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HelenB · Moderator

If you want to go down the rubber route as it were, they also do a kit for horseboxes and ramps which sounds the same sort of thing if you have no luck in a chandlers

Hermonie

I think you are right Pharoah when you say you think you should identify exactly where the water's finding its way in.

I had water coming in somewhere near the guttering of my Autosleeper. Eventually after the garage had tried twice to rectify the problem I started sectioning off the area which I thought may be at fault with plastic sheeting firmly fixed in place with tape. I gently sprayed water onto the roof with a hose pipe and left the plastic on for a few days each time to see whether any water came in.

It worked - I was able to pinpoint the problem - in this case not the join between roof and camper but the window. Made them take it out, seal and then replace it.

Jude

Pharaoh

Not wishing to start that discussion all over again but, guess what I'm doing this weekend?

BarryandSue

This American company do products to solve your problem, and they ship to England:
http://www.eternabond.com/

A very nice guy there, Chris Margarites, is only too pleased to offer help.

As far as water ingress is concerned, whilst water may be visible in one place, the actual point of entry could be the opposite side of the vehicle. I think you have two answers:
EITHER strip out until you can see evidence of water entry through the roof (and it may be getting in at more than one point)
OR properly seal [u:660edbf792]every[/u:660edbf792] external joint with great care, without exception.

Of the two options the latter is, for me, the most appealing.

Good luck with what is a very worrying problem.

Barry

Pharaoh

Thanks BarryandSue. This weekend I found the leak (Hussar Mighty Rah be praised Laughing

)
It is a 'pinhole' in the middle of the roof. I put the vehicle up on ramps and stationed one of my minions inside the vehicle by tracing up and down with the hose, starting from the lowest point we narrowed the point of ingress to the middle of one side. Someone suggested a magnifying glass to look for holes, nearly right, number one eyeball drew my attention to a small blob of sealant, place hose over sealant minion screamed in anguish, that'll be it then thought I.
Odd place and shape for a hole and there are several other 'blobs' of sealant in random places which will get further scrutiny (caused by shotgun perhaps?). I fixed the hole with a brass screw, large washer and silicone sealant under.
This week the gods promise rain so I shall find if any of the other 'blobs' warrant attention.
Many thanks to all contributors.

BarryandSue

Well done, Pharaoh!

The holes in the aluminium sound like corrosion rather than the result of shotgun pellets. Shotguns would leave quite a dent round each hole.

Are the holes surrounded by small black rings? My guess is that either poor painting, or pre-existing corrosion (painted over), or wear by enthusiastic polishing or walking upon has exposed raw aluminium to the elements. Corrosion is the consequence, leading to pinholes. If left they'd just get bigger (which is maybe why these have started to leak again even though covered with blobs of sealant?)

I think you need to deal with the corrosion at every point you can see. I'm not sure how you stop corrosion in aluminium (acetic acid?) but maybe drill out beyond the corrosion? Someone will advise, I hope (knowing this site, they'll be along in just a moment!)

Then I'd recommend sealing the entire roof somehow, rather than just deal with the small spots that are visible now. I know that Eternabond do a 'paint' for roofs. There's clearly the potential for big problems if you don't do the right thing now. Diverting the Nile never was going to be easy...

Best of luck.

Barry