Water Damage

AnOldUR · July 2023

I made an alarming discovery on our 2020 320S. There's a soft spot on the angled portion of the floor at the back, passenger side of the trailer. It's in line with the side running light, so that was my first thought as a place for the leak, but since there's no water marks visible on the side wall, I'm not so sure (it could be running behind the plywood). There doesn't seem to be any point of water entry around the light or in the area under the trailer.

Has anyone experienced this or have thoughts about how to fix it.

I tried to remove the running light with no luck. It looks like there's a pry point, but without conformation I don't want to take the chance of breaking the lens.

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Slackers · July 2023

What are we looking at in the bottom photo? If the shot is from the outside it can't be good.

AnOldUR · July 2023

Looking closer at the pictures, I noticed that one of the screws holding rail in place under the trailer was driven down very far in comparison to the rest. On the inside, I can see where it poked through the plywood in the location of the water stain. Do you think that water could be coming in around this point?

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Slackers · July 2023

Possibly. There's a lot of brown surrounding the spot where the screw pokes out. I'm also concerned about the gap between the two metal trim pieces and being able to see what looks like a label.
Edit: We have a CS so I don't know what the underside of an S should look like. Also look at the driver's side and compare.

AnOldUR · July 2023

@Slackers. The other side looks the same (except for the over tighten screw). It looks like that label is actually on the plastic trim molding that I believe is only cosmetic.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021717/uploads/editor/vz/d6oqql4572xj.jpg

Slackers · July 2023

One course of action is to back out the screw, caulk the hole, and carefully drive the screw back into place. I'd run some caulk along the side of the metal trim where it hits the side of the trailer. It may be better to first share your photos with Nucamp's support.

AnOldUR · July 2023

Sounds like a good plan @Slackers. I'm the second owner of this trailer and it's well out of warranty, but if this is the cause, I wonder if nuCamp would take responsibility. I'll pass along the pictures and see what they say.

The plywood in that area is soft enough that I could stick my finger through the rot if I pushed hard enough. A repair would probably be costly.

Slackers · July 2023

From reading other posts, nuCamp often comes through..., but if not I'd ask about stop-gap fix. With plywood that is soft, perhaps it's better not to back out the screw!

tabiphile · July 2023

Slackers said:

With plywood that is soft, perhaps it's better not to back out the screw!

There is a product called Git Rot that is specifically designed to deal with punky wood. The challenge is always how to git the Git Rot into the rot. Drilling holes, injecting with a syringe is a typical solution.
You might also consider epoxying toothpicks or the like into the punky hole to provide material for the screw threads to grip. Then caulk as necessary. It's best to avoid silicon based products.

Horigan · July 2023

I've had similar damage in that area on our older 320 due to the tail light leaking...

duckblind123 · July 2023

I had the same water damage on the passenger side on my 2016 T@B 320 as water was leaking in through the rear tail light. Since my trailer was out of the warranty period (I purchased the unit new in 2016 and sent the pictures of the leak/damage in 2021). Anyway, I sent pictures to NuCamp in 2021 showing the damage. I was informed that this was a known issue and therefore, they would cover the work/materials. Much to my surprise (as opposed to any other RV vendor out there), I took my T@B to the NuCamp location in Ohio and they did in fact fix it free of charge. So, I am not sure if your situation is similar to mine, but you may wish to contact them to see what they say. Good luck!

AnOldUR · July 2023

Thanks for the information. I just sent out a Technical Support Form to nuCamp. I'm not anticipating any warranty type of claim, but will be interested in hearing what they think is the cause and possible repair options.

I'll look into the Git Rot product posted by @tabiphile, but curious why you say to stay away from silicon based products?

tabiphile · July 2023

AnOldUR said:

curious why you say to stay away from silicon based products?

You cannot glue, paint, varnish over anything that contains silicon.

AnOldUR · July 2023

Heard back from nuCamp this morning. Really couldn't expect more. We're heading out to a T@B rally in a couple of days. Sure to hit rain somewhere along the way. I'll seal it up as best I can and see if there's any additional water getting in.

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