Roof leak at front cap on 2016 3101ss - Page 8

Slinks · 07-21-2016, 04:13 PM

Going to have my husband look at this! Camper is home, at an angle in the driveway so did not have an issue with the last rainfall! Want it fixed before next trip. Can't have it unlevel while camping! Haha

Nu2RV · 07-30-2016, 07:47 AM

Well. I picked up the 2251 last Saturday and left on my very first trip on Wednesday. Had a great time until it rained yesterday. Have a major roof failure. Water consistently dripping somewhere in the sealed area of the bin housing the radio! I'm sick. Heavy rain predicted all day today. The bin is already ruined. Dealer gave me a mobile service number that's out of order. Called FROG, very nice and compassionate. Gabe me Mike Jankowski's number at F.R. Someone on this forum said roof leaks are rare. Don't worry. Go enjoy.

Slinks · 07-30-2016, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nu2RV

Well. I picked up the 2251 last Saturday and left on my very first trip on Wednesday. Had a great time until it rained yesterday. Have a major roof failure. Water consistently dripping somewhere in the sealed area of the bin housing the radio! I'm sick. Heavy rain predicted all day today. The bin is already ruined. Dealer gave me a mobile service number that's out of order. Called FROG, very nice and compassionate. Gabe me Mike Jankowski's number at F.R. Someone on this forum said roof leaks are rare. Don't worry. Go enjoy.

Im still waiting for Josh to give me a name of the East Coast service Rep! Luckily we haven't had much rain,. Was able to dry it out with the dehumidifier! Going away today. Pray for sunshine for me.

skylilymd · 07-30-2016, 02:32 PM

Nu2rv - it looks like the bin above the radio is right at the rear of the front ceiling panel trim - which would mean if it's leaking from the roof to cap Seal it would leak down the ceiling panel and out the back and down into that bin since they screw it right into the ceiling. Is yours a soft touch ceiling ? I'm curious to see where it is leaking from because your Forester has the new front cap Design - and for some reason it always seems to leak on the right side for people. Has anyone here had a leak anywhere other than in the front right side of the roof ?

On a side note I think the statement that a leak is rare is not really true - most of the time probably the leak is very small and no one ever knows the difference until 15 years from now when you see evidence of water damage - it may even be a good thing that this happened so fast because it will be under warranty for you. Obviously it would be best if it never leaked but I have had two motorhomes and was pop up camping my whole life when I was a kid - I have yet to see something that has no leaks whatsoever

Slinks · 07-30-2016, 04:27 PM

18 dry years in the pop up before a soggy sleep in our new motorhome! Go figure!

Sagecoachdriver · 07-30-2016, 05:05 PM

Looks nice, should hold you for quite a while. Do you have 2 air conditioners? Wish I thought about mounting my satellite antenna where yours is before I mounted my solar panels back there. Could fit in between but I'd be afraid of a shadow on the panels. I don't like the sat dome up front.
My Forester 2701ds is almost a year only and will be out of warranty end of next month. I see the caulk is starting to dry out and crack in a few spot. I have a 50' 3" roll of EB and may start taping the cabover area before winter.

HappyGuy · 07-30-2016, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nu2RV

Well. I picked up the 2251 last Saturday and left on my very first trip on Wednesday. Had a great time until it rained yesterday. Have a major roof failure. Water consistently dripping somewhere in the sealed area of the bin housing the radio! I'm sick. Heavy rain predicted all day today. The bin is already ruined. Dealer gave me a mobile service number that's out of order. Called FROG, very nice and compassionate. Gabe me Mike Jankowski's number at F.R. Someone on this forum said roof leaks are rare. Don't worry. Go enjoy.

Mike is a good man and will do right by you. I am sorry to hear that you had this happen to you. I feel your pain. I can say that when my rig came back it was better than new. I'm sure Mike will make sure you have the same outcome.

