2007 T2499 Restoration - Project Camper No. 3. (picture heavy)

[JohnGB]

Hi Folks!

An opportunity presented itself for newer Sunline in need of restoration. The camper had not been used in a few years and was living outside and expected it had been most of its life. The inside and outside showed great care was given by the two prior owners. Unfortunately, heavy water damage manifested itself in rear area of the camper. This combination of camper creates a good candidate for restoration, and while the water damage will be very labor intensive but when you’re done, you have a very nice camper and in better then new condition in many areas. The owner was upfront with all issues surrounding the camper and a great help in getting the unit out of his yard and our new wheels and tires installed.

So, Project camper no. 3 has been added to the JohnB collection! This is a 2007 T2499 made in October of 2006 with the maple cabinets and tropical magic interior. This would be one of the last Sunlines made.

Our journey took us on a 900 mile round trip to SE Pennsylvania that went off as planned. BenB and I loaded up the truck with new tires and rims, along with enough tools and parts to fix about anything that may come our way. Which other than the tires and a dead battery, was all we encountered. We even camped one night in it on the way home. We used the PA turnpike on the way out as it was faster to the hotel for the night. Boy, have the turnpike tolls gone up since the last time we were there… We headed back home along the northern part of MD to head up to the Washington PA KOA for the night. Had to avoid the turnpike tunnels with the LP gas tanks and really didn't want to deal with the Turnpike tolls and a trailer in tow.

Here are a few pics of camper at the time of pickup and on our way home.

Rear view , on Flickr

Front LH view, on Flickr

Galley right, on Flickr

fr Bedroom, on Flickr

Bath right, on Flickr

Welcome center rest stop in MD on the way how. Had to reset the WD hitch as the owners driveway would not allow a flat enough area to do this. We stopped here for lunch too.
Rest Area, on Flickr

Coming back home across northern MD on I68. Beautiful landscape. Yup, Dorothy we are not in central Ohio any more… Have to come back here and go camping some time!
MD highway, on Flickr

The Washington PA KOA and our site. The CG staff member took us to our site. H'mm, boy this site this looks real familiar. Oddly enough, years ago we camped here in this same site with our very good SOC friends Kitty and Gary.

Washington KOA, on Flickr

The last time we were here with some pics. Seems the Ohio campers get this same spot... http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f63/a-special-camping-weekend-11137.html

When we made it to camp, curiosity had us big time on where the water made its way into the camper. But it was getting late, rain might be heading towards us and we needed to set up camp for the night and cook dinner. First thing, we had to put plywood pieces down on the floor in the rear living area to not step right through it. Yes, it is that far gone.
Rear living area, on Flickr

BenB went to cleaning up the inside a bit and moving us in for the night. I worked on getting the LP gas, the shore power, the microwave and the fridge up and going so I could start cooking dinner. We also checked the roof AC unit inside in case we needed it during the night. The mounting bolts on the roof AC unit were all loose. I could see they used the wrong gasket as it was almost flat to the roof and or the support pads were missing. We will deal with the gasket issue later but the roof AC does work. We did not attempt to bring up the water system. Too many things that can go wrong with it. We used water jugs for the 1 night.

Dinner in the making. I would say this make it our maiden voyage with the new camper!
Cooking dinner on Flickr

Dinner is served
Dinner is served, on Flickr

After dinner out came the moisture meter. The left rear wall above the coach under the window was very wet. You could feel it by hand. The right wall of the living area to the left of the entry door was wet from ceiling to floor and the wallboard rippled badly. The moisture meter showed the wetness tamed down some once past the doorway heading to the front. The rear wall was wet all the way across the bottom area of the floor about 1 foot up from the floor. The entire rear living area floor was very wet and the soft floor and level of wetness went all the way to the bathroom wall.

Then Ben went up to the roof for a look. The rear awning bracket looked like it pinched holes in the PVC roofing from the new roof install. The moisture meter and a feel test proved water entered in this area as the roof subtract was gone under it for about a 4ft x 2.5 foot section all the way to the rear roof seam. This explains some of the heavy water down the right rear living room area wall. Out came the gorilla tape and he patched the area and a few others along the perimeter of the roof. The center area of the roof appeared solid. That was the end of the look and see until we made it home.

Sunday's trip home from the CG was uneventful. When we got home, BenB helped me take the awning off while he was there. The want/need for now this summer is to get the camper apart so it can dry out. A wintertime restoration effort will need to take it the next level of being all fixed up. Have to sort out "which" winter that will be, but the new camper is now home and will be in the barn resting up.

