Do all campers leak ?

[Flametamr]

Just wondering do all campers leak ? We have a 2010 Keystone Bullet. At one year old we found water damage on a front wall. Keystone covered the repairs under warranty. I tried in vain to have the entire roof replaced fearing further issues. Well it happened. I normally keep the camper tarped but I was hooked up preparing to move it for an upcoming Mardi Gras stay and a strong thunderstorm hit. So I'm waiting out the rain and spot water running down the hallway. Literally a small river. It looked like a window was open or something. All the slides were in and everything was closed.

The next day I take it to the dealer and he can't really find a problem just looking at it. But of course he will strip and reseal the entire camper for $600.00. This is very upsetting considering what happend last year. The camper is a little over two years old to me. I'm really considering trading up just to get away from more problems. Is this normal for campers or am I just unlucky ?

 

[amberlynn]

I'm really interested to see everyone's experiences with this. We just bought a brand new Shasta this past fall. My husband has never camped, the kids and I briefly owned a Jayco.

We went to show off our new camper to family, and there was a puddle in the middle of the floor! My husband and brother in law checked things out, and realized that a gutter had not been totally sealed. They sealed it.

Then we had more water after pulling in the slide out. I never had this problem with my previous camper, and it had slide outs too! Good luck!

 

[arthuruscg]

Well, all roofs will leak at some point in their life this includes home and camper roofs.

It is odd that the camper is leaking this early in it's life.

 

[rajak73]

Our most recent camper, 2007 Cougar 5th Wheel, has no issues with leaking, the old camper we had, 1995 Snowbird fifth wheel, leaked around windows on slide and on kitchen counterNever did find where on the counter and every year I would seal all seams on roof. The window had drain holes in the bottom and would get plugged so allowed the windows to leak. Also, water will stand on top of my slide-outs so if I have been in the rain, I will brush the top of the slides off before bringing them in. Funny little side note, last year when we first got to Florida, we stayed at Ft Summit for a few days before moving to Disney, after we got home, cleaning camper out and I happen to look on top of living room slide, well one of the pieces that fall off while they are growing, (don't know the name) from a palm tree we were camped under decided it must need a vacation to Nebraska so it hitched a ride home!

 

[North of Mouse]

Just wondering do all campers leak ? We have a 2010 Keystone Bullet. At one year old we found water damage on a front wall. Keystone covered the repairs under warranty. I tried in vain to have the entire roof replaced fearing further issues. Well it happened. I normally keep the camper tarped but I was hooked up preparing to move it for an upcoming Mardi Gras stay and a strong thunderstorm hit. So I'm waiting out the rain and spot water running down the hallway. Literally a small river. It looked like a window was open or something. All the slides were in and everything was closed.

The next day I take it to the dealer and he can't really find a problem just looking at it. But of course he will strip and reseal the entire camper for $600.00. This is very upsetting considering what happend last year. The camper is a little over two years old to me. I'm really considering trading up just to get away from more problems. Is this normal for campers or am I just unlucky ?

Absolutely, not normal We have owned many different RV's in 40+ years of camping, and only one of those had a leaking problem (prowler trailer). I would be getting rid of that one on a trade to a dealer, (they can handle the repairs). I wouldn't dump it on an unsuspecting individual.

*Most*, not all, leakage problems on new units are delivered that way (we actually went in a MH on a dealer's lot that had a large puddle of water in the middle of the floor). There are *lemons* in most everything, but they aren't *expected* and *shouldn't* be that way. A lot of them don't show up until you have a very windy, stormy downpour, especially driving in it.

We have garage kept the last few RV's (now MH's) we've had, but they definitely get in some heavy rain/storms when we are out.

The best of luck to you!

 

[North of Mouse]

Well, all roofs will leak at some point in their life this includes home and camper roofs.

It is odd that the camper is leaking this early in it's life.

Not really sure I'm understanding your meaning

We've never had leaky home roofs (the one RV leak was not from the roof).
Unless you're talking about very old homes with little or no maintenance???

All homes/RV's require constant upkeep - but most times it's small things that can be nipped in the bud with care. We have a neighbor that NEVER does maintenance on his home (only 12 years old now) and he's going to have BIG leaky problems before long

 

[KimIce]

We had a 2006 Holiday Rambler 5th wheel that leaked. We even did the yearly maintenance on it. They had to replace the whole entire back wall & it still ended up leaking. We took it back, they fixed it again & it still leaked. They told us that HR forgot to put something in that wall during that time & that is why it leaked. We also had problems in the front. I had to replace all the carpet under the bed because of a leak & one corner of the slide leaked when it rained & it was shut. We got so frustrated & finally traded it in last year for a Heartland Big Country which has a rolled roof on it so hopefully we won't have any problems like that again.

