Bunk side canvas pulling away from trailer

[Pad22]

We have a 2019 183 Roo. We notice today that half of one side of a bunk end has come out of where it's supposed to be attached and I can reach right outside from inside the trailer (see pics).

Can anyone explain how this is supposed to be attached? It looks like just glue, but I can only see the trim inside the trailer (attached with a nail gun) and no evidence of a channel or screws that have come lose or fallen apart. The canvas does feel sticky, which would indicate the use of some sort of glue/caulk.

We are on the road for another 3 weeks, so I need to find a way to fix this and if not permanently, temporarily in a manner that will allow me to fix it once I get home. I just don't know how it's supposed to be properly affixed and don't want to take apart too much while on the road (limited tools and time).

Thanks for your help ... I'm unsure what to search for, I've never seen someone else with this problem on the forum.

Mark

[rsdata]

you have 3 bunks in the 183, all the same construction, especially the front and back bunks... could you look at one of the other bunks that is not broken to see how it is attached?

My 2014 183 is not open at present and from what I have seen over the years there have been different attachment types of the bunk fabric to the drop down ends. Mostly I believe mine is tucked into a channel... for sure at the front of the bunk and ends. I am just not sure about the side curtain attachments.

At the risk of tearing the wall paper, I might find some light colored decorative duck tape at HomeDepot and tape the gap overlapping the fabric to the wall.

[Chuck_S]

Why is the door support cable detached?

-- Chuck

[Rhumblefish]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Why is the door support cable detached?

It's not.

[Chuck_S]

It's hiding -- I can't see it.

-- Chuck

[Rhumblefish]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

It's hiding

It's not.

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

I can't see it.

You can.

Look on the first photo. See the white line that appears to extend from the knuckle of the index finger off to the right?

Boom. It's there, just difficult to recognize in this orientation.

Try it rotated 90°... with the idea that you're looking from the attachment point in the foreground, into the bunk/along the side of the tenting, and towards the far corner.

[Pad22]

Yeah, sorry about the photo rotation. They looked fine until uploaded.

We did a lot of investigation into how the other ends were constructed. Unfortunately, all the dealerships say they are completely packed (most for 3 weeks) and can't help. The one dealership who did take a look said it would take 2 to 3 hours, and they didn't have that availability.

What we did find out though is that the side canvas has a bead sewn into it. That bead goes into a channel that runs down the door frame and the material wraps around the channel and frame on the inside and is somehow fastened between the frame and the walls. So the fix was to take (part) of the frame off put it back in the channel and between the frame and walls again (with a screw+washer rather than tape, as is originally used). And caulk it all up again.

So, with no permanent fix, I went to home hardware and picked up some 3" hand clamps to basically clamp the material to the channel from the inside. This seems to be holding the bead in the channel as well. I might have to put up the end if the weather gets too bad, but after 1 night it seems to be holding.

I now worry if we'll have a problem with other ones ... If they same person did the build, who knows if they were having an off day?

My daughter likes the tags... She doesn't want me to remove the pretty tags 😹

[RDWRER]

We have a 233s and had the same thing happen to 2 of our bunks. We ran screws through the canvas into the channels to hold it on there and wrapped the sticky canvas piece around to cover the screws up. We haven’t field tested it yet, but looks good and it’s not coming out again!

[rsdata]

Originally Posted by Pad22

Yeah, sorry about the photo rotation. They looked fine until uploaded.

We did a lot of investigation into how the other ends were constructed. Unfortunately, all the dealerships say they are completely packed (most for 3 weeks) and can't help. The one dealership who did take a look said it would take 2 to 3 hours, and they didn't have that availability.

What we did find out though is that the side canvas has a bead sewn into it. That bead goes into a channel that runs down the door frame and the material wraps around the channel and frame on the inside and is somehow fastened between the frame and the walls. So the fix was to take (part) of the frame off put it back in the channel and between the frame and walls again (with a screw+washer rather than tape, as is originally used). And caulk it all up again.

