Wednesday, August 31, 2016

A problem finally solved?

I used to wonder why so many travel trailers and motorhomes have that cheap dark fake wood paneling on the interior. Not anymore. Since purchasing the guest cabin, i.e., a thoroughly used Nomad travel trailer, a couple summers ago we've figured it out.

It's to hide the water stains.

There is apparently no way to seal the windows and various seams so that water will not seep in when it rains. We knew there was water damage when we bought it. The S.O. invested many hours in rebuilding the front end, sealing the corners, sealing the roof, and then putting up new paneling on the interior walls. I swear the first time it rained after he'd put that new nice white paneling up there were water stains around the windows. Heck, I'd swear there were times where all it took was a heavy dew and more water stains would appear.

Theoretically, we have now solved the water problem. We moved the carport we got a few years ago for parking the boats under. The boats will now get tarped for the winter; they can survive getting wet. The key thing is tarping them in a way that encourages snow to slide off instead of building up. And, speaking of snow, the S.O. plans to close in the gable ends on the carport down to just above the level of the front window to prevent the white stuff from blowing in and building up on the trailer roof over the winter. End result? The guest cabin should stay dry when it's totally roofed over in a way that discourages water from running down the exterior walls and coming in via the impossible to seal windows.

It has occurred to me that we've managed to put a lot of time and money into something that was supposed to save us the hassle of putting a lot of time and money into building an actual small cabin. At this point, we're both thinking that we should have just done a smaller version of our house. It would have cost a little more, but at least when it was done, it would have been done. With the guest cabin, each time we do something, we're left wondering if we've finally solved the problem. Maybe this time we'll get lucky.

4 comments:

  1. Gutter cement is a decent sealant, almost anything is better than silicone. I removed the so called gutters and used material to cover the seams, that helped a lot at the roof line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most RV's eventually leak. I don't like the ones with the rubber roofs that need constant treating. The truth is they are built more for looks than for travel. I bought our first (used) motorhome last year and never got a chance to use because my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. There were signs of water leaks and I spent a couple of weeks sealing everything possible. Fortunately sold it and recouped our money. Now the wife is through with her treatment we plan to purchase another next spring - will go over it with a fine tooth ... to check for water damage this time. Most everything else is fixable.
    the Ol'Buzzard

    ReplyDelete
  3. We've figured out that we need to check the seals on the Guppy every time we travel. Whenever you're on the road, there's vibration and twisting so the seals work loose. Not sure what the deal was with the guest cabin, but it's not moving again so should stay dry now.

    I'm not sure if there's a motorhome or a trailer built that wouldn't have problems with seals at some point. Maybe the Class B conversion vans or the fiberglass trailers like Casitas? But I bet even Casitas end up with leaks around the windows eventually.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've never had a fiberglass trailer but if they don't have wood frames that is a plus being as a leak won't rot the wood.

    ReplyDelete

My space, my rules: play nice and keep it on topic.