In this video I just wanted to show you how we keep up on the maintenance of our travel trailer. We’ve only had the trailer for less than a year at the time of this post, so please don’t see us as experts. 🙂 However, after doing my own research online and seeing how others maintain their RVs, this was my take.
We recently bought a Camco RV Brush to help with the process of washing the RV. I didn’t really want to use a sponge and ladder while making my way slowly around the trailer. This product definitely sped up the process quite a bit and made it a lot easier.
So as I stated above, I first went through the process of washing off the RV. I read online that you should start on the sides of the RV first to prevent streaking, then make your way to the roof. It seemed to do the trick, although the RV wasn’t too incredibly dirty to begin with. I didn’t use any RV cleaner/wax on this particular wash just because I am mainly focusing on the seals around the roof. The brush hooks up to a hose and I just used water to scrub off the dirt.
Once I rinsed the sides of the trailer and the roof, I walked around the roof looking for any seals that were decaying/crumbling. I then went through with a cheap plastic putty knife and gently scrapped away any sealant that no longer looked effective. Our RV is only a few years old so it didn’t need a ton of work, but there were still a few spots that needed cleaned up.
I then used a rubber roof cleaner (just happened to use Camco because it was cheap on Amazon) and cleaned all the areas of the sealant I planned on applying a new layer of Dicor to. These areas included the spots I worked on with a putty knife as well as different cracks I saw forming throughout the roof. This does take quite a bit of elbow grease depending on how many cracks you need to fill, but all the work definitely beats a leaking roof.
(Before – Left, After – Right)
After prepping all the cracks/crevices, I then started going through and applying dabs of Dicor over the cracks as necessary. If you are just fixing a small crack in the sealant, you don’t need to apply as much Dicor as you would if it was your first application. However, if you had a lot of loose/eroding sealant in one particular area, it may be wise to give it a good coating.
For the most part I just had to fill in small cracks and I probably applied more Dicor than needed, but I’d really rather be safe than sorry. Like I said in the post title, this is a fairly easy task if you don’t mind and are capable of getting up on your RV’s roof. If your roof hasn’t been inspected in a while or appears to have water damage, I would definitely consult a professional to look into any issues you may find. Leaking roofs are not something to take lightly as they could cost hundreds to thousands of dollars in repairs.
I hope this was helpful to anyone else looking to maintain their RV roofs. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to let us know below! All of these posts are subject to evolve if more accurate or better information comes our way. 🙂
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Adventure On!
