I discovered water inside the walls of our
Lil Snoozy.
We are converting the jackknife sofa to a foam-cushion sofa with removable plywood floor so we can more easily get to storage under the sofa area. As part of that process I was adding screws in the wooden strip that goes along the back of the sofa platform. I predrilled the holes with a 1/8" bit before installing the additional screws. When I drilled one of the holes through the
fiberglass and into the foam core, water started dripping out. :-((
I drilled additional holes through the wooden strip and below it. A total of three of the holes dripped water. The first one dripped the most, saturating the wooden strip around it and a paper towel. The second hole dripped enough to saturate a paper towel and the third was only a little water. All the other holes are dry and the dust coming out of the holes was dry. On the attached photo the three numbered circles show the first three holes. All the other black dots on the wall are drill holes plus the ones in the wooden strip.
I have a plan and some questions. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.
1. The source. I don't know where the water is coming from. It could be coming from the belt line joint where I believe the raw ends of the foam core
fiberglass are covered with a trim piece, which is caulked on the top side only. It could also be coming from the window above the sofa area. I am pretty sure that
Lil Snoozy did not seal the cut edges of the window opening with epoxy before installing the window. Any water getting into the foam core there would have to pass the belt line joint, which I think is unlikely.
Questions - Does anybody know if the raw joints under the trim piece of the belt line are sealed? Are the cut edges of the window opening sealed? What does the belt line joint look like under the trim piece?
2. Extent of water infiltration. I think the amount of water in the core is minimal and I have drained a lot of it out based on all the dry test holes. I plan to use a water detector to see if I can roughly map the extent of water in the core. After reading about the limitations of water detectors used by marine surveyors to check out used boats, I am under no illusions to its usefulness, but will try it anyway. I will also use the percussion method with a brass hammer.
3. The fix.
a. I will recaulk the trim piece covering the belt line joint. It was done the night before we picked up the trailer and there are places where it looks a little sparse, including right where I found the water.
Question - Does anybody know what kind of caulk Richard used in 2017?
b. If my water detecting shows only a limited area, I will leave the drain holes and test holes open and put water-detecting paper under them. I will check them periodically to see if I fixed the problem.
c. If the area seems larger, I will pull out the water tank and drill more test/drainage holes until I have the wet area mapped out. Then add paper and monitor as before.
d. I am tempted to pull out the window and see if there is water damage to the core. If so, I will seal the raw edge of the core with epoxy and reinstall the window using butyl tape.
I have seen no evidence of any water anywhere else in the trailer despite numerous screw holes that attach the cabinetry etc., but maybe the screws mostly seal the holes so no water drips out. I have drilled other holes into the foam from the inside and have seen no water.