a second time is because a small piece of aluminum tape had migrated about a quarter inch outboard, exposing some very sticky adhesive. The adhesive had grabbed the side seal and caused it to detach from the cap seal. We were told to thoroughly clean the area where the tape was attached (using mineral oil or rubbing alcohol - we used nail polish remover, which contains acetone). I then reapplied the aluminum tape, burnishing it well to assure good contact. Hopefully it stays put this time.

So if you ever see us on the road and you've got an issue with some vinyl or plastic that needs to adhere to aluminum, you are welcome to use some of ours, as I suspect we now have a lifetime supply. The same offer applies to aluminum tape, though I may only have a 20 year supply of that.

 

Steve and Alea,
Glad to hear you are making progress.
Are you still in Fl?

 

Yes we are. We return to Tomoka on the 13th and then it is on to Oviedo for the remainder of our winter respite. On the 27th we'll return to St. Augustine and commence this year's journey.

We are likely to meet friends for lunch in New Smyrna on Tuesday. Do you have any recommendations for a decent, inexpensive place where it is possible to have a conversation without yelling at each other?

 

I had the opportunity to validate the rear hatch sealing done at Camp Inn April a year ago. At Virginia Beach we had a gale( associated with Ian). The CI was facing west with the winds from the east. No leaks, at all. Kind of bouncy through the night.

 

I had to laugh...reminds me of the 1970's when the conversion vans were a thing....I guess your trailer was a rocking & no one came a knockin'.......sorry I couldn't help myself.