Using tape on aluminum cap roof center seam?

Call Road

New member
Hey everybody

Longtime lurker, first-time poster here, hopefully this is the right section for my question...

I know from past experience that many if not all campers eventually develop leaks

recently I picked up a nice older aluminum truck cap/canopy/shell to build out into a small camper. It's taller than cab height, with a sloping frontside, 2 big sliding windows, and a huge clear glass window. I insulated it with 1/2 inch foam, then screwed & glued 1/4 birch ply on the walls, with carpet-covered luan on the ceiling, and a simple bench-bed system

just took it out for the maiden voyage up to the white mountains where it was POURING rain for a good 12 hours, like torrential, can barely see style. got in the camper that night & noticed water coming down the inside wall pretty steady. luckily I had a tarp to throw up on the roof

I'm thinking that it might be the one center seam on the roof of the shell. that's the only seam up there and it may have been tweaked slightly when I screwed the walls into the square tubing framing. it never leaked before, but also it was probably the worst rain Ive seen in years, plus we were on the highway in it for several hours

am trying to figure out the best fix...have read about people using JB weld, dicor, silicone, roofing tape, and something called snow job. I am eyeballing the Gorilla Waterproof Patch and Seal Tape and also the Eternabond RV Tape. both are uv-rated and made specifically for mobile/roofing applications. also where it would be on the roof nobody can really see it

would rather fix it once with tape once than have to reseal it up every year which seems to be the deal with silicone/caulk/dicor

I know the Eternabond is the industry standard, but its tough to find where I live. I can order it but it'll be a few days & its fairly $$$

the Gorilla Waterproof stuff I got at HD yesterday. it has good reviews online & one of the main applications on the package says "car roofs"

does anyone have any experience with this type of fix?

any advice or suggestions is much appreciated!!
 

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Call Road

New member
also its possible that the water could be coming in via one of the screws on top?

there are 2 rows of 4 screws running side to side. the front row is right around where the leak was coming from

maybe I'll just silicone around those?

so many options...
 

OverlandNA

Well-known member
I've only used Eternabond on my campers with excellent results. The Gorilla Glue products that I have used all worked for their particular use.
You could use the tape over the screws (make sure they are tight first). Or remove 1 screw at a time, put a dab of Dicor non-sag, non self-leveling sealant over the hole and run the screw in.
I would not use silicone for the screws as the next time they need to be sealed you will have a hard time getting anything to stick where the silicone was.
 

shade

Well-known member
also its possible that the water could be coming in via one of the screws on top?

there are 2 rows of 4 screws running side to side. the front row is right around where the leak was coming from

maybe I'll just silicone around those?

so many options...
Simply putting a gob on silicone on top of the screw heads may not seal that well, and the silicone is likely to release over time.

Correctly sized, bonded sealing washers would be a good way to seal the screws, but running them in with sealant is another way to go. If you do that, use enough sealant that a decent amount gushes out around the head of the seated screw. If you aren't going to take the panels apart, do one screw at a time to hold the structure together. You can spray a little denatured alcohol on the silicone to allow smoothing it over the screw head with your finger. Black silicone is available, which would look better than clear on that topper.

You could also do both for a belt & suspenders approach.

524824
 

OverlandNA

Well-known member
Correctly sized, bonded sealing washers would be a good way to seal the screws, but running them in with sealant is another way to go.
If you use the washers you may need longer screws to get the same bite. Then you may as well go up one size so you are grabbing fresh material.
 

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