Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

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Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby Zig » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:32 pm

I swear, I'm going to rename our camper the RainDrop! Seems like I spend all my spare time pulling the mattress and foam pads out to dry. Seems like every time I use it, it rains when I am towing it. Its coming in around the door, both of them. They seem to be sealing tight enough, but I am thinking that water is coming thru the windows where they overlap. Im not sure where its coming in, but it sure gets everything wet. Any ideas? Maybe tape the gap where the windows overlap with blue masking tape? I actually tried that with some success while on our Alaska trip to try and keep the dirt out. I know this must have been discussed before.
I am just looking for some ideas short of just caulking the doors closed.
If it is raining just a little it gets a little wet. If it is pouring, it is soaking wet inside. YUK! I dont want to have a fair weather camper, I want it to be dry all the time.
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Postby caseydog » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:56 pm

I never had that problem with my Little Guy. I have Little Guy doors on my homebuild, too. :thinking:

Here is what I would do. Take the mattress and stuff out, get inside, and have someone outside run a hose all around the doors. From inside, you should be able to see drops and/or a stream of water form where the leak is.

If there are weep holes at the bottom of the doors, make sure they are not blocked, too.

And, just to rule out the obvious, I assume the doors are in upside right, so the top and bottom windows overlap properly. I would rather doubt this is the problem, but anything is possible. :lol:

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door leakage

Postby cks-1 » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:00 pm

I have 2 little guys with the same problem,yes they leak at the window sliding area,around where the 2 sliding portion meet,I've also sold quite a few of these door,purchasing directly from the manufacturer,it is a known problem by them and little guy.those doors where originally designed for horse trailers as drop down feed doors,hence the water blowing from a differnet angle,the only difference in the doors you have is where the weep holes are located.i have the idea of cutting some 1/8" plastic that will fit the inner contour of the door sealing it off from the interior,placing them in before we go down the road.
also if you push around the sliding windows part,youll notice they wiggle some at the seals,i believe thats where the leak occurs.
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Postby caseydog » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:10 pm

Hey CKS-1, did I get my doors from you? :thinking:

I think so.

I got my build done, and camped in it. I had leaks, but not in the doors. :lol:

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Postby Zig » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:12 pm

I am pretty sure that pouring water over them would not show up as a problem. It is the vacuum created when going down the road at speed that sucks the water in. When we are camping (setting still) it has rained hard and there is no leakage,..so I think it only happens when we are moving. Seems like it rains every time I pull it!
If I could ride inside of it (I know!..., I wont do it) Then I might be able to see where its coming in at!
Thanks cks-1,... I will try that.
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Re: door leakage

Postby caseydog » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:14 pm

cks-1 wrote:.those doors where originally designed for horse trailers as drop down feed doors,hence the water blowing from a differnet angle,the only difference in the doors you have is where the weep holes are located.


So, on a horse trailer, the part of the door where the door-handles are would be at the top? The opening window would slide from back to front?

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Postby TENNJIM » Sat Oct 10, 2009 6:56 pm

This is just an additional thought. It looks like the bottom corner and bottom edge of the door is very close to the fender. When running in rain or spray from water on the road, water might be deflected off the fender with enough force to compromise the bottom corner of the door seal. It could be checked easily enough with a garden hose and pressure spray nozzle. As I say-just a thought.
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Postby Rooky » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:23 pm

Do you have a roof vent? And if so do you travel with it open? Or do you have air vents? I look for leaks in doors and windows daily for a living. Water leaks are the hardest thing to track down and stop. :thinking:
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Postby Zig » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:41 pm

Rooky wrote:Do you have a roof vent? And if so do you travel with it open? Or do you have air vents? I look for leaks in doors and windows daily for a living. Water leaks are the hardest thing to track down and stop. :thinking:

Yep, I close the roof vent tight. The rear hatch seems to be sealed tight. I know what you mean about air leaks. I did a pressure bubble test on our truck camper last summer. I was thinking about trying it on the Little Guy, but Im sure it would blow around the window overlap.
I was just playing around with the idea of just taking a large pc. of plastic and slamming the door over it, then cutting the extra plastic off. Kind of ghetto. It probably would work though.
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doors leaking

Postby cks-1 » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:47 pm

hi casey dog, yes you got your doors from me,glad you havent had any leaking problems,i've not heard of anyone with that issue on the ones ive sold...but both of my little guy trailer will leak some when going down the road in the rain..i think the wind /turbulance is moving the seal a little allowing some water in.i tried the water hose trick while i watched inside ,couldnt get any results..i need to try using a pressure washer..lower settings,that should be similiar to going down the road.i still like the doors due to the large glass area in them.
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Postby cks-1 » Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:12 pm

sorry to get off the subject of the door,,almost forgot to compliment the nice job on your tear casey..what are the vents on the side??I'm in the process of building an aluminum framed 5x8 tear.wanting to be at 500# finished.javascript:emoticon('8)')
i'll use the same doors .
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Postby eveningprimrose » Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:25 am

Just an idea...do you have the deadbolts on your trailer, in addition to the regular locks? We have deadbolts and we lock both sets of locks, when towing. When I'm inside the trailer, and I lock the deadbolt, it seems to pull the doors in, tighter. We pulled our Little Guy 5-Wide in a torrential downpour, for 3-hours. There wasn't a drop of water inside it. I don't know if the deadbolts really help, or if it's my imagination.
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Postby caseydog » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:12 pm

cks, the vents are intake and exhaust for the air-conditioner.


If the leak is at the overlap of the top and bottom window, why not tape over that when you have to tow in the rain?

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doors leaking

Postby cks-1 » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:25 pm

i've found 2 problems on my doors,the seal was loose that goes around the bottom glass,reinstalled that,then noticed the doors not shutting tight enough,as mentioned in a previous post here ,the door wiggles enough to let water past the seal when the door is closed,For mine i think this is the whole trouble.it looks like over time the seals have collapsed.A new maybe thicker seal will cure the issue.
Might be the same trouble on some of the others have leak issues.
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Re: doors leaking

Postby Zig » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:37 pm

cks-1 wrote:i've found 2 problems on my doors,the seal was loose that goes around the bottom glass,reinstalled that,then noticed the doors not shutting tight enough,as mentioned in a previous post here ,the door wiggles enough to let water past the seal when the door is closed,For mine i think this is the whole trouble.it looks like over time the seals have collapsed.A new maybe thicker seal will cure the issue.
Might be the same trouble on some of the others have leak issues.

So,... do the seals come off and how do you replace them? Do you want to do mine? $$$ just kidding, kind of.........
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