More yet to come. Thanks for looking

 

[johnnybgood-SUN]

Wow, your something!
Congratulations!

 

[Tweety]

Will be watching this one! So....will she be for sale? 20’ Snoopy is starting to feel a little small ��

 

[Tommie328]

Wow JohnB! Congrats! I am following all of them. Very, very helpful information!

 

[JohnGB]

Thanks everyone! I should have more pics up soon. I have it about 1/2 apart now drying out. Stay tuned for more to follow!

 

[JohnGB]

The next steps, get the camper cleaned up some before taking it apart. I find it makes it easier when I go to cleaning the siding etc. before putting it back on. Plus it gives me a closer look at potential water infiltration areas. I must say, this siding cleaned up pristinely.

Take a look; I will point out some things you can look for when looking at campers. Dirt trails tell a lot of where water flows and can beat in certain areas that need further investigation if a leak is there.

Dirty FL on Flickr

Dirty LR on Flickr

Dirty FR by John Barca, on Flickr

Dirty RR on Flickr

The rear wall with the tell tail rusted screws on the bottom siding piece. The screws rust from the inside out. There is water damage behind this siding.

The front right above the very wet window and wall leak. An unsealed gutter splice at the gutter rail on the right rear above the window that has a lot of water damage below it. Dirty RR top on Flickr

Another unsealed gutter splice at the gutter rail on the left rear above the couch window that has a lot of water damage below it. These splices need to be sealed not to leak otherwise water drains where it can create issues at flange seals of windows, entry doors, cargo doors, etc.
Dirty LR top on Flickr

The water heater. This yellow/goldish stuff came out as we towed home. Never seen this before. I did a major water flush of the heater and the water system after I did an air test for piping leaks. It needed the flush badly.
Water heater dirty on Flickr

Now up on the roof by the right rear awning bracket where BenB saw what looked like cracked roofing at the bracket touch points to the roof. Yup, there is water damage under the roof in this area. This roof was replaced 4 ½-years ago. Also, look at the top of the gutter rail to the roof. Tell me if you see something missing?
Roof 77 RR on Flickr

Roof 97 RR on Flickr

The awning bracket against the roof. Also, notice the dirt buildup in the gutter rail. Heavy dirt clogged in a gutter is not good to have. Water cannot flow out of it, and it starts attacking the screws behind the vinyl strip on the gutter rail. The gutters are sized too small on most all campers, and this is an issue for water intrusion.

RR awning bracket on Flickr

Here is the left side roof gutter rail. Again look at the top of the gutter rail to the roof. Tell me if you see something missing?
Left gutter rail on Flickr

Here is the whole roof. Hard to tell how dirty it is from this pic, just a shot to show the roof.
Roof Dirty 1 on Flickr

Now to cleaning. Started at the roof. I must say, this PVC roof membrane for sure cleans easy. The jury is still out on if I like it or not as a roofing system, but it does clean well. The cleaning brush cut right through all the mulitple year buildup dirt in one pass.
Roof wash 1 , on Flickr

Roof wash 2 on Flickr

Roof wash 3 on Flickr

Now to the siding. You can see the difference on the front.
Wash LF on Flickr

Washed FRon Flickr

Washed LR on Flickr
Washed RR on Flickr

Washed RF on Flickr

Yes, the siding cleaned up well. The camper now looks like a different camper!

All for now. I have to get the pics loaded up on my Flickr site as I start taking it apart. More to come, be back soon.

Thanks for looking.

John

 

[Tweety]

I think our Arctic Fox had a PVC roof. Steve liked it, except when he put dicor on a small hole in what he thought was the dicor along the edge and it bubbled up the roofing material. This was back when that type of roof was new to AF and the dealer neglected to mention not to use dicor.

 

[Tod Osier]

Quite a project you have got there! I’m enjoying the pictures and story!

Amazing how the siding cleans up. We seldom wash ours, but we washed ours this week and WOW does it look good.

 

[JohnGB]

I think our Arctic Fox had a PVC roof. Steve liked it, except when he put dicor on a small hole in what he thought was the dicor along the edge and it bubbled up the roofing material. This was back when that type of roof was new to AF and the dealer neglected to mention not to use dicor.

