Water Leak

[MrSaxy]

Back in May we purchased our 2018 Jayco Jayflight 21QB. The previous owners were a couple about 80 yoa and they were very nice. The gentleman commented they had kept it under an RV carport and the only time it sat outside was when they were using it. On our first trip, it came a hard rain and we noticed water coming out from between the outer wall and floor just in front of the front passenger side window. I checked the window seal and everything looked good but I cleaned the excess butyl seal and used geocell sealant per Jayco’s recommendation to seal the upper and both sides of the window. It still leaked. I then resealed around the door and all outside “entrance” points. Still leaked. I looked at the awning and everything looked good. I tightened the screws holding the windows to their inner frames, still leaked. Today I decided to do a close inspection of the roof line and awning mounting points. I noticed a loose plastic cover inside the uppermost front awning mount where the wires go into the trailer. I pulled off the loose plastic cover and found that the hole the wires fed into was completely open and no sealant at all. I filled that hole in with copious amounts of geocell and put the cover back on and sealed it too. 30 minutes after I finished it began a very hard rain. It is still raining but when it lets up I am going to check my handy work. Crossing my fingers.

[MrSaxy]

The rain finally stopped and I checked my handy work….. NO LEAK !!!! WooHoo !!! Time to plan our next camping trip!

[Jopopsy]

Its great when you find the problem and fix it yourself isn't it?

[DBuley]

Dry your camper out well with dehumidifier!!! We had same issue in 2018 keystone, by time we figured out where leak was from, water damaged slide wall and floor around the near the door. Camper was eventually totalled.

[MrSaxy]

I went ahead and pulled the wall open to let it dry out. Not too big of a job, then placed a battery operated fan blowing on the area. After it dries out, I will apply some mold killer even though I do not see evidence of any. Actually, no evidence of long term water damage. We plan to keep this TT for a long time, so it is worth the extra steps.

[LuckyDuck]

Congrats on finding that! There’s nothing worse than tracking down water leaks. It continues to amaze (and frustrate) me how workers can be so careless. Great post, though. I just looked at mine (same rig) and it looks like it has a pretty good seal there. Not that there aren’t enough other flaws...

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by MrSaxy

Back in May we purchased our 2018 Jayco Jayflight 21QB. The previous owners were a couple about 80 yoa and they were very nice. The gentleman commented they had kept it under an RV carport and the only time it sat outside was when they were using it. On our first trip, it came a hard rain and we noticed water coming out from between the outer wall and floor just in front of the front passenger side window. I checked the window seal and everything looked good but I cleaned the excess butyl seal and used geocell sealant per Jayco’s recommendation to seal the upper and both sides of the window. It still leaked. I then resealed around the door and all outside “entrance” points. Still leaked. I looked at the awning and everything looked good. I tightened the screws holding the windows to their inner frames, still leaked. Today I decided to do a close inspection of the roof line and awning mounting points. I noticed a loose plastic cover inside the uppermost front awning mount where the wires go into the trailer. I pulled off the loose plastic cover and found that the hole the wires fed into was completely open and no sealant at all. I filled that hole in with copious amounts of geocell and put the cover back on and sealed it too. 30 minutes after I finished it began a very hard rain. It is still raining but when it lets up I am going to check my handy work. Crossing my fingers.

Thanks to you, MrSaxy, I checked the front awning arm and, guess what? While most of that hole had globs of black caulk around the wires, there is still an open dime-sized hole with no sealant. It’s pretty protected in the rain and covered when the awning arm is up. But I’ll fill it. Question: did you plug the hole with something before caulking it? That’s a lot of hole to fill!

Thanks for sharing your discovery. Every 212QB owner should check this.

[MrSaxy]

I actually dug through my “stash” of stuff I keep thinking I might need something in the future and found a grommet that fit the opening pretty good, I just had to open the center large enough for the wires to fit. I then split the grommet, slipped it over the wires, split side down and squeezed it into the opening. It looked pretty good then I applied liberal amounts of Geocell ProFlex sealant all over everything.

[LuckyDuck]

Great idea. Looking through my junk boxes now!

[LuckyDuck]

Used a chunk of foam pipe wrap to fill it then put Proflex over it. Didn’t leak before but it definitely won’t now. Thanks again MrSaxy.

[muckinfuss]

I want to know where you get that plastic cover. None came with my trailer.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by muckinfuss

I want to know where you get that plastic cover. None came with my trailer.

I have a plastic cover that slides up and down covering the wires on the rear awning arm. No cover on the front one where the hole was. It wouldn’t have made any difference as it is open on top and bottom. It really doesn’t do much — maybe protect the wires from getting pinched by the arm closing? I don’t expect consistent high-quality engineering on these rigs.

[muckinfuss]

Yeah, but the cool factor......

[MrSaxy]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

I have a plastic cover that slides up and down covering the wires on the rear awning arm. No cover on the front one where the hole was. It wouldn’t have made any difference as it is open on top and bottom. It really doesn’t do much — maybe protect the wires from getting pinched by the arm closing? I don’t expect consistent high-quality engineering on these rigs.

That plastic cover was the reason I did not see the hole initially. Once I started taking stuff out I discovered the gaping hole. Once I filled the hole in I placed the cover back over it and filled in all around the cover to make sure the area was sealed off. If I ever need to access that area in the future I will deal with it then.

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by MrSaxy

Back in May we purchased our 2018 Jayco Jayflight 21QB. The previous owners were a couple about 80 yoa and they were very nice. The gentleman commented they had kept it under an RV carport and the only time it sat outside was when they were using it. On our first trip, it came a hard rain and we noticed water coming out from between the outer wall and floor just in front of the front passenger side window. I checked the window seal and everything looked good but I cleaned the excess butyl seal and used geocell sealant per Jayco’s recommendation to seal the upper and both sides of the window. It still leaked. I then resealed around the door and all outside “entrance” points. Still leaked. I looked at the awning and everything looked good. I tightened the screws holding the windows to their inner frames, still leaked. Today I decided to do a close inspection of the roof line and awning mounting points. I noticed a loose plastic cover inside the uppermost front awning mount where the wires go into the trailer. I pulled off the loose plastic cover and found that the hole the wires fed into was completely open and no sealant at all. I filled that hole in with copious amounts of geocell and put the cover back on and sealed it too. 30 minutes after I finished it began a very hard rain. It is still raining but when it lets up I am going to check my handy work. Crossing my fingers.

Good find. That will save you a lot of grief.

[Stever71]

Had the exact same issue with my Whitehawk. Except the awning wires come into my front closet.
We always found my clothes damp and one of the shelves was swollen.
After getting my wife to take the garden hose to the front side of the trailer...sure enough water was coming in where the wires go through.
I filled the dime size hole with caulk and fixed the problem.
I just assumed jayco forgot to seal this up.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by Stever71

Had the exact same issue with my Whitehawk. Except the awning wires come into my front closet.
We always found my clothes damp and one of the shelves was swollen.
After getting my wife to take the garden hose to the front side of the trailer...sure enough water was coming in where the wires go through.
I filled the dime size hole with caulk and fixed the problem.
I just assumed jayco forgot to seal this up.

It sounds like they “forgot” on every single trailer. Good thing they didn’t forget to wire up the brakes!

[29BHS ECO]

Just as an FYI the front upper marker light needs a new butyl seal after a few years--ask me I know