Check Your Roof Seals Closely!

[Camper_bob]

Just a reminder to do a thorough inspection on your roof seals often.

So I was on the roof last weekend checking out a suspicious sound for my wife (she thought it was a critter, turned out to be a leaf) and noticed I had some failures in the Dicor in a couple spots.

There were bubbles in the sealant that had ruptured and left an open path straight to the roof on my ladder mounts (first 2 pics).

I keep a small roll of Eternabond around for just such a situation, so I went up yesterday afternoon and fixed it (Pics 3&4).

While I was up there I decided to do a full and thorough inspection of the rest of the seals. I am unhappy with the rear seal, but it's technically okay. It will be the very next spot to get more Eternabond. The rest of the Dicor seals were okay for now, but eventually, I will cover them all with Eternabond.

I also found some small holes in the sealant around two of my front marker lights (Pics 5&6). Sloppy installation. I will get the appropriate sealant and fix these soon.

For reference, my unit is a 2018, purchased in April of 2018. So it's just now 6 months old to me (it was a winter '17 build). And for the record, I already knew these bubbles would cause a problem from my initial inspection the day I bought it.

[Bullitt6283]

Funny you should post this today.

Seriously, I just now got down off my roof.

I bought the 2016 29MV when it was 1-year used, and it looks like this is the first time the roof seals had been looked at. Almost every penetration looked compromised in some way. Either the original workmanship was marginal, or the original sealant got stiff and is cracking. Worst area was around the bathroom skylight.



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[Camper_bob]

I checked my skylight extra closely, and it seems fine for now.

As for the sealant, it seems to be about par. The sealant on my trailer (2014 Jay Flight) started some surface cracking after about the first year. I had to touch it up once or twice because of those cracks, but it never leaked.

On this MH, it's like the installer was running low and wanted to finish before he refilled. The seal along the rear is VERY narrow. So that'll be the first joint to get sealed over.

I also plan to replace my vent stack cap with some form of vortexing cap, so I will have to break that seal anyway and I figure I'll put some more Eternabond on while I'm up there working on that.

Eventually I'm going to do a complete Eternabond job on all the openings. It will likely be done over the next several months though.

[Crabman]

Yep, there's a sticker on mine saying inspect your seals every 90 days.

[Ohiofinlander]

Thanks for the reminder.

[Swiss67]

Hey Gents, just was browsing the Jayco website this morning trying to figure out what sealant is recommended to use on the TT and i saw this in the Maintenance tips section. Does anyone do that ? What sealant is best ?

[Rustic Eagle]

Swiss67,

Welcome to JOF

I don't necessarily "replace" my TT sealants (caulk) every 6 months, but I do check all sealant applications at least twice a year and 'touch-up' as required.

The most common RV sealer/caulk is Dicor Lap Sealant in both 'non-leveling' (no sag), and 'self leveling' (roof applications). Compatible with both TPO and EPDM roofing materials.

I did however apply Eternabond sealer tape to the front cap/roof seam and slide seam for added long term protection.





Bob

[wags999]

Originally Posted by Swiss67

Hey Gents, just was browsing the Jayco website this morning trying to figure out what sealant is recommended to use on the TT and i saw this in the Maintenance tips section. Does anyone do that ? What sealant is best ?

On the roof, Dicor self leveling caulk and eternabond tape. On vertical surfaces ISO Quad sealant. This is the caulk the factory told me they used.

[Swiss67]

Hey Gents,
back with another sealant question, my TT is now about 1 Year old, it was outside the whole time, sealant is still looking good on the roof, but the only place where it doesn't look that great is on the roof of the slide out, there is a black tape looking seal which started to lift the side, wonder what that is, and if the lap sealant or Eternabond tape would be ok to be put on top of that ?

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by wags999

On the roof, Dicor self leveling caulk and eternabond tape. On vertical surfaces ISO Quad sealant. This is the caulk the factory told me they used.

And once you use Eternabond you will never have to worry about it again.

[Swiss67]

Hey All, so it lasted almost 2 years but last Month when I moved the slide in the black tape finally came off in pieces and it stuck to the rubber seal of the slide when I closed the slide, it was so bad that the slide would trip when trying to open due to the sticky tape being caught by the rubber seal of the slide. I cleaned the rubber seal as good as I could and applied thermabond over the original black seal of the slide after cleaning the loose pieces of the original tape. Hope this will hold up better than the original tape

[RedHorse1]

Eternabond tape is an amazing product. I’ve had a couple of pesky leaks in the 5th but once I put down the E-bond - none. Every edge and hole in the membrane gets the “treatment”.
Grumpy has it right, use it and done.

[LexGator]

I’m confused and can’t find the definitive answer on what roof material is used on the Jayflight series TT (2019 212QB SLX). No love on the web and the YouTube videos make me think it is TPO since it is white on top and gray on the bottom. However it has the pebble finish which some videos say is Alpha. Any advice? I want to use the correct products. Thanks