It’s the nightmare of every RVer—a water leak that works its way into the innards of an RV. Catch it quickly and a repair can be minor with little expense. But if the leak is not detected (and most often they aren’t right away) or the water intrusion is allowed to continue, the results can be devastating, causing tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
So here’s this Sunday’s question: “Has your RV ever developed a water leak that caused serious damage?” Please leave a comment if this is something you’ve ever experienced.
$6k to repair the floor under the shower pan. Did upgrade and replace all the flooring.
Many years ago, I owned one of the first A-liners the company produced. The door seal wasn’t good and the floor just inside the door got soft as a result. I replaced the seal with a better product and braced the floor from underneath using a sheet of 5/16” aluminum bent by a local sheet metal shop to shore up the floor. Once it dried and was supported from below, it was once again firm. I sold the trailer several years later when my children became “don’t wanna go camping” teens. I showed (disclosed) the buyer my repair and he had no problem with it.
I said no because my current RV hasn’t, but I have had RVs that had leak issues. We had one totalled when a huge branch went though the roof. We’ve own several RVs throughout the past 50+ years and a couple were a constant sealing of the roof because of poor design and materials used. It’s not always cheaper to buy cheap.
Fortunately, we caught it early. A crack in roof caulking allowed water in behind the vinyl coating on some drywall in the bathroom. I opened everything up to dry it out, and had the drywall panel replaced (after recaulking the roof). Fortunately, not super expensive to repair.
Cracked water pump housing. A slow drip filled the underside with water. It took quite a while to locate the leak in the “belly of the beast”. Found a replacement pump housing and fixed the leak.
The front windshield developed some rust near the top that I didn’t see and it leaked. I never saw where the leak was, even though I looked for years; I sealed a lot of places but never the right place.
Then, after a few years of this, the windshield cracked. When the glass was pulled out, the rusted spot was clear. The glass company ground down the spot, sanded it smooth, then painted rust inhibitor on it. So far, it has held, but the glass company said that it would always be a weak spot, and would be susceptible to rust and leaking again.
75 Taurus and 84 Shasta. Happened when they were in storage for several years and I could not visit to check on them. Managed to sell them as is. Current Motor home is used during the late Spring Early Fall and in the Barn for the off season so any issues would be caught as soon as they occurred.
Refrigerator leak, damaged wood platform under fridge and all new vinyl plank flooring before found, fix fridge, all new flooring, $8,500
Issues with a couple Class C’s. However, most recent one – went to do monthly check on RV, smelled something when I came in Rv. Lifted cushion over cap and found mold. I got a schematic from manufacturer and started to pull back inside cap. Found 3” standing water the whole width on cap 96”. Side walls were soaked, etc.
In speaking with manufacturer, they asked me to take pictures of wing walls from underneath. On my and other similar RVs , the bottom of the walls had not been sealed and walls were soaking up water. (predetermined that was not what caused my issue-came from roof leaks.) Manufacturer pitched in 200 hrs labor and parts. A dealer repaired. Sold when found more leaks.
The city water inlet to the camper leaked inside the wall, soaking the front of our Flagstaff 21′ MicroLite camper. Problem was a PEX style compression clamp on a rubber hose. This is the wrong clamp for this style of hose and the RV industry needs to stop this practice. A worm screw style clamp should be used on rubber hose.
$7,000 to replace a slide room floor; covered by insurance. Water got in under the refrigerator’s leak protection layer (wasn’t from the frig). The foil protected the floor from water above it, but trapped the water below it. The plastic bag wrapped OSB disintegrated. Pretty much the entire kitchen and a sleeper sofa had to be removed to replace the floor, then reassembled. The excellent work was done at the RV site by a mobile tech. We of course couldn’t use the RV during the repair. Never determined exactly where water got in, but everything sealed really well during repair. Tech replaced ‘baggie’ board with plastic laminated to furniture grade plywood.
Twice I have given our 2015 Jayco Eagle reason to have serious damage, not due to poor construction but operator error. Luckly, we bought ours one year before Jayco sold out to Thor and the floor shook off both floods.
Does the fresh tank falling out count?
Been there, done that. Luckily just one side dropped pulling up to a park entrance booth.
Prior used camper. Had to replace flooring in the bedroom.
On my previous 2011 Georgetown motorhome the bedroom ceiling liner was falling in and my closet clothes rods fell off. I spent months trying to source where the water was coming from. For a second or third time, I looked at the bedroom AC. I went to Dometic’s website and read the installation instructions. I noticed the mounting bolts should be tightened to 40-inch pounds. After buying an inexpensive torque wrench at Harbor Freight I went about tightening the bolts. During tightening of the bolts, I realized Georgetown just finger-tightened the bolts. No more leaks.
Had a hose connected to the toilet in our TT blow off the toilet. Luckily we were sitting in the living room at the time and ‘noticed’ the flood pouring out from under the lav door. I ran outside (I was younger then – ha) and shut the water off. It took every towel we owned to sop up the mess. I cut a chunk of freshwater hose and used that to repair the toilet. The existing hose was not adequate but the new piece I installed has lasted many years.
My class C was 41 years old when I acquired it. There had been a water leak in the over-the-cab section for quite a while. It wasn’t real expensive for me to repair but very time consuming as all the wood had rotted.
My answer is no, but it could have been yes. We were at our last stop touring Alaska in 2019, Stewart, BC (next door to Hyder, Alaska) and it rained on us for three days. I noticed water slowly dripping from a cabinet above the windshield. Less than a week later we were near Calgary. We called Bucars RV Centre and took the RV there a couple of days later. They found the source of the leak, a marker light, quickly, resealed it, and had us on the road in less than 3 hours. We had been out of rain once we left Stewart, so the damage was trivial. 🙂
yes had a water leak from a window went down the wall into the floor , rotted the floor and wall , trailer was a total ! I had it at a dealer for that water leak they said they fixed it
always check windows and vents, roof !
Ten year old rubber roof leaked, probably through air conditioner gasket. Resulted in new roof, including new plywood, and Newmar replaced the aluminum framing for the air conditioner with an improved version.
In 27 years our RV has had two leaks. Both were minor and were repaired.
I answered No, but what I meant was ‘not that I know of’.
When Winnebago was manufacturing our 2017 Navion, someone pierced the fresh water intake tube. Whenever we used it, water could leak/flow into a storage compartment. We eventually discovered mold, but it took MONTHS for Winnebago to agree to work on it. They eventually had to remove the back 1/5 of our motorhome and replace flooring and other components. I think it solved the problem. One little stab with a screwdriver, thousands of dollars, weeks of work, and months of hassle.
Oh, we did have another one. Apparently we hit a solar panel on the roof with something, and the bracket wrenched a little hole in the roof. Ceiling leaked until a great tech found the problem and sealed the hole.