Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: What Did You Do To Your Class B Today ?

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Topic: What Did You Do To Your Class B Today ?

Posted By: bobojay5 on 09/02/13 09:57pm

Started packing it for our annual fall excursion. This year to the west

Bob & Sharon
Eastern Kansas
2013 Winnebago ERA 70A
Class B Van

Posted By: KK&R on 09/02/13 10:27pm

I did a complete clean and retightening of my Fantastic Fan. May not sound like much, but after 10 years, it was pretty disgusting. Man, I did not even remember the fan blades were clear--and the vent is translucent! Its like I have a new window in my Roadtrek.

And in case anyone gets inspired to do the same thing and--god forbid--is as unaware as me, you can remove the screen from the inside and do 90% of the cleaning from there. Little need to go up onto the roof (where I did most of the work), except to snug up all the installation screws.

Did notice that the caulk is pulling away from the sides of the fan on the roof, though. Seems like some work will need to be done there. Anyone know what the best caulk would be for that job? And all the old, grungy caulk has to be removed, I bet. How do you do that?

KK&R
2004/03 Roadtrek 200 Versatile

Posted By: Davydd on 09/03/13 10:01am

I got my tires rotated free at Discount Tire today. I bought them there. After 16,000 miles on the Michelin LTX MS/2 tires the tread wear was excellent and even. I run 65 lbs in all 6 tires (duallies of course).

Davydd
2021 Advanced RV 144 WB 2500 Class B
2015 Advanced RV Ocean One Class B

Posted By: Davydd on 09/03/13 10:08am

KK&R wrote:

Did notice that the caulk is pulling away from the sides of the fan on the roof, though. Seems like some work will need to be done there. Anyone know what the best caulk would be for that job? And all the old, grungy caulk has to be removed, I bet. How do you do that?

This is what I did.

I've had on ongoing problem with my Great West Van Legend bathroom skylight leaking. It only leaked when the back was slightly higher than the front and only during heavy rains. So it could be frustrating in that sometimes it didn't leak and sometimes it did. It never seemed to leak when driving and it never leaked when parked at home. When it did leak it came through and dripped inside the quarter round electrical chase cover in the bathroom and then flowed one way or another until it found an outlet. It really became a problem in the Florida Keys when we were experiencing an 8 inch one day heavy rainfall. We had to abandon our stay and head for drier areas. We did manage to get the leak (we thought) fixed at a dealer in Florida. I'm not sure what it looked like before but they essentially frosted the whole skylight with caulk in hope of stopping wherever the leak was. This is the result.

[image]

The leak came back the next time we encountered a heavy rain so obviously the "fix" did not work.I removed all the caulking. After I removed the caulk it rained again and it didn't leak. What I discovered is there is a 1/4" gap about about an inch deep between the skylight frame and rain gutter. When I removed the caulk that was filling the gap I found it was not adhering to the metal roof where the skylight met the roof and that there was standing water under the caulk. Rain water was flowing in, getting trapped and then into the bathroom. So all the glopped on caulk was not doing the job. There was still a leak letting that water in. Also, a lot of the caulking came off clean from the surface meaning it was not adhering properly.

This is most of the amount of caulk I removed. Believe it or not my recaulking used just a half of a tube.

[image]

This is the skylight after I removed the caulk with lots of scraping.

[image]

This is the gap and the caulk never touched the metal where the skylight frame met the deck otherwise there would have still been a film of caulk I could not easily have removed.

[image]

There is no standard tool to tool a 1/4" x 1" deep joint and the caulking gun nozzle can't reach that depth. It was a sloppy job and poor design to create a situation you can't tool easily to make it water tight. With the caulk removed the water when it rained was not getting trapped and was flowing by fast enough to not flow into the bathroom, at least in any detectable or appreciable amount. So all the dealer repair evidently didn't fix the original design flaw and poor installation.

