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Topic: B+ motorhomes

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/05/12 06:38am

Gene, you might be seeing the caulk overlay based on the appearance you described. Here is a video showing putty tape in use (Don't use silicone! See next video) A nice overview of seam maintenance I didn't know about the foam tape. Sounds like bad stuff. EXCELLENT primer on roof maintenance My roof is in good shape except the front seam. There is an obvious gap there which could be letting water in. I don't see any damage. But as the video shows, I will be covering the entire seam with Eternabond tape. I will probably do the rear roof seam while I'm at it. Those, and the outer seam on slide rooms, seem (pun) to be the seams which fail most readily and with the worst consequences. OTOH, the garden variety roof objects such as vents etc., seem to do quite well with simple maintenance of the dicor sealant. One place not mentioned is the big lag bolts used to mount the awning at the top. You will observe they just run right into the vinyl trim strip, with no caulk. Unless someone already did something to remedy this. Anyway, caulk around those things! Our first trailer had a bunch of water damage from one of those bolts leaking water into the wall. Again, NO SILICONE CAULK!!! Go to the RV dealer and buy Proflex or SikaFlex or something similar. Sure, it might be ten bucks for the tube. These are not the best built RVs. (They have a lot of company!) Take some time to do the inspections and maintenance shown above and you will extend the life of the RV tremendously. Take it from someone who has owned a water-damaged unit. (stepping off soapbox now) Currently RV-less but not done yet.

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/05/12 06:43am

duplicate.

Posted By: burlmart on 09/05/12 08:36am

THX for the vids, smowman. I now understand the putty tape, and it shows poor memory, since I saw that window removal and reseal years ago! Boy, that mineral spirits on a rubber roof is scary. I have pulled and caulked those lag screws at the top of the awning twice after getting a bad leak during rain. Definitely need to seal those. 2005 Trail Lite 213 B-Plus w/ 6.0 Chevy

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/05/12 11:25am

I've used lacquer thinner to clean dicor and to clean the roof in prep for Eternabond. It seemed to not harm anything. I take it the key point is to not saturate the roof with any of those types of cleaners. From first hand experience, I can tell you to NOT use the degreaser type products on the roof.

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/06/12 08:29pm

I don't know if anyone is interested in my maintenance and mods, since most of you covered this ground several years ago. I have noticed that several of the complaints from the owners of the earliest units seemed to be addressed in my 05. Which is nice. Maybe this only applies to the 213, I don't know. Today, while I still have the water heater out awaiting a new tank, I installed a shelf into the space forward of the water heater. (It was much easier to do with the heater out.) There was wasted space there, above the tail end of the wheel well under the kitchen sink. The shelf is 15 x 21, but with two water lines passing through it. There is room for about 6 shoeboxes or large loaves of bread, to give you an idea. Storage space is definitely scarce, so it will be nice to have this available. I think I will go back and shove some insulation on top of the wheel well under the shelf. Why not. Directly in front of that space, they had stapled the wiring for the LP detector to the middle of the otherwise open cabinet floor. I pulled it up and used some plastic loop hangers for 1/2" cables to attach the wire harness to the cabinet inside frame instead. Now that floor space is available to safely store things too. There are water lines adjacent to the left, but they are not so delicate that some things can't be judiciously stored next to them. In our trailers, this type of space was never blocked off, instead it was available for use. Finally I added some wooden support cleats directly beneath the plastic wall hangers for the kitchen drawer slides. I have had those hangers break in our trailer, so I figured now is the time to try to improve these. At least in my 05 they are mounted on boards instead of just the wallboard as in the earlier models. But even with good mounting, those brackets are a weak link. I hope the cleats will provide support to avoid them breaking. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was really tough to get in there, though. I used a staple gun and it gave me enough extra extension beyond my reach to just get there. If anyone wants photos, let me know and I'll post some.

Posted By: Gene in NE on 09/06/12 09:11pm

Snowman9000 - I have never read a posting that complained about too many pictures. Bring em on. 2002 Trail-Lite Model 211-S w/5.7 Chevy (click View Profile) Gene

Posted By: Orion_42 on 09/07/12 05:30am

Snowman, I've done that same mod under the sink. You're right, there's never enough storage and that was a big waste. I also added shelving to one side of the large hanging wardrobe, leaving about a foot of hanging space. We never need to hang the amount of stuff they leave in that closet, but we have tons of folded clothes that needed a home and it worked great. ---------------------- 2001 Trail Lite B+ 211

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/07/12 05:56am

Orion, that is a good idea in the wardrobe. I'm going to keep that one in mind. I wonder if anyone has done anything with the power center side of the dinette. I need to be able to shove the electric cable and related items into that area, but I might be able to put a shelf above the cable area.

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/09/12 07:21am

Here is a photo of the shelf I installed forward of the water heater (which is removed currently). Everything is simply fastened with wood glue and air-driven trim nails. I didn't plan ahead enough to realize that I needed to get the shelf somewhere up in there before installing the upright leg closest to us. So I had to cut the shelf in half and install it in two pieces. . . Next photo is the storage space after repositioning the wires for the LP detector. I might make some sort of wood bumpers to protect the detector. I'm sure it needs to be kept open, not enclosed, though. . . Here is one of the cleats I put in to beef up the drawer hangers.

Posted By: Snowman9000 on 09/09/12 06:52pm

Does anyone have a wiring schematic for the Trail Lite battery wiring? I'm just trying to figure it out and get it written down. I'm still coming up empty on a couple of things. Here is how far I've gotten

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