Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Tech Issues: Eternabond Failure

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Topic: Eternabond Failure

Posted By: TurnThePage on 09/01/17 06:42pm

I have to eat a little crow. A while back someone posted that Eternabond could trap water behind it, thus causing rot or some other issue. I cockily responded with, How could water get behind it? Well I found probably half a cup of water trapped behind Eternabond tape wrapped around my fridge vent. As I kept searching, I found that a good amount of the tape had dried out and literally rotted away. In the attached photo, you can see where I used left over tape to secure solar cable to the roof. Look how it cracked open. If you look close, you can see tiny cracks all over it. Yeah, it's a mess too. [emoticon]

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Posted By: gbopp on 09/01/17 06:49pm

How long was the Eternabond on the roof?
Did you apply it, (or can you blame it on someone else?) [emoticon]

Posted By: newman fulltimer on 09/01/17 07:08pm

way the roof looks it wasnt properly prepped

Posted By: TurnThePage on 09/01/17 07:15pm

It's probably been up thete 12 years. Why would roof prep or, lack of, cause the tape to dry out and crack?

Posted By: WILDEBILL308 on 09/01/17 07:29pm

Well one more reason to do a yearley inspection and re seal of your roof.
Bill

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Posted By: time2roll on 09/01/17 07:55pm

Hard to tell depth in the close-up picture. Was the EB stretched to get down in that valley that was holding water?

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Posted By: CaLBaR on 09/01/17 08:07pm

I have had my eternabond on the front cap seal start doing the same thing. Fortunately I caught it a few weeks ago but also had a bit of water damage. Mine has been up there about 8 or 9 years. Mine is in the same place over the dicor caulking. I think that may be the issue too. Other places look fine.

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Posted By: drsteve on 09/01/17 08:24pm

12 years? Well, nothing lasts forever.

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Posted By: Kayteg1 on 09/01/17 08:28pm

I think I removed about 30 feet of eternabond from my Fleetwood that PO slapped here and there.
The dryrot behind it was huge.
Even when aluminium beam under the slide broke the weld - PO slapped eternabond on crack.
IMHO that stuff, just like silicone caulk should not be sold to aging men.

Posted By: WyoTraveler on 09/01/17 08:59pm

Everyone that I have talked to says you must properly prep. After applying anything periodically check it for cracks or damage. If you see cracks you can put self leveling dicor on top of cracks. If it looks bad remove and replace. I inspect a couple of times a year.

Posted By: rexlion on 09/01/17 10:25pm

Well, doggone it! With a name like Eternabond, I thought it might last longer than the trailer itself! What's in a name...

Mike G.
Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. --Frederick Douglass
photo: Yosemite Valley view from Taft Point

Posted By: landyacht318 on 09/01/17 10:52pm

In applying anything to a surface os something else, it is all about proper prepping of the surface for proper adhesion.

But perhaps people prefer to believe marketers lies, combined with price and internet rumor, outweigh logic, and uncommon sense.

Posted By: 3 tons on 09/01/17 10:55pm

I applied it around the around the skylight over the shower and it created a dam and water leaked inside...I wont do that again.

Posted By: TUCQUALA on 09/02/17 12:30am

Prepping the surface won't have any effect on the cover cracking and splitting. Same thing happened to sections on my solar cables in just over one year!! Believe it or not, 1+ year!!! The tape was still stuck to the roof just fine, but the outer surface was sun rotted and cracked, and peeling off. Leaving the adhesive base still there! Probably wouldn't leak as such, but that expensive **** should last longer if you want to believe the name!!!

Package was "Eternabond", but who knows if not a chinese counterfeit??!!

I can see adding sealant along the sides of tape if you are really anally retentive, but you shouldn't have to cover the tape to make it last.

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Posted By: MrWizard on 09/02/17 12:44am

mine has been on the roof seams for 5yrs
no problems so far, knock on my wooden head

I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !
....

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Posted By: gbopp on 09/02/17 04:42am

I applied Eternabond to my front and rear cap seams about 8 years ago.
It still looks good and is holding up very well.
Maybe it was just a bad batch of E/bond?

Posted By: 3oaks on 09/02/17 06:31am

That is precisely why I would never purchase a "used" RV which had had Eternabond tape applied. Hidden defects? In the past, too many people touted Eternabond tape as "once and done". Well as we hear, that is far from being true.

I personally would only use Eternabond tape as a patch to repair a accidental tear in the roof, should that ever become necessary.

To each their own. I'll stick with cleaning, inspecting, and Dicor self levelling calk.

Posted By: mike-s on 09/02/17 06:39am

rexlion wrote:

Well, doggone it! With a name like Eternabond, I thought it might last longer than the trailer itself! What's in a name...

It's Eternabond, not Eternaseal. The sun rotted stuff is still stuck in place.

