Rot in walls

[Aloha1]

Hi. We just purchased a 2018 30FE from an older couple. I looked it over very well and was impressed at the level of cleanliness and maintenance that was done. Upon returning home from an out of state purchase my wife let me know that a reverse light and brake light were out on drivers side. No biggie...
Well I unscrewed the lens and water poured out of the entire hole. Obviously been collecting water from day 1. There were ants living in it and the plywood has rotted away around both brake light assembly's. It looks like water is getting through the mounting screws as there is no silicone and screws are almost rusted in half.
Has anyone else experienced this?
I am going to remove every exterior light and access cover to inspect.

[EA37TS]

Quite a bit of discussion on taillights leaking a few years ago. A search should bring up the threads.

[16ACE27]

Common issue - usually not a difficult repair, depending on the extent of the damage. Water pouring out and ants are pretty extreme.

[Yvonnemarc]

Tail light screws after just 2 yrs. I had to repair the de-lam around the tail lights but I caught it early so only an inch or 2 around each light. I replaced with LED tail lights made by Command Electronics same company that makes the original for Thor. They are plug-n-play.

[motofabio]

Yet another sloppy assembly point. They couldn’t load up an intrusion point with silicone? Absolute puppets slap these things together.

[Yvonnemarc]

Before and after. This is what Thor should have done.

[JamieGeek]

My solution was "as seen on TV" flexseal right when the coach was new.



I recently replaced the taillights with LED ones and it still looks just like that behind them. In addition when replacing the taillights I chucked the foam gasket infavor of a rubber one (just picked up a sheet of rubber from the local hardware store).

[blw2]

I was one of the early posters about this. I was luck enough to catch it while still in warranty and Thor paid for camping world to replace the entire back wall. and mine wasn't really all that bad in the big scheme of things. Caught it fairly early.

The color for the panel was discontinued so they did it in white and painted to match. That painted panel held up far better than whatever the gelcoat they use, and is the best looking part of the rig now, by far!
I'm still kicking myself for not asking for surface mounted tail lights instead of going back with the same.... EVERY single time I check on the rig I look at those lights for condensation..... just did today!



Later, I found some rot in one of the wing walls, behind the passenger side cab door. It was more extensive...but of course out of warranty. I was able to remove the rot, treat the remaining wood with rot doctor epoxy
https://www.rotdoctor.com/
and do a scab in repair without damaging the fiberglass finish face.

I'd imagine a similar repair could be made to the back wall by removing the wall paper inside and getting at it that way.

I always thought that if it ever came to it, and the outside needed to be cut away then I would fabricate some plates of something and just cover the rear wall or a potion of it and mount surface lights to it.... maybe a diamond plate sheet, or a sheet of some nice decorative plastic. It wouldn't look stock but could be done to look nice.

good luck!

[rvaction2015]

Yes, leaky leaky.

[Hugh.vines@att.net]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

My solution was "as seen on TV" flexseal right when the coach was new.

Attachment 26182

I recently replaced the taillights with LED ones and it still looks just like that behind them. In addition when replacing the taillights I chucked the foam gasket infavor of a rubber one (just picked up a sheet of rubber from the local hardware store).

Where did you get the lights. What rig do you have