Rain leaking in from everywhere!

[albo42]

OK its damn wet here in Brisbane, but so far I've got:

• when raining even slightly bed gets wet everynight around seam of canvass at fold out bed end
• more wet bed end mattress and pools of water onto floor and under drawer after unpacking just now - also seems to be dripping out of zip/seams for canvass section when folded inside van
• water dripping from just under fridge across the mains trip switch and on to the floor
• some drips of water coming through the roof top air conditioner
• wet bedding on top bunk

Getting a bit sick of tring to dry sheets and mattresses - any ideas/similar experiences, thanks Al

 

[Gaz70]

try waxing the seams in the canvas and spraying waterproofing on the canvas, you'll have to waited until it dries out tho..if under warranty contact Jayco..

are you using the a/c....might be condensation.

 

[Holden_man]

Hi Al,
Welcome to sunny bris, sorry can't help with any solutions, but can tell you how much rain we have had, I tipped 235mm out of the gauge so far, 165mm just from today.
That's 9 and a half inches to the old timers. Mum and dad up at gympie have had 21 inches in the last 2 days. Suffice to say they aren't going anywhere for a while.
I know it's no comfort but you have been through a hell of a lot of rain in your panda.

 

[andrea]

Do you have the three piece mattress? We find taking the small (approx 10cm section) helps keep the bedding away from the canvas. We were in two days of 200mm rain each day last January without any bed flys and doing this and keeping pillows and bedding away from canvas kept us dry. We now have vinyl waterproof bed ends (which act as insulator when using the heating and cooling) and don't have to worry about our bedding touching the canvas

I think the biggest drama with the rain is that it has been horizontal so getting in places it shouldn't

 

[albo42]

Do you have the three piece mattress? We find taking the small (approx 10cm section) helps keep the bedding away from the canvas. We were in two days of 200mm rain each day last January without any bed flys and doing this and keeping pillows and bedding away from canvas kept us dry. We now have vinyl waterproof bed ends (which act as insulator when using the heating and cooling) and don't have to worry about our bedding touching the canvas

I think the biggest drama with the rain is that it has been horizontal so getting in places it shouldn't

Thanks Andrea, yes its the 3 piece and last night at Mooloolabah removing it did the trick.However, after packing up in the rain, it seems to have leaked a lot of water inside the cabin when the bed end was folded up for travel.

 

[albo42]

you have been through a hell of a lot of rain in your panda.

Sure have! Just got off Straddie yesterday (they shut down all the ferries today with seas up to 7m on northern Morton Bay, and evacuated campers from Flinders and Main beaches), spent a really wet and wild night at Mooloolabah last night, and was advised by the Council to leave at 8 am this morning. We're back in Brissie in my parenb's with poor old Panda out on the street.

 

[andrea]

Jayco really need to make the vinyl section about 20cm higher and I think a lot of these issues would be eliminated

 

[achjimmy]

I think coming into its 6th year Jayco need to forget about black checker plate and chocolate colours and re Design the lids to
A stop bubbling
B incorporate waterproof privacy screens as std.

 

[04diesel]

Gday Al
we too spent 2nights in the wind and rain just up the coast from you at Coolum Saturday evening was quite um interesting to say the least.We had a slightly damp bed after friday night so made a trip to bunnings on sat morning and bought a tarp and tied it in over the bed end,we had no water ingress to the bed end on saturday night despite the heavy wind and rain,we did have a minor leak on the awning along the sail track at the top but no internal leaks at all,im thinking we need to invest in one of those weather proof bed end covers.

 

[Dean81]

Heh Al,

We were also up the not so sunny coast At Noosa Heads. We had rain coming in side ways and both bed ends got damp.
I also removed the 100mm bed strips and things stayed a little dryer. But the rain was coming in side ways and the van was shaking a fair bit from the wind didn't help AT all.
Has anyone had experience with the canvas pooling above the bed end?.
Would this be caused by the rapid rain or would it be the water running between the boot lid and the van at the piano hinge?.
Defiantly going to invest in some vinyl bed ends.
Bit of rain never hurt anyone, but wet beds defiantly dampens the rain on our parade.

 

[relgate]

Heh Al,

We were also up the not so sunny coast At Noosa Heads. We had rain coming in side ways and both bed ends got damp.
I also removed the 100mm bed strips and things stayed a little dryer. But the rain was coming in side ways and the van was shaking a fair bit from the wind didn't help AT all.
Has anyone had experience with the canvas pooling above the bed end?.
Would this be caused by the rapid rain or would it be the water running between the boot lid and the van at the piano hinge?.
Defiantly going to invest in some vinyl bed ends.
Bit of rain never hurt anyone, but wet beds defiantly dampens the rain on our parade.