Since the skylight seemed to be doing its job without the caulk I opted not to dissemble the skylight even though the extra step might have further helped sealing it at the deck if done right. I just decided to recaulk around the skylight and make sure there was 100% coverage. In order to fill that gap properly I devised a 5/16" wood dowel tool with a rounded tip to push the sealant down into the narrow gap and joint.

This is the recaulk. Not quite as frosted. I used a better grade of sealant than the rubberized acrylic previously used. This time I used GE Silicone II sealant for exterior waterproofing. It is about 3X expensive than acrylics. But then who cares with one tube.

[image]

I took a hose to it with a continuous deluge of water and there were no leaks. Only time will tell and another major rain storm to determine if I solved the problem. Didn't think I would be wishing for rain before heading out on a trip again.

I'm out of warranty. In some respects that is good. I think I know repair better. It's now my responsibility.

PS. We've had several major rains including one 4 incher and over 1 inch last weekend. So far everything is good.

Posted By: Davydd on 09/06/13 07:10am

Last week I had my Sprinter serviced and then took it to Discount tire for a tire rotation as previously mentioned. I also topped off the propane and checked the two wet cell house batteries. It took a little over a third of a gallon of distilled water to top off the cells that didn't look all that much down (about a half inch). You forget you are not filling just a little round hole but a full plate. I noticed two cells had some minor boil over with some staining on the top of the battery around the caps. That's a reminder why you don't have them inside the van.

Also, I had to repair a hold open hinge to the fiber glass skirt lift door at the dump when the rivet connection corroded and broke. The fix was a 23 cent with tax at True Value Hardware 8-32 x 3/8" bolt and lock nut.

We're getting ready to hit the road once again for another extended trip.

Posted By: bobojay5 on 09/06/13 09:01am

Filled with propane, filled with fuel. Checked the tires and found a metal valve stem had been rubbing on a wheel cover. Hope I fixed that situation......
Checked the oil. Tweaked a 12 volt outlet install I did last week. Sanitizing the water system.
Still loading "stuff" for the fall trip

Posted By: Fastpaddler on 09/06/13 08:59pm

I dropped the hookups [emoticon]

ater hose,cable wire,unhooked sewer pipe and left them at the RV site but I took in the power cable(which is pricey). We went shopping or rather my wife went shopping and came back in the evening and re-hooked everything in about 5 mins. Wouldnt do that at a provincial or state park though.
2. My RV neighbours thought it was neat and quick but they had promised to keep an eye out not that I was concerned.
3. Only downside was cost of shopping.

AL

Posted By: 1775 on 09/06/13 10:44pm

Today I fixed the water filter on the water pump. Yesterday I fixed a leaking city water fill. Both now done, I have avoided a trip to service and am ready for my next trip! This week has been a good week for my Class B!

Roadtrek 190 Popular 2011

Meryl and Me Hit the Road

Posted By: ChiMom on 09/07/13 01:14pm

I am a bad RV mother. I neglected my one coach battery for years. Just looked at it the other day and the battery + slideout tray had tons of corrosion stuff all over. Today I put my big girl panties on and got out the baking soda, wrenchs, clean cloths, wire brush, tooth brush, garden hose and miscellaneous tools that might come in handy (like a hammer to knock myself out).

Much to my surprise, I was able to remove about 99% of the white stuff, remove the battery without electrocuting myself, WD40 the sliding tray, and put all the cables back on without losing any wing nuts or anything. Now I really don't know if the battery works yet, but after getting some distilled water tomorrow I'll give it a try. Heck, I feel like now I can just buy a new battery and install it myself! The End.

Barbara, Florence, Rascal (bad chihuahua), and Annabelle (good girl turning bad)
Rainbow Bridge: Magoo (baddest chihuahua)
2007 Pleasure-Way Ford Excel TD: Miss Daisy

Posted By: retraite on 09/07/13 03:53pm

ChiMom wrote:

ChiMom,

I'd suggest some white lithium grease to lube the tray glides, rather than WD40. It'll last a lot longer.

It's available in a tube, as a "stick", or in a spray can. My preference is in the order listed.

Cheers.

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