nyannucc wrote: Peeper and all who have made this "fix" - How has your season been? Nice and dry? Did you do any driving in the rain. Haven't camped much myself this year, but am curious to see how the handy work is holding up.
thanks!
I’ve tried and tried, but I still can’t keep the water out of the front bunk area.
For all of you that have a Roo, do me this favor: With your unit parked outside and after a decent rainfall, go out and look at the lower left & right corners to each side of the piano hinge of the bunk and tell me what you see. Bet, you’ll find the area full of water. Mine fills with water (it’s full now) and so do the ones parked at a dealer not far from me.
Here’s a shot of mine with standing water in the lower area of the bunk doorframe.
Unlike the rear bunk, which is installed in true vertical plane, the front bunk slants backward to the rear of the trailer. The surface that the piano hinge mounts to is at a right angle to the frame, which is fine for the rear bunk. However, with the front bunk frame slanted backwards (about 14-1/2 degrees), the right angle of the hinge mounting area forms a pocket for water to collect in. Despite having a set of secondary seals on the bunk door, rainwater still flows and collects into this area. Then, I hop into my truck, hook up the Roo, drive down the road and onto the highway and then the water blows past my new full length lower seal & rubber dam and soaks into the raw edge of the MDB bunk board (there, damage has been done). The next bunk board I put in this thing is going to get its raw edge coated with Rhino-Coat pickup truck bed liner like material.
Forrest River has come up with another idea for the newer units.
· Outside edge of the bunk doors now get a new black colored perimeter trim/seal (in place of the white trim) that incorporates the additional bulb seal that acts much like the stick on secondary seal that many of have gotten.
· The lower piano hinge seal appears to be beefier. Looks like the same seal material as the vertical and upper main seals.
· The main seals on each side now extend all the way to the bottom of bunk frame.
· There is an additional round seal that sits on the lower face of the bunk door that’s appears to seat against the lower hinge seal. This new seal resides underneath the rubber dam which now tucks in between the lower lip of the bunk door and panel that the mattress sit on.
I’ve got pictures of this on my cell phone when I went to my local dealer, maybe I can post them here later.
I got the new seal package from FR last week, but have not had time to install...it appears that I will have to remove the hinge to get that extra lower seal on. I was looking at mine last night while closing up the bunks and it appears that the original lower horizontal seal is not being compressed because it is not as thick as the side seals. The new secondary seals are a pinch welt w/bulb that replaces the white pinch welt. They are black and not very attractive. FR says they will not have white ones until next year.
I am interested in seeing the pictures from your local dealer.
Ok, this is a random thought, but what about installing some sort of drain there? I was thinking about drilling a hole and have some sort of tube that would head down and out the bottom.
2007 Rockwood Roo 23ss
Derek '77
Tina '78
Brianna '04
Dominick '07
Maximus (slobbering camping buddy)
mister_d wrote: Ok, this is a random thought, but what about installing some sort of drain there? I was thinking about drilling a hole and have some sort of tube that would head down and out the bottom.
I have toyed with this idea in my mind on more than one occasion, but having never experienced any front bunk leaks (knock on wood), it hasn't come to fruition. I don't think it would be a difficult thing to do...
Go take a look at a late 08 and new 09 Thor hybrid (Aerolite, Kodiak) and you will see 2 drain holes and two tubes that run through the front wall to the underside of the trailer.
They knew they collected water in the rain while driving and added a simple solution.
Michael 2 DD's and my DW 6 Acre's of Maine 2009 Crossroads Cruiser CF31SB 2008 Chevy 2500HD Ext. Cab LT 4X4 Champion lil' yellow Chinese genset, 4000W Camping Pictures
mwebber78 wrote: Go take a look at a late 08 and new 09 Thor hybrid (Aerolite, Kodiak) and you will see 2 drain holes and two tubes that run through the front wall to the underside of the trailer.
They knew they collected water in the rain while driving and added a simple solution.
I'm sure this is much easier said than done - a simple procedure at the factory w/o the fiberglass wall. Again, random thought, but I wonder if you could have a drain go down and out the front of the trailer rather than all the way down to the underbelly - I'll deal with the black streaks. Maybe one of the more tool savy guys can think of a way to have this area drain.
mister_d wrote: Ok, this is a random thought, but what about installing some sort of drain there? I was thinking about drilling a hole and have some sort of tube that would head down and out the bottom.
Me too. I haven’t found a fitting that could be attached that wouldn’t project above the surface where the water stands.
I’ve had thoughts of just drilling 2 drain holes and using a pair of the black plastic drain buckets/collectors (the Roo’s have them mounted on the inside wall, just under the slide to catch water runoff from the slide roof when it comes into the camper). This would catch the water from the bunk frame and then drain via tubing through the floor inside the cabinet area.
Here’s the plastic drain buckets… I knew Chuck at a picture of it. It’s just below the metal junction box on the wall, to the right a little. There’s a drain hose coming out the bottom that goes through the fender well (I think?).
When I replace my damaged bunk board (again) I'll look into maybe doing this. Trouble is, there’s a full-length wooden support that runs side to side that holds up the front edge of the bunk board. I think it’d have to be cut short so the drain buckets could fit in.
Peep, try the new push-on trim FR is using with the bulb seal. It's cheap from an automotive restoration supply as it's a standard section. The way it seals just makes more sense. I bought a roll but haven't had time to do the swap.
If you stick with the MDF panel top, how about just closing the end using a panel J-trim set in polyurethane?
Just wondering, Does forest river replace all the bunk seals ? or just the front ? I'm the owner of a leaky 07 183 Roo and I asked Gregg Rollins to send me the revised seal kits for all the bunks, I'm curious as to what I may actually get,
The Forest River Bunk end design was a really poorly thought out idea,it's almost a "given" that going to leak.
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