Had a lot of water underneath the shower door track

[NXR]

I noticed some water on the floor after a shower today right at the edge of the shower base between the access hole and the furnace vent. Remembering my cracked drain fitting, I removed the access hole door and pushed a paper towel around in that area and it came out dry. Whew.

I noticed a drop of water on top of the track and some drops on the outside of the shower base. Suspecting a break in the sealant I pressed down on the track and water came out and got sucked back in when I released the pressure. Not good.

I carefully removed the sealant on the outside of the door track starting from the rear and going halfway to the front of the shower. When I pressed on the track I got a lot more water out and then sucked back in.

I took multiple paper towels and I could slide them one at a time in the gap between the track and the top of the shower base, all the way to the other side of the track. Clearly not a tight fit to the shower base and clearly no sealant was put under the track when it was originally installed.

I wicked a lot of water out. I probably used four full-sized paper towels, rotating through each corner of the towel, cutting the wet part off and re-inserting it under the shower base until finally the last towel came out dry.

For good measure I hit the gap with a hair dryer for a few minutes and re-checked with a paper towel. Still dry. I then used an alcohol prep to clean the area and applied new silicon sealant to the gap, trying to force as much sealant as I could underneath the track, which was not much.

I suspect that the use of the shower as well as the bumps when driving broke the seal between the bottom of the track and the top of the shower base. That has already happened with the sealant on the rear vertical part of the shower to the wall; there is a slight gap now.

I looked closer and saw that the corners of the front and rear of the track were not sealed, which could let water running off the door go down underneath the shower door track. So I applied sealant to those corners as well.

There shouldn't be a corrosion or water damage problem from this and fortunately the linoleum on the floor goes all the way underneath the shower, or at least as far as I can see. That should help protect the underlying wood from water leak problems somewhat. I hope.

Ray

Here's hoping...

[BirdeeGirl]

Mine did the same thing. I removed the old sealant and replaced. It’s been fine so far.

[cmysstailights]

Should be a nice bead of silicone on the shower base and up both side walls behind track. Remove clean good and apply silicone re install

[Retired JSO]

Remove the screwed in inspection plate in your picture to make sure your leak is not from the drain. I had a drain on one camper that leaked there due to the shower drain not being tight, only leaked when someone was using the shower.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by Retired JSO

Remove the screwed in inspection plate in your picture to make sure your leak is not from the drain. I had a drain on one camper that leaked there due to the shower drain not being tight, only leaked when someone was using the shower.

I did. I stuck a paper towel in there and shoved it around and it came up dry.

On our second trip a cracked fitting on the drain line caused a leak and it was replaced by the dealer. So I’m kind of touchy about water on the floor...

Ray

[NMWildcat]

I have had to reseal every aspect of every bathroom in ever one of our RVs. I usually do this the day after I bring it home for the first time as I'm going through it from stem to stern fixing/adjusting/upgrading everything else. Just the nature of the RV industry.

[merrykalia]

We've had 3 different brands of RVs and have had to reseal the shower/tub area of EVERY SINGLE ONE of them! Two of them were easy fixes, take out old sealant, add new. The 2nd one was a little tougher and we had to take out the shower doors and start all over. There was NO sealant whatsoever around anything that was further than 4" from the floor. We tried to do it with just resealing, but we couldn't get enough in there.

[RMWSierra]

Originally Posted by NXR

I noticed some water on the floor after a shower today right at the edge of the shower base between the access hole and the furnace vent. Remembering my cracked drain fitting, I removed the access hole door and pushed a paper towel around in that area and it came out dry. Whew.

I noticed a drop of water on top of the track and some drops on the outside of the shower base. Suspecting a break in the sealant I pressed down on the track and water came out and got sucked back in when I released the pressure. Not good.

I carefully removed the sealant on the outside of the door track starting from the rear and going halfway to the front of the shower. When I pressed on the track I got a lot more water out and then sucked back in.

I took multiple paper towels and I could slide them one at a time in the gap between the track and the top of the shower base, all the way to the other side of the track. Clearly not a tight fit to the shower base and clearly no sealant was put under the track when it was originally installed.

I wicked a lot of water out. I probably used four full-sized paper towels, rotating through each corner of the towel, cutting the wet part off and re-inserting it under the shower base until finally the last towel came out dry.

For good measure I hit the gap with a hair dryer for a few minutes and re-checked with a paper towel. Still dry. I then used an alcohol prep to clean the area and applied new silicon sealant to the gap, trying to force as much sealant as I could underneath the track, which was not much.

I suspect that the use of the shower as well as the bumps when driving broke the seal between the bottom of the track and the top of the shower base. That has already happened with the sealant on the rear vertical part of the shower to the wall; there is a slight gap now.

I looked closer and saw that the corners of the front and rear of the track were not sealed, which could let water running off the door go down underneath the shower door track. So I applied sealant to those corners as well.

There shouldn't be a corrosion or water damage problem from this and fortunately the linoleum on the floor goes all the way underneath the shower, or at least as far as I can see. That should help protect the underlying wood from water leak problems somewhat. I hope.

Ray

Here's hoping...

Added sealant to inside corner where base track meets vertical side piece.

