That springtime hangover

[Rocketsled]

Pulled the cover off the trailer to get ready for the season. Happy with that experience...aft4er hosing off the dust, won't need a coat of wax.

Put a new Battery Monitor in. charged and reset everything. Under load 1 year old 6 v batteries are showing 11.8v. They were bought at an RV show, finding who to talk to for a warranty swap? No clue...but it might push us towards LIFEPO...which sucks because we replaced the Charge controller last year.

aaaand the biggie: There's a 1x2 foot delamination of the outside wall at the nosecap. Nosecap is in kinda crappy shape...but wondering just what it would cost to recap/seal/relaminate.

This sucker has been expensive with suspension work, a replacement window last year, and the stuff we've done to it because we were committed to longterm ownership. The delam has to be addressed...either by fixing or trading, but the next trailer we want would be a TV upgrade, too...so throwing out the baby, and the house, and most of the block with the bathwater.

Water's getting in around the cap...would a bead of silicone slow the water intrusion, or just make things worse? I've got Eternabond...should I seal it til I can deal with it, or will it just make things worse when I try to remove it for repair?

[chuckster57]

I would use Dicor before I used silicone or eternabond.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Rocketsled

...
Put a new Battery Monitor in. charged and reset everything. Under load 1 year old 6 v batteries are showing 11.8v. They were bought at an RV show, finding who to talk to for a warranty swap? No clue...but it might push us towards LIFEPO...which sucks because we replaced the Charge controller last year.
...

Water's getting in around the cap...would a bead of silicone slow the water intrusion, or just make things worse? I've got Eternabond...should I seal it til I can deal with it, or will it just make things worse when I try to remove it for repair?

Depending on what you mean by "under load" your batteries may be "working normal"... They should, with NO LOAD, after "resting with no load applied for about 1 hour" read 6.1-6.4VDC each, or 12.2-12.8VDC in series.

If there is "any load" on the battery bank, then you can't get an "accurate resting voltage"....

So, to check them, fully charge them, disconnect all battery cables, let them sit for an hour or so, then use an accurate voltmeter to read the output voltage. You MAY find that they're OK.... They may still need replacement, but at least you'll know for sure and might save some money....

As for the leak, DICOR makes "self leveling sealant" that "runs and gets flat" and they also make "NON-Leveling sealant" that will not run, will fill those cracks and yet will "clean off if you need to get it all off the surface". Silicone sealants won't do that and should be "avoided"... I'd also "steer clear" of using Eternabond on any repair that you may need to redo at a future time. Eternabond is harder to remove than silicone

[Rocketsled]

Thanks guys,

The batteries seemed better after I put a car charger on them. They may have been a little low with being charged then stored in the garage. The Battery monitor (a renogy unit) but the end of the weekend was showing voltaged I liked...and even under load with lights and furnace running and showing 11.8v...seemed strong.

The first two camping trips coming up have full power. I'll use the opportunity to see if things are charging correctly in time for the third trip, which is fully boondocking, but only for 4 days.

Midsummer, I have a 5-6 day boondocking situation I'll have to have this all sorted for.

I'll get an order in for the Dicor to at least stabilize things until I can get on someone's list to remediate. Could I do it? Probably. Would the HOA sue me into oblivion? yup. And frankly, I don't want to take it on...I'd probably have a good solution eventually, but as of today, I have NO experience remediating this.

[chuckster57]

Dicor application is very easy, you only need a caulking gun.

Clean the surface, let dry or dry off with clean rag, apply Dicor to cover any gaps and BAM your done.