Travel Trailor tips

[Preacher Man]

What brand did you buy that gave you trouble?

[S-3 Ranch]

I am probably going to make another cargo trailer conversation, to a camper ( IMO they’re longer lasting )
brush trooper is a tbh guy and is fairly close to me
https://www.stsotx.com/all-inventory/utility-trailers so when I get some time

Lots of YouTube stuff about converting

https://youtu.be/z4XltJc2_T8

[Chrisj81]

Whatever you buy IMMEDIATELY paint the roof seams and around all the vents/AC in DICOR. Once it dries cover the DICOR with that tape that's made to cover TT seams, etc. Preventive is FAR easier than fixing.....

I have a saying....."there are only 2 types of campers, salvage titled and those that are going to be"...😉

Dicor and eternabond are NOT made to go hand in hand... use one or the other... if you have a rubber roof I highly advise not using eternabond because once whatever you just put it on needs replaced you can have the possibility of needing a new roof membrane added as well... 5k-20k to replace that....
As far as aluminum campers go ATC is the absolute best... Airstream is a Fad not the best... many shops also turn down working on them and they are very expensive to repair... and if buying an older one ALL the parts are discontinued......

[Chrisj81]

all exterior sealants.... body and roof need to be checked every spring and fall... if they start looking like dry cracking do a full reseal because the rest is close....

[ACbob]

I got a great deal on a used 2020 Grand Design Imagine 23BHE. Made a couple of short trips and one longer one to Colorado. So far so good. Lots of good information on YT. I tow trailers in my line of work and it still always make me nervous. A tire pressure monitor system takes some of the stress out.

[perow]

Dicor and eternabond are NOT made to go hand in hand... use one or the other... if you have a rubber roof I highly advise not using eternabond because once whatever you just put it on needs replaced you can have the possibility of needing a new roof membrane added as well... 5k-20k to replace that....
As far as aluminum campers go ATC is the absolute best... Airstream is a Fad not the best... many shops also turn down working on them and they are very expensive to repair... and if buying an older one ALL the parts are discontinued......

So what do you recommend to help keep up on the seals?

[Triple 000 Buck]

feel free to save my info .... I am in the rv business..... but on the repair side.
as far as trailers go stay away from KZ manufacturing, Jayco for sure as far as newer models go.
middle of road would be heartland and keystone
best built in my opinion is A grand design and ATC

Appreciate your input...
What happened to Jayco?
We have a 2010 25BHS we bought new and all I’ve done to it is put new tires as needed.
We use it quite often.
It’s always been under a cover.

[Chrisj81]

So what do you recommend to help keep up on the seals?

checking your sealants spring and fall EVERY YEAR

[Slicefixer]

Dicor and eternabond are NOT made to go hand in hand... use one or the other... if you have a rubber roof I highly advise not using eternabond because once whatever you just put it on needs replaced you can have the possibility of needing a new roof membrane added as well... 5k-20k to replace that....
As far as aluminum campers go ATC is the absolute best... Airstream is a Fad not the best... many shops also turn down working on them and they are very expensive to repair... and if buying an older one ALL the parts are discontinued......

I don't have a rubber roof and our areas best TT repairman told me to do EXACTLY that, and it's held up beautifully. I can only post from my experience, and the combo has worked better than every single combination I've tried, and over the past 30 years I've tried a lot.....including installing a rubber roof. Dicor sealed the seams and the white/reflective tape protected the Dicor.

When the Dicor degrades, and I'm sure it will at some point as EVERYthing else has, I'll reseal with it again. Common sense, at least to me, would imply that Dicor covered, sealed, and protected by the heat REFLECTING version of the tape should degrade slower. I wouldn't think it'd get significantly hotter under the reflecting tape vs exposed. Because it's protected NO moisture can get to the Dicor sealed seams, etc. On top of that, when the tape degrades, which mine hasn't after 2 years, it's going to have to be torn off and the Dicor will no doubt go with it.

So in that logical scenario I'm no worse off than I'd be having to reseal with either by itself. So far I've gotten 2 years without any issues. That beats the h#ll out of the annual, sometimes biannual, scrape and repeat I've experienced year after year.

[Chrisj81]

Appreciate your input...
What happened to Jayco?
We have a 2010 25BHS we bought new and all I’ve done to it is put new tires as needed.
We use it quite often.
It’s always been under a cover.

in my opinion and I would bet i have worked on somewhere around 10k RVs..... Forest River, Jayco, KZ are the ones that have the most issues and more poorly built than the other poorly built. there are some out there that are fantastic made by those but there may be 10 bad for every good one

[eradicator]

checking your sealants spring and fall EVERY YEAR

Yep, never ending battle. They are what they are. Kinda like boats

The more use, the better typically

[Slicefixer]

Yep, never ending battle. They are what they are. Kinda like boats

The more use, the better typically

Hehehe.....checking every year, or more often than that, combined with the above are the best pieces of advice in the entire thread.

[perow]

checking your sealants spring and fall EVERY YEAR

Ok but since you don’t like using enetrnabond what would you recommend

[Chrisj81]

I don't have a rubber roof and our areas best TT repairman told me to do EXACTLY that, and it's held up beautifully. I can only post from my experience, and the combo has worked better than every single combination I've tried, and over the past 30 years I've tried a lot.....including installing a rubber roof. Dicor sealed the seams and the white/reflective tape protected the Dicor.

When the Dicor degrades, and I'm sure it will at some point as EVERYthing else has, I'll reseal with it again. Common sense, at least to me, would imply that Dicor covered, sealed, and protected by the heat REFLECTING version of the tape should degrade slower. I wouldn't think it'd get significantly hotter under the reflecting tape vs exposed. Because it's protected NO moisture can get to the Dicor sealed seams, etc. On top of that, when the tape degrades, which mine hasn't after 2 years, it's going to have to be torn off and the Dicor will no doubt go with it.

So in that logical scenario I'm no worse off than I'd be having to reseal with either by itself. So far I've gotten 2 years without any issues. That beats the h#ll out of the annual, sometimes biannual, scrape and repeat I've experienced year after year.

if you don't have e a rubber roof I suggest just using eternabond, it will last for many years, if you have a Winnebago with a fiberglass roof dicor is not compatible with the roof as they use self leveling silicone and silicone and dicor will not adhere to each other, either way I am not trying to be in a passing contest just giving advise. I am a master technician, was lead technician for a few very large shops and dealerships and have my own repair business. I am just trying to give solid advise on what I know is best. I also have a background as a aircraft builder so when I look at problems just the now problem isn't my concern its anything that can arise in the future as well

[Hart8]

When I buy a travel trailer,it'll be an Airstream.