HI Pam,

I tried to find what AF uses as their newer roof membranes, but they sure keep it secret on the web. The older roofs were EPDM rubber. But the newer ones, maybe not. I just looked in many of the online Northwood manuals and they still talk about rubber, even on 2016 to 2018 campers. https://northwoodmfg.com/owners-manuals/

Reality may be, they never updated the manuals to what they are using as EPDM does not have the reaction you described.

But.. the reaction you are describing has been found on certain TPO roofing and like you said, it was all new in the early days. It has become complex to know which brand and formulation of TPO roof can and cannot use the standard Dicor sealants. I have a good camper buddy who recently bought a new Jayco Jayfeather and it has a variation of TPO roofing. He did catch onto the standard Dicor bubbling issue and after research found this,

Back in 2016 Dicor developed Ultra Sealant to combat the issue. See here https://dicorproducts.com/62/

I'm really curious on what your 2012 AF had as a roof material. I'm thinking maybe it was a TPO roof, what formulation would be totally unknown, but it was a formulation the standard Dicor would affect obviously.

This re-roof on the T2499 has the PVC roof. This is my first exposure to having a PVC roof apart. It looks in the big picture like TPO, but is not. There are subtle differences. And there are many brands of TPO too, so this makes it even harder to sort out by just looking at them.

I can first start with the texture. Ask Steve if when he was looking at it or cleaning etc. was there any surface texture on it? Or 100% smooth? Many TPO roofs add texture to help make then not so slippery as they can be really bad when wet and people fall off the roof. Next is feel, and this is even harder to explain. This PVC is flexible plastic material. It is somewhat hard,(as compared to rubber or TPO roofs I have seen) shinny when clean, and 100% smooth with no texture at all. Or at least the version this camper has.

Both TPO and PVC are solid white all the way through the membrane as EPDM rubber has a black bottom layer. If there was ever an inside roof hatch vent shroud off, you can see the roof material there as it overlays into the 14 x 14" hole.

PVC I'm sure needs it's own sealants too. And I can tell from this camper, the sealants are different. I'm not sure yet if they are the correct ones or its just that they do not bond to the PVC like EPDM has.

The modern day RV roof membrane materials fall into EPDM, TPO and now PVC is making a name for it. The all one piece aluminum worked really well, but the labor to install was high. Your Lance being a flat roof, it might have something even different.

If you research the 3, all are used in commercial buildings. BUT, they do not use the same commercial stuff on RV's. Costs too much. So, all 3 are a tweaked version used by the RV manufacturers to fit the application, life expectancy and price point.

Both TPO and PVC has had development issues along the way and each time a problem has come up, they claim they fixed it to not happen any more. In the end, I feel cost to produce a camper enters into all this. I have seen all one piece aluminum roofs as good as the day they were made, 20 years old living outside. The sealants are dying, but the aluminum is still all good. It is just the labor to create that roof is very high.

This will be a good learning post on what I am seeing on the PVC. I'm not yet convinced it is the right thing to use, but it does clean nice.

 

[JohnGB]

Quite a project you have got there! I’m enjoying the pictures and story!

Yes Tod, this will be another learning post on how water can kill a camper. The learning in the RV world never stops... Glad to share. Stay tuned!

 

[Tweety]

I’ve talked to Steve for some additional information. He says the Fox roof was not PVC. It was “SuperFlex.” They only used it for a year or two. Our Fox being a 2012 was the first year for it. It was white all the way through. It had a texture, was flexible and soft. It didn’t chalk and was easy to clean, but required Alphathane sealant. Hope that satisfies some curiosities!

 

[JohnGB]

I’ve talked to Steve for some additional information. He says the Fox roof was not PVC. It was “SuperFlex.” They only used it for a year or two. Our Fox being a 2012 was the first year for it. It was white all the way through. It had a texture, was flexible and soft. It didn’t chalk and was easy to clean, but required Alphathane sealant. Hope that satisfies some curiosities!

Thanks!! Yup, I heard of it and researched into it. It is a TPO formulation. They are updating their website and I can't link to the Superflex membrane page. But here is it for the future. Alpha Systems LLC & Product Supplier for RV Related Business

Surprised they didn't leave up the old roofing site while updating the new one.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Folks,

Now to start taking the camper apart. There are always new learnings in how water can damage a camper. This 2007 T2499 restoration will be my 11th camper to do water damage repair too. Some of the 11 were not that involved while others, a very major restoration. I know I will learn more new things as this camper restoration process continues, and the learning never stops. I have tried to capture many of the water entry places, how it happened, and how to spot it. Feel free to ask away on any questions. This post is a higher level post concentrating on how the water damage occurs and later will show the fix. I have not listed every step on how to take items apart. Folks needing help with the “how to”, ask away. We are glad to help.

