Constant water problems - 24F

[JimOIB]

My FW 24F is 27 months old from date of manufacture - I have had it for 22 months. Over those 22 months water penetration in the coach has been an issue - stove vent was not sealed on the outside, slide trim not sealed, cab over window not sealed. One thing after another. My latest adventure was getting the coach ready for a trip after a rainstorm. I found both sides of the cab over wet on the inside, I mean wet, and water still dripping. I was able to trace the leak to the corner molding that goes from the roof the the bottom of the coach and it had no sealant on it. Water was getting under the molding, has soaked the wall plywood and now water has a way into the coach. Now I have a slight moldy smell inside from all of the water. And, the trim inset started to come off the coach. I was ready to get a match.

I pulled the trim insert out and was shocked at what I saw. Almost all of the screws on the underside of the cab over were rusted, some with the heads broken off. There were a mix of stainless steel, inside panel and countersunk screws installed - whatever was on the shop floor.

I spent the day yesterday removing each screw, filling the hole with silicone and replacing with stainless steel pan head screws on each side of the coach. Then installed new insert trim.

Next I went around the complete coach and sealed every corner and penetration on the coach with clear Geocel Proflex sealant. Not easy stuff to work with, looks a bit messy (operator induced) but the coach is sealed.

Water has been the bane of my coach over the past 2 years.

[Pete'sMH]

So sorry for this experience. I just did my first spring inspection and sealing adventure this last weekend. I spent about an hour and a half and addressed 4 different seams one of which had been leaking for a while over the winter. I do this at least 4 times a year and nearly always have to address something. It’s not much fun but I’ve come to know my coach very well by doing it. EVERY seam needs to be clearly and obviously water tight with a good fillet of appropriate sealant. Keep at it and you can get ahead of it.

[nmlferreira]

My RV has the same problem. Not on the side you show in the picture, but in the opposite side.
Took it to Camping World and they told me I left the window open

I guess I need to take the trim out an re-seal it.
Hope you fixed the problem.
Did you have to replace any plywood? I'm afraid that the mold might be a hazard!

[Bob Denman]

This ius the sort of thing, that makes folks wonder why they do this...

Sorry to hear that you're having such problems. I hope that you can get it all sorted-out, and then dried-out! Good luck!

[lazinskm]

I saw some water around this area yesteady. Need to take a look

[Judge]

That is a crying shame......

These manufacturers need to step up to the plate and make the standard warranty 2 years. It can easily take that long to shake out and address all of the issues that are part of well-documented poor manufacturing practices coupled with little to no quality control.


At the very least, they should stand behind these coaches for 2 years for water penetration issues. Water can do more long term damage than anything else.

[blw2]

Jimbo12, all I can add is to say, you are not alone.

mine was/is the same way. Hopefully you got her before too much damage was done. teh up side is that there really is very little wood in the walls. On mine the only substantial wood walls are teh short wings just behind teh cab doors...that's where I first discovered my roof/corner insert trim leak. I had some bad rot there.

I your want just to ease your mind, the upholstered panels on the inside are easy to remove for a look-see.... just pry off the button snap covers and remove a few screws.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by Judge

That is a crying shame......

These manufacturers need to step up to the plate and make the standard warranty 2 years. It can easily take that long to shake out and address all of the issues that are part of well-documented poor manufacturing practices coupled with little to no quality control.


At the very least, they should stand behind these coaches for 2 years for water penetration issues. Water can do more long term damage than anything else.

Judge, I don’t know if it’s the same for all manufacturers but Thor only warranted my Freedom Elite for 3 months on water penetration. On the one hand it sounds like they have little confidence in their product but I think the reality is that sealing is an ongoing maintenance item with a frequency need of 3 - 6 months. RVs are made of lightweight materials and they flex and move a lot in use. I rarely go even 6 months without having to address sealing issues.

I’m sure I’m in a negligibly small minority on this but I’m just as glad my warranty is expired. Warranty service is slow and poor in many cases but you feel compelled to use it. It might cost a bit more but going to a good independent shop that values your business will get your repairs done right and put you back on he road I days instead of weeks.

[analoguy]

The sad thing is we seem to expect or accept poor quality from the manufacturer. Can you imagine if my new Jeep or Ford F-150 was built to these quality levels? It is a sad situation where quality control is almost non-existent, the dealer warranty service is slow or poor, and we consumers simply accept the situation. There is no other consumer product that I know of that is built to such low quality levels.

Buying one that is 2 years old may be a good deal because it takes 2 years to find and repair all the initial defects.

