Re-caulking bath/shower.

Kreid1321 · 11-22-2020, 05:53 PM

Hello all!
My RV is renovated besides the bathroom. I would like to recaulk the shower because at the top I notice there is space between the shower and ceiling/wall in some spots and the caulk around the base of the tub where it meets the wall is starting to chip. Anyways, I have been looking up how to recaulk our bathroom. A lot of people are saying don’t caulk the bottom..... is this true for our sublines too? I have a 2006 Sunline Solaris T-30F. Before I go recaulking anything I want to get some input on if I should do the top and bottom or just the top and get rid of the caulk on the bottom. Thanks for the input in advance!!!

**JohnB** · 11-22-2020, 10:15 PM

Hi,

Caulking at the bottom of the shower comes up often. These 2 posts can help on explaining the pro's and con's of caulking the bottom. That said, if you have the Shub Shower sliding screen in your T30F camper, there does need to be bottom caulking at the shower door slide rail to the basin and a few inches along the side walls up to the door.

See this post from 2015. My response is in there https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...tml#post126483

This post from 2019 https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...tml#post148482

This link will drop you into the middle of a 2004 Sunline restoration thread. Scroll down a little to see how the shower basin and the wall surround is made. See if yours looks like that. And scroll to the bottom of that post page for more shower pics. The pics will help how shower basin and walls interact. The shower walls do not flex. The basin does flex on purpose from the Styrofoam under the basin. If you caulk the entire bottom, sooner or later the caulk will crack from the basin flexing. There is a 1" tall lip on the basin and the shower surround covers the lip to not require total side wall caulking.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...tml#post151304

At the ceiling, it would help to see a few pics of what you are seeing. Sunline normally on a 2006 camper had welt bead installed at the ceiling to create a seal between the shower surround and the ceiling. But, your T30F may have something slightly different. Caulking may be right but maybe not, again show us some detail on your concern. I never had a T30F apart to now if they changed the way the wall surround meets the ceiling.

Hope this helps

John

Kreid1321 · 11-23-2020, 09:43 AM

Thank you so much! I have attached some pics so you can see what I’m talking about.

**JohnB** · 11-23-2020, 10:08 PM

Hi,

I see your pics, they help greatly.

Down at the bottom of the shower tub, I can see the 1" high lip which would be hidden behind the wall surround. The wall surround has a bump out in that area to cover over the tub lip.

I also do not see the Shub Shower door rail. The T30F may not have had the Shub Shower door. I'm assuming you may have a shower curtain. As to caulking at the bottom, at the opening area, yes add some caulk approx. 2 to 3" on the side walls, starting at the shower opening and going that 2 to 3" back into the shower. That would help seal the ends of the shower tub where the 1" tall lip stops at the opening.

As to the rest of the bottom end of the walls, caulking is not needed due to the 1" tall lip on the top of the tub. If you do caulk it, odds are high in a few years the caulk will crack due to the tub flexing. Cracked caulk in that area may allow water to wick behind the caulk and not drain out. The water if it does not dry out or drain out, can fester and potentially grow mold over time. Leaving the 3 sides uncaulked allows any water to run out and let air get to the gap between the wall and the 1" tall lip on the tub to evaporate out any water.

At the ceiling, we can see that Sunline did not install the welt bead to create a flexing seal between the ceiling and the shower wall surround. They just caulked it. I suspect that was a FEMA costing situation on the T30F not to have the welt bead added. In your case, I do not see an issue caulking at the ceiling area as is shown in your pics. Other camper brands do it that way. Odds are high, over time the caulk may crack or lift due to the camper flexing when towed. How many miles and years it may take to show up is an unknown.

There is something about the shower ceiling I see in your pics I want to investigate some more before mentioning it. I'll get back to you on that.

Hope this helps

John

Kreid1321 · 11-24-2020, 04:03 AM

This was super helpful! Thank you sooooo much. Yes, I do have a shower curtain, there is not a Shub Shower door rail.
I look forward to what you find out about the ceiling.

**Sunline Fan** · 11-24-2020, 08:13 PM

Yes, I believe the T-30F only came with a shower curtain. Interesting that it didn't come with a ceiling dome either- many Sunlines had a skylight dome in the shower to give more height, and light.

If you don't know about the 30F, the trailer was designed and built for FEMA spec for Hurricane Katrina victims. When Katrina cleanup started, FEMA basically cleaned out any southern RV dealers of what they had in inventory, so a couple regular production Sunlines went to that (but not many). FEMA put out the call to all RV manufacturers to build trailers.

Fast forward a month or so, and Sunline had broken out the plans to their old T-2975 and revised them slightly for FEMA spec. Sunline was initially quoted to build up to 1000 trailers, but actual production came in much less than that- somewhere between 146 and 160. They were all built between early October and late November 2005, with some of them shipped out with supplies for first responders, donated by locals and employees.

It's important to note that the trailers had to be built cheaply to fit the FEMA spec. Some trailer manufacturers got a bad reputation because they used glues and wall paneling that contained formaldehyde, so people who lived in them got sick from the fumes they put off. After all, RVs aren't meant to be lived in full time anyway. However, the good news is that Sunline never used that stuff to begin with, so there's not the same level of worry in a Sunline. The wall paneling may have traces, but it's not nearly the exposure of other brands. It's apparent that Sunline cheapened these trailers in other ways, by removing windows, cabinets, cabinet doors, etc. while not compromising in overall build quality.

In the end, very few FEMA Sunlines made it to use. The whole FEMA trailer saga is an interesting read in general, but they overestimated the number of trailers needed and many sat in storage lots, unused, until they were auctioned. Large lots of FEMA trailers were auctioned a couple years later. I believe a lot the Sunlines weren't used because they didn't have capacity to ramp up production to deliver mass trailers right away like the larger manufacturers could. So those who got down to NOLA first went into service first.

Kreid1321 · 11-25-2020, 01:04 AM

Wow this was a lot of new info on the FEMA trailers that I didn’t have. I had some, but not all of that. Thank you!

So good news is that in our Sunline we actually got plenty of Windows. A gentleman who works at the park we are staying at has helped us a lot because we are new to the RV life and he has a lot of knowledge, but he said that for a FEMA trailer we actually got all the Windows we could have which is nice to know! Also, the previous owners did a reno on this trailer (besides the bathroom) so everything has been redone and painted which makes it pretty cool also. The only things that are original is the dinette, bathroom and bunks.

Also, we do have a skylight with a fan in the bathroom it’s just not directly a paver the shower.

This was a great read on the FEMA info, you had more knowledge than I have obtained, so thank you!