[RStormC]

I had a similar problem. Discovered that a screw at the bottom of the track had broken off and water was running through the holw. Replaced it and recaulked.

[kenandterry]

NXR.....

From your photos, it looks like your access hole is right beside a furnace vent.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a furnace vent in the fibreglass base of a shower before. Guess it’s okay if there’s room obviously. In our Georgetown, the furnace vent is in the floor......nowhere near the shower.

Also I’m guessing with the access hole readily accessible, you can clearly see if the linoleum flooring runs underneath the shower instead of just plywood like some units. Great, because it looks like you caught this water issue early.

Finally.....is the shower in your Georgetown large enough as far as you’re concerned? I obtained a lot more elbow room in our rig with an aftermarket modification from sliding doors to shower curtain.
Just sayin’.

[Jeepin Al]

I have a Catalina 303RKP and the same problem, it seems that the track was never sealed, something I must do now. I am really annoyed by the lack of QC with this trailer. I have found self taping screws stripped out and the fit and finish is not that great

[the raven]

You are lucky. My channel was installed backwards so the water drains onto the floor instead of into the shower

[NXR]

Originally Posted by the raven

You are lucky. My channel was installed backwards so the water drains onto the floor instead of into the shower

So a previous suggestion about taking a flat file to the "drain slots" so water drains out fully would have made your problem worse?

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

From your photos, it looks like your access hole is right beside a furnace vent.

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a furnace vent in the fibreglass base of a shower before. Guess it’s okay if there’s room obviously. In our Georgetown, the furnace vent is in the floor......nowhere near the shower.

Yes, it is. The duct runs from the furnace in the middle of the coach, goes under the bed (where there is another vent at the foot of the bed) to the under-shower vent. That's directly above the wet bay but does nothing to heat the wet bay. It likely does keep the shower water lines a lot warmer, though.

The rearmost holding tank is the black tank, the next one is the gray tank and then the freshwater tank if I remember. So the shower drain piping and HepvO valve run from the rear of the shower and forward to get to the tank.

Also I’m guessing with the access hole readily accessible, you can clearly see if the linoleum flooring runs underneath the shower instead of just plywood like some units. Great, because it looks like you caught this water issue early.

Yes, as far as I can see. The problem is the access hole is directly next to the Dometic 310 toilet. When we had the drain pipe leak our dealer had to remove the toilet to gain enough room. Then they removed the access hole cover and removed the heating duct and register so someone lying on their side or stomach could reach way inside way to get the the drain fitting that was cracked.

At the factory we saw them literally roll out the linoleum from front to back and full width and then everything else went on top so I'm pretty sure it's full side to side.

Finally.....is the shower in your Georgetown large enough as far as you’re concerned? I obtained a lot more elbow room in our rig with an aftermarket modification from sliding doors to shower curtain.
Just sayin’.

Yes, it's 36" x 42" but that is the exterior dimension. It's about 26" wide and 39" front to back inside. It's a one-piece UltraGlas unit, I believe.

I've attached some pics of this area from our factory tour that may give a better understanding of how stuff is run.

For the tank picture, I do not remember what Georgetown model that was. That one seems to show the freshwater tank at the rear and then a double tank forward of it.

Ray

[McCamper]

Our 2020 31L5 had no sealant anywhere around the shower door track and leaked the first time we used the shower, so I had to seal that.

That is in addition to the shower drain plumbing being broken and leaking. We finally had that repaired by the dealer hopefully their repair will last??

Mac

[itat]

My 5th wheel has this issue when I shower but it doesn't seem to happen when my DW uses the shower. I've resealed the shower-side along the bottom of the track and I've also applied caulking inside the track at either end where it meets the vertical framing. No improvement so far. There is no access hole to the area under the shower pan but the support under the pan seems solid.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by McCamper

Our 2020 31L5 had no sealant anywhere around the shower door track and leaked the first time we used the shower, so I had to seal that.

That is in addition to the shower drain plumbing being broken and leaking. We finally had that repaired by the dealer hopefully their repair will last??

Mac

Mine had no sealant on the door track outside as well but the dealer caught it and caulked it. That's what I just replaced.

We've used the shower twice a day every day for the past two months and no problems with the drain leaking yet so our repair looks good.

We're out of warranty in mid-June so ask me again a month later.

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by itat

My 5th wheel has this issue when I shower but it doesn't seem to happen when my DW uses the shower. I've resealed the shower-side along the bottom of the track and I've also applied caulking inside the track at either end where it meets the vertical framing. No improvement so far. There is no access hole to the area under the shower pan but the support under the pan seems solid.

On mine I noticed standing water in the tracks after a shower. The tracks have several "drain slots" in each of the three tracks to drain water towards the shower basin. I took a flat file and lowered the bottom of each slot so it was right at the base level.

I also noticed that while there was a "drain slot" within two inches or so of one end of the track, the "drain slot" at the other end of the track was a good six inches from the end of the track. I took a 90-degree adapter and a drill and buzzed a hole in the side of the track at that end to give the water a way to drain out in case that end of the motorhome was a tad low.

It worked to remove the standing water, which hopefully would reduce the tendency for the water to overflow the track on to the floor.

Ray