Walk-in Lippert Door Seal/Putty Replaced

[Wayfinder]

Well, after a year or more of using towels to soak up rain water, I finally got the nerve up to take off the walk-in Lippert door from the trailer. The sealant putty behind the door frame, where the screws go in, had failed and leaked bad. 

This was an easy job!  It only took me three hours and most of that time was prep-work and clean-up of old butyl tape (putty).  I have a bunch of video clips to put together to make a YouTube video of the process, but I'm finding it difficult to organize everything.  I need to re-shoot a better intro.  I'm still learning.

Anyways, the door & frame came off WAY TOO EASY.  It appears that someone before me attempted to repair the leaks (left & right sides), but they did not cleaned off all the original butyl sealant/putty.  Don't be lazy.  Clean everything like new.  

Also, I used two layers of butyl tape in the middle area of the door frame, on the left and right sides of the door frame, due to the distance between the yellow straight edge (see picture) and the curved pieces of hull and where they meet up.

I used a plastic scraper to take off the heaviest of old butyl tape from the hull and the door frame itself. I then used 3M adhesive removal and a rag to get the surfaces perfectly clean. (Wear gloves)

Everything went back together quick and easy, no issues at all. I waited 18 hours before performing a leak test, to ensure all putty had warmed up in the sun and "squished" around as needed.

I've done a heavy, heavy leak test and it's gone through one heavy, blowing rain storm and another lighter rain since completion, all without a single drop inside. YAY ME!  You don't know how happy I was to see that I did it better than the last guy.  The original putty(s) looked really bad and it did look like someone attempted to address the issue before I purchased the trailer.  What a crappy job they did.  Shaking my head.  Also, in those middle sections of the hull, where I doubled up the putty, I noticed that old putty was not even remotely "squished" in by the door frame, indicating there was air gabs between the putty and the frame, or the hull.

THIS WAS NOT A DIFFICULT JOB. I should have done it sooner!

Many of the screw holes were too large for the screws used.  Really, there were about 10 of the 23 screws which could have been removed by hand or simply pulled straight out of the holes.  I Epoxied the worst of the holes and re-drilled. I also added a handful of new self-tapping screws to ensure the door frame snugged up tight to the trailer where needed (not in the middle sections of the left & right door frame). Remember, the door frame will not really "bend" towards the hull due to the door frame itself being so stout and with right-angles, hence the need for doubling up the putty in the middle, where the hull was too far way from door frame's edge, where the screw holes are located.

As some of you know already, this door, I think, is custom made for Oliver, as my door did say Lippert, but the sticker essentially said, made for Oliver, mine was from a lot of 10 doors.  I looked on the Lippert web site and I did not find the same dimensions of doors as Oliver uses, or I'm measuring wrong.

The fan in the attached picture is where I was drying up the spray foam between the floor and the outer hull.  Oliver used foam as a filler, likely to reduce movement, but my foam was soaking wet with rain water, so it sat and dried while I worked on everything else.

Again, if your door leaks, but is not damaged and does not need replacing, this is a super easy job, and likely if you did need a new door and might be able to have it shipped from Oliver, it would still be easy. I say that because someone on Facebook just mentioned their door got damaged in a wind storm recently.

This is a one-person job too, unless someone wants to help clean up old putty from the hull or door.  That would save a lot of time.

 

 

[Harley]

Nice job. Very informative.

[Geronimo John]

What size Butyl Tape did you use?

Great post.  Thank you for taking the time to do so.

GJ

[Patriot]

Nice work @Wayfinder all good pointers!

 

[Wayfinder]

2 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

What size Butyl Tape did you use?

Great post.  Thank you for taking the time to do so.

GJ

It's this stuff here, Dicor BT-1834-1 1/8" x 3/4" x 30' Butyl Seal Tape

Here's my YouTube comparison on the two sealant tapes I had on-hand. 

 

[Wayfinder]

Looking closer at the picture of the yellow straight edge comparing the distance between the hull and where the door frame will be, you can see how Oliver offsets the outer seam from the inner seam.  Now that's thinking!!!  Well done.

 

[SteveC]

Great instructional Chris. Fortunately we have not had any leaks around the door on Hull #428 but the info gained is priceless from generous contributors such as yourself. Thanks!

[Paul and Santina]

On 6/27/2023 at 3:51 PM, Wayfinder said:

It appears that someone before me attempted to repair the leaks (left & right sides), but they did not cleaned off all the original butyl sealant/putty.  Don't be lazy.  Clean everything like new.

Having replaced leaky port lights on sailboats, I couldn’t agree more that thorough removal of old sealant, and filling screw holes that are too big with epoxy then re-drilling fresh holes as you did, are essential to keep water from leaking through. Thanks for sharing your work.

[SeaDawg]

On 6/30/2023 at 7:33 AM, Paul and Santina said:

Having replaced leaky port lights on sailboats, I couldn’t agree more that thorough removal of old sealant, and filling screw holes that are too big with epoxy then re-drilling fresh holes as you did, are essential to keep water from leaking through. Thanks for sharing your work.

Agree, and we still love "old school" butyl." Boat and trailer, wherever it makes sense.

[Katjo]

Great job and information! Thank you

[Wayfinder]

Wow! I will see how good of a job I did on resealing the door after today.  It's absolutely and utterly pouring rain outside and looks like it will be for most of the day.  

This was a lot of rain.

Another update to come.... 🌊

After this rain, I checked the camper, and not a drop.  All good!

[1Lessworker]

Will done Chris, Great post, Thanks