Right now I would put a dehumidifier in your rig and run it full blast. Climb up on that roof and look for cracks or open headed screws. Dicor anything that's questionable. After that, get back up there with a hose and have someone stand in the rig. Spray all around the roof and have the person inside look for water. Remove anything soft that is wet from the rig and let it dry outside of the rig. Get as much of the water out as you can and let the dehumidifier do the rest.

mbauman · 07-30-2016, 10:51 PM

Brian Clemens posted this message regarding leak testing on the Forester Forum on 2/11/2013:

Leaks

Here is the relevant text:

"100% of our units are leak tested in a rain booth and pressure tested (a commercial fan is attached to a false door pressurizing the unit, then a soap solution is sprayed on the vehicle to check for air leaks). If the unit set on the dealer lot for a decent amout of time, it should have been rechecked before retail delivery. Also, we check them on a fairly level surface, so slope can play a factor as well."

This begs the question as to how some Forester coaches leave the factory with fairly severe roof envelope problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylilymd

Nu2rv - it looks like the bin above the radio is right at the rear of the front ceiling panel trim - which would mean if it's leaking from the roof to cap Seal it would leak down the ceiling panel and out the back and down into that bin since they screw it right into the ceiling. Is yours a soft touch ceiling ? I'm curious to see where it is leaking from because your Forester has the new front cap Design - and for some reason it always seems to leak on the right side for people. Has anyone here had a leak anywhere other than in the front right side of the roof ?

On a side note I think the statement that a leak is rare is not really true - most of the time probably the leak is very small and no one ever knows the difference until 15 years from now when you see evidence of water damage - it may even be a good thing that this happened so fast because it will be under warranty for you. Obviously it would be best if it never leaked but I have had two motorhomes and was pop up camping my whole life when I was a kid - I have yet to see something that has no leaks whatsoever

6thcav · 09-03-2016, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theboyss

Yes, Mike has called and gave me another dealer in my area ( a Jayco Dealer) the contact info for. I've contacted them and will be taking the motorhome there for a 15 minute evaluation as to the extent of the damages an how to continue. Mike has offered that if the repairs are beyond the dealers ability that I will be able to bring it back to the factory after the short Minnesota camping season and have the repairs done by trained staff.

i have owned travel trailers for over 20 years,we are thinking of getting a class c,but the more i read about roof leaks i start to wonder.another thing, you have to take it back to the factory for repair,guess they figure you have nothing better to do, you would think for what you paid they would send someone out to pick it up,or better yet make sure there dealers are qualified to fix everything before they are allowed to sell there product.

HappyGuy · 09-04-2016, 09:53 AM

The problem here seems to be that the seam is at the low point on the roof. There was an attempt at curving the center of the roof to guide the water off to the corners but the water still pools in the corners at the edge of the caulking. It's not a question of if it will fail but when. I have been looking at this design for years and trying to think of a way to fix it and I keep hitting up against the high points, and butt seams. This is the same for every RV I've owned but the lack of solid support in the front where the cap and roof meet is a real sore point and probably about the only place where FR can make a change. The roof and front cap are stock parts and lets face it, RV manufacturers do not have the resources to custom design parts like Winnebago used to do and some of the luxury builders used to do. Wood would not be a good option due to the thin points at the end so metal would be the way to go. The mounting piece would require some custom machining to fabricate and yes you could buy a large CNC table and start cranking them out to the tune of about 30K+ to start up. You still need to be able reliably attach the cap and roof to the part which makes wood a not so great option. I'm sure this conversation has happened many times at the factory and the cap changes. The only fix I could think of is an old flat roofers trick. Create an inverse spring pack using 1.5 - 2 inch wide painted steel stock stacked on top of each other, place rubber strips made from bike tubes between them to keep them from squeaking, rough in the straps with their rubber strips in place. Use 4 layers of bike tube or a firing strip on top of the straps and against the roof when doing the rough install to give some space. Once in place, tack weld the straps together at multiple points to make it hold its shape. Coat the bar in undercoating to prevent any corrosion in the future. Install the bar under the point where the two seams meet. Using a small drill bit, drill pilot holes into the bar using the existing holes in the roof. Tap the holes to accept your screws of choice. dab some RTV on the holes and send the screws down. Reseal using Dicor or eternabond, repair the interior roof panel. I know at some point I'll need to do this repair but I have yet to find an 8 foot long strip of 1.5 - 2 inch wide 1/4 inch stock that I can use. I might have to weld two four foot pieces which I'm not thrilled with doing since the weld point would be at the peak... Any fabricators out there that can offers some ideas?

