2012 Roo 21SS Door/Bed DeLamination

[Trapshooter613]

I have read several old threads and found that at least I was not alone with a problem. I noticed signs of moisture inside at the webbing between the main body of the camper and the door/bed within a month of purchase. My dealer "found no leak" and decided, "it was from condensation from the AC unit running down the side of the camper". Being somewhat of a novice I took him for his word although it wasn't quite logical. The delamination started showing up last year and now there are signs of water on the inside of the door/bed. I will attempt to add pictures later of both inside and out

Just looking to see if anyone has any recent experience with similar issues. I have not contacted my dealer yet but will this week. Their service has been excellent up until now so we will see how it plays....not sure what the warranty is as I am the original owner I better do some research...

Thanks in advance for any help or feedback

I am in Virginia if that helps

Thanks
Rick

[Mr Havercamp]

Sorry to hear that, it sucks.

It sounds like Rockwood has been at least acknowledging issues when its beyond the warranty and providing parts, which is awesome IMO.

We have a 2016 23WS on order, and frankly reading these bunk door threads is starting to give me the willy's about the purchase.

This will be our 3rd Hybrid but our 1st Forest River model. I'm now double guessing myself and wondering if I would be better off keeping my Keystone, canceling the order, and possibly forfeiting the deposit. I sure do not want to deal with bunk door issues down the road. I am capable of fixing just about anything, mod things extensively, and am not worried about small cosmetic and other minor warranty issues but bunk doors leaking? I was under the impression from nosing around on some other forums and talking with other Roo owners bunk door issues had been solved. I'm hoping its a hit and miss issue as we really want that 23WS.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

[paddywagon]

Hi! We have a 2012 roo, 21ss also. We had problems with our bunkends with a strip pulling up. It seems some of the 2012 models had a poor design. Our dealer put in brand new bunkends for free, I only had to use my original mattresses. We have had no problems since then.

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by Mr Havercamp

Sorry to hear that, it sucks.

It sounds like Rockwood has been at least acknowledging issues when its beyond the warranty and providing parts, which is awesome IMO.

We have a 2016 23WS on order, and frankly reading these bunk door threads is starting to give me the willy's about the purchase.

This will be our 3rd Hybrid but our 1st Forest River model. I'm now double guessing myself and wondering if I would be better off keeping my Keystone, canceling the order, and possibly forfeiting the deposit. I sure do not want to deal with bunk door issues down the road. I am capable of fixing just about anything, mod things extensively, and am not worried about small cosmetic and other minor warranty issues but bunk doors leaking? I was under the impression from nosing around on some other forums and talking with other Roo owners bunk door issues had been solved. I'm hoping its a hit and miss issue as we really want that 23WS.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Don't let a few bad issues sway you. For every person with a leaking problem, there are probably 5-10 with no issues at all. I know that I have never had so much as a drop of water in my camper (except while 'seasoning' the bunks). It's just my opinion, but I believe that the majority of people with leaking issues either closed the bunk up wrong, failed to ensure the seal area was clean, or had modified their latches with shims to increase "clamping" force and distorted their seals.

I am super posteriorly-compulsive about making sure my seals and seats are clean and free of debris. I always wipe them down with a damp rag before closing the bunks. I check 4 or 5 times as I am closing the bunks that I don't have any canvas trapped in the seal area (is real easy to do and hard to spot). Finally, these are lip seals, and they are not designed to be massively clamped down like a gasket. A light clamping force is preferable to a heavy one, as it won't distort the lips and ruin the seal.

Failing to keep the seats clean and free of canvas or debris, and putting gorilla torque on the seals will practically guarantee a leak.

Tim

[wharfrat48]

Leaks happen in all types of campers, and probably at a higher percentage in hybrids. I think Forest River probably has a better track record then most, but I cant be positive. We have owned 2 FR hybrids over 15 yrs (2001 and 2015) and never had a delam issue. If overly concerned, I'd recommend not purchasing any hybrid campers. Otherwise, I'd just make sure you frequently look over your camper for any signs of water/moisture intrusion so you can fix the issue before any damage is done.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by Cowracer

Don't let a few bad issues sway you. For every person with a leaking problem, there are probably 5-10 with no issues at all. I know that I have never had so much as a drop of water in my camper (except while 'seasoning' the bunks). It's just my opinion, but I believe that the majority of people with leaking issues either closed the bunk up wrong, failed to ensure the seal area was clean, or had modified their latches with shims to increase "clamping" force and distorted their seals.

