Battling Your RV’s Worst Enemies

RVs are exposed to many enemies and successfully combating them is the secret to the longevity of your rig. The common enemies of the RV are ultra violet radiation, road vibration, tree limbs, neglect and one of the most costly - water. It’s the rainy season again and once again water threatens damage to our RVs. Water is a very powerful force in nature (just think of the Grand Canyon) and it can do its penetrating work on our RVs just as well as it can on rocks. If water gets into your RV it will stain the ceiling, cause mold and mildew and worst of all dry-rot. Once that happens you have no choice but to tear it out and rebuild it. Water has to have an entry in order to cause damage, so prevention is the cure. The most common ways water enters an RV is through holes in your roof like around the air conditioner, holding tank and refrigerator vents, TV antenna and lights. Windows can easily be the cause of leaks, but I always check my lights first. My Country Coach motorhome has running lights that I recently discovered were filled with water. The water was finding its way into the lights but could not escape so it was trickling down through the light wire hole making its way inside my coach. As it turns out there was a crud buildup inside the rim of the light lens which acted as a water tight barrier. This “crud” barrier allowed water to accumulate inside the lens assembly until it filled to the point it could enter the inside of my motorhome. To remedy this situation I removed each lens with a screwdriver blade. The lens cover just pops off with a small amount of pressure. Next I wiped the lens holder rim clean with a cloth. I thoroughly cleaned the crud covered lens. After that I drilled holes in the bottoms of the lens itself so that it will be able to drain. I know some of you will think this procedure will cause even more problems, but having a combination running light/rain gauge is not my ideal. I put the holes at the bottom of the lens (duh) on the outside of holder where the lip intersects the lens. It’s been raining for a few days now and so far so good. Instead of drilling a drain hole, you could seal the unit with caulking, however, whenever you needed to change the bulb you would have to cut through the caulking and reapply it. Another more expensive alternative would be to remove the old lights and install new LED marker lights that are completely sealed units. Installing these new lights would allow you to completely seal off the wire opening preventing water entry. The bottom line is that you MUST keep water from entering your coach otherwise it will severely damage your RV. Helping you preserve and maintain your RV - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing