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water may be entering the sandwich layer...

January 11, 2016, 11:26:12 pm

I bought a used 12v "Shoreline" cord reel on Craigslist. While I was drilling 4 holes to mount it to the floor of the service bay, I noticed some brown water dripping out. That was a surprise !

I haven't found the source of the leak into the void between the service bay floor and the bottom skin yet. Ideas?

I finished the job and inspected the bulkhead bolts. They appear fine. There is minimal separation between the 3 chassis segments and no 'drool' marks which would indicate a leak.

I consider drilling some weep holes to allow water to drip OUT and prevent further degradation until I find the source of the leak INTO the void.

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Re: water may be entering the sandwich layer...

Reply #1 – January 12, 2016, 12:00:05 am

Steven,
 
Make sure you have a healthy-sized piece of metal on the bottom of the coach to protect it from tightening the bolt too much and squishing your floor sandwich.
 
Also, that water source may not be right where you discovered it; leaks can be tricky devils! In general, you do not want to put extra holes into your Foretravel.
 
Trent

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Re: water may be entering the sandwich layer...

Reply #2 – January 12, 2016, 08:47:50 am

Common sources of water into sandwich (observed doing coach inspections:

1.  Spills/leaks in wet bay by far the largest source. Just generally poor house-keeping
2.  Over-tightened, too small washers on through-basement floor attachments.  Joey beds and hose reels being the prime contributors.
3.  Cracks/splits in coach bottom from striking objects-- either run over or thrown up from road debris.
4. Spills in basement other than wet bay.

All are easily upgraded to prevent future water intrusion.  Replace those too-small washers with 4" by 4" aluminum backing plates and install with a good polysulfide caulk.

Getting water out is a lot harder.  I would start by finding water proof plugs so you can drill holes in coach bottom to allow water out, use hair dryer, air, etc to dry out.  Here is a common one (from my Bulkhead article):  1 3/8" Heyco plug PN 3837 http://www.heyco.com/Hole_Plugs/product.cfm?product=Liquid-Tight-Plugs-Low-75&section=Hole_Plugs

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Re: water may be entering the sandwich layer...

Reply #3 – January 12, 2016, 10:43:44 am

You may also be getting water in from over filling your fresh water tank. The overflow runs right down the rear bulkhead.

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