Exterior How many ways to find a cv leak?

[jazzeddie1234]

I've had a persistent leak in the kitchen window and had no success in finding the source. Yesterday's effort included:


Hose the side of the van, then repeat with the leaf blower ...nothing


Pressurise the window and surrounds with a blower (not the leaf blower!) and spray soap on all seams/roof. I got the idea from someone who pressurises the entire van but I decided against that when they said you have to seal up every internal leak/vent in order to get enough pressure....and I have a jayco....not enough masking tape in Bunnings for that


I had siliconed the seams before and that greatly reduced the leak in high wind and the bubbles took ages to form. A caravan repair guy told me to seal the seams by a window as the wind can blow water up and along.

Then we have another downpour and there's water on the bench....

The window seal looked ok but I removed it and resealed/glued just in case and I've left the internal trim off so I can have a look next time

Then it was beer o'clock

 

[Drover]

Better pic of whole window would be good just to get better idea of type............
I took ages to find mine, removed whole window frame could see water run along frame, resealed and ended up removing again, eventually found a loose rivet way above in the sail trak which was the culprit, very hard to source, so removed all rivets and replaced with a good dob of sealant..........
I have also found lock tabs to leak, sealed with foam door seal..........
Check roof joins and any fitting on wall above and to the side of window as leak may run along a cable or frame ..... any marks from a fitting or cladding join after driving in wet is a good signal that its loose.

When I resealed my window, done a few of them I have gone back to using sticky back foam on window frame with a bead of sealant around the van frame covering frame and the joins in the cladding with dobs over the screw holes this, tends to seal the cladding from water wicking along seam and if any water gets past the foam the sealant allows it to run to the bottom of window to drain away without getting to the frame itself, well thats my theory and to date has worked.

Its a matter of looking for the not so obvious bit....... I still walk around inside with my led torch checking the window frames during good rain .

 

[jazzeddie1234]

more photos

When I took the internal screen off I could see the leak was coming through the (green) foam insulation in that corner and not the window frame.


I've checked the antenna, all seams, the other frame, and the roof sealant along that edge


Think it's a camec window. The frame has been resealed and looks fine. And i put a bead of clear over as a test

 

[Crusty181]

more photos
View attachment 65093
When I took the internal screen off I could see the leak was coming through the (green) foam insulation in that corner and not the window frame.

View attachment 65092
I've checked the antenna, all seams, the other frame, and the roof sealant along that edge

View attachment 65091
Think it's a camec window. The frame has been resealed and looks fine. And i put a bead of clear over as a test

My understanding is the tin walled vans are much the same as the glass walled vans, just with tin. ie foam sandwiched btw laminated ply inside and out, with no cavity. I have glass on the ext wall, and you have tin but otherwise same same. If thats the case moisture should not be able to get into the wall core, and certainly not be able to travel around without something majorly wrong going on like a delamination.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

That's why I have focused on the tin (aluminum?) laps. The sheets have a triple fold on the lower edge which allows the next sheet to slide up about 10mm and form a fairly waterproof seal. Except where the edge is cut for a window or where the lap has opened up a bit. That allows the water to blow up and over the lap in high wind.



But near where the drip was appearing there looked to be a major frame section join so I wondered if the water was blowing over the lap and into the seam and then finding a path in the foam.

Anyway the soak with blower and hose test is not showing anything so I may try a sprinkler on the roof next

As an aside I was in talking to a repair guy who was removing this profile from the front of a caravan which was soaked inside. He was going mad at the builder because this design suffers badly from the water over the lip problem due to high wind pressure while driving in the rain. His solution was to fill the lap with silicon before inserting the next sheet. It made me happy to have a glass front section at least

 

[Crusty181]

That's why I have focused on the tin (aluminum?) laps. The sheets have a triple fold on the lower edge which allows the next sheet to slide up about 10mm and form a fairly waterproof seal. Except where the edge is cut for a window or where the lap has opened up a bit. That allows the water to blow up and over the lap in high wind.

View attachment 65107

But near where the drip was appearing there looked to be a major frame section join so I wondered if the water was blowing over the lap and into the seam and then finding a path in the foam.

Anyway the soak with blower and hose test is not showing anything so I may try a sprinkler on the roof next

As an aside I was in talking to a repair guy who was removing this profile from the front of a caravan which was soaked inside. He was going mad at the builder because this design suffers badly from the water over the lip problem due to high wind pressure while driving in the rain. His solution was to fill the lap with silicon before inserting the next sheet. It made me happy to have a glass front section at least

I misinterpreted what you meant with the water coming through the foam, that's a good thing then