Sunset Trail 253RB - Water Damage

AstronomyGuy-XRD

Advanced Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Messages
37
Location
Ky
I have a 2018 CrossRoads SunSet Trail 253RB. I went over to the storage yard where my camper is and started tearing the vinyl floor up to uncover the soft spots on my campers floor. The first place was at the rear of the slide. There is a big half round circle of soaked plywood and the center of it is at the rear of the slides opening. This emanates out between 4 to 5 feet. I inspected the slides seal and see that it evidently was damaged during installation from the factory and rather then take it off and replace it they stuck some black sticky tape on it to repair it. It failed. I never saw it until I climbed up on a ladder and took a close look. I went ahead and tore some more vinyl and found a big half round soaked circle with the middle of it lining up with the front arm of the awning. It was between the door and the bedroom window. it covered an area going past the door. There is a hole where the wires enter at the top of the awning that wasn't sealed letting water in. I have started tearing the plywood off of both areas. Now I need to know if there is any other material to replace the plywood with that isn't so susceptible to water . I would also like to know if the slide seals are single piece or multiple piece. I haven't removed them yet and I want to order the right seal before hand.

Thanks
Tim
 
I have a 2018 CrossRoads SunSet Trail 253RB. I went over to the storage yard where my camper is and started tearing the vinyl floor up to uncover the soft spots on my campers floor. The first place was at the rear of the slide. There is a big half round circle of soaked plywood and the center of it is at the rear of the slides opening. This emanates out between 4 to 5 feet. I inspected the slides seal and see that it evidently was damaged during installation from the factory and rather then take it off and replace it they stuck some black sticky tape on it to repair it. It failed. I never saw it until I climbed up on a ladder and took a close look. I went ahead and tore some more vinyl and found a big half round soaked circle with the middle of it lining up with the front arm of the awning. It was between the door and the bedroom window. it covered an area going past the door. There is a hole where the wires enter at the top of the awning that wasn't sealed letting water in. I have started tearing the plywood off of both areas. Now I need to know if there is any other material to replace the plywood with that isn't so susceptible to water . I would also like to know if the slide seals are single piece or multiple piece. I haven't removed them yet and I want to order the right seal before hand.

Thanks
Tim

The floor of your camper is likely a sandwich made up of a layer of 1/4 or 5/16 plywood, 1.5 inches (or around that thickness, I never measured any of the thicknesses) of foam (the cheap white stuff) and another layer of thin plywood. The strength comes from it all being formed as a bonded sandwich.
 
Also check the seals on all the storage doors as they are notorious for leaking. I had a leak on mine and that turned out to be where the water was coming in. After I repaired the floors and used spray foam insulation instead of fiberglass I replaced all the seals with new ones.
 
The floor of your camper is likely a sandwich made up of a layer of 1/4 or 5/16 plywood, 1.5 inches (or around that thickness, I never measured any of the thicknesses) of foam (the cheap white stuff) and another layer of thin plywood. The strength comes from it all being formed as a bonded sandwich.

That does make it difficult to figure out a plan on how to replace it. That 1/4 inch plywood falls apart when it gets wet. I have been removing the wet wood. Some of it is hard to get to and some of it was only wet on the bottom layer. By the door I'm using pressure treated 3/4 plywood set in the aluminum frame . I plan to glue an overlay of 1/4 inch plywood on top of that. I figure if it leaks again at least the 3/4 plywood would have a chance to survive. I decided to try out the Eternabond tape for the roof. I just did the entire perimeter of the roof today. Mainly out of precaution. I found a few places that the manufacturer did a poor job sealing up the camper. I'm tackling the area of the slide tomorrow.The slide itself has no leaks. The leaks are around the opening on one end . I think the best thing to do so I don't get overwhelmed is just take one step at a time . I am thinking about putting water sensors in about 6 places so I can catch it sooner the next time.
 
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My floor is made of 5/8" tongue and groove plywood. Not a sandwich. Below the plywood is 16+" on center aluminum tube floor joists and R28 fiberglass insulation.

Note my year and model in my signature.
 
My floor is made of 5/8" tongue and groove plywood. Not a sandwich. Below the plywood is 16+" on center aluminum tube floor joists and R28 fiberglass insulation.

Note my year and model in my signature.

The aluminum tubing on mine varies. I tried to get the on center measurement but it's not the same all the way through. I imagine the company engineered the floor to each model and to save money on the aluminum. I heard that some companies are doing away with the use of plywood for sandwich floors and going to a product that isn't affected as much by water leaks.
 
My floor is made of 5/8" tongue and groove plywood. Not a sandwich. Below the plywood is 16+" on center aluminum tube floor joists and R28 fiberglass insulation.

Note my year and model in my signature.

Note that the OP has a 2018 253RB, and I have a 2018 253RB, gonna go out on a limb, and say they likely both have the "sandwich" style floor.
 
Sunset trail 253RB water damage repair.

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[/IMG]I finally finished my repairs. It took awhile because I had to figure out how to repair sandwich flooring. I first was going to use 3/4 plywood so I bought a sheet and then realized that wasn't going to work. I went to the metal super store and priced 1 1/2 inch x 1 1/2 square aluminum. That was price prohibitive. I went with thin wall 1 1/2 in x 1 1/2 steel tubing. It is pretty lightweight and strong and much cheaper. I framed the floor out with the steel tubing and a lot of 1 1/2 L brackets and married them to the 1 1/2 in aluminum frame. I used 1/4 inch yellow pine plywood for the top. The plastic sheeting that they put on the bottom of the floor was a problem because once water gets trapped between the plastic and the plywood it just sits there until the plywood soaks it up and then the plywood dissentagrates . I cut that off and let the water out. I ordered 10 Black Corrugated Plastic Sheets 18" X 24" Vertical and attached them to the bottom of the camper on each side running the length of the camper. It's the same product as the campers belly pan. It looks factory and won't trap the water because there is a space for the water to flow if that happens. It's about 1/4 inch off the bottom of the floor attached to the frame with self tappers. I top the floor with waterproof vinyl plank flooring. I didn't take a picture of the framing in the bathroom or the front door area but it is framed the same way as the bedroom.
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It was not fun and I could have taken short cuts but I took the time to do it right. If I ever sell it I will feel good about it.
 

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