I have previously posted about a suspected water leak in my faithful old Westport after surviving torrential rain (remember that stuff) about a year or so ago. There was a spot of carpet near the bed that got wet but I couldn't find the cause.
So I decided that it must be a roof to wall joint failure. So I had fun redoing the secondary caulking along the whole roof. A great learning experience that was too. But it turned out great.
Well ..
On last week's jaunt in perfect weather to Tallebudgera Creek CP, guess what, after a few days the wet spot re-appeared. ****! So I sat down, opened a good bottle of red & pondered the situation.
Having thought it through, I walked directly to the toilet cassette hatch in the ensuite adjacent to the offending spot & there it was... The John Guest fitting joining the fixed water pipe to a flexible piece of hose feeding the flush mechanism had split. It seems that a slight weep from the crack eventually filled up the basin of the hatch enclosure & it then seeped under the carpet.
A short trip to a nearby caravan yard & about $7.50 ... 10 minutes work .. Fixed. Don't you just love it when a good plan comes together. After showing SWMBO what a clever guy i was we sat down & made short work of that bottle of red, looking out on the sun setting over Burleigh Hill (& all the beautiful people walking past).
ps. I think that I triggered the failure when I inserted a water flow restrictor in the flexible pipe a couple of years ago. Didn't tell SWMBO that though. I had a similar failure a few years ago at the Van's mains water input connection.
pps. As the John Guest pipes age & harden it is even more important that you insert a collar into the pipe at every push fitting to ensure a good seal.
-- Edited by Cupie on Wednesday 5th of September 2018 10:28:48 AM
I used a sikoflex brand sealer . Applied a paint on membrane to be sure ., Then solar resistant (white) house paint . On my old camping ground caravan . Fixed leaks . Asthmatics much nicer too . I drowned the joints with sikoflex by about double I could have got away with . Dont use silastic .
I had a leak from one of my side windows.
It's an older van 94 so its had leaks in the past .
I dropped the frame out and did the usual caulking tape.
It worked well for a while but the leak came back.
I was about to crack the poops and take it all out again but after counting to 10, decided to just go around the frame and nip up the screws.
Leak Gone. Guess it had just settled. Will remember that next time.
Sometimes its just worth trying the simple and cheap options first :)
I know us guys just can't do that on occasion.