Leaky windows in the vinyl

[Tilldawn]

I have a 2024 All Terrain Ocelot Camper. Whenever the top is popped up and it rains I get a lot of water that leaks in where the interior vinyl windows are. All of the windows do this. Marty advised me to seal the stiched seams up with H-66 vinyl adhesive. I put two coats on the inside and outside stitching. They all still leak just as much as they did before and have since the day I picked it up. Tge water is coming from the area outside where the vinyl is sewn to the screen material. It pools up in that little piece of vinyl edge at the bottom and then leaks through to the inside. The only thing that prevents it is to have the exterior vinyl window covers velcroed on. This really defeats the idea of having a window I can open from the inside for air flow. I have to use a 10' ladder to put the covers on and off because the truck is lifted and I'm short so that's not an option while camping. Is this just something everyone has to deal with that has an ATC? I have seen some ideas on how to use the covers as awnings when it's raining but since it is caused by the edge of the vinyl catching the water I feel like any sideways rain would get inside. My FWC Hawk windows never leaked and didn't even have exterior window covers.

 

[Vic Harder]

I had this issue as well. I "fixed" it in a rather ugly way. Others here are using the outside flaps, but with small pieces of PVC pipe to hold them open, like an awning. I understand that gives the best of both worlds = rain and sun shade, plus light and ventilation.

 

[Vic Harder]

Check out this thread, posts 196ff and 206ff

Vic's new 2012 Puma build

Vic, that’s a sweet boat! Pix Please when you take delivery! I still have one of my Lincoln canoes, plus the lapstrake I built. The Lincoln is 17+ and 65 pounds. I should think about something lighter. Boat is finished and enroute to our place!

www.wanderthewest.com

 

[Tilldawn]

Check out this thread, posts 196ff and 206ff

Vic's new 2012 Puma build

Vic, that’s a sweet boat! Pix Please when you take delivery! I still have one of my Lincoln canoes, plus the lapstrake I built. The Lincoln is 17+ and 65 pounds. I should think about something lighter. Boat is finished and enroute to our place!

www.wanderthewest.com

Thanks for the reply and info on your fix. Unfortunately my leak is from the same "gutter" in the vinyl at the bottom but it seeps through all of the way across the seam. I even tried to seal the bottom of the seam up from the inside but it didn't help. At my age I'm not up to running out to climb up a ladder in the rain. I'm wondering if I can run a bead of some type of sealant all along the inside of that vinyl gutter area? Any other ideas? I camp at the coast a lot and even the heavy dew is enough water to seep inside.

 

[Tilldawn]

I wish I could post a video to this thread. It shows the water dripping in all along the seam that holds the inside window cover on at the bottom of the window.

 

[Tilldawn]

Screen shot from the video shows the drips.

 

[drumwood]

I haven’t done it yet, but I’m thinking of making a set of clear covers for my Bobcat windows. That would give me light, which really helps cheer up the interior on gray winter days. However, that doesn’t give you the air ventilation you want.

 

[craig333]

I've never understood why the rollup style storm flaps fell out of favor. I need a ladder to roll them up but if a storm comes I just hook them with my shovel and in just a few seconds they're down.

 

[Tilldawn]

I haven’t done it yet, but I’m thinking of making a set of clear covers for my Bobcat windows. That would give me light, which really helps cheer up the interior on gray winter days. However, that doesn’t give you the air ventilation you want.

Luckily I did get a set of clear covers from Marty when he built the camper. They definitely help with the light, just no ventilation as you mentioned.

 

[kmcintyre]

Thanks for the reply and info on your fix. Unfortunately my leak is from the same "gutter" in the vinyl at the bottom but it seeps through all of the way across the seam. I even tried to seal the bottom of the seam up from the inside but it didn't help. At my age I'm not up to running out to climb up a ladder in the rain. I'm wondering if I can run a bead of some type of sealant all along the inside of that vinyl gutter area? Any other ideas? I camp at the coast a lot and even the heavy dew is enough water to seep inside.

I had the same issue... I sealed that bottom "seam" along the bottom (from the outside) to try and keep the water from running along the bottom "lip". It worked pretty well. I wish I had photo's but that camper is long since gone. If you look at the FWC's, their design is different and has a "bulb" like "gasket" along the bottom.

The other thing I did was to move the outside vinyl covers down a little on the window, Any rain that got between that cover and the window could still leak in but it helped minimize it.

 

[Vic Harder]

So on mine, the water ran down the clear vinyl when closed, and pooled along the bottom seam, but found that it could escape on either side of the window. I sewed up the side a little and sealed the thread holes, so now the water still build up, but drips out through the screen material to the outside.

I bet that if I had a finer mesh on the screens, it would be more of an issue. I also wonder if the sewing of the seam so that there is as little of a "lip" for the water to catch on would be better.

 

[Tilldawn]

I think that leaving as little lip as possible when it's being sewn would at least help. I'm going to try to run sealant along the lip from the outside like kmcintyre mentioned and hope that works.

