Alcan Cover Moisture Can Be Trapped Under The Cabin Floor

[Les Izmore]

About a year ago, another Camp Inn owner with a trailer of similar vintage to ours cautioned us to keep an eye on the area where the Alcan cover folds over and is attached to the underside of the cabin floor, as water can get trapped there, causing the floor to get wet. We did so from time to time, and for nine months of traveling we saw no signs of any such issue. But then we spent far too long in some sweltering heat and humidity. One day I happened to notice that the Alcan flap on the curbside of our camper was sopping wet, and there was a huge amount of condensation on the bottom of the cabin floor in that corner. We checked inside and found the wood of the cabin floor felt as though it was absorbing moisture. In this case, we had been running the air conditioner so much in order to stay cool that there was significant condensation forming on the cabin skin. And it seemingly all managed to eventually drain to the front corner of the cabin, where it was trapped against the cabin floor by the Alcan cover.

We removed the mattress and put our ceramic heater in the corner to dry the floor out, which worked just fine. I contacted Cary about this issue and he stated that as part of every orientation at the factory, owners are advised that after driving through rain or mud to unhook the bottom of the Alcan cover to allow the area to fully dry. So I referred to my owner's manual (which we bought after picking up our camper in August 2012), and it says nothing about this particular maintenance item.

So since there are a fair number of Camp Inn owners who have purchased pre-owned campers, I thought I would share this information with them. And share our fix to prevent this issue. I suspect that there are lots of first owners who can't remember every detail discussed in a four hour orientation, so this may be helpful to them as well.

In just about any hardware store's metal section you can find 1/2" and 3/4" U channel trim capping, used for edging wooden sheetgoods (plywood/particle board). We took some of the 1/2" stuff, cut it in pieces, drilled holes in it and mounted it, open side up, to the bottom of the cabin floor. There are likely many other ways of skinning this cat, but this seems to be working, though in hindsight I think the 3/4" U channel might work a bit better.

At the ends of the Alcan cover is a plastic tube with a bungee running through it. I think the best place to mount the U channel is about an inch or so behind where the plastic tube sits with the cover attached. This keeps the cover away from the floor, allowing moisture to safely drain away. This location doesn't seem to add any undue strain to the Alcan cover.

A side benefit of doing this is that the drain hole on the curbside of the pass-thru box can't be blocked by the Alcan cover. This drain hole was blocked by debris on our camper because the debris couldn't get past the Alcan cover.

I hope this helps someone out there!

 

[Little Patriot]

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[jfocallag]

I checked my Alcan cover on my 560 and it does not cover the wood at all so this is not an issue for me.

I do remember and my sister who was taking notes for me, wrote down that I should check under the trailer and under the Alcan cover periodically to avoid issues. I have done so and after 5 years of use in the Pacific Northwest haven't experience any.

 

[Les Izmore]

I should add that this scenario is most likely to occur when the camper is outside in the elements for extended periods of time. Folks using their camper for short term camping and parking it in a garage when not in use aren't too likely to find this to be an issue.

 

[WanderingAimlessly]

Thank you for this info! We live in the Northwet and rain is something we can't avoid while driving and camping. I see another project on our little Mercury's to do list. I toured the Campinn factory last summer before we bought our used trailer. We talked about some of the changes they have made in their manufacturing as time goes by and the older models come up with little challenges. That is the mark of a great company! I know they are using a lot of sealer and undercoating on the newer models and have really fine tuned their manufacturing with their cnc machines. They are always improving things and I don't know any other trailer manufacturer who is more helpful when a customer, even if they bought their trailer used like we did, has questions and needs help with solutions.

I don't believe our water damage is a manufacturing problem. Seals wear and the vibration of the road and wind driven rain and spray are part of life as trailers age regardless of brand. The seals on anything that penetrates the envelope of the trailer and at all the joints needs to be maintained. We had a big 35ft Monaco in the early 90's that we bought used and we had water issues with her as well as she aged and seals/sealant weathered and wore out. That was when I learned about caulking strip and windows. Someday we will buy a factory fresh Campinn 56o Ultra but for now we are having fun with our older 550 and working on her little quirks to keep her going for a long time.

We have a used 2008 550 Ultra and noticed the discoloration in the front corners of the floor in the cabin on the first night I slept in her last Sept. I had bought a memory foam topper and a waterproof cover for it and I was putting it under the original mattress to make a luxury bed. Since I saw that I always block up the mattress when we put her away and leave the windows open to let the air flow but never knew about the alcan cover issue. I didn't know why they are prone to that problem but weren't surprised by it because we had watched all the youtube video's on Campinn trailers we could find and saw it on there too.

