Imagine my surprise at finding rotting flooring underneath the back dinette area of my "practically new"
Scamp.
A little bit of history, I purchased a 2002
Scamp two years ago from a man who had used it only twice before selling it. It was it pristine condition except for the two patched holes where the previous owner made a mistake attaching the
awning. The patches looked good and there was no evidence of any water
leaks from the holes.
I've been very careful to watch all the rivet covers and have re-caulked them when needed. I've used the camper with my family at least a dozen times since then, sometimes staying weeks at a time with no problem. This recent trips was a little different, though. We had rain every night for almost a week and the camper began to smell a little "wet", if you know what I mean. I chalked it up to being lived in with the
windows closed for too long so I just opened the
windows and aired it out when I got home. It didn't get any better, though.
So, it was a detective job finding where the source was coming from. I finally found out and I'm sharing this with all of you so you don't make the same mistake I made.
When getting a new camper, check out every single possible source for a leak, whether it looks obvious or not. In this case it was several sources. The leak was coming firstly from the rubber latch down of the
awning when not secured to the ground. One side had the rubber gasket attached (no leak) the other side was missing it's gasket and there was no caulk around the seam or in the screw holes. The next source was the rear
lights, one side had caulking in the screw holes (but no gasket, we got lucking on that side since there was no leak there) the other did not have any caulking or rubber gasket and it did leak.
So, don't assume that the person who owned your camper did a good job of weather proofing the outside of your camper.