Sealing bunk ends from water
A while back I saw someone posted a nice method for keeping water out of the bunk ends when not in use. It was PVC pipe with 90 degree pie piece cut from it so it could slip over the top of the seal and so water is channeled either into the gutter or over the front.
I think that's a great idea. I found that I do get small amount of water down in the bunks on our new Shamrock. It doesn't get into the inside or anything, just kind of pools up on the tent material but I don't want it there, that's for sure. Kind of surprising they haven't come up with a better way to seal the top, it's not like this is a new or uncommon problem or like hybrid campers just got invented.
I wasn't really excited about getting PVC and cutting out the section. I'm sure it's not too hard but regardless, I got to thinking about other ways to seal that part. I had some old tubing I used for my home beer brewing setup that looked like they would work perfect. They are 100% silicone and 1/2" ID (inner diameter). I cut a piece to the right length and then cut a slit down the whole tube the long way which is really easy with silicone and a pair of scissors or a knife. Just sort of pull the tube across the blade. Then I just fit the piece of tube over the area that needed to be covered.
The silicone grips the edge and stays in place on its own, even with some really windy days. it doesn't stay on while driving though so you have to remove it before leaving. I didn't have enough for all three bunks so I bought some more but I found some cheaper stuff that was same ID but thinner and that worked OK but didn't grip quite a well so I replaced it with the thicker tubing, which has a 1/8" thickness.
Just an idea for anyone that wanted to cover those bunk ends when not in use and maybe didn't want to mess with PVC. You can get the silicone tube from home brew supply stores locally or on-line. They sell a lot more vinyl tubing and this stuff is less common, used on bigger brew systems where a pump is used so make sure you get 100% silicone. I don't think the vinyl would work well. It's sort of an opaque white color.
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