Mysterious, impossible leak!

[David Tilston]

Dollars to doughnuts your belly band is leaking. No amount of calking will fix this. Take a look at some belly band threads:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ead-58763.html
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ead-59580.html
The leak from a belly band is not from the rivet. It is as a result of the pocket that the metal plates are in. Water collects in the lower pocket and when the weather gets cold, it freezes and expands. This rips the pocket ever so slightly larger. The next year even more water collects….. Eventually the pocket ruptures into the interior of the trailer, under the Ensolite. The fix is not easy, but it can be fixed.
Ahh... I see you have already considered this. Do you have any pictures of the belly band, (without the aluminum) in that area?

[miarosa]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

Dollars to doughnuts your belly band is leaking. No amount of calking will fix this. Take a look at some belly band threads:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ead-58763.html
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...ead-59580.html
The leak from a belly band is not from the rivet. It is as a result of the pocket that the metal plates are in. Water collects in the lower pocket and when the weather gets cold, it freezes and expands. This rips the pocket ever so slightly larger. The next year even more water collects….. Eventually the pocket ruptures into the interior of the trailer, under the Ensolite. The fix is not easy, but it can be fixed.

Yeah. I sealed up the belly band. My last resort, is ripping out the window, again. If it doesn't fix it, I admit defeat Lol

[dora D]

Years ago my 2000 Scamp developed a leak and I discovered that water had leaked down the interior wall and onto the floor in the side closet, thus the flooring had become soft. I used the garden hose method to try to find it but to no avail. I considered removing all of the caulking in the belly band and re-doing it as well. But decided to try one more thing first. I grabbed a bucket of water and a turkey baster. The turkey baster allowed me to test smaller areas in order to isolate where the leak was coming from.

Using this method, which is a bit more tedious, I was able to find the exact location of the leak, it was coming in through a rivet that was located on the side of the belly band where the band turns into the door opening as an attachment point. So it was "protected by the door when the door was closed and the trailer tongue was a bit lower than the rear. However if the tongue was a bit higher then the rain is directed towards this area. Water would enter around and on top of the rivet and then flow back, running a couple of feet until it ran down the inside wall behind the bubble wrap and out onto the closet floor.

So, I applied some clear caulking over the rivet and on top of the band and walla, no more leak. Hope this helps and I've included a picture of the area that caused me so much grief to find.

[IMG]<a href="https://imgur.com/M59wtjB"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/M59wtjB.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://imgur.com/AJKpEwc"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/AJKpEwc.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>[/IMG]

[dora D]

Originally Posted by miarosa

After redoing my entire 74 Trillium, it seems there is now suddenly a new leak. Water will pool on the seat, coming from Behind the insulation and dripping onto the seat.

I have done:
-The window was just recently resealed with butyl tape.
-The wood around the window never feels damp at all.
-The marine headliner covering the reflectix insulation never has any water dripping down it.
-All screws on the window were double checked to make sure they were tightened.
-There is no water entering by the read headlight or the small runner light.
-I caulked the rivets in the belly band, still leaked.
-Removed the belly band, it is now fiberglassed over with epoxy+glass mat, covered with fiberglass bondo. Shockingly, the belly band gap was already filled in when i took it off! So I thought it was just the rivet holes, many missing, that was the cause. The leak is muchhh lessened now, as I rightfully assumed most was from the belly band holes. But it is still dripping onto the seat.
-Did water test with water below the belly band. Still leaks.
-Ripped up the insulation to about 6" from the seat. It appears to only be damp about 3" up. Fiberglassed the crap out of the wall 6"above the seat, and 6" below the seat, because i'm about to set the camper on fire and I'm out of ideas.

Is it possible that in some insane way water is leaking THROUGH the wall? There are no holes on the outside, I just sanded and painted it weeks ago. There are no visible cracks or anything to indicate a spot for water to enter. The water appears to enter the camper wherever on earth it is coming from, moves down the wall Behind the insulation, drips out onto the seat, and along the wall below in the cubby, on the pontoon, on the floor.

Could the seat pull away from the wall and cause some stress cracks? Something has to give. I'm insistent on solving this.

I had a similar problem with water leaking in and forming puddles on the floor of my side closet of my 16' Scamp. Using the garden hose method didn't help since I couldn't pinpoint the area of leakage. So, I filled a bucket with water and used a turkey baster in order to isolate the area. It took me awhile since I knew it could be anywhere on that side of the trailer, but using this method I was able to find the leak and correct it.

The area, as shown in the attached pictures, was right where the belly band takes an inward turn towards the door and attaches. There's a rivet there that was allowing water to leak in depending how the nose or tongue of the trailer was oriented. I applied some clear caulk over and around this rivet, including where it butts up to the door latch and walla, the leak was gone. The water had traveled into the rivet and ran behind the bubble wrap insulation before dropping down the wall and into the closet floor. Hope this helps and you find your leak as it can be a tedious search.