I thought that discoloration might be do to wicking of moisture at the joints in the trim pieces on the outside near there but I pressed on it and there was no soft spot so then I thought it was cabin condensation. I am going to treat it and all the trim joints, fasteners and wire penetrations for marker lights etc. outside when we do our water damage repairs. We have some rot at the rear passenger side marker light that I found when replacing the battery a couple weeks ago as well. That is why I will be treating all of the wire penetrations.

I will be making my own post about fixing our water damage in the future but for now I will just post the link for a great product I have found to repair rot without replacing wood. I have been doing a lot of research for our water damage and talking to friends with boats. It is called CPES and it is a penetrating epoxy that wicks into rotting wood encapsulating the rot and following any rot channels that you cannot see. Rot Doctor-Wood based epoxy products to repair and resist wood rot

It makes the wood sound and strong and prevents further rot damage. Any areas that are really bad can be filled after treating with an epoxy filler that is compatible with the CPES. It is not cheap but it is a lot cheaper than replacing the wood. I talked to Cary and in our case we would have to remove the skin and a big chunk of the side wall plywood because of a galley leak that was not addressed before we bought the trailer. The CPES penetration and testing they show on their website is impressive. There are a lot of wooden boats in WA and therefore a lot of rot. This stuff will be a life saver for our trailer. People are even using it to treat their new decks and fix their houses here.

I have not used it yet but it is on the to do list for Oct when we put her back in her dry storage so the CPES has a lot of time to cure and get strong. Then we can work on the epoxy filling in the galley. Epoxy is new territory for me so I will start somewhere that nobody will see if I screw it up.

Cindy

 

[SarahNell_and_Robert]

Cindy, did yall end up pursuing the CPES or writing a follow up post on your water damage repairs? I'd love to hear how the product worked out for you.

 

[André]

My spouse and I recently purchased a used 2008 550. I have noticed some discussion of the “Alcan” and availability of a cover for the front box to prevent it from being dinged. But I confess that I am completely confused by what is meant by the Alcan cover in the context of this original post. And so I find the entire discussion confusing. What exactly is the problem area being discussed? Can someone please post a picture?

I have noticed some water stain marks both on the cabin floor and in the kitchen area at the bottom of the bin near the battery area. It isn’t wet j no ow, and it isnt clear to me whether the moisture came from or whether the problem(s) is(are) ongoing.

 

[Lipster]

take some photos, and call Cary at Camp-Inn. He will work you through the issue, whatever it is.

 

[Dmitry]

Do you need an alcan cover at all, if you have mud flaps on your tv?

 

[Dmitry]

3M makes a very sturdy clear adhesive film, the kind that I have seen used on the likes of Airstream and expensive cars.
Or course it only protects the front. I know that "hail" is a very unwelcome word for Airstreams, and possibly the CI also, since construction is similar.

 

[Van_and_Terri]

Do you need an alcan cover at all, if you have mud flaps on your tv?

We had a 550 without the alcan cover. We don’t off road and didn’t see any damage in our travels. My disclaimer is I ordered the alcan cover on our 560 which will be ready September 2023.

 

[JohnC]

I think I mentioned this elsewhere on the forum. I picked up my 560 in June of 2021. To date I've put about 9,000 miles on it. It has an Alcan cover. It also has managed to pick up multiple small cuts in the aluminum skin where rocks have obviously kicked up. From a distance they aren't noticeable. When you wash it they are quite visible. But I don't really care. It's a toy purchased for outdoor use and I just can't be bothered worrying about something that insignificant. YMMV.

 

[SarahNell_and_Robert]

My spouse and I recently purchased a used 2008 550. I have noticed some discussion of the “Alcan” and availability of a cover for the front box to prevent it from being dinged. But I confess that I am completely confused by what is meant by the Alcan cover in the context of this original post. And so I find the entire discussion confusing. What exactly is the problem area being discussed? Can someone please post a picture?

I have noticed some water stain marks both on the cabin floor and in the kitchen area at the bottom of the bin near the battery area. It isn’t wet j no ow, and it isnt clear to me whether the moisture came from or whether the problem(s) is(are) ongoing.

Hey Andre,

You can see where the Alcan Cover is (partially) circled in my picture. As always, I'd still check with the factory but you're water stain marks are exactly where our issues are and I'll pass along two things to check we failed to realize. The galley stain seems to be from needing to re-apply silicone to the rear tail light (inset within it's rubber gasket) and the gasket itself. Easy to check to see if you need to re-seal those.

Our cabin floor was showing staining at the "head board" corners. As with all great things, they're refined over time and that's always been the Camp-Inn production practice—to improve as they go. So it seems they updated caulking the aluminum flap rail that runs underneath and across the front of the teardrop. Without an alcan cover on, follow the aluminum all the way down the front and continue underneath. Where it's stapled down to the wood underneath, if you're without a caulk line there, you might consider making sure everything's dry, treated as needed, and then sealing that too.

Ours is a 2013 and it was without, so I'd say yours is too. Good luck! Happy camping!