Author: StephenH
Subject: ouR escaPOD mods
Posted: 18 Sep 2016 at 10:27pm
Time for something that isn't so much a mod as a repair. After reading examples of leakage from the rear spoiler, I thought it was time to take a closer look at mine. This was reinforced when finally, after our trip and some events that kept me tied up, I got around to washing the EscaPOD in preparation for waxing and putting the cover on. When I was washing, I noticed water flowing out from under the spoiler at one of the rippled-up sections. If water was coming out, I figured water had to be getting in.
I first visited Camping World and got some sealant. I got both non-self-leveling/non-drip lap sealant. The only Dicor brand one was a single tube of tan. It was in the close-out area. The other I got was self-leveling Dicor white. Apparently, Camping World is closing out the tan in favor of white. This is too bad as tan was what was used on the Pod initially. In another mod post, I'll explain why I wanted the self-leveling sealant also.
The first step was to make sure I could safely reach the spoiler's screws. These I removed. It was as Is suspected. A lot of the screws showed significant rust. While I had not noticed any evidence of leakage inside, rusty screws meant that at least some water was getting in by that route. So I also visited my local Lowe's Home Improvement to purchase stainless steel screws. I could not find them with the square drive of the originals but I got the right size to replace the original, rusted screws.
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Using a putty knife, I carefully removed the spoiler. I found further confirmation that, while the factory sealed around the edges of the spoiler, no sealant had been applied to the screws or screw holes.
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One of the things I was concerned about turned out to not be a problem. I had read that the hole for the wires was not sealed for some Pods. It turns out mine was sealed with a large amount of black RTV sealant.
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I used a razor scraper and mineral spirits to remove all of the old lap sealant from the roof of the R-Pod. I also removed as much as I could from the spoiler. I then used Denatured Alcohol to wipe both the Pod roof and the spoiler to prepare it for reattaching. I first spliced the wires since I had cut them to remove the spoiler. Then I laid down a bead of the non-self-leveling/non-run lap sealant, making sure I ran it where the screw holes were. I used a couple of short pieces of heavy wire, one at each corner to help me line up the spoiler. Even so, it was difficult as it wanted to keep shifting until I finally got a couple of screws in. The wires definitely helped but second person would have been more helpful. After getting the screws in, I went back and caulked and smoothed around the perimeter of the spoiler, making sure to leave one small gap uncaulked as a weep hole just in case any water did get under the spoiler again. I cleaned up the areas around where the lap sealant had gotten where it should not have been using mineral spirits or denatured alcohol.
Why mineral spirits? It does an excellent job of cleaning and does not damage either the fiberglass or the plastic. Denatured alcohol does not do as good a job dissolving and removing the sealant, but it is what Dicor recommends for cleaning old lap sealant before applying new sealant. For that purpose, it works great.
I did not get a picture of the finished job as I wanted to get the cover on due to the threat of rain. However, it really is not any different in appearance than it did before. The above pictures tell the important part.
Subject: ouR escaPOD mods
Posted: 18 Sep 2016 at 10:27pm
Time for something that isn't so much a mod as a repair. After reading examples of leakage from the rear spoiler, I thought it was time to take a closer look at mine. This was reinforced when finally, after our trip and some events that kept me tied up, I got around to washing the EscaPOD in preparation for waxing and putting the cover on. When I was washing, I noticed water flowing out from under the spoiler at one of the rippled-up sections. If water was coming out, I figured water had to be getting in.
I first visited Camping World and got some sealant. I got both non-self-leveling/non-drip lap sealant. The only Dicor brand one was a single tube of tan. It was in the close-out area. The other I got was self-leveling Dicor white. Apparently, Camping World is closing out the tan in favor of white. This is too bad as tan was what was used on the Pod initially. In another mod post, I'll explain why I wanted the self-leveling sealant also.
The first step was to make sure I could safely reach the spoiler's screws. These I removed. It was as Is suspected. A lot of the screws showed significant rust. While I had not noticed any evidence of leakage inside, rusty screws meant that at least some water was getting in by that route. So I also visited my local Lowe's Home Improvement to purchase stainless steel screws. I could not find them with the square drive of the originals but I got the right size to replace the original, rusted screws.
Using a putty knife, I carefully removed the spoiler. I found further confirmation that, while the factory sealed around the edges of the spoiler, no sealant had been applied to the screws or screw holes.
One of the things I was concerned about turned out to not be a problem. I had read that the hole for the wires was not sealed for some Pods. It turns out mine was sealed with a large amount of black RTV sealant.
I used a razor scraper and mineral spirits to remove all of the old lap sealant from the roof of the R-Pod. I also removed as much as I could from the spoiler. I then used Denatured Alcohol to wipe both the Pod roof and the spoiler to prepare it for reattaching. I first spliced the wires since I had cut them to remove the spoiler. Then I laid down a bead of the non-self-leveling/non-run lap sealant, making sure I ran it where the screw holes were. I used a couple of short pieces of heavy wire, one at each corner to help me line up the spoiler. Even so, it was difficult as it wanted to keep shifting until I finally got a couple of screws in. The wires definitely helped but second person would have been more helpful. After getting the screws in, I went back and caulked and smoothed around the perimeter of the spoiler, making sure to leave one small gap uncaulked as a weep hole just in case any water did get under the spoiler again. I cleaned up the areas around where the lap sealant had gotten where it should not have been using mineral spirits or denatured alcohol.
Why mineral spirits? It does an excellent job of cleaning and does not damage either the fiberglass or the plastic. Denatured alcohol does not do as good a job dissolving and removing the sealant, but it is what Dicor recommends for cleaning old lap sealant before applying new sealant. For that purpose, it works great.
I did not get a picture of the finished job as I wanted to get the cover on due to the threat of rain. However, it really is not any different in appearance than it did before. The above pictures tell the important part.