Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

General Discussion about almost anything Teardrop or camping related

Postby traildemon » Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:00 pm

makes me glad i didnt buy a LG Silver Shadow last year.

i would've been really pissed to had dropped $10g on a TD only to find that it leaked on the road or in the rain. :shock:

after paying that kind of money, an owner shouldn't have to 'rig' or otherwise horse-around with 'fixing' anything. he should be out there enjoying it. :thinking:
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Postby cks-1 » Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:41 pm

zig, when i get the style of seal i want.i'll help out with yours.i see on your website you were para sailing at put in bay..i live in sandusky.where are you from?
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Postby caseydog » Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:14 pm

traildemon wrote:makes me glad i didnt buy a LG Silver Shadow last year.

i would've been really pissed to had dropped $10g on a TD only to find that it leaked on the road or in the rain. :shock:

after paying that kind of money, an owner shouldn't have to 'rig' or otherwise horse-around with 'fixing' anything. he should be out there enjoying it. :thinking:


Here is the dilemma. Everyone I talked to that made there own doors eventually had leaks. Even the best builders I met at gatherings had problems with doors warping.

I camped with a Little Guy for two years, and I never had a leak. I towed it through a few rainstorms, too.

So, it seems there is no absolute way to be guaranteed your TD doors won't ever leak.

Actually, it has been my experience in a lifetime of camping that there is no guarantee that you will not get a little wet, no matter how good your equipment is. If I can keep the leaks to a slight drip now and then when I am camping, I call that a victory. :lol:
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Postby Baby Osmo » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:05 am

Good morning. I am a total newbie on this forum, but I felt like I should jump in to help a fellow LittleGuy owner. First, I want to say that you can always contact LittleGuy with any issues you experience. They are a fantastically responsive company.

As to the issue you are experiencing, I believe the problem is related to your camper being a Rascal. Until this year, Rascals were built from a fiberglass composite panel instead of plywood, to save weight. However, the panels are about 1/8" thinner than the plywood used on all the other models. The thickness of the plywood plus the carpet plus the outer skin is right at the minimum spec for the doors. Using the composite panel, the wall is 1/8" too thin for the door to seal properly. I had the same problem on my 4-wide, which I had them custom build using the composite panels. The factory explained the problem to me, apologized, and resealed around the perimeter of the door frames. I have had no further issues.

Little Guy has since discontinued using the composite panels for this reason. If your dealer is close by, they should handle it as a warranty issue, even if you are out of warranty, since it is a known issue. I have found LittleGuy to be very accommodating that way. I hope this helps.

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Postby humormeplease » Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:11 pm

One other trick would be to install one of those sunroof air deflectors vertically near your hinge & not too close for the door swing...similar to the type you see over your driver/passenger windows to allow the window to be cracked while it is raining. Usually installed with 3M tape already on from the manufacturer. Might be worth a try? Good luck! :thinking:
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Postby NW_Subie » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:19 am

Baby Osmo wrote:Good morning. I am a total newbie on this forum, but I felt like I should jump in to help a fellow LittleGuy owner. First, I want to say that you can always contact LittleGuy with any issues you experience. They are a fantastically responsive company.

As to the issue you are experiencing, I believe the problem is related to your camper being a Rascal. Until this year, Rascals were built from a fiberglass composite panel instead of plywood, to save weight. However, the panels are about 1/8" thinner than the plywood used on all the other models. The thickness of the plywood plus the carpet plus the outer skin is right at the minimum spec for the doors. Using the composite panel, the wall is 1/8" too thin for the door to seal properly. I had the same problem on my 4-wide, which I had them custom build using the composite panels. The factory explained the problem to me, apologized, and resealed around the perimeter of the door frames. I have had no further issues.

Little Guy has since discontinued using the composite panels for this reason. If your dealer is close by, they should handle it as a warranty issue, even if you are out of warranty, since it is a known issue. I have found LittleGuy to be very accommodating that way. I hope this helps.

Paul


Original poster has a 4 wide Retro, not Rascal.

I've never had any problems with door leaks on my Retro, and living in the NW I've driven in plenty of rain. I've had to adjust the back hatch locks and put new seals on the hatch. Otherwise, no issues with leaks.
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Postby Zig » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:50 pm

NW_Subie wrote:
Baby Osmo wrote:Good morning. I am a total newbie on this forum, but I felt like I should jump in to help a fellow LittleGuy owner. First, I want to say that you can always contact LittleGuy with any issues you experience. They are a fantastically responsive company.

As to the issue you are experiencing, I believe the problem is related to your camper being a Rascal. Until this year, Rascals were built from a fiberglass composite panel instead of plywood, to save weight. However, the panels are about 1/8" thinner than the plywood used on all the other models. The thickness of the plywood plus the carpet plus the outer skin is right at the minimum spec for the doors. Using the composite panel, the wall is 1/8" too thin for the door to seal properly. I had the same problem on my 4-wide, which I had them custom build using the composite panels. The factory explained the problem to me, apologized, and resealed around the perimeter of the door frames. I have had no further issues.

Little Guy has since discontinued using the composite panels for this reason. If your dealer is close by, they should handle it as a warranty issue, even if you are out of warranty, since it is a known issue. I have found LittleGuy to be very accommodating that way. I hope this helps.

Paul


Original poster has a 4 wide Retro, not Rascal.

I've never had any problems with door leaks on my Retro, and living in the NW I've driven in plenty of rain. I've had to adjust the back hatch locks and put new seals on the hatch. Otherwise, no issues with leaks.

