Background: Last fall we began to notice water accumulating at the bottom of the window between the glass and fiberglass cap. I admit that it was not an area that I look at normally and I initially attributed it to condensation. This spring when we got the unit out of storage there was more water which we soaked up with a towel. On our first trip it rained and more water accumulated so I finally realized that this was the result of a leak not condensation. I was eventually able to determine the water was running down the passenger side of the frame and followed the trail up to the top of the window behind the “C” decal of Cougar.
At this point I contacted Keystone and their only advice was: do what you can to stop the leak and take the camper to a dealer for repair. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anyone at our local dealer that I would trust to do any repairs. I also figured that they would probably farm the work out to a repair shop if the window needed to be pulled. I then contacted an RV window repair outfit that claimed to have 3,000 locations nationwide. They said if the window had to be pulled then it would need to be replaced because it is “glued to the fiberglass cap.” That didn’t sound right but they went on to say if I wanted them to leak test it or apply additional urethane sealant then I would have to bring it into one of their 3 shops in OR, IN or FL. So much for 3,000 locations. They never responded to my request for additional information and a price quote.
Repair: At this point I figured I had nothing to lose by attempting my own repair although I was a little out of my comfort zone with this one. I ordered a tube of 3M urethane auto seam sealer as I thought it would be easier to work into the gap around the window than normal window urethane. I then started to remove the rubber trim and the plastic retainer track in the area where I suspected the leak.
When I got to the area above the “C” I found the track to be stuck in what appeared to be a glob of a different type of caulk than the urethane that the window was set in. My guess is that when they set the window at the factory, they must have done a leak test and then tried to fix the leak before installing the trim. It made out of the warranty period without leaking so I guess they would call that a success.
It was a PIA trying to remove the additional caulk, sort of frustrating like silicone but a bit harder in texture. Then it was on to cleaning out the rest of the gap in preparation for the urethane. This was the step I was most concerned about because I had never worked with seam sealer and it has a very short cure time (they claim it’s paintable in 30min). At this point my wife left to go shopping because she has seen me caulk before where I end up with more caulk on me than on the project, and she didn’t want to become the target of my wrath when things don’t go as planned.
As it turned out, this was actually the easy part. The urethane flowed well into the gap from where I started at the top center of the window around the corner passed the area where the leak was. I was even able to tool it up against the window for a good seal without making a mess and getting it all over me.
The most stressful part was trying to get the track back in and seated correctly around the window before the urethane cured. The track had to be fed from the top center of the window down to the left side of the window where meets the other end. The rubber trim I had to feed from the bottom center of the window up the left side to the top center of the window. This step is where a third hand would have been beneficial. I had to use a rubber mallet to gently tap the rubber trim into the channel to get it fully seated. I used some rubbing alcohol to easily clean up the urethane off the window from where the track got away from me a couple of times and finally cleaned the window with some Windex so it looked good as new.
At this point, I needed Mother Nature to send some rain our way for a test which she did with a vengeance last night. For the final test I sprayed down the window with the hose this morning and opened up the camper with fingers crossed to find a dry window, success!
No way to know at this point if this is just a temporary fix but at least I’m not paying for a new window this year.
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