I will give you a heads up. The pictures will be ugly until the rebuild starts. It can be somewhat shocking how water damage can get this bad, when you cannot see much of it from the inside.

With that, let get started! We will go inside to get some windows out to allow the siding to come off.

I started with removing the couch
Couch removed on Flickr

And some pics looking down under the couch. You can see the floor and some of the wall water damage.
Couch removed 2 on Flickr

Couch removed 3 on Flickr

Couch removed 4 on Flickr

Couch removed 5 on Flickr

Next to the windows. The 3 main rear windows and all of the left side windows need to come out to get started.
Rear wall inside

With the inside window flange removed, you can see the wood frame and get a quick look for water damage. Here the rear left windows under the couch has a good quantity of damage on the left rear corner.
LR window inside on Flickr

The front right side of that window has some damage as well but not as heavy as the rear.
LR window inside 2 on Flickr

The large rear window was not that bad. There was some water stains on the bottom right wall side, but not large dark wet soaked areas.
Rear window inside on Flickr

The rear right side wall has a good amount of issues. You can see it in the wall board. Ceiling to floor.
RR wall inside on Flickr

The metal inside window flange frame off. All of the window frame wood shows considerable water damage
RR wall inside 2 on Flickr

Now to the outside to start taking the windows out. We will start with the right rear window. This window has been exposed to a lot of water.
RR wall outside 2 on Flickr

RR wall outside on Flickr

Inspecting the window flange seal to the siding, we have putty tape failures. While these are leaks, they are not the only water entry source in this area. The window and wall frame damage is too significant for just a putty tape failure leak. You can see the dirt stains on the putty tape. When you see a dirt trail behind the flange, that means the putty tape shrunk and separated from either the siding or the window flange. Also, the bond of the putty tape is compromised between the siding and the window flange even where the dirt is not present. However, this is characteristic of putty tape. When the bond is long term and correct, the sealant tape remains bonded to the siding and the window flange. To break the bond, the sealant should tear apart, not separate from either side. The putty tape issue is an industry-wide RV issue, as campers age. Different sealant materials such as the correct type of butyl sealing tape will bond better, longer.

RR window on Flickr

Let’s look closer to it is easier to see the top of the window frame. In the right corner of this pic, you can see the dirt trail from the outer edge of the window frame to the inside. That is a sealant failure. The water and dirt then travel where gravity or wind forces from outside will carry it. Water leaks leave tracks.
RR window 3 Flickr

Here is the other corner on the top of same frame.
RR window 2 on Flickr

While we are on this rear right side, the entry doors need to come out. Here is the rear entry door.
Rear entry door on Flickr

Entry doors have the same issue with putty tape seal failures as windows do. See the front hinge side of the door with a putty tape failure. The dirt trail on the extra wide door putty tape inside the siding flange clap area shows the dirt trail vertically where water rain down at one time.
Rear entry door 2 Flickr

Here is another issue with entry doors. Cracks in the top corners of the siding. Many times the cracks start at a screw hole in the corner due to the camper flexing. But they can also start about anywhere in the top corners as the camper flexes it start a crack running. The left side
Rear entry door siding crack Flickr

The right side
Rear entry door siding crack 2 on Flickr

The rear right side is not ready to start siding removal. The fenders and front door are also off. In time, all of the items that mounted through the siding will be removed and the putty tape redone with high-quality butyl sealing tape and Dicor non sag caulk.
Right side ready 4 siding on Flickr

More in the next post.

 

[Tinstaafl]

John, regarding siding cracks at top of doorway: I have one on my '99 T1950, about 1.5" long. Planning to drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop it there, but haven't decided on a cosmetically good way to seal it. Recommendation?

 

[JohnGB]

Now the rear wall window. This window had the start of putty tape flange seal failures but the water damage did not progress very far. And what looked like a top red DOT light leak. Will have to get the siding off to see more.

Rear window outside on Flickr

The rear left side.

The left rear window has major water issues.
RL window outside on Flickr

The wood window frame “missing”. This leak has been here a long time. Could be 6 plus years.
RL window outside 2 on Flickr

Putty tape failures.

