Cargo Door Leak

[JnSWells]

Started raining found water in center of cargo bay, the one next to front door. Made sure it was completely shut and still water later. Would this be the seal around the door? Now we have bedroom slide leak and cargo door leak. 2012 Montana with 2 leaks, getting kind of disgusted... First time with this problem in 5 fifth wheel, all purchased new.. I guess they don't make em like they use to.

[TAKPAK]

JnSWells, I see you are in good old Woodland. Ah yes, the nice wet NW. We're down here in Hillsboro, just over the hill from the Columbia River. Is the food still good at the Oak Tree?

Anyway, to answer your question, the door seals aren't perfect, but should work. Check around the top of the door, the drain "lip" that sticks out to divert water coming down the side from the door. Make sure there are no holes, or lack of caulking. Second, make sure there are also no holes anywhere along the framework of the door, that would allow water to seep in. Basically, the water will get around the door, but the gasket should keep it from seeping in, IF there are no gaps or holes in the framework. Another thought (if the area is big enough) would be to crawl inside with a flashlight, then have someone close and latch the door, then run water on the side of the trailer like it was raining and watch where the leak is coming from.

Regarding your slide leak, we had a really BAD one on our 2011 3400, but it was an easy fix once I found it. PM me and I'll explain what I found....and did.

Regarding quality...I guess there can be good ones, and bad. I will have to say that our 2011 3400 was far superior in quality to the 2008 we had, and then when we bought the 2014 3725, it's quality is far above the 2011, especially in insulation value and drafts...or actually the lack of!

[brooksider]

Had the same problem. Resulted in a new floor for the slide and a new floor for the basement compartment. Just finished the basement floor and I am now waiting for a nice day weather wise to re install the compartment door. That leak resulted in a bit of delamination which I fixed.Both leaks were due to Caulking break down or lack of.
Joe

[Irlpguy]

I am not sure of the layout of your particular model, our 3402RL had water in the storage compartment, it was "NOT" coming in around the doors it was coming from the anti siphon valve for the black tank flush. On ours this is located under the bedroom sink and the water was following the hoses down into the basement. I live in BC, no one except Hawaii gets more rain in the winter than we do here and I don't even close my storage doors tight and have had absolutely no water in the basement since I took the anti siphon valve out and replaced it with a simple elbowed fitting. I would check that out.

The leak in the bedroom slide is common it seems and we also had that problem, solved by removing the corner plastic pieces on the trim strip that goes all the way around the bedroom slide, you will be amazed at the places water can enter there and wick up into the carpet and flooring of that slide. It is a fairly easy fix and is related to crappy build and fit and caulking of that bottom strip.

Put lots of heat and air into the wet area to make sure it is well dried out, in spite of that you may eventually have rot in the floor of that slide because of this leak.

Stupid, Stupid design the way the simply breakdown of the caulking allows water to get into that area, I am not impressed as I have not been impressed with many things about the things you cannot see in my Montana. What you see looks great, nice design and features, it is what you cannot see that frustrates the heck out of me.

Good luck with the leaks.

[DQDick]

I would definitely look at a plumbing problem for the storage area first. The black tank flush anti-siphon valve is a common issue, but a loose connection could also be the problem. Our rigs are rolling earthquakes and so stuff will come loose from time to time. Our bedroom leak was the poor caulking of the 4" strip at the bottom outside of the slide.

[jcurtis934]

Our leak in the passthru was due to very loose fittings on several of the water lines behind the convenience center. When you can easily take up a complete turn with two fingers...well, someone on the assembly line didn't finish their job. John