Just my opinion, of course. Jim

[Mustang46555]

Our Quantum is the same way. Last month I found all the plywood in our entry step was water soaked and delaminated. I tore it all out and replaced the cheap wood with marine grade ply and caulked the crap out of things. Now just today I discovered our wing walls are rotten as well. We're at 18 months on our 2018 so not sure what we're going to do about the walls.

[Sullyd59]

Originally Posted by JimOIB

My FW 24F is 27 months old from date of manufacture - I have had it for 22 months. Over those 22 months water penetration in the coach has been an issue - stove vent was not sealed on the outside, slide trim not sealed, cab over window not sealed. One thing after another. My latest adventure was getting the coach ready for a trip after a rainstorm. I found both sides of the cab over wet on the inside, I mean wet, and water still dripping. I was able to trace the leak to the corner molding that goes from the roof the the bottom of the coach and it had no sealant on it. Water was getting under the molding, has soaked the wall plywood and now water has a way into the coach. Now I have a slight moldy smell inside from all of the water. And, the trim inset started to come off the coach. I was ready to get a match.

I pulled the trim insert out and was shocked at what I saw. Almost all of the screws on the underside of the cab over were rusted, some with the heads broken off. There were a mix of stainless steel, inside panel and countersunk screws installed - whatever was on the shop floor.

I spent the day yesterday removing each screw, filling the hole with silicone and replacing with stainless steel pan head screws on each side of the coach. Then installed new insert trim.

Next I went around the complete coach and sealed every corner and penetration on the coach with clear Geocel Proflex sealant. Not easy stuff to work with, looks a bit messy (operator induced) but the coach is sealed.

Water has been the bane of my coach over the past 2 years.

Did it work?

[HCH]

Hi I’m new to the forum. I have a 2016 24f and after reading the rot problems I checked the wing walls and they were delaminated and mold was an issue.
I read in this forum thread how to remove the interior panels and was able to remove and replace the rotted wood.
Thanks to all of you for this information.

[JimOIB]

Originally Posted by Sullyd59

Did it work?

Yes but the ProFlex is hard to work with. It sets up quickly and makes a mess when smoothing it out. Slow and steady small bead worked best.

[Sullyd59]

Originally Posted by JimOIB

My FW 24F is 27 months old from date of manufacture - I have had it for 22 months. Over those 22 months water penetration in the coach has been an issue - stove vent was not sealed on the outside, slide trim not sealed, cab over window not sealed. One thing after another. My latest adventure was getting the coach ready for a trip after a rainstorm. I found both sides of the cab over wet on the inside, I mean wet, and water still dripping. I was able to trace the leak to the corner molding that goes from the roof the the bottom of the coach and it had no sealant on it. Water was getting under the molding, has soaked the wall plywood and now water has a way into the coach. Now I have a slight moldy smell inside from all of the water. And, the trim inset started to come off the coach. I was ready to get a match.

I pulled the trim insert out and was shocked at what I saw. Almost all of the screws on the underside of the cab over were rusted, some with the heads broken off. There were a mix of stainless steel, inside panel and countersunk screws installed - whatever was on the shop floor.

I spent the day yesterday removing each screw, filling the hole with silicone and replacing with stainless steel pan head screws on each side of the coach. Then installed new insert trim.

Next I went around the complete coach and sealed every corner and penetration on the coach with clear Geocel Proflex sealant. Not easy stuff to work with, looks a bit messy (operator induced) but the coach is sealed.

Water has been the bane of my coach over the past 2 years.

Was this before window replacement?

[JimOIB]

This was round one of my water issues. Round two was the clearance lights on the cab and round three was resealing the window. The constant in all three was the window.

In round one I found water leaking from the white tee molding in the cabover ceiling. There was a line of water on the bunk and I could see dripping where the molding met the wall. This lead me to the roof as the issue. Then I found wing walls rotted and that lead me to the outside trim around the cab.

The ceiling molding and window all has visible leaks - I could watch the water drip from both during rain.

[JimOIB]

PS. I took a garden hose and put it on the roof on each side of the coach on the edge where the roof and cap meet. Did one side for an hour and looked for leaks inside then did the other side.

One more data point…my drivers side wing wall rotted out three times. Dealer fixed it twice under warranty. The third time I took it to an RV repair shop after I got a tour. The tech found that the screws holding the metal trim on were not long enough to hold well in the aluminum frame. I had him redo all four corners of the coach with new sealing tape and better screws. No issues after that.

[JimOIB]

Pics didn’t upload