Leak

[Celeste]

Hi all,

I'm back after a winter hiatus of not really thinking nearly enough about restoring my trailer. But now that Spring is here, and I'm intending to use my 1977 Scamp quite a bit this summer, I am back to working on it when I can.

I have discovered a couple of small leaks, which correspond right to where I had some damage to the plywood floor. I did the best I could with the floor by removing the worst of the damaged layers of plywood (not all the way through, of course), then pouring a good deal of wood hardener over those areas, and then filling in the areas with Bondo brand fiberglass filler. That has worked well. The areas are pretty small, and under where the benches go. (The benches are currently on my porch.) But now I can see when it rains that I am getting very small trickles of water down the interior walls and the water collects right where the plywood was damaged.

My theory is that the leaking is coming from the belly band. A friend is going to come over some day soon and we are going to try to figure it out with a hose.

Any advice on how to fix any leaks that I do discover? I am thinking that I will remove the old, brittle caulk and then recaulk around the belly band.

Thanks for whatever advice and wisdom anyone has!

[john warren]

my bet is windows not belly band

[Celeste]

The windows are out, and the openings are thoroughly covered with plastic. And the leaks are clearly in the same place they were in before I removed the windows. That's why I am thinking that it is the belly band.

[RRJR]

I had a few leaks around the b/band of my 75 Trillium and it was coming away from the body in spots. I found a few of the rivits had rusted and let go. I cleaned all the space behind the band as much as possible, left the r/rivits in place, laid a good caulk (not silicone) behind and drilled and add more new rivits. This pulled the b/band tight again and the access caulk I removed. I will lay a small new band of caulk (good rubberized type) along the top of b/band and hopefully this should seal all.

Ron

[Donna D.]

Fortunately if it's a leak at the belly band you won't be dealing with rusted backing plates like on a Trillium. The two halves of a Scamp are "supposed" to be fiberglassed together and the belly band (which is "U" shaped) is riveted over the lip.