Factory caulk..........BAD!

[TonyCO]

I’m actually amazed at how bad the caulk looks on my brand new trailer. I understand these things are thrown together as fast as possible, but the caulking around the doors and windows is unbelievable. It seriously looks like my 10 year old and his friends decided to get into the RV business.

Am I crazy to rip it out and start fresh? Everything appears to be sealed, but aesthetically it is just wrong. Should I just get through and enjoy our first season or start working now? If I do go to work what kind of caulk should I use. Thanks!

[Johnny Lightning]

One word "Warranty". That would stop me, but you're not me.

[TonyCO]

Originally Posted by Johnny Lightning

One word "Warranty". That would stop me, but you're not me.

Make them replace it under warranty or don’t touch it until after two year warranty is up? Sorry if I’m being thick headed.

[Tunce the traveler]

It’s probably just fine because they use a butyl tape around all the windows & doors and you can’t see it but it’s under the flanges. Give us a few pictures in case I’m wrong.

[NewBlackDak]

Originally Posted by TonyCO

Make them replace it under warranty or don’t touch it until after two year warranty is up? Sorry if I’m being thick headed.

If it’s doing the intended job, I doubt a dealership would do anything about it. I wouldn’t touch it until the warranty is up in the off chance that it’s so sloppy it does start to leak.

[Tinyhse]

Time to check all your sealants. Even though its new!!
Get on the roof and check the self leveling product around all the protrusions.
A little touch up may only be needed.
I use Dicor self leveling on the roof.
Pro-Flex Rv on Vertical seams.
Do not even attempt to remove the vertical sealant.
As previous poster said it is installed before all the trim is installed.
Just make sure there are no cracks or gaps.

[wags999]

Originally Posted by TonyCO

I’m actually amazed at how bad the caulk looks on my brand new trailer. I understand these things are thrown together as fast as possible, but the caulking around the doors and windows is unbelievable. It seriously looks like my 10 year old and his friends decided to get into the RV business.

Am I crazy to rip it out and start fresh? Everything appears to be sealed, but aesthetically it is just wrong. Should I just get through and enjoy our first season or start working now? If I do go to work what kind of caulk should I use. Thanks!

Is this really the hill you want to die on? You touch it you own it from a warranty standpoint. It's your rv do what you want, but as others have said, I would not touch it and I doubt the dealer will touch it either.



You may of had better luck bringing it up at your PDI, it hasn't changed.




Good Luck.

[putz]

I had the same problem on my 2019 Jayco Octane. What I did
on the soft caulk was take a flat stick & pushed it into the crack
as much as possible.
Jayco just runs a bead on the outside some times missing the molding.

[michael.g]

If it were me, I'd take pictures of the bad caulking and bring them to the dealer's service center. Let them decide if they want to redo the caulking. I would be concerned 18 months from now, there'd be a leak and the dealer would claim the caulk should have been maintained better.

If you show them the pictures, have them sign and date them. If they give you a hard time 18 months from now, you have the pictures proving that the service center was okay with the caulking from the factory.

-Michael

[Scott_Trailer_Newbe]

It's not just Jayco. My neighbor has a 28' fiberglass Sonoma with fiberglass walls and standard windows. They must have used 100 lb. of sealer around the glass frames. I've seen some stick and tin trailers that look the same. They sure look like they won't leak but it looks pretty bad.

I specifically chose the White Hawk line because all windows are flush mounted, so no sealer.

[Siamese]

When I bought my 26BH in 2017, I went in knowing that there would be a lot of things that were done poorly, or not at all, and I would have to fix them.

It had some very bad sealant on the roof. I removed it all and replaced it with Eternabond tape.

No cover over the bathroom roof vent? How am I supposed to use it if it rains. Fixed that.

The queen bed and the rear bunk were both poorly constructed and I had to rebuild them.

The bushings they use in the suspension are junk, and I plan on replacing them all this spring.

No big deal. It's just the way it is. The things I've fixed have been easier to do than going to my storage facility, hooking up the trailer, and taking it to the dealer. And, I know it's been done right.

If your window caulking fails and you have water damage, is that covered by your warranty? With the roof, if you don't maintain the sealant, it's not covered under warranty. Isn't that the same with the windows?

The sealant on my storage compartments looks good, but there is no sealant around my windows...just the compressed foam. I'm going to be adding sealant on top of that this spring.

I would definitely not rely on there being butyl tape on the flanges of any windows or compartments.

Jayco makes products that are built to a price by using shoddy materials and poor workmanship. I could let it gall me that they win every time I make a repair that could be covered by warranty, or I can be happy that some simple fixes I perform rectify most of the problems.

[TonyCO]

Thank you all for your responses. I agree Siamese, I had my eyes wide open when I bought this trailer (2nd trailer, first stick and tin). I wasn’t expecting perfection, but as was posted earlier my last trailer too had frameless windows which appear to be a lot nicer looking. I also agree the dealer will look at it and say it’s performing as it should so I won’t even bother talking to them about it (plus I would expect their fix to look as bad as the factory job). I’ll keep an eye on it this season and maybe get after it in the fall. Thanks again for all of your help.

[Crabman]

I agree with others about checking the roof caulking. I had to add a tube of Dicor to mine right after I brought it home as I was not happy with some of their work. I regularly inspect the roof for caulking or tears in the membrane.

[curver900]

If you are just going to clean it up and make it look nice I seriously doubt it would void your warranty... and if there are leaks in the trailer in the warranty period you'll notice that about the time it runs out.

I would go around and clean it up... does your warranty cover calking? You'll have to read the fine fine fine print... me I would just get it done right, because if I didn't and it leaked and I had to hand it over to them for 3 or 4 months I would be pissed at myself... good luck on your decision...

[jasum]

Originally Posted by TonyCO

I’m actually amazed at how bad the caulk looks on my brand new trailer. I understand these things are thrown together as fast as possible, but the caulking around the doors and windows is unbelievable. It seriously looks like my 10 year old and his friends decided to get into the RV business.

Am I crazy to rip it out and start fresh? Everything appears to be sealed, but aesthetically it is just wrong. Should I just get through and enjoy our first season or start working now? If I do go to work what kind of caulk should I use. Thanks!

Don't pick on your kids like that.........they could do a much better caulk job than comes on these trailers!!

BTW some of the dealers CANNOT caulk either.........want it done right, you will have to do it yourself.

[spoon059]

What makes it look so terrible? If its just excessive caulk, use a plastic putty knife and cut it away. I'm guessing its actually butyl tape, applied around the doors and windows and when the doors/windows were tightened, the excess squeezed out a little.


Solution is still the same.

[TonyCO]

Yeah same solution either way. No, I don’t think it’s the butyl, it’s just caulk. It looks like they never ran their finger over it. Just pumped a glob and dragged it with the top over and over.

[WinnieView]

Originally Posted by TonyCO

Yeah same solution either way. No, I don’t think it’s the butyl, it’s just caulk. It looks like they never ran their finger over it. Just pumped a glob and dragged it with the top over and over.

That's pretty shoddy work and not too attractive looking either.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by TonyCO

Yeah same solution either way. No, I don’t think it’s the butyl, it’s just caulk. It looks like they never ran their finger over it. Just pumped a glob and dragged it with the top over and over.

Wow, and I thought mine looked bad. Yours must’ve been a Monday or Friday shift.

[TonyCO]

Ha! Yeah that’s why I posted this thread. It’s just straight up ugly. It’s actually disgraceful. It will take time and elbow grease, but at least it’s something I can do myself and make it right.