Front Cap Issue - Help

[HollywoodGT]

So this was the first winter my 2009 Journey 39Z stayed outside. Ther have been no leaks in the coach actually it is pretty clean. It was parked in a downward angle in my drive and the past two days the snow startede to melt. I went in to check the unit and the stair mat was soaked. It was coming form a corner cabinet.

So I got up shoveled the snow off and took some plumber puddy to seee if the leak stopped which it did. There is a little gap between the roof abd cap going down the side. Like the top came loose a bit. I even have some caps that were covering up the screw holes seem to pop out.

My question is does anyone know if there is wood or metal there? I think I will hadd some screws then mask off a line so I can run sealer on the roof and the cap. This will be about 2" wide but wilol be a nice clean line. If I add screws it will cover them up

[neub]

On our 2005 journey both sides eventually opened up in the same area. I cleaned underneath and inserted 3M5200 between the separation and then used 4 or 5 stainless steel screws to pull it back together. Let the 5200 dry for about a week, removed the screws, filled the holes and touched up the paint. Still bonded tight after 5 years.

[youracman]

Originally Posted by HollywoodGT

So this was the first winter my 2009 Journey 39Z stayed outside. Ther have been no leaks in the coach actually it is pretty clean. It was parked in a downward angle in my drive and the past two days the snow startede to melt. I went in to check the unit and the stair mat was soaked. It was coming form a corner cabinet.

So I got up shoveled the snow off and took some plumber puddy to seee if the leak stopped which it did. There is a little gap between the roof abd cap going down the side. Like the top came loose a bit. I even have some caps that were covering up the screw holes seem to pop out.

My question is does anyone know if there is wood or metal there? I think I will hadd some screws then mask off a line so I can run sealer on the roof and the cap. This will be about 2" wide but wilol be a nice clean line. If I add screws it will cover them up

Not sure about how to determine/verify that there is metal behind there. I'm thinking a real strong modern magnet might work? Hmmmm, maybe not.....if it is aluminum. Don't know how a stud finder would behave ..... might work.

Here is a video where the guy uses the same technique as neub used, I "think". If you watch a few of his videos, you I believe you will agree he surely is an "expert" ............ he works where the "rubber meets the road and has many years of experience. A lot of the vid covers the fact that the coach he is working on suffers from being "short sheeted" re the width of the filon on the roof .......... others have had this problem also, but not a lot of them, thankfully. That is, the fiberglass (filon) does not extend far enough into the channel/awning rail to get adequate surface contact with the adhesive sealant (that keeps the roof in place.) He does cover the issue (or similar issue?) you have in one or more places on the video....but he doesn't say "how" he verified that there was metal back there to screw into. Guess the devil is in the details, as they say. Hope this helps some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPoGxxNEtnk&t=291s

Be safe.

[HollywoodGT]

Originally Posted by youracman

Not sure about how to determine/verify that there is metal behind there. I'm thinking a real strong modern magnet might work? Hmmmm, maybe not.....if it is aluminum. Don't know how a stud finder would behave ..... might work.

Here is a video where the guy uses the same technique as neub used, I "think". If you watch a few of his videos, you I believe you will agree he surely is an "expert" ............ he works where the "rubber meets the road and has many years of experience. A lot of the vid covers the fact that the coach he is working on suffers from being "short sheeted" re the width of the filon on the roof .......... others have had this problem also, but not a lot of them, thankfully. That is, the fiberglass (filon) does not extend far enough into the channel/awning rail to get adequate surface contact with the adhesive sealant (that keeps the roof in place.) He does cover the issue (or similar issue?) you have in one or more places on the video....but he doesn't say "how" he verified that there was metal back there to screw into. Guess the devil is in the details, as they say. Hope this helps some.

Be safe.

Most excellent pretty much what I was thinking. Now I can see where he put the screws> Now I am wondering because I have gromments up there and plugs

[Journey39n]

I first learned about the front cap overlapping the roof fiberglass sheet on our 2003 Horizon, a small leak one winter, with snow melting. Cleaned out the failed section and used the 3M 5200 adhesive caulk to repair, never saw another problem even in the pounding rain in the Seattle area.

Over our 10 years in this RV, there have been rare, small leaks in the front, traced back to the front cap joint and one front radius joint. I have patched the 4 corner radius joints, and occasional spots on the front cap joint, as well as a few spots that have failed along the side edges.

These last three weeks, the RV is now 11 years old, I did a through job of removing the old, and replacing all with the Winnebago recommended material, 4 corners, front cap, and most of the side edge joints. Yes, it was a bit of a job, but I am very happy it is done, and expect many years without problems in the future.

Remember, these joints are meant to move a bit with the flexing of the RV, so using the correct type of caulking is important, screws in the wrong places will spell disaster. I do wonder though, if the newish Flex-Seal stuff advertised all over the TV channels wouldn't solve the problems for all the joints.

[HollywoodGT]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience. I believe this leak showed up because of the angle in which the coach was. I dug out the old sealant and injected the areas needed. I then took some masking tape and made a even 1.5" line where the top and front cover meet. Then let it set up peel off the tape and it was a clean line of sealant. Another thing I noticed was a few per say bubbles over where I believe the roof cross members are. I did a lot of reading and was told it was normal as long as it doesn't spread. So I will keep a eye on that how ever there are no signs of leaks