Water infiltration in my trillium (not window problem)

[Johny Bg]

I have a 74 trillium 13 feet.
There's a water infiltration that seems to be originating at the joint of top and bottom part of the shell ( in the middle of the back side).
Have a look at the attached photos to better understand where the leak is located.
I have put some caulking to fix the problem, but it didn't not help.

Do you have any suggestions?

[Chris McVeigh]

Have you peeled back the black rubber strip to see if there are any loose rivets or holes in the metal band - it's easy enough to put back just start at an end by the door.

With that amount of caulking I wouldn't think water is getting in from above and I wouldn't caulk the underside

Many Trillium owners - myself included - have layered on caulking over the belly band only to find out that it was the windows afterall

In the end I replaced a few rivets along the back, used a thin line of caulking on top of the band, and resealed the windows with butyl putty

[Mike Bromley]

Both Jalousie windows on my Boler leaked. And boy was it subtle. You couldnt see it, but my bed cushions were getting damp. Then one day I noticed, more out of the corner of my eye, one droplet of water running down from one corner of the window frame inside. I jacked the trailer out of level to the back, and watched as several droplets formed and ran down.

The plywood inserts into which the window unit was fastened were acting like a sponge....they were soaking wet, and half rotten. Out the windows came, in went new plywood inserts (made of treated PWF this time) and back the windows went with new Butyl. No more damp cushions.

The belly band is not an issue, or at least on my egg. The shell halves were glassed together quite well, and the band itself seems to play only a minor role in keeping the top half fastened on.

[Joe MacDonald]

I thought my leak was from the belly band also, it turned out that the window frame was totally rotten inside and when it rained the rain went inside at the top of the window frame and ran down in-between the fibre-glass and the elephant skin , then soaked the benches and the cushions.
I carefully peeled back the ensolite, removed the window from outside, replaced the window frame, re-installed the window with butyl tape, and voila.... no more leaks.

Joe

[Mike and Sarah K]

I had the same problem. I thought that I was having the same problem and might have but have confirmed the majority of the infiltration was from the windows.

I did have some minor issues with rivets as water would get into the belly band and the previous owners at one time drilled out the old rivets throught the shell and installed new steel rivets and were leaking a little. The tell tale sign that the rivets were replaced is that you could see the holes in the ensolite at rivet spots where the drill bit went through the shell.

feel the ensoilte for bumps that would stand out more than others showing that they may have been replaced. These rivets when replaced need to be sealed from the inside. I did this with epoxy resin.

[Johny Bg]

Thank you all for your help. Now that I know the term "Belly Band" I did some research and got a lot of information.
Your comments made me doubt about the source of the water infiltration, so I did some more tests and the water definitely comes from the belly band.