Water in the trailer

[trumpetguy]

We are on the eighth night of camping in South Georgia and North Florida. It has been cold and rainy 100 percent of the time.

 

My wife has found small amounts of water inside two cabinets, and also on the dinette table. I am thinking this is condensation drip because there aren't any hull penetrations near the wet areas.

 

Anyone have a similar experience?

[GaryJona]

I still only have my Casita but is the water on the dinette in the same area as the water in the cabinets second the water would have to travel from the outer shell to drip on the inner shell do you see any water in the bottom through access holes. Unless it is a lot of water I would think it is swetting with lack of air movement you could try and open the cabinet and have a fan or air movement going. Good luck figuring it out as we will all face this at times. Please let us know your findings. Thanks Gary

[bugeyedriver]

Be sure to ventilate somehow during cold and damp conditions. Two adults can put out a good amount of water vapor just through normal breathing. Without any place for the humidity to go, it will settle on a high, cool surface like the roof or the outer wall inside your cabinets.

 

Do you see water piled up in the window channel that could be spilling inside? It is important to maintain a clear path for the water to exit by ensuring the weep holes are clear of debris and the pathway underneath the channel is cleaned out. I use a small brush and compressed air for this. ( I travel with a compressed air can from Office Depot for this purpose )

 

Can you crack the vent open without getting water inside? After I installed a cover over my vent, I can open it as much as I desire without getting rain inside. I also crack the bathroom window open a bit, allowing air to enter there, and exit through the ceiling air vent. No matter how cold it may be outside, I always enable a small bit of circulation and have no condensation issues at all.

 

One final thing to check is whether or not the foam spacer under your air conditioner is compressed enough to stop leaks. If it wasn't snugged down enough this can result in water intrusion. A good RV tech should be able to check this if you have run out of other ideas.

 

God luck,

 

Pete

[trumpetguy]

Pete. Thanks for the reply. Our Oliver is only four months old so I doubt we have debris in the weep holes, but I will check it out now that we are home. We keep the Maxair vent cracked at all times for airflow, and use the fan when cooking as it does steam up. The water is in the cabinet above the dinette table and awhen you run a finger along the bottom edge of the window it is quite wet so maybe it is the weepholes.

[bugeyedriver]

Slide the window open and look at the bottom where there are small access holes for water to exit as it makes its way towards the external weep holes. You may see small seeds, twigs, pine needles, etc or other items that can be blown about in the wind clogging up a hole or two. If the water doesn't have a clear pathway to the outside, it can back up during a firm rain, gather in the channel, and spill over to the inside of the trailer. You will then see it collected on top of the belly band trim before it plops onto the dinette table. I was frustrated a few times before I learned this and now make it a point to regularly check for debris in the channel and also use the compressed air can with the tiny red straw nozzle thingy for good measure.

 

My 2008 version has the sliding windows in the cabinets. I also crack these open, as needed, to enhance ventilation / evaporation of any condensation that may occur.

[JuniorBirdMan]

I added the EZE RV gutters as recommended by Seadawg and haven't had any problems since. They work beautifully!