My piano hinge leaks a bit....now what?

[skeetersmobilelodge]

After all of the rain we've had lately I've recently discovered that the piano hinge used for my door is allowing water to get in behind it, then it will run down to the corner and end up getting wicked into my sheets. The rest of my home made door seal appears to be working just fine. So how on earth can I go about keeping water from getting behind the hinge? I thought about maybe some rubber behind it but I fear that will wither away and I won't be able to see it until it's so late and begins leaking again.

[Woodbutcher]

It's hard to help without seeing what you have now. Are you able to show us a picture of the inside and outside of your door to see what you have now?

[skeetersmobilelodge]

This is the best I've got as of right now.

[Pmullen503]

If you don't already have one, put a flange on the inside to channel any water that gets through your seal/hinge down and out. You'll need to cut holes in your seal or drill weep holes to let the water out. That seal won't keep all of the water out (think wind driven rain) so you'll need to come up with a system that takes care of what little gets through.

Don't forget about the surface tension of water. It will happily wick through any gap less than a 1/4" or so.

[Tomterrific]

Put a gutter above the door. Any water that hits the side or spills over the roof will be caught by the gutter. I bought aluminum J bead from Lowes. Ten feet for $4. I used caulk behind it and shot in some screws.

I have a flange inside around the perimeter of my door as mentioned in the post above. There is no rubber seal. It is by design, not added later. Never a leak in torential downpours even on the freeway. I knew it might work but even I'm surprised how leak free my doors turned out.

You could add a rubber strip over the hinge but the top would need secured so water doesn't get in. I can see problems because opening the door.

[Woodbutcher]

All these are good suggestions. If you know for a fact that the leak is getting through the hinge, I would take the hinge off and put a rubber gasket under the hinge. An old bike tire inner tube would work well.

Have you tried having someone sit inside the trailer and shoot the door with water and see where it comes in?

[skeetersmobilelodge]

Woodbutcher, I've considered putting a gasket underneath. Do you think a tire tube would be a long lasting fix, or would the rubber dry out and crack?

[Woodbutcher]

It is a cheap fix. I have used a tire as a gasket on a feral cat house I built for my daughter 5 years ago. Still works today, Plus if it is under the hinge it will not see daylight and should work. The worse that can happen is you replace it down the road. If your hinge is not stainless steel, you will be replacing that down the road anyway. Worth a try in my opinion.

As was mentioned above, a rain gutter will help also.

[skeetersmobilelodge]

Thanks for the information guys, I truly appreciate it. I wonder if a large tire tube may help my leaking rear hatch as well.....hmmmm.....pondering for another day I suppose. I'll give the tire tube a try and report back.

[Shadow Catcher]

Bicycle inner tube materiel is not particularly UV friendly. I used a section of rubber roofing for our rear galley hinge.

[KCStudly]

EPDM rubber has decent UV resistance. It can be ordered in strip form and is also typically used for pond liner available in the garden section at big box home centers.

[Woodbutcher]

Had the trailer out today and took these pictures. That is a forever hinge used to divert the water up over the Galley hinge. It solved my leak. But it must extend past the body to work.

The first try was short because I didn't want to cut the RV edge molding and it let the water curl around and trickle in,

Closed position...


Galley open position. By just screwing one edge the other edge floats as the hinge moves.