Posted By: Kayteg1 on 09/02/17 08:23am

MrWizard wrote:

mine has been on the roof seams for 5yrs
no problems so far, knock on my wooden head

Did you have leaks on the seams when you applied the tape, or used it only as precaution?
Main problem with the tape is that dual layer is hiding imperfections and wrinkles holding the water.
You are not aware about the problem till the water shows inside, or roof collapse.
5 months ago I applied latest technology roofing coating on my house flat roof. I had dealt with black and silver coating in the past and results were mixed.
I keep eye on new stuff and it looks really good. The roof had small leaks last rain season, so I am waiting for next real test this winter, but I think I know what I will use on my camper rubber roof this winter.
Main advantage beside lifetime warranty - with nice white coating you will see each hole or crack.

[image]

* This post was last edited 09/02/17 08:41am by Kayteg1 *

Posted By: MrWizard on 09/02/17 09:50am

It was a precaution
I clean and resealed the molding strips, tighten loose screws
And put on the eternabond

The comment about hiding imperfections, is just talk
If the stuff is stuck to the roof, then no water is coming in thru the eternabond,
If it come in from some where else, that is not Eb fault

The same thing could happen with Dicor

I think it's important to overlap the roof edge on the sides of the Caps when sealing with anything to keep wind blew water from being forced in

Posted By: George H on 09/02/17 10:17am

After 10 years I found that the factory tape on the cap seams had failed and needed to be replaced. Not going to complain, just part of maintenance.

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Posted By: TechWriter on 09/02/17 11:08am

George H wrote:

After 10 years I found that the factory tape on the cap seams had failed and needed to be replaced. Not going to complain, just part of maintenance.

In the Southwest, 5 years is about the limit.

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Posted By: JIMNLIN on 09/03/17 06:37am

well dangz....... that put a dent in the theory we see posted all the time "just Eternabond it and forget it".

Pooling or lake effect is a problem when many folks with not much experience add a brand of tape or even a brand of roof sealant over existing piled up sealants.....especially for those of us that live where we get rains and constant freezing and thawing all winter long.

"good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" ............ Will Rogers

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Posted By: billyboy on 09/03/17 06:48am

that's what I have seen, facing the sun here in md, about 6 years and it can open up and let water in.

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Posted By: LarryJM on 09/03/17 09:11am

That surface cracking is only cosmetic since the actual sealing is from the microsealant and IMO any water issues are most likely due to improper uniform sealing because folks want to slap the Ethernabond on top of bulky uneven caulking. It is critical that you have uniform adhesion and the normal roof seal is not made for anything but smooth surfaces ... there is a thicker microsealant version of the roof seal that is made for better adhesion on minor non smooth surfaces, but all that only goes so far. That top white layer is for UV protection and to prevent dirt/debris from adhering to the microsealant. If you remove the white layer you basically have what is the webseal version of Eternabond that needs to be painted or covered with a sun protective layer for lasting sealing. I removed all the caulk prior to applying the Eternabond and now after 9+ years I'm just now starting to develop some cracking on the front roof to end cap seal. This I attribute this to it's continuous full exposure to the sun. I also sometimes wonder of folks are getting the real Eternabond when they buy stuff off the internet not realizing that there is a shelf life of something around 5 yrs for the actual Eternabond product.

Larry

2001 standard box 7.3L E-350 PSD Van with 4.10 rear and 2007 Holiday Rambler Aluma-Lite 8306S Been RV'ing since 1974.
RAINKAP INSTALL////ETERNABOND INSTALL

Posted By: TurnThePage on 09/03/17 10:05am

As the OP, I should clarify a bit. My roof has Eternabond on all four edges and on various fittings. The only place I'm noticing this issue is on the tape I used to secure the solar panel wiring running across the roof. The Eternabond tape on the edges of the fridge vent (very near that wiring) is looking pretty bad too, especially where it gets warmest. Everywhere else seems to be OK. I'll have to inspect closer once I've finished my current project.

Posted By: LarryJM on 09/03/17 10:43am

TurnThePage wrote:

Trying to secure something like a wire to a flat surface with Eternabond Roofseal is IMO high risk since you can never get continuous contact between the wire and the roof surface because of the edges of the wire is generally round and if you try and stretch it at all it will tend to release over time. I've had that same issue going just over screw heads, but have minimized it by using extra wide tape or putting a graduating layer over the screw head first so there is a gentler slope for the tape up over the screw head. This is not a problem with the Eternabond, but just a limitation in it's use that one had to understand and account for.

Larry

Posted By: MrWizard on 09/03/17 01:47pm

Slightly off topic, well a different direction

I used strips of EB across the wires to hold them down, ( instead of Dicor ) but did not cover the wires with EB, it makes no difference if the wires get wet, there is no hole for water
The solar wires come thru the fridge vent, no extra roofing holes to seal when i did the solar, except for sealing the mounting screws

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