Leaking Camper Trailer Through Zip
Submitted: Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:00
ThreadID:
73967
Views:
12453
Replies:
9
FollowUps:
4
This Thread has been Archived
Purpleibr
Hi All - we went on our first
camping trip with our new camper trailer and experienced some very heavy rain, the canvas itself was great (no leaking) however we had a considerable amount of
water come inside the tent it appeared to be tracking down the zip and into the bottom of the tent. Has anyone else had this happen or know of a way that I can stop this happening in future?
Reply By: Member - Tour Boy ( Bundy QLD) - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:17
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:17
Spray some silicone spray on the inside and outside of the zipper.
Cheers
Dave
AnswerID:
392434
Reply By: Purpleibr - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:43
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:43
Thanks Dave will give this a go. Cheers
AnswerID:
392437
Reply By: TimmyG2 - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:44
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:44
With my Camper I was told to put the sprinkler on the tent for two hours to fully soak, this worked for the Canvas. I found the same as you that it needed a total drenching that only heavey rain can give for the zipper areas. The first trip the zippers ran like a tap, however after that soaking I have never had a problem again. Once the cotton attaching the zippers to the canvas gets wet it expands and seals the holes.
AnswerID:
392438
Reply By: Purpleibr - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:07
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:07
I also wondered whether it was a proofing issue - hopefully we won't cop as heavy rain again for a while.
AnswerID:
392440
Reply By: Fiona & Paul - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:35
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:35
Being your first trip I guess you were lucky it rained and that gets your first good drenching out of the way. I assume you know about weathering the canvas by giving it at least three good drenchings to break the canvas in. It was my wife that woke me up to this as I didn't have a clue when we started about 5 years ago.
Another thing we did after each trip was to rub bees wax along the zip to make zipping easier.
Regards
Paul & Fiona
AnswerID:
392441
Reply By: Purpleibr - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:46
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 13:46
Hi Paul - yes we had weathered the canvas, we had some really heavy storms the first time we put it up in the back yard - we set it up in nice sunshine and then it began to pelt down for the next 5 days along with strong wind so we knew it should stand up to extreme weather. Given your comments I'm wondering if the 4 days of rain weren't really enough and another couple of drenchings is needed.
Cheers
AnswerID:
392442
Follow Up By: Member - Tour Boy ( Bundy QLD) - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 16:20
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 16:20
It has to fully dry out between drenchings.
FollowupID:
660397
Follow Up By: Fiona & Paul - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 17:48
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 17:48
Well I was lucky because Fiona read up on all the stuff (arts & crafts person) and we got three good drenchings and we had given it a real good
water down in the middle and after that we never had any problems at all.
Well I was having troulbe with the zip while packing up one day, Fiona produced the bees wax and the rest is history.
Of course now we are in the Compac which is good for quick stopovers, but it cut off a few
places I wanted to go. Then again I am quite happy to drive very slow when the conditions are a bit rough. When we went out in the wet we really copped it, so we were lucky but if it hadn't been for the boss who knows.
Good luck with it and when you find the rain send some down south.
Paul & Fiona
FollowupID:
660405
Reply By: Member - Sigmund (VIC) - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 15:33
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 15:33
Yeah, we had a zipper leak during the heavy rains last month, but the CT had been in deluges before with no trouble. We found that it was a tent pitch issue: just the right angle to channel one trickle down to the horizontal section of zipper at the door bottom. The simple solution was to lean something on the canvas above the zipper which meant that the
water ran onto the binding on the zipper upside and dripped off.
AnswerID:
392458
Reply By: Wilk0 - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 20:45
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 20:45
Hi Purlpeipr,
Grab a cheap candle and rub it into the zipper.
Cheers Wilko
AnswerID:
392486
Follow Up By: bruce - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 21:32
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 21:32
Exactly......the easiest & cheapest & quickest fix...cheers
FollowupID:
660442
Follow Up By: blueriderwa - Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 09:27
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 09:27
This post has been read by the moderation team and has been moderated due to a breach of The Advertising/Self-Promotion Rule 
.
Forum Moderation Team
FollowupID:
660483
Reply By: Serendipity (WA) - Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 23:13
Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 23:13
Hi Purpleibr
I have seen this often over the years with the cloth that makes up the zippers.
When we bought our Travelander camper I noticed it was one of the details they have covered. All the zips have a plastic cover over the outside of the zip to prevent the ingress of
water.
Maybe you could look at getting a canvasser to fit plastic covers over you zips if it becomes an ongoing problem.
David
Image Could Not Be Found
AnswerID:
392502