I was thinking ours was made of some composite plywood. I had to drill a hole to install our electrical plug and it was quite thick. Yes I sealed it well.
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Postby caseydog » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:15 pm

Zig wrote:
NW_Subie wrote:
Baby Osmo wrote:Good morning. I am a total newbie on this forum, but I felt like I should jump in to help a fellow LittleGuy owner. First, I want to say that you can always contact LittleGuy with any issues you experience. They are a fantastically responsive company.

As to the issue you are experiencing, I believe the problem is related to your camper being a Rascal. Until this year, Rascals were built from a fiberglass composite panel instead of plywood, to save weight. However, the panels are about 1/8" thinner than the plywood used on all the other models. The thickness of the plywood plus the carpet plus the outer skin is right at the minimum spec for the doors. Using the composite panel, the wall is 1/8" too thin for the door to seal properly. I had the same problem on my 4-wide, which I had them custom build using the composite panels. The factory explained the problem to me, apologized, and resealed around the perimeter of the door frames. I have had no further issues.

Little Guy has since discontinued using the composite panels for this reason. If your dealer is close by, they should handle it as a warranty issue, even if you are out of warranty, since it is a known issue. I have found LittleGuy to be very accommodating that way. I hope this helps.

Paul


Original poster has a 4 wide Retro, not Rascal.

I've never had any problems with door leaks on my Retro, and living in the NW I've driven in plenty of rain. I've had to adjust the back hatch locks and put new seals on the hatch. Otherwise, no issues with leaks.

I was thinking ours was made of some composite plywood. I had to drill a hole to install our electrical plug and it was quite thick. Yes I sealed it well.


If you have a 4-wide Retro, which is what it looks like to me, your side walls are 3/4-inch birch plywood.

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doors leaking

Postby cks-1 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:17 pm

Right now i have both retro and rascal.it appears the doors leak in the frame when closed at the bottom,mine do not leak where they are mounted in the teardrop.it looks like the door jiggle enough when going down the road to let some moisture in at the bottom,wind blows it up ,first thing it hits is the mattress.i bent the door catch on one and it tightned the door a lot when its closed,but also closes harder.that should fix the problem..not that it was a major problem for mine.
there are many sizes of mounting rings to accomodate different wall thicknesses.
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Postby Zig » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:36 pm

Maybe my leak has something to do with the door being bent.
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I was able to put a small block of wood in the doorway and apply enough force to make the door straight. I see them do this at work. We'll see if that makes a difference! :twisted:
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Re: Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby SPLAT » Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:09 pm

I live in Oregon, on the Coast and built my Teardrop with several waterproof redundancies, I am a victim of the leaky window seal in my doors...
At first I wasn't sure if it was the seal around the door or something else, so I set up my GoPro to watch the door on our last trip up to Portland and it looks like the leak is from the seal around the sliding window. It appears that the wind from driving just blows the water around the overlap between the window and the rubber seal...

Has anyone come up with a decent quality fix? :thumbdown: :x
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Re: Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby DezPrado » Sun Jan 28, 2018 6:29 am

I'm glad this has come up again. My doors were leaking recently & got the bedding all wet. My solution came when all the teardrop contents were removed and the interior dried out. when it was parked outside overnight it rained, and the following morning i discovered a puddle inside the tear. I discovered the leak was coming in from behind the exterior frame so I removed the door completely from the side of the tear. a close inspection of the seal showed it had shrunk in its groove by a quarter inch on its length thereby allowing water to channel in, plus the fact the seal join was on the vertical portion of the door frame. The solution in my case was to remove the seal and relocate the join to the BOTTOM of the door, and fill the gap with a dab of appropriate sealant. has held up so far with not leaks. Hope your solution is as simple
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Re: Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby ae6black » Sun Jan 28, 2018 5:48 pm

One thing that might help would be gutters over the door. Frank Bear sells them as well as others. I didn't see if you did the hose test to identify the problem.

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Re: Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby gyeager » Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:22 pm

Zig, Did you or anyone else solve the Little Guy door water leak problem? I have a brand new 4 wide Little Guy looking exactly like your logo with both doors leaking. Showed up first significant ran while towing. I applied water with a hose and watched. It is coming in through the top seals and in through one door handle. They have ordered two new doors, but I fear that will not solve the problem. Since this problem was known early on you would think the factory would have solved the problem. I used to love this rig, now I think a tent would work out better. I felt your pain. I am now two months into the process and have a new rig that is useless in the rain with two doors on order that they can not tell me when they will arrive. So much for my research showing Little Guy as a responsive company.
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Re: Little Guy Door Water Leakage?

Postby rbtrary » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:54 pm

I have found a solution for door water leak when towing in the rain for my 2013 LittleGuy
with door manufacturer stamped Challenger Elixir Black 36x26; 0805.
After experimenting with dusting baby powder on the inside of the doors and towing in the rain,
it revealed the water leak was coming from the area at bottom of the sliding glass. My doors had
plastic channel window guides along either side of the sliding glass and nothing on the bottom
Those plastic guides do not appear to offer any weather seal leaving the bottom of the glass
to just sit the empty door frame channel allowed road spray water to seep in.

I replaced those plastic guides with below automotive rubber glass run channel. I ran it all along the
sides and bottom. This sealed all edges of the glass when closed. Now the glass sits tighter in the frame
but still slides up and down easily and has so far prevented further leaks when towing in the rain.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000M ... UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps
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