We notice the pooling on our front bed end. On closer inspection it travels olong the hinge and then drips down on one side hitting the canvas. a couple of mm to the side and it would miss the canvas and drip down the side. I will make note as a warranty item

 

[Dean81]

Thanks Relgate,
Will mention this to jayco as well..

Ours is now stretched on one side of the canvas at the bed end.

 

[Burnsy]

Heh Al,

We were also up the not so sunny coast At Noosa Heads. We had rain coming in side ways and both bed ends got damp.
I also removed the 100mm bed strips and things stayed a little dryer. But the rain was coming in side ways and the van was shaking a fair bit from the wind didn't help AT all.
Has anyone had experience with the canvas pooling above the bed end?.
Would this be caused by the rapid rain or would it be the water running between the boot lid and the van at the piano hinge?.
Defiantly going to invest in some vinyl bed ends.
Bit of rain never hurt anyone, but wet beds defiantly dampens the rain on our parade.

Hi mate, this happened with our last van, for me it was leaking between the hinge and lid. I just sealed along the entire length with white sika and it never happened again.

Cheers.

 

[Dean81]

Heh Burnsy,

Did you do the top or the underside with sika?? Or both?

Thanks

 

[Burnsy]

Heh Burnsy,

Did you do the top or the underside with sika?? Or both?

Thanks

Only did along the edge of hinge where it sits on the lid. After the weekend when I got water pooling on canvas I put the hose on the lid with the lid up and you could see plain as day the water leaking from under hinge. Just tape up both sides of the edge leaving about 4 or 5mm gap for a neat seal, then remove tape before it sets. After that I gave the sika a light wipe with turps which feathered out the edge of the sika.

Cheers.

 

[albo42]

There is definitely rain coming in the front bed end when driving through rain - a couple of days ago coming home it was much lighter rain than we had in Qld, but the mattress and bedding was wet when we pulled up at the end of the day. Ended up staying in a cabin instead at Lake Macquarie Big4.

I think Burnsy you're right. it must be coming in from the top (hinge) side of the cover, and pooling down inside the folded canvass, and then seeping through the canvass onto the mattress. I'll see what Jayco say when I take in for the warranty repairs.

I never had any problems in the rain with the old Finch.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

There is definitely rain coming in the front bed end when driving through rain - a couple of days ago coming home it was much lighter rain than we had in Qld, but the mattress and bedding was wet when we pulled up at the end of the day. Ended up staying in a cabin instead at Lake Macquarie Big4.

I think Burnsy you're right. it must be coming in from the top (hinge) side of the cover, and pooling down inside the folded canvass, and then seeping through the canvass onto the mattress. I'll see what Jayco say when I take in for the warranty repairs.

I never had any problems in the rain with the old Finch.

Hey Albo just check the front door latches there is a bit of adjustment there if the rubbers are not sealing

 

[albo42]

Hey Albo just check the front door latches there is a bit of adjustment there if the rubbers are not sealing

Will do thanks Capt and everyone for helpful comments.

I should also have mentioned about the other water entry in my original post - the rain came in the water heater vent and was seeping under the bottom metal plate and across the van floor - I reckon a squirt of silicon will seal that seam between the 2 metal plates. Rain also came in through the fridge vent (it was very wet in there when I took the cover off) and was the cause of the drips across the mains trip switch and onto the van floor. Don't think I can do much about that. The drips in from the roof top air con weren't too bad. So these sources of water entry I think were pretty much a one-off with the heavy driving rain in Qld at the time.

Will see Jayco about stopping water coming in the bed end, both when travelling and set up. And yes, I did get the water pooling on the canvass bed top under the lid but only on one night of light rain strangely.

 

[satyoga]

Hey Albo42,
We have had a lot of rain up here, we were stranded due to the floods in our Expanda for a week out of Proston, Qld.
Expanda bed held up well in the rain and floods, after removing the little strip of mattress and keeping things off the canvas.
Weather proof bed end coming up just to be sure I think.
Have had water wet the mattress while travelling so have adjusted the handles, will wait and see.
Cheers Tony

 

[albo42]

Hey Albo42,

Have had water wet the mattress while travelling so have adjusted the handles, will wait and see.
Cheers Tony

Thanks Tony, but don't quite follow this - handles?