I'm with you on all of that Tim, I have been playing around with Hybrids for a couple of years although the two I have owned have had the LCI Securelock door assemblies which are used by about everyone except Forest River Brands. I am fairly well versed in bunkdoorese. Actually Coachmen also uses the LCI doors and tents. A very good design, not without past issues though, and certainly prone to user error and lack of maintenance the same as anything else.

Originally Posted by wharfrat48

Leaks happen in all types of campers, and probably at a higher percentage in hybrids. I think Forest River probably has a better track record then most, but I cant be positive. We have owned 2 FR hybrids over 15 yrs (2001 and 2015) and never had a delam issue. If overly concerned, I'd recommend not purchasing any hybrid campers. Otherwise, I'd just make sure you frequently look over your camper for any signs of water/moisture intrusion so you can fix the issue before any damage is done.

I don't think I'm overly concerned, just concerned when I read some of these threads. Having put down a deposit to order and seeing that I'm getting ready to drop almost 20K on a new one tends to make me concerned. This (The ordered 23WS) will be hybrid number 3 in the course of about 6 years. Every post I read such as yours and Tim's where you have not had any issues is great to hear. I just need to quit reading and paying attention to these threads I guess. I have done that years ago with the Chinese tire threads ,which I feel have a great deal of overly cautious fear-mongering and if you pay attention to it you'll never tow anything another mile. The best one I ever read of those was "I just took the Chinese junk off and replaced them with goodyear marathons, the greatest tire ever" or something to that effect. About two months later the same guy posts "These Goodyears are junk, one blew out and destroyed my entire wheel well".

I would say however that you should not be looking for signs of water intrusion, you should be looking for signs of failed, split, cracked, sealants etc. Once you have visible signs of water intrusion you have a much bigger problem as the water has most likely infiltrated the luan, glue bond, or both. The visible sign of water intrusion usually is delamination. You can repair the source of the leak after that happens, but 90% of the time your going to have future issues in that area because you'll never effectively dry it out unless its a very minor leak, and the glue is water based.

I am sort of looking forward to playing with a new unit, and the bunk door design I am not used to.

[D. J. Schuler]

We had a Shamrock, nice step up from a popup and really liked it. Soon discovered why the heated mattress, moisture. The bunk hinge area had to be cleaned regularly with Clorox to control the mold. Only took us a year to decide a TT with bunks about the same length as the Shamrock with bunks open was the way to go.
Bottom line - be sure to air the mattress and clean the hinge area or grow mushrooms.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by D. J. Schuler

We had a Shamrock, nice step up from a popup and really liked it. Soon discovered why the heated mattress, moisture.

Common to all hybrids and usually only an issue in early spring and fall, at least here in PA. The surefire solution is heavy duty survival blankets under the mattress foil side up.

I don't think the heated mattress will do much to eliminate it. It comes from the warm humid air which comes down through the bedding hitting the cold door. The survival blankets eliminate it almost entirely as they reflect the heat back up. If you have foam toppers in addition to the mattress they work even better, put it between the two.

[CampinDan]

We're out shopping for a 2011-2012 Roo 23SS now. Where do you first start to see evidence of the water intrusion?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by CampinDan

We're out shopping for a 2011-2012 Roo 23SS now. Where do you first start to see evidence of the water intrusion?

Key areas for hybrids are:
The edge of the bunkdoor
The bunk door hinge area
The space/storage area under the bunk door hinge area

All these areas are where water can wick into the wood or door material.
You'll possibly see delam or warped wood.

[D. J. Schuler]

Bikendan knows his stuff. Any bulges or discoloration/stains in/on any surface needs further investigation. Hybrid hinge areas on used units should be checked for Black Mold, sign of gasket problems.

[Marine3038]

We had all sorts of leakage from bad tent ends. Went through TWO delaminates bunk ends (2014 Roo).

They shipped ours back to the factory and fixed the issues