The top rearward corner
RL window outside 3 on Flickr

The top forward corner
RL window outside 4 on Flickr

The kitchen sink window. More putty tape failures. I will go into more depth on this one.
LH Sink window 1 on Flickr

LH Sink window 6 on Flickr

Let's look at the window flange. The bottom of the frame showing dirt stains on the putty tape where water flowed.
LH Sink window 2 on Flickr

Bottom rear corner where water entered.
LH Sink window 3 on Flickr

The top rear corner
LH Sink window 4 on Flickr

The dirt trail on the siding where the water leaked past the putty tape on the top rear corner
LH Sink window 7 on Flickr

The top front corner. Dirt staining on the putty tape past the siding meaning the leak made it inside.
LH Sink window on Flickr

And the dirt trail on the siding where the water flowed past. Towing in the rain beats on these flange seals.
LH Sink window 5 Flickr

The front right cargo hole. Cargo compartment doors have the same type of putty tape failures but other issues in the way the siding support is made with curved door frames.

The first give away there is a sealant problem, rusted screw heads.
LH frt cargo 1A on Flickr

LH frt cargo 1 on Flickr

Let's look at signs of putty tape failure. Here is a classic textbook example. Separated putty tape you can see in the corner of a curved cargo door.
LH frt cargo 2 on Flickr

Look at the gap between the gold siding and the white siding to the door frame.
LH frt cargo 3 on Flickr

Here you can see the cracked putty tape in the white section of siding, but it is hit or miss if the small cracks are deep enough to create a leak path. Bottom line, if you see these cleaning and caulking them will slow down a leak. Ask more on this if you are going to do the caulking for extra info.
LH frt cargo 4 on Flickr

The door removed and dirt trails on the top rear corner from separated putty tape.
LH frt cargo 5 on Flickr

Top right corner
LH frt cargo 6 on Flickr

Here you can see the putty tape failures on all 4 corners with the door held up next to each corner
LH frt cargo 7 on Flickr

LH frt cargo 9 on Flickr

LH frt cargo 10 on Flickr

And the classic putty tape separation on the rear bottom corner
LH frt cargo 8 on Flickr

So why might you ask, are the corners of radiused cargo doors more prone to leaks then the rest of the door flange? Good question, here are my observations. This camper is the first Sunline I have where Sunline was doing a different approach to help the corner problem. On the 2006 and older models, I have not seen this extra putty tape behind the siding. See it behind the siding.
LH frt cargo 11 on Flickr.

LH frt cargo 12 on Flickr

Part of the issue is compression of the sealing tape in the corners. The putty tape needs all the help it can get. A better sealing tape would be even better. There are plastic hollow radiused corner blocks in the corners. They help turn a square corner hole, into a radiused corner hole to give some support. However, there is not enough thickness/strength to the plastic blocks to use screws with enough tightness to compress the radiuses corner flange and the sealing tape. So the putty tape can fail even quicker with low compression. Sunlines attempt of using the putty tape behind the siding is quick and does add some level of filler, but still, the screw in that corner has nothing to bit into and not strip.

On window flanges, Sunline added wooden radiused shims behind the radiused corners. But they do not seem to do it on the cargo doors. The cargo door frames are thinner and not as strong as a window frame. Ideally, the cargo door has the wood shims in the corners too.

See here. The cargo door with the siding off. The white corners are the plastic radiuses blocks. Also to point out, there are 1/8” thick flat shims on the 1 x 2 framing so the wall thickness comes out right. There is just no shim in the corner radius. So there is an 1/8” air gap.
LH wall siding remove 10 on Flickr

A window wood frames out. This pic is the main rear window to show the point. The plastic radiused block is behind the radiused wood shim
Rear wall off 4 on Flickr


The left side wall with all the items removed to allow the siding to come off.
LH wall siding remove 3 on Flickr

And before you can remove the side of the campers siding, you have to remove the front and rear siding. Here is the front siding off. The good news, water damage is low on the front wall.
Frt siding off on Flickr

Now to the rear wall siding. First is to show the classic textbook rusted screw heads on the bottom siding indicating wet wood under the screws.
Rear wall outside screws on Flickr

Rear wall siding screws 1 on Flickr

Here are the screws that came out
Rear wall ready for siding off 5 on Flickr

The first piece of siding off. The black Darco plastic membrane from the bottom belly cover is wrapped up a few inches up the wall.
Rear wall off on Flickr

Next piece up
Rear wall off 2] on Flickr

Rear wall off 3 on Flickr

And the top right rear corner showing there is water damage up roof flowing over the back wall.
Rear wall off 4 on Flickr

More in the next reply.