Kim

 

[Pooh2]

We owned two pop-ups long term, each leaked within 5 years. We sealed the leaks and got alot of years out of each.

 

[luckycharm19335]

Yikes!
You can't imagine where my mind went when I read this topic.

 

[kazlac4]

Did your dealer offer (or can he perform) a seal test to see exactly where the leak might be originating? I would think his primary concern would be to find out exactly where it is coming from, not just reseal the entire camper without knowing it's location. Is there a Keystone forum you belong to where you can post to see if anyone else has had similar issues. Also, I would contact the manufacturer if you don't get any satisfaction.

FWIW, our first TT was a (new) 2008 Gulfstream Ameri-Lite. This, like your camper, developed a front wall leak the second year we had it. Our dealer performed a seal-test to find where it was coming in. We were told that apparently there was a design flaw with the front wall of that model and when the TT was pulled in the rain water flying off the tires was getting up under the siding and into the camper. Gulfstream paid for the whole thing to be rebuilt. I can't say if it the repair worked or not because we ended up upgrading our TT to a larger one with a slide. (Rockwood). We have spent 3 seasons so far in this and have (thus far) been very happy with it.

 

[SeilerBird]

RVs are really houses being driven down the road at 60 miles per hour. RVs have to be made of very lightweight material or you would not have enough horsepower to tow it. That combination means that eventually all RVs will leak somewhere sometime. Before you blame the RV think about how you drive it. Every go down bumpy roads? How about unpaved roads? Ever do 75 mph? Do you walk on your roof a lot? In short there are lots of things you can do that will affect the roof and the manufacturer has no control over that. Did you buy the cheapest camper you could find? And it leaks? Oh my

 

[my3princes]

Our experience is that some leak, some don't. Once they start it is almost impossible to track down the leak and get it stopped. My parents had/have a leak in their 5th wheel. They've taken it to the dealership to have the leak fixed numerous times and have even had the back end replaced due to water damage. Yet it still leaks. The dealer is more than happy to work on it again and again. They've always done regular maintenance, but it doesn't seem to matter with this camper

 

[North of Mouse]

Our experience is that some leak, some don't. Once they start it is almost impossible to track down the leak and get it stopped. My parents had/have a leak in their 5th wheel. They've taken it to the dealership to have the leak fixed numerous times and have even had the back end replaced due to water damage. Yet it still leaks. The dealer is more than happy to work on it again and again. They've always done regular maintenance, but it doesn't seem to matter with this camper

Some just seem to start out as *lemons*. We had the same experience with the prowler TT we had years ago.

 

[englishteacha]

Our old camper leaked (of course, it was a 20 year old pop up). If you can find the leak, there's a great product called Eternabond that will seal seams. It's like a super heavy duty tape. I have a friend that bought a new pop up and put the Eternabond over all the roof seams when they got it. They had it for a long time and never had a water problem. She figured it was good preventative maintenance.

There are some great RV forums: RV Itch is one that I've frequented (and I don't have an RV! It's the sister site to Pop Up Explorer.).

 

[Flametamr]

The dealer did not mention a leak test. He sort of eluded to a good cleaning and looking for the leak better. My friend has a different model Keystone and his leaks too. I'm seriously considering just trading up to a Fifth Wheel. That would fix my problem and get what I want too. I would never dump a problem on someone else.

 

[Flametamr]

Have good news to report. Apparently I had repaired the leak without being sure. While camping for Mardi Gras it actually stormed several days and we had no issues. Even with the slides out no water came in as it had previously.

 

[North of Mouse]

Have good news to report. Apparently I had repaired the leak without being sure. While camping for Mardi Gras it actually stormed several days and we had no issues. Even with the slides out no water came in as it had previously.

That's great! There's not much worse than to be camping and having leak problems that you can't find and fix. We never could find or fix the leaks on the one Prowler TT we had at one time.

SellerBird, it's *not* true that all RV roofs will eventually leak sometimes. We have been in all sorts of RV's for many, many years in all kinds of conditions, and only one gave us problems - a Prowler TT. They are *made* to travel on roads, unlike stationary homes.

 

[2goofycampers]

Great news.

 

[JanL]

"Just wondering do all campers leak ?"

Depends (excuse the pun!) on how far my tent is from the comfort station.

 

[bama_ed]

Have good news to report. Apparently I had repaired the leak without being sure. While camping for Mardi Gras it actually stormed several days and we had no issues. Even with the slides out no water came in as it had previously.

Way to go Flametamr!

That being said, I hope your trip to the Fort in October is rain-free.

Bama ED