Finally found the leak (long post)

[Cougarfan]

I've had my trailer for 4 years and have had a terrible leak next to the door since day 1. I had it back to the selling dealer 3 times for them to fix it and I always got "oh, its the a/c seal" or "we had it in the rain shelter running water on it for 4 hours and didn't see any leaks inside" the best one was "its just condensation". It was a leftover 2014 I got about this time of year in 2015. At first the dealer didn't want to fix it and said the roof was a maintenance item not covered under warranty. I asked them if they had inspected the roof every 90 days while it sat on their sales lot for probably a year to which they replied "when can you bring it in?".

I've had the roof inspected every time I had it winterized and de-winterized (not at the selling dealer) and they always said it was fine. I finally had enough and decided it must be the door seal because its above the window, but below the top of the door, and I have no ceiling damage anywhere. The edge of the cabinet is all swelled out because of the water damage and the entire wall next to the dinette has those annoying bubbles and pimples.

So, I called the dealer that I've taken it to for the last 2 years for whatever needed to be done and said "I want the door seal replaced". They have inspected the trailer roof before and found no issues. I know water can travel in weird ways when you have a leak so always have the roof inspected.

Well, I took the trailer in (which was a big pain in the butt because I'm living in it full time now) to have them remove and reseal the door. The technician spent a lot of time studying the location of the water damage trying (like I have for over 4 years) to figure out where the water is coming in. After about 20 minutes of looking around, he got to work. He didn't pull the door, he just sealed around the outside of the frame. He also sealed along the entire length of the awning rail (18' I believe) and sealed below it (I always had a little stream of water that ran under the awning rail onto the top of the door frame. He thought maybe that water ate a hole in the door seal). While he was doing that, he noticed that one of the bolts holding the awning rail to the trailer on the rear didn't look like it had any sealant. It didn't. I was stunned. All this time. All this damage. It could've been fixed 4 years ago if the original selling dealer would've taken the time like this technician did to figure it out.

We've had steady and sometimes heavy rain here in Oregon today and I am super-happy to report that the trailer is dry inside for the FIRST TIME EVER.

Now that the leak is apparently fixed, I can get busy on repairing the damage. The end of the cabinet over the dinette is all swelled out so hoping I can get another one from FR that will be an easy replacement (just the end, not the whole cabinet). Not sure what to do about the wall. Any ideas? Sand it down and paint it? I don't plan on selling this one any time soon so I can live with it the way it is if its too much of a pain to repair.

Thanks for reading and check those awning bolts and door seals!

Laura