 

[JohnGB]

CAUTION: Ugly pics ahead!

There is what is known as a corner failure I want to point out. The putty tape shrinks, cracks and separates from the siding the same as on a window, entry door, etc. But the damage a corner leak can cause is a big issue. This camper had both the left and right corner leaks. See here with the corner moldings removed. Someone did caulk the corners along the way, but it was after the water had already worked its way into the camper.

The right rear corner joint. All the dirt stains are where water entered behind the corner molding and then into the wall behind the siding.
Rear wall ready for siding off 3 on Flickr

Rear wall ready for siding off 4 on Flickr

Here is the same corner leak on the rear right corner
Rear wall ready for siding off 2 on Flickr

Corner leaks can add a lot of water into a camper left unchecked, especially if the camper is stored outside. Towing in the rain blasts water into this joint. Water flowing off the roof with a short or no gutter spout can blast water at this joint. Even with long gutter spout extensions, water windblown against the camper can beat its way into the camper through a corner leak. Corner leaks rank up there with roof leaks as being some of the worst leaks a camper can have. Odds are high water will blast against this joint often, and a leak can go undetected for years until all of a sudden, large rot shows up.

Here is the lower right siding starting to come off
RH wall off on Flickr

More siding off and unwrapped the black waterproof membrane. The corner wood fell apart
RH wall off5 on Flickr

And the whole wall, just about gone. Roof to floor.
RH wall off6 on Flickr

And now the right side of the camper.

The bottom rear siding
LH wall siding remove 2 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 3 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 4 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 5 on Flickr
Insulation out
LH wall siding remove 6 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 7 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 8 on Flickr

Front widow damage. Not heavy
LH wall siding remove 9 on Flickr

Front cargo compartment. Have some floor damage
LH wall siding remove 10 on Flickr

LH wall siding remove 11 on Flickr

Once the siding is off, I pulled out the rear insulation under the floor. Since the ends where rotted open it did not take much to get into the floor joist cavity. The insulation was wet; it’s all trash. This pile is only a fraction of it.
RR wall outside 3 on Flickr

RR wall outside 4 on Flickr

This is about it on the siding removal. There is a narrated video of the wall leaks on my Flicker site you can view. See here https://flic.kr/p/2gyFKQN

More in the next reply on the roof damage. Thanks for looking.

 

[JohnGB]

John, regarding siding cracks at top of doorway: I have one on my '99 T1950, about 1.5" long. Planning to drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop it there, but haven't decided on a cosmetically good way to seal it. Recommendation?

This is the standard way it gets fixed.

1. Do the stop drill hole in the end of the crack like you said.

2. Then patch the crack.

I use a piece of Eternabond tape over the crack as I have it from doing roof work etc. It's permanent, flexes and totally waterproof. Here are a few pics of one of mine on the T310SR
The crack
Crack close up on Flickr

The stop drill. 1/8"
stop drill on Flickr

The patch
Ebond repair on Flickr

I found these when I pulled the entry doors to reset them and changed the putty tape out. So I had it all out in the open to let me do it this way.

Here is one of many older threads on this with Gene showing his he fixed with the door in place.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/hairline-crack-on-siding-above-rear-door-13536.html

Hope this helps

John

 

[Tinstaafl]

I use a piece of Eternabond tape over the crack as I have it from doing roof work etc. It's permanent, flexes and totally waterproof.

Thanks, John. I think for now I'll go with Gene's solution, since I have Dicor on hand but no Eternabond, and don't want to remove the entire door frame for such a small fix if I can avoid it. The crack is sheltered by the rolled-up awning, so IMO it's really more of a cosmetic issue than a leakage concern. Though of course that's there with any break in coverage, no matter how small.

 

[Tod Osier]

Whoa! I’ve had touching up the dicor on my list for several days, GOOD INCENTIVE!

 

[JohnGB]

Whoa! I’ve had touching up the dicor on my list for several days, GOOD INCENTIVE!

Ah yeh...sealing the roof and "all" the siding penetration joints/moldings/windows/doors. etc is imperative to keeping a camper dry.

If anyone needs help on how to do this, ask away.