Given the amount of caulk lines on my trailer, it bothers me how they look so dirty. Silicone caulk - which I no longer use! - seems to readily attract dirt. Proflex RV seems better at not attracting dirt. However, the caulk lines always look dirtier than the fiberglass.

If you've used Proflex RV long term, what is your experience with the caulk lines?
What are you using to clean the caulk lines? It seems like the caulk lines need something stronger than the fiberglass does.

 

Most caulking gets like that from application techniques which leaves open pores on the surface of the cured product. When I was still doing gazing we always did soap during install which lowered the friction and left a smooth finish. I also still use the same product on my trailer, which is Dow 795. I haven't found anything comparable.

 

My caulking skills aren't that great, but there are times that I think the Proflex RV doesn't like me. The caulk looks good coming out of the tube, but once I run my finger over it the result is rough, not smooth. Part of that may be due to using nitrile gloves that have residue from the prior bead.

When you use soap, how do you apply it. With a spray bottle? Do you spray your hand or the bead?

 

The rubber gloves work fine as long as they are tight ( wrinkled gloves at the tips don't work). Use a 60/40 solution of soap and water in a spray bottle. Keep the bead slightly wet, if you do it right there will be near zero caulking on your gloves.

 

When the caulk squishes out, won't the soap keep it from adhering to the surface?

My other problem is that I'm not laying down a nice even bead. I sometimes get a few gaps. Spraying soap/water into the gap would be OK?

 

The caulking should only squish out onto the tape. Thats the pro method of caulking.

Clean surfaces

Install painters tape on both sides of joint

pump caulking into joint

use soap water mix to level out caulking, press firmly the width of your tape joint dictates the caulking thickness. The caulking edges should be level with the tape if enough pressure was used. You only get one chance to work the caulking, don't make multiple passes.

immediately remove tape, pull tape inward at an angle towards the caulking to avoid strings

 

Sometimes I use tape, usually I don't. I really should use it all the time as my leveling method seems to go 50% further than I think it should. I know I'm bad at it, so I should use all the tricks available.

It would be nice to lay down a bead so nice that I don't have to touch it after that.

 

I wet my finger rather than the joint.

I have just been caulking on our fifth wheel. You would love this. The fiver is an 08 and has been a great fiver overall except for the back wall which was wavered when we got it used. I completely rebuilt the inside back wall to new and eventually found the factory has short sheeted the rubber roof so the rubber on one side was about an 1" to 1 1/2" short and just covered with caulk. So I got some EDPM and patched it in. Problem solved for about five years, then this year, suddenly under the back window the wall board starts to show signs of water penetration. Finally we could back over to the beach where we keep our camper and up on the ladder. what I found was at least the factory was consistent. The caulking on one upper side of the window had broken away and there was nothing sealing it but dried out caulk. No tacky tape because there was nothing to sandwich it too. The window opening was cut far too large leaving about a 1/4 gap between the edge of the opening and edge of the window. So as a temporary fix, I uses some steel wool as a backer and then two layers of caulk until I have time to take the window complete out and resize the opening. Another fine example of quality RV workmanship! At some point in the future i intend to remove the entire back wall, do whatever framing is necessary on the back wall, and then recover it.

Steve

 

On one corner of my roof, the EPDM is like a trampoline. There's no underlayment supporting the EPDM any more. Maybe it never was there in the first place. A portion of the wall below that area appears to have been "worked on" sometime in the past. I suspect there was a leak and they resealed things and then fixed the delamination. But they never really fixed the damage below the EPDM. I'm not sure I'm up for replacing a roof. But the engineer in me really wants to rip it off so I can pull off the underlayment, improve the insulation and shore up the roof infrastructure.

 

Man, I hear you. You gotta love your camper however as that is a lot of work! Where I am right now is our fiver is very liveable and sometimes that is the most important thing!

I think with some of these you can devote a lifetime to gluing them back together. The thing really is peeing me off here is the interior looks almost new and except for the peeling decals, the exterior is in great shape. Now I have to rebuild the back wall inside again. ;(

Steve

 

If I have to do any interior panel replacements, I'm going to use FRP. The same stuff I used in the bathroom ceiling. The problem is that the existing wall (Luan and some sort of vinyl "wallpaper") is glued to the metal studs and rigid foam insulation.

The wallpaper that wasn't water damaged was very stubborn until I hit it with a heat gun. Then it came off easily in big sheets.

 

I quit screwing around with “RV” sealants years ago. My most recent trailer got resealed after we got back from our first 1/2 trip with it. We went to see family in ND & MN and picked it up in Fargo to save $2500. I blue tape my windows and use BlackJack roofing cement. I do not plan on replacing windows so I use the best, long term sealer I can find and BlackJack is it. I do use Dicor on any roof installations because of their self leveling caulk but all vertical surfaces get BlackJack.