water damage

[GerthT]

I am looking at a Scamp trailer with side bathroom. Apparently there was a leak around the window and there's now some water stains/discoloration on the bathroom walls (three of the 4...not the door side). See photo (hope I attached that properly). How big a concern is this? The owner checked under the floor...the particle board showed now sign of problems. I'm trying to determine what caused the stains. The exterior wall is just the inside of the fiberglass right? How about the interior walls. Should I be concerned that there's damage inside the wall? Mold? Is this something that can just be painted over? Want to make sure I'm not buying something that I'll be sorry for later! Any advice/guidance would be appreciated!

[Donna D.]

Ity, bity picture Tom. But, as long as the floor is good (check underneath both forward and aft of the bathroom) the stain alone isn't a real concern. And yes, just like ensolite it can be painted. I'd work hard to try and remove the stain first though. YMMV

[Carol H]

It is a tiny photo for my old eyes. ;-)
What year is the Scamp? Does it have a laminate type wall covering on the bathroom wall under the window?

I had the bathroom window on my Scamp start to leak on a very rainy 4 day trip. By the time I got home the water had gotten between the Laminate/wall covering and the fiberglass outside shell. It did cause a small area of only about 4" x 2" to discolor as your photo shows due to the water getting behind the wall covering. When I took the window out to fix it I was able to see down a little bit between the wall covering and the fiberglass (only in the area that was discolored) enough to see that mold was not an issue. As I said that was in my own situation yours may be different. I on first finding the leak did attempt to cover it up as much as possible while still camping to prevent to much water from entering so I know it did not take a while lot of water to get between the bathroom liner and the fiberglass to cause such a stain on the wall. Due to the fiberglass shower pan it makes it hard to determine if there is any serious floor damage without removing the shower pan but as Donna suggests take a look under the trailer to see if the floor is stained - if it is that would be a pretty good indicator that a fair amount of water did get into the trailer.

In regards to the stains on the two walls that do not have a window on I would suggests its more likely they were caused by a leak in the rivet on the roof and not the window. Water leaking in via a roof rivet will travel between the roof and insulation and show up as a stain on the side wall rather than the roof. Did the owner replace the roof rivets as well?

[GerthT]

Thanks Carol for the info. The Scamp is a 1990 model. I haven't seen it yet in person, so I can't tell what the wall material is made of. I'm trying to determine if it's even worth looking at! The camper is otherwise in very good condition. If there's insulation between the wall and the exterior, based on the stain pattern, it appears water could have impacted the insulation, then it "ran" to the corner and in. All of the staining on the fore and aft walls is only like 3-5" from the exterior wall.

[Donna D.]

Tom, if the shower interior outside wall material is like the stuff in my 1988, it's a really pubbley (is that a word?) ensolite-like material, I wish it were smooth... better yet wish it were laminate. But, it has insulation properties (closed cell foam) which is nice on a cold morning.