6thcav · 09-04-2016, 11:51 AM

after reading 15 pages which most are roof related i think i will start looking at diff.manufactures,really was interested in the forest river but I'm not going to spend $80000 to have to go up on the roof when i get it home a fix there laziness

bambam · 09-06-2016, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Cavitt

I've been Pro-active with people inside this thread and have worked with them to restore the issue or lead in the right direction.

Hi Joshua -- we own a 2014 2690 Sunseeker, have three little kids (all under 5!) and absolutely love our RV. Re: front cap issue. When the RV was brand new I did notice that the joint between the Fiberglass roof and front fiberglass CAP was painted (full body paint), I also noticed that below the extremely thin payer of paint in that area the caulking was hollow. So I scraped all the caulking off and used ~3 tubes of Dicor self level sealant to fix the problem.

I believe I have two issues:
1) I checked the area last time ion July and it was fine, I checked today and I noticed that the caulk joint between roof and cap cracked in different area (going from center of the coach to the right). It is like there was movement which caused the sealant to split right at the junction. Any insight?
2) I did notice since the RV was new that the fiberglass roof layer is not glued to the wood luan in the front left side (corner where the cap and roof meet and where there is always some standing water), since the area which is not glued (detached area) became much larger. On multiple occasions I spent LOTS of time checking for potential leaks and could not find any. Any insight?

I thank you for your help and time!

skylilymd · 09-07-2016, 10:29 PM

If your fiberglass roof is not attached to the wood it has delaminated from water getting in - it is glued on there from the factory with some pretty strong glue I might add - not to panic too much though because if you stop and seal any water leaking it will dry out and gravity should hold your roof down unless it's a big area it's not like a sidewall - does the front bunk area smell musty at all ? You probably just have a small amount leaking in the corners and it gets the top of the roof wet each time enough to eventually separate the glue in that area. Honestly I don't know any permanent solution except the eternabond - and you said you have full body paint so using white eterna bond wouldn't look very pretty coming over the side of that front cap. I used eternabond on all seams and built up dicor over top of it in the corners to prevent pooling - so far so good but I will admit it's not pretty. Also you asked about the dicor you used cracking at the cap to roof junction - I have experienced the same thing and the only solution was to use the eternabond tape. My best guess is it has something to do with the fact that the front Cap is solid and the rest of the RV flexes Which creates those cracks over time. the front cap transition Is screwed down through the fiberglass roof into Luan plywood and over time those screws will just start pulling through that wood especially if any water gets in there at all so it's probably a chain reaction. Just eternabond it all and paint the tape the color of your body paint lol

bambam · 09-08-2016, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylilymd

If your fiberglass roof is not attached to the wood it has delaminated from water getting in - it is glued on there from the factory with some pretty strong glue I might add - not to panic too much though because if you stop and seal any water leaking it will dry out and gravity should hold your roof down unless it's a big area it's not like a sidewall - does the front bunk area smell musty at all ? You probably just have a small amount leaking in the corners and it gets the top of the roof wet each time enough to eventually separate the glue in that area. Honestly I don't know any permanent solution except the eternabond - and you said you have full body paint so using white eterna bond wouldn't look very pretty coming over the side of that front cap. I used eternabond on all seams and built up dicor over top of it in the corners to prevent pooling - so far so good but I will admit it's not pretty. Also you asked about the dicor you used cracking at the cap to roof junction - I have experienced the same thing and the only solution was to use the eternabond tape. My best guess is it has something to do with the fact that the front Cap is solid and the rest of the RV flexes Which creates those cracks over time. the front cap transition Is screwed down through the fiberglass roof into Luan plywood and over time those screws will just start pulling through that wood especially if any water gets in there at all so it's probably a chain reaction. Just eternabond it all and paint the tape the color of your body paint lol

I agree, I did notice the fiberglass roof panel starting to get detached from the plywood since the RV was just a few month old, I did suspect a leak and this is when I replaced all the dicor caulking in the joint between the cap and the roof. This obviously did not slow things down. I did also inspect the edges (close to the water channels) and again, no visible area where water could get in.

Front bunk area is just fine, no smell and never left any humidity against the ceiling even when we get lots of rain.

