leaks lead to stinks

[Drew Bogner]

I went out tonight and found that my scamp13 leaked. its a 1978 but I thought i fixed the leaks. The blankets on the bed were very wet so it could be fron the vent or the side window. I love her because she is old but I hate all of the problems that I have to deal with too. I just ordered a new table and its too small too! help

[Roger H]

Drew, you don't mention where it's wet other than "the bed"... so I can only offer some general advice. First, obviously take everything wet out and dry it thoroughly. Run a fan and/or dehumidifier in the trailer for a while to make sure the floor is thoroughly dries out too.

There really aren't too many places to check. Presuming that there aren't any exterior rivets/screw caps to check in that area...

then the MOST likely cause is for the window seep drains to be plugged and the water backed up in the track, and then spilled over. Use some nylon fishing line or other stiff but flexible tool (but not abrasive or sharp) item to clean the track and seep holes thoroughly.

The second most likely is the screws/rivets on the vent. If they're not sealed, a good hard rain outside will be a gentle waterfall inside through those holes. The factory uses the dreaded silicone, and even though the silicone may appear to be in place, it may not be sealing. You have to physically touch and prod each gob on each screw/rivet to see if it's sealed or not. If you can press down on it and see water ooze out or if it's obviously loose, you need to remove the silicone, clean the area (dry it thoroughly of course) and re-seal that screw or rivet.

Less likely, but possible are the beads around the window(s) and vent.

After you've done your troubleshooting, have a second conspirator run water from a hose (not pressurized, just running) over the top of the trailer and the suspect areas and see if they still leak. That will give you a really good idea of what you're dealing with.

If it's the window seals that leak, you'll have to pull the window and re-seal it. Not a big job, just a little time-consuming to remove all of the old 'caulk'. The vent can probably just be re-sealed by cutting out the old caulk and re-caulking.

Hope that helps!

Roger

[Donna D.]

Tracking down leaks can be Fortunately, it's not hot yet so you have several ways to deal with this problem. Where is the bedding wet? Middle of the bed? Is the vent dripping straight down? Side of the bed, under a window?? My suggestion would be to get out some plastic and tape. Tape each window and vent completely to seal out all the water access areas. Then remove ONE area at a time until you track down the leak. The butyl and assorted caulks used when this trailer was manufactured is nearly 30 years old. Pulling and reinstalling a window isn't hard..but it is time consuming. The one and only leak I've had in my Scamp (knock on wood) was both the front and back window gaskets. The gaskets had shrunk until there was a gap about 1/8. When pulling through a rain storm, the wind would force water through those tiny gaps and I'd have water droplets at the gaps. Some black windshield sealer in the gaps took care of the problem...temporarily...that's lasted 3 years. I'm going to replace the gaskets this year.

The table is nothing more than a hunk of wood. When you say it's too small....what do you mean? Too narrow or too short or both? Remember, when the table is up, you still have to be able to get in the dinette. The table in my Scamp is two pieces. The main piece for when the dinette is set up and a smaller piece that butts up against the larger piece when the table is down in the bed setup.

[Gina D.]

In my 13 foot Burro, the side walls are glass, so condensation was a big issue with wet bedding. The bedding would get damp around the edges that were up against the wall. I put a layer of the blue foam used to seal sills in construction between the bed and wall. The condensation would collect behind the sill sealer and stay away from the bed.

With a Scamp, does the rat fur keep the condensation from dripping like that?

When I had my giant window emergency in Oregon last year, I was not able to pull the windows and do it correctly. I was on the road. SO... I slapped butyl on from the OUTSIDE of the window frames and used the foil butyl tape on the inside of the rings, as well as the outside. Also lined the whole lip of the roof vent with the foil tape. That stopped the leaks, but it left a mess.

The new owner knows about this, I hope he has an easy time cleaning it up.

[Pete Dumbleton]

With a Scamp this old, it's likely that it has Elephant Skin rather than Rat Fur, and some have reported ES to have condensation.

Window track (if the window slides open) is the first place I would check.

It's also possible that the seam around the trailer is leaking, but I would expect that water to be running down behind the ES, not out on the bedding.

Donna, the table on a typical Scamp 13' is one piece, formed from particle board (not OSB, I believe) with edging and faux wood covering -- Since it spans from bench to bench, if it is too small in that dimension it wouldn't work -- If too short fore and aft, a filler board could be placed behind it.

[Larry&Carrie]

I went out tonight and found that my scamp13 leaked. its a 1978 but I thought i fixed the leaks. The blankets on the bed were very wet so it could be fron the vent or the side window. I love her because she is old but I hate all of the problems that I have to deal with too. I just ordered a new table and its too small too! help

Too narrow, correct? The table in our scamp would fall thru when we got it (came with a tee-shaped prop to go under) I made a platform out of 3/4 ply wider on front by about an inch to fix this problem. (we leave bed made up all the time--sleep is more important than sitting at table to us) The reason for this is that the built in storage compartments are now further apart than when trailer was built in '86. Trailer sides have bulged. (I think this is called "Middle-Aged Spread" ) If you are determined to have a usable table, you may have to fab a table top and attach the leg to it. Larry

[Kurt in BC]

my belly band has a leak. It leaks down the ensolite and onto one of the seats causing my foam to get wet. It also runs down around the back where it hits the floor causing my peel and stick tiles to lift.

[Pete Dumbleton]

A belly band leak can be hard to find because, like a house roof leak, it comes in one place and exits another (often, the seam is covered inside with a layer of fiberglass, thereby forming a horizontal channel around the wall, so the water travels from the outer leak to a place where it can exit the channel inside).