 

[Tilldawn]

I had the same issue... I sealed that bottom "seam" along the bottom (from the outside) to try and keep the water from running along the bottom "lip". It worked pretty well. I wish I had photo's but that camper is long since gone. If you look at the FWC's, their design is different and has a "bulb" like "gasket" along the bottom.

The other thing I did was to move the outside vinyl covers down a little on the window, Any rain that got between that cover and the window could still leak in but it helped minimize it.

Thanks, I'm going to give that a try. I already used 2 coats of H-66 on the outside and inside of all of the seams and it didn't help at all. I'm going to try to fill the outer "gutter" from the edge of the vinyl with sealant and possibly put a piece of vinyl on the inside against the screen to give it something to seal against. What camper did you end up getting?

 

[kmcintyre]

Thanks, I'm going to give that a try. I already used 2 coats of H-66 on the outside and inside of all of the seams and it didn't help at all. I'm going to try to fill the outer "gutter" from the edge of the vinyl with sealant and possibly put a piece of vinyl on the inside against the screen to give it something to seal against. What camper did you end up getting?

I sold my 2000? Eagle and got a new flatbed Hawk.... for me, much better fit, space, etc. and I never took the Eagle off (ok, a few times to repaint the bottom, etc.) so a permanently mounted flatbed made sense. I have to say, the space utilization is so much better. I've had/have a few issues which I can't seem to resolve (or like) with the main one being the "tin canning" roof noise. FWC states my roof is how they are built, but there are bulges, etc. on the skin around the corners, etc. A few other quality control issues that I have no idea how they got missed too, but overall I love the flatbed.

 

[SunMan]

This is my only complaint on my 2023 Panther, I’ve made several attempts with H66 with similar, poor results. Its really a shame, my old 2003 was leak proof in the rain, you’d think this would be sorted out after all these years and camper variants. Can’t say enough great things about Marty and his crew but honestly this flaw was an unpleasant surprise.

 

[Capt.Budd]

I have a 2024 All Terrain Ocelot Camper. Whenever the top is popped up and it rains I get a lot of water that leaks in where the interior vinyl windows are. All of the windows do this. Marty advised me to seal the stiched seams up with H-66 vinyl adhesive. I put two coats on the inside and outside stitching. They all still leak just as much as they did before and have since the day I picked it up. Tge water is coming from the area outside where the vinyl is sewn to the screen material. It pools up in that little piece of vinyl edge at the bottom and then leaks through to the inside. The only thing that prevents it is to have the exterior vinyl window covers velcroed on. This really defeats the idea of having a window I can open from the inside for air flow. I have to use a 10' ladder to put the covers on and off because the truck is lifted and I'm short so that's not an option while camping. Is this just something everyone has to deal with that has an ATC? I have seen some ideas on how to use the covers as awnings when it's raining but since it is caused by the edge of the vinyl catching the water I feel like any sideways rain would get inside. My FWC Hawk windows never leaked and didn't even have exterior window covers.

I don't have a leak problem on mine
(2023 ATC Panther) but I made PVC struts with velcro attached to them to hold the bottom of the storm flaps out so they work like an awning so I have window and ventilation if not super windy.
Although my F150 is not lifted like your truck and I only need small step ladder to put on and off. Hope this helps.

 

[Vic Harder]

I don't have a leak problem on mine
(2023 ATC Panther) but I made PVC struts with velcro attached to them to hold the bottom of the storm flaps out so they work like an awning so I have window and ventilation if not super windy.
Although my F150 is not lifted like your truck and I only need small step ladder to put on and off. Hope this helps.

I think this is the best solution for the windows on ATC and older FWC campers that were designed to use the external covers. The newer FWC window design is better and doesn't have this issue.

I documented the fix somewhere here, but can't find it. So, here it comes again:

IMG 2069

www.wanderthewest.com

The picture above shows a window with seam sealer (H66) on the outside

IMG 2066

www.wanderthewest.com

(and inside) stitching. It still leaks this way. Before seam sealing, it also leaked from the seams with single stitching that you can see on the inside picture above. The problem was tracked down to how these corners are stitched:

IMG 6403

www.wanderthewest.com

Made worse (?) by leaving this extra material shown here. This will act like a "gutter" feeding water to either end of the gutter (maybe not the best metaphor), where there is no downspout. So as it spills over. It is supposed to spill over to the outside, but there is also a "gutter" on the inside... the clear plastic/vinyl of the window. We found that if the clear vinyl windows are velcro'd (sp?) closed, it still spills over to the inside, and or soaks through the velcro and drips into the camper. Here you can see it with water in it:

IMG 2065

www.wanderthewest.com

And here is our "ugly" fix. We stitched the sides higher. You can't readily see it in this picture, but the stitching captures the clear vinyl on the inside, making the "gutter" much taller on the sides, forcing the water to drip outside instead.

IMG 2065

www.wanderthewest.com

And the inside picture of the stitching.

outside stitching

www.wanderthewest.com