I am looking into the Eternabond option, same as most of the folks in here, but as you suggested would need some paint

Do you know if Forest River have some kind of customer service people who can try to help with our queries?

skylilymd · 09-08-2016, 11:04 AM

In my experience Forest River has offered excellent customer support and always calls me back even if I have to leave a message. That being said they only have a one year warranty and even if you were in warranty the first route would be to go through the dealer you bought it from - did you let the dealer know when you bought it about the roof separating issue ? Do they have any record of this ? If they do not then more than likely you are just stuck repairing this yourself - it wouldn't hurt to call forest river but unless you have some serious structural issue or something that was messed up at the factory I'm not sure what they can do - did you purchase any kind of extended warranty ?

6thcav · 09-08-2016, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steeljag

The wife and I have been closely following this roof leak issue (Windows, seams, lights, corners) on these units, and have now postponed our order of an 3011DS.

Not to mention those of you who ordered , waited, and then found your new units with scratched counter tops, torn materials, screws through the counter tops, etc. these do not sound like NEW units to me!

It's hard to believe FR ( or anyone) would allow these units to leave the factory in this condition, dealers would except these units in these conditions........and dealers would then sell these units in these conditions (obvious visual issues of scratches, torn materials, etc).

Our plan was to order.....fly up......drive home. I would not except a new unit in USED condition! I now wonder about those who have ordered, and had units delivered that showed up in these used conditions? I would walk out to my driveway, look the unit over, ask the driver what happened.......offer him or her lunch, and tell them to drive it back!

Can you imagine buying a new $75,000 plus car or truck and having the sales person explain that yes, the roof leaks, the seats are torn, the dash has a long scratch across it........just bring it back, drop it off for a month at service and we will patch it, cover it, glue it.......LOL !

we were thinking of getting the forest river also from campers world(figured they are all over the country for repair),but after reading about roof leaks on them we decided to go with coachmen,i know forest river owns them but they are made at a diff. factory. but seems that all the roofs that are fiberglass leak, i have been reading coachman with the rubber roof and they seem to have less roof leaks.i also have owned 2 tt over the past 20+ years and with minimal maintenance have never had a leak.

bambam · 09-08-2016, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6thcav

we were thinking of getting the forest river also from campers world(figured they are all over the country for repair),but after reading about roof leaks on them we decided to go with coachmen,i know forest river owns them but they are made at a diff. factory. but seems that all the roofs that are fiberglass leak, i have been reading coachman with the rubber roof and they seem to have less roof leaks.i also have owned 2 tt over the past 20+ years and with minimal maintenance have never had a leak.

I would suggest that you consider Jayco if it is not too late... I found out later that they offer two years warranty (may be the only ones who do so...)!

wvufan1958 · 09-08-2016, 12:09 PM

Me myself I heard that Forest River has one of the best warranties on the market. That is from a Forest River repair person who told me that. I know one thing if my roof started to come apart I would me calling the people that sold it to me also the company. I heard that Forest River also owns Coachman. Best of luck with your troubles. I love my 2017 2861 DS ... God Bless.

bambam · 09-08-2016, 12:42 PM

Do you believe it is expected that the screws on the side of the roof be exposed (see attached pic)? My understanding is such everything should be covered... But again??

As for highlighting the roof issue to dealer -- yes but I thought it was not a big deal to take the RV apart! We also had another problem in the back corner (starts from the roof and goes along the side)... The coach spent three month at Camping World and that was not a pleasant experience. And I see the issue is happening again! I now believe it is caused by the plastic trim which slides in a track (used to hide the intersection between adjascent outside walls) shrinking and since it is attached at the bottom and top with screws it is causing pressure to build up and the paint to crack. This plastic insert is definitely cheap and should not have been screwed at the bottom, so it could slide. the same piece in the front (close to the cabin doors) lost close to one inch in the past three years and I had to remove the bottom screw to get it to slide freely.

So mainly looking for someone from the manufacturer to define what is expected and what is not... It is not normal that for a relatively new coach we figure it out by ourselves.

6thcav · 09-08-2016, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bambam

I would suggest that you consider Jayco if it is not too late... I found out later that they offer two years warranty (may be the only ones who do so...)!

just looked them up ,will be going to look at them,like the 2 year thing,

You may also like: