encantotom
04-20-2008, 07:51 AM
hi all,
i remounted my side mirrors to seal them up nice (will post my learnings on that separately) and while putting the nuts on the back bolts behind the dc power panel in front of the passenger seat i dropped the nut. my wife was outside holding the mirror and she immediately said the nut dropped straight through to the ground. i had felt a breeze on my hand and had dismissed it. now i realized that there was a hole back there.
that night i had my wife shine a bright led flashlight behind the power panel and i got on a creeper underneath the coach. light came through brightly. ends up that from where the fiberglass front cap starts the metal frame of the coach follows the contour about 2 inches from the fiberglass. Newell had put the 1" foam with rubber matt and foil like used in the engine compartment and doubled it up about 2 inches high around the metal frame to make a seal when the end cap was put on. over the years it had deteriated underneath the mirror.
so i took it out for about 18" and tried to figure out how to fill it. i ended up using a dense foam pipe insulation with the hole in the center for the pipe. can get it at home depot but i had some from putting in my house hot water heater recently. it compresses nicely because of the hole in the center and then expands. i stuffed it up in the hole. it it hard to get because it is above the headlights and there isnt much room. once up there, i used a two part construction roofing foam and sprayed it over the foam and then over the old foam over to the generator compartment. it aint gonna leak any air now. this foam is roofing foam that expands 30:1 in 60 seconds and cures in 5 minutes. i have a friend in the biz and he gave it to me. comes in small 2 gallon metal tanks like bbq tanks both of them) and a 5 foot hose and gun. it is like the stuff in the walls of the coach and underneath the coach. so while i was under there i re insulated some of the areas.
to my families amusement, i did make a tactical error. in my rush and excitement to use the foam, i didnt put on a long sleeve shirt, cap, gloves and goggles. the foam shoots out and drops overspray like droplets all over. i spent 5 minutes foaming and 1.5 hours getting the foam off my glasses, arms, face and hands....got some in my hair as well and that was painful to comb out. this stuff really sticks...
i have chatted with a few others and they feel air coming from behind the dash and i would suspect that most people with coaches old enough for the foam to start to rot have the same problem. on mine it is only on the passenger side. the drivers side doesnt have the same area to leak air.
later
tom
i remounted my side mirrors to seal them up nice (will post my learnings on that separately) and while putting the nuts on the back bolts behind the dc power panel in front of the passenger seat i dropped the nut. my wife was outside holding the mirror and she immediately said the nut dropped straight through to the ground. i had felt a breeze on my hand and had dismissed it. now i realized that there was a hole back there.
that night i had my wife shine a bright led flashlight behind the power panel and i got on a creeper underneath the coach. light came through brightly. ends up that from where the fiberglass front cap starts the metal frame of the coach follows the contour about 2 inches from the fiberglass. Newell had put the 1" foam with rubber matt and foil like used in the engine compartment and doubled it up about 2 inches high around the metal frame to make a seal when the end cap was put on. over the years it had deteriated underneath the mirror.
so i took it out for about 18" and tried to figure out how to fill it. i ended up using a dense foam pipe insulation with the hole in the center for the pipe. can get it at home depot but i had some from putting in my house hot water heater recently. it compresses nicely because of the hole in the center and then expands. i stuffed it up in the hole. it it hard to get because it is above the headlights and there isnt much room. once up there, i used a two part construction roofing foam and sprayed it over the foam and then over the old foam over to the generator compartment. it aint gonna leak any air now. this foam is roofing foam that expands 30:1 in 60 seconds and cures in 5 minutes. i have a friend in the biz and he gave it to me. comes in small 2 gallon metal tanks like bbq tanks both of them) and a 5 foot hose and gun. it is like the stuff in the walls of the coach and underneath the coach. so while i was under there i re insulated some of the areas.
to my families amusement, i did make a tactical error. in my rush and excitement to use the foam, i didnt put on a long sleeve shirt, cap, gloves and goggles. the foam shoots out and drops overspray like droplets all over. i spent 5 minutes foaming and 1.5 hours getting the foam off my glasses, arms, face and hands....got some in my hair as well and that was painful to comb out. this stuff really sticks...
i have chatted with a few others and they feel air coming from behind the dash and i would suspect that most people with coaches old enough for the foam to start to rot have the same problem. on mine it is only on the passenger side. the drivers side doesnt have the same area to leak air.
later
tom