Bigfoot Window Leak

[Mike Ellis]

We are having heavy rain in the DFW area today, so I got into my camper (mounted on truck) to take advantage of it by checking for leaks. I searched high and low, all the roof penetrations were tight - no leaks anywhere EXCEPT at the bottom of my bathroom window. This concerns me greatly because even though the Bigfoot is a fiberglass shell, it does have the wood "luaun" sheets on the fiberglass / foam sandwich and if this rots it would be susceptible to delamination or bubbling.



This is a fixed window (no sliding opening), it is a radius edged one-piece looking window. On the inside, there was no moisture in the frame or channel, but a tiny amount was seeping out from under the frame on the bottom left side where it meets the wall.



I looked the outside over closely, there is a good silicon bead all the way around the frame. However, the glass has a sort of rubber strip that runs around it, with the joint in the middle of the bottom. There are also two small plastic inserts or latches (storm windows??) on the bottom, these were out a bit so I poked 'em back flush.



QUESTION: How do I figure out where the water is penetrating? Anybody familiar with these sort of windows and what to look for?



(I just had the roof resealed at Camping Country RV in Colorado Springs back in July, if it is leaking from a roof point I am going to be )

 

[Boomer II]

Yesterday was a good day to check for leaks here huh. I'd do a little rtv work around the window just to make sure. The only leak my foot had was from not closing the roof vent.

 

[dresslered]

I had originally found a leak in my basement of my 3000 and was wondering where the water was coming from (naturally, I thought from the roof somewhere and it must be creeping down the walls). After talking with Mike Rosman (dealer), he assured me that water cannot come down through the walls. It turned out that the water was getting in through an improperly mounted hinge in the basement door which was an easy fix. I don't know if the 3000 uses the same wall construction that yours does, but maybe you can rule out the roof leak if it does.



The first thing that I would look at is how the Bigfoot was situated when you noticed the leak. Was there a steady stream of water (during the rain) anywhere on the window which might add to the clue?



The next thing that I have done is pour food coloring in the suspected area of the leak. This can be time consuming as you need to go and reapply it over and over (especially if it is a slow leak). If you get any hint of color on the inside, then you've located the source. Another method would be to completely duct tape the suspected area (only temporary). If the leak stops, again you have found the spot. If it is the window, I would completely remove it and reinstall properly. An external patch will probably only come back to haunt you later. Since I am at work, I can't go look at mine. For some reason I can recall if my bathroom window is fixed or not?



One last word of caution is that the leak always seems to enter at the most unlikely area and usually no where near the observed problem!