ROAD TRIP !!!
Yesterday, after work, we got the fifth-wheel ready for a quick road trip. It’s not the type of road trip that anyone wants to make, but it was necessary.
Let’s go back to about the middle of this past June. We are sitting in the RV at the Sun Resort (formerly Yogi Bear) in Millbrook, IL during a rain storm. Ken looks up at the ceiling in the living room and notices water dripping from the stereo speaker in the ceiling. Immediately we both leaped into action, pulled down both speakers and the A/C vents, and sought to find the source of the water, for the most part, the area above the ceiling, within arms reach through the speaker holes, was dry except for a small rivulet of water. The next day, after the roof had dried we both went up and tried to find the source of the water intrusion. We couldn’t find anything! So, as a preventative, we sealed the rear roof A/C roof flashing with eternabond tape. We also used silicone sealant around all the roof vents.
Fast forward to about the end of August. Keep in mind we were gone overseas from the end of July through the end of August. We go up to inspect the roof again and Ken finds a soft spot around one of the “attic vents”. For those of you in the RV world, not roof vents, or sewer vents, but attic vents. These are the two vents that allow for air circulation between the ceiling boards and the roof boards, between the roof trusses. So, Ken looked even closer at the vent and noticed a hairline crack in the vertical pipe piece. The fix??? ETERNABOND tape over the entire vent! He also used a Sharpie marker to outline where the soft spot was so any expansion could be tracked. Every month, even though the vent had been sealed off, the water that had already gotten in was now wicking through the roofing board. The spot has now grown to about a 20” x 20” square.
Back in August, we contacted Grand Design, the manufacturer of the RV. Even though we were a month out of warranty, they issued a service case number and wanted us to bring the RV to either a Grand Design Dealership or to the manufacturing plant in Elkhart, Indiana. We simply couldn’t though, as we were expected to be in NW Minnesota by September 1 AND…this is our HOME! We can’t just drop it off and wait weeks or longer for someone to look at it!! Last week, Grand Design followed up with us via email and asked if we had made an appointment anywhere yet, we explained that we hadn’t and why we hadn’t. They then put us in contact with a dealership in Lubbock, Texas to see if they could work something out with us. Ken contacted the service department and explained the situation. We set a date for today (12/17/24) to bring the RV in and have their roof technician look at it. So…We hooked up the RV to the truck, secured everything as we always do for a travel day, drove 1.5 hours to Lubbock and arrived at the Blue Compass dealership at 9:40am for a 10:00am appointment. Ken went in to the service office, the roof technician went up on the roof and in about 40 minutes we were back on the road to Silverton!! The technician took photographs and as a minimum, reported to Grand Design, that we would need two new roof boards, a FULL new TPO membrane roof, from front to back (they don’t patch membrane roofs, only full replacement), new attic vents, replacement of the insulation in the damaged area and possible replacement of one of the roof trusses.
Now…this is where we need your help!!! Please pray that Grand Design will cover the cost of this repair. In all likelihood, this will cost in excess of $10,000. If they don’t cover it, we will still have to have it repaired on our dime.
Why would Grand Design even consider covering the repair when the RV is out of warranty? Well, because other manufacturers have already issued recalls for this particular attic vent because of it cracking!!! They know it is an issue. Fingers crossed!!!
So now we are back in the exact same spot at the campground, maybe just an inch further north. Now we wait to hear back from Blue Compass to see what they have heard from Grand Design. Fear not, we will keep you posted! This is likely to be a bit of a saga.
Check out the pics below for a better understanding of what an attic vent is. Since discovering the water drip from the speaker cover, we have added two water sensor alarms above the ceiling!!
Our next post will answer one of the questions several of you asked. What else are you wondering about? Put it in the comments below.
Please don’t forget to begin your a ma z on shopping by first visiting the Shamrock RV Service website and clicking on “store”.
All the best!!
We RVery Blessed!!!
Chris & Ken
This is how it all started. We noticed a drip of water coming from one of the stereo speakers on the ceiling.
A nice “moon” shot of Ken inspecting the roof.
See that vertical crack? That’s the culprit!!! It wasn’t there when we bought the RV. We inspected the RV ourselves!! In fact, before we took delivery of the RV we had the dealership RESEAL the entire roof!
This is the attic vent on the front of the RV. It has a crack as well. Ken sealed both cracks once they were discovered, but the damage had already been done at the rear vent.
Here, Ken is adding some sealant to the area around the vent as well as sealing the crack in the vents.
Eventually, when the roof damage spread, Ken completely sealed off the vent. Attic vents are a relatively new addition to RVs. While we understand the purpose of them, they seem to be more cause for concern than a benefit.
We sealed the air conditioner flashing, in case this was a point of water intrusion.
Hello from the roof!
If you zoom in on this pic and the next, you can see how far the damage has spread.
The damage is about 24″ x 24″. When you press down on the roof it is very soft indicating wood rot.
See all that rippling in the top half of the photo? That is water damage, beneath the white roof membrane.
This is the front vent. We sealed it off completely just to be safe!
