Boler 17' water, mold and squishy floor!

[marlaannyoung]

I'm so distressed! Opened up our Boler 17" yesterday and found water, mold and the floor is squishy in front to the bathroom door and under the dinette. Pulled up the flooring and all of the sub floor is wet in the front half. Mold is growing on the ensolite under the dinette bench on the door side. At a loss of how to proceed to find the infiltration point and how to fix the floor and moldy ensolite. HELP!

[gordon2]

This is why I check my camper at least once a week. Can't help you now but for others, it is good to find any problem like this before it gets too bad.

[TimR]

The mold on the ensolite can be killed with a bleach spray. If the black coloring remains you can also paint over it. As for the floor, if the wood subfloor has soaked up the water, it will be no easy task to replace the wood. If it is only squishy because there is a water build up on top of the wood, then it might be ok once it is properly dried out and again treated with bleach.

The biggest problem is figuring out where the water came from. A leaky ceiling fan/vent would be suspect to me, but don't discount how much can build up and then drip down from simple condensation inside. I have a few containers of dri-zee air in mine to combat that as well as a bag of charcoal.

Hope that helps
T

[John in Michigan]

Yes, the first priority and biggest challenge is tracking down and fixing all of the leaks. Of our three FGRVs, our Boler 17 has been the most challenging. First we bought a cover and have been using it continuously, then we fixed the leaks (99% done with this), then patched a couple of rotted spots in the floor AND replaced the bolts holding the body to frame. ... and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.

Leaks in our Boler 17:

- removed and re-sealed all of the windows; cleaned all of the window tracks/weep holes; replaced rubber gaskets
- replaced rear roof vent; resealed front roof vent
- replaced power port (and upgraded the system to 30 amp shore power)

Still a few more exterior fixtures to re-seal and need to re-seal the door frame, but at this point the trailer is pretty much leak-free when we do garden hose testing, as well as when using it in the rain.

[John in Michigan]

We actually bought our Boler 17 on a very rainy day. We spent 2 or 3 hours checking it over and under. So we knew about all the leak problems and the small amount of floor rot, etc. when we bought it ...

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by marlaannyoung

I'm so distressed! Opened up our Boler 17" yesterday and found water, mold and the floor is squishy in front to the bathroom door and under the dinette. Pulled up the flooring and all of the sub floor is wet in the front half. Mold is growing on the ensolite under the dinette bench on the door side. At a loss of how to proceed to find the infiltration point and how to fix the floor and moldy ensolite. HELP!

You may have to pull all the seats out and get all the flooring out of the trailer. Then let it dry real good with fans, etc. Get a good anti-microbial product to spray on the moldy and other areas. We had a flood in our house in December and had to prevent any mold growth. We got a product called concrobium Mold Control. We got it at Home Depot for about $8-10 for a quart. It was in the paint department. It also helped with the musty smell. Simple to use. Just spray on and let dry. I sprayed in under our sink vanity 3 times to make sure it didn't let any mold grow. It is a mold stopper and killer. Wish we'd known about this when we had mold in an old trailer that I bleached. This is much safer to use. After this you could paint the ensolite with Kilz since it stops stuff also. This is what we did when we had the problem in our trailer. Can't paint until all the wood is dry though. The Mold Control can be sprayed on the wet wood.

[John in Michigan]

In our Boler 17 "project' described above, we removed the rear bench and removed all of the crappy paper backed vinyl flooring that was actually trapping moisture in the plywood. Then we let the plywood subfloor dry out for a couple of months before cutting out the rotted areas and patching. Then we installed a layer of interlocking foam rubber tiles. Works great. We've camped a couple of times in Boler 17. Also still using the Trillium 4500 for other trips. We look forward to using the Boler 17 more this year.

[thrifty bill]

Somehow, some way, get it under cover ASAP. A garage is best, carport is second best. Some cover is third choice. Assuming you live on the wet side of WA state, you are not going to get much of a break rain wise. Once the trailer is secure, you can start drying it out and then test for the various possible leak sources. Plumbing and any penetration through the shell are the two most likely: windows, vents, anything. Assuming it has been stored for a while, plumbing is less likely.

Water is your enemy and can do some serious damage. If you have power nearby, I'd get a dehumidifier in there too.

[john hackert]

Its a little late now but I think it is important to cover the trailer roof with a good tarp. A tarp will deteriorate in a couple of years as it is exposed to UV but that is UV damage that is not occurring to the roof of your trailer. Some of these trailer are 30 years old and that means the fiberglass has deteriorated a lot.

[Eric Frye]

I put a new floor in mine and patched all the drain holes in the fiberglass below the floor then moved it out from under the carport to do some more work. After a good rain storm I found that it was really leaking at the belt trim were the top and bottom are joined together. Fortunately for me the camper is gutted so nothing was damaged.

[ststefan]

Our 17' Boler leaked at both ends. The front table screws went into the belly band and water seeped in along the screws. It was the same at the rear gaucho.
I fiberglassed wood blocks to the walls so the screws go into it and not the belly band. I've had no more leaks since.

[James does]

On my Trillium which was severely moldy after being exposed to the elements after a tree crushed it. I used Spray nine and a stiff brush to scrub it. After that I could still smell the mold. I then used an Ozone generator and a fan to circulate the air. I did two treatment of two hours and now smells clean and fresh. It was still stained so I panited the entire interior. Picture are in the Gallery look for the Grey and white Trillium with the storage box upfront

I also added 3" vents to the lower area to improve air circulation and added a solar powered vent in the roof.

These trailers have to be allowed to breath. But also Have to keep the water out

[Rscotta]

Concrobium Mold control is the best.

[k corbin]

Where in Washington state are you? If you are in Seattle I will come over and see if I can help you track down the origin of the leak. Fortunately there is a finite number of possiblities, so we will look, think it through and look some more. Then when we identify it figure out the way to stop the leak.

[Bolerpete]

All good ideas. I own a boler 17 and have replaced and patched spongy sections of the floor with fibreglass wrapped plywood. I have replaced my roof vents, done the rubber and butyl tape on all windows, vents, and hatches, taken off the belly band and polished it, including reglassing the butt joint under the belly band. All of these projects are easy to do but just take some time. Don’t be worried, it is just a bit of time.
I do want to mention that if the gray water is quite full and you are towing it, the water can move along the pipes and go up the shower floor drain. If this drain has not been replaced including rubber washers, etc., the gray water may slosh up the drain and between the fibreglass bathroom bottom and the subfloor. Over time(possibly many years) this can cause dry rot in this area and in my experience WAS the cause for sponginess in my boler. I did replace this drain properly with the parts at vintagetrailersupply.com and I always travel with a drain plug tightly in place.
Just another suggestion for you as I heard that the problem was around the bathroom floor area. Good luck!
Bolerpete

[k corbin]

Looks like they figured out what they wanted to do about it.


She posted the plea for help on Feb 24th and has not been back to the forum since Feb 24th.


Not much point in talking to someone who is not around anymore. Especially if they did not bother to follow the thread where they asked for help.