So, with no permanent fix, I went to home hardware and picked up some 3" hand clamps to basically clamp the material to the channel from the inside. This seems to be holding the bead in the channel as well. I might have to put up the end if the weather gets too bad, but after 1 night it seems to be holding.

I now worry if we'll have a problem with other ones ... If they same person did the build, who knows if they were having an off day?

My daughter likes the tags... She doesn't want me to remove the pretty tags 😹

a DIY fix will always be better then anything a dealer will do, so I suggest forgetting about a dealer repair even if under warranty

[Pad22]

Originally Posted by RDWRER

We have a 233s and had the same thing happen to 2 of our bunks. We ran screws through the canvas into the channels to hold it on there and wrapped the sticky canvas piece around to cover the screws up. We haven’t field tested it yet, but looks good and it’s not coming out again!

Do you have a picture?

[Pad22]

Originally Posted by rsdata

a DIY fix will always be better then anything a dealer will do, so I suggest forgetting about a dealer repair even if under warranty

Any step by step guides you know of for taking a door off/apart? I'll probably be cleaner putting everything back together,but would love to know what I'm getting into.

[RDWRER]

Originally Posted by Pad22

Do you have a picture?

Not right now, but I’ll be getting the camper in a couple days. I’ll try to remember to get pics!

[UrbanAngelRVer]

We have a 2015 233s and the same thing happened with one of ours last year--not the whole length of it though. I have no solution yet and haven't taken it apart to determine what fix is needed. So I'm just posting here to follow along with everyone else's ideas!

[RDWRER]

You can see the channel in this photo (it is turned sideways when I upload it. The top is actually the left side of the photo). The screws were run through the channel (short enough screws that they didn’t poke through the other side) so it makes a kind of sandwich-channel/canvas/channel. The sticky canvas wrapped around the channel and I tucked it in with a putty knife. You can’t even see the screws in the finished product because the canvas covers it. I put screws about every 6-8”.

[rsdata]

Originally Posted by Pad22

Any step by step guides you know of for taking a door off/apart? I'll probably be cleaner putting everything back together,but would love to know what I'm getting into.

really nothing complicated about it...

not sure why you would want to take the door off or apart

you are dealing with a laminated wall about 1.25 inches thick or less so using screws that are longer then what you take out would be a BIG NO NO

the fabric is held into a channel that is held together with some short screws...

take the channel apart, re-tuck the fabric and screw back together, but try not to over-twist the screws too hard lest they strip out

I guarantee without any experience and just a little time and patience you will do a better job then ANY dealer tech being paid by the job to do warranty work...

If you take the job on, take some pictures and ask some questions on the forum...

[UrbanAngelRVer]

Originally Posted by rsdata

really nothing complicated about it...

not sure why you would want to take the door off or apart

you are dealing with a laminated wall about 1.25 inches thick or less so using screws that are longer then what you take out would be a BIG NO NO

the fabric is held into a channel that is held together with some short screws...

take the channel apart, re-tuck the fabric and screw back together, but try not to over-twist the screws too hard lest they strip out

I guarantee without any experience and just a little time and patience you will do a better job then ANY dealer tech being paid by the job to do warranty work...

If you take the job on, take some pictures and ask some questions on the forum...

I took the interior trim off mine. There's a triangular-shaped gap up the entire length. The fabric is supposed to wrap around the metal and then stick to some 2-sided sticky tape, apparently not sticky enough! I lifted slightly and put a 2 in. thick block under the bed end to take the stress of the fabric. (Front bed resting now on the block on the top of the electric tongue jack.) Next I pushed the fabric tight into the channel from the outside. Then went inside and pulled hard on the fabric and wrapped it around the metal and restuck it to the tape. Next I cut some medium density foam into a long strip and stuffed it into the gap-- thinking the pressure from the foam will press the fabric against the tape. Then I tacked the trim back on...got to use my new brad nailer finally. Will see how this holds up.