More Adventures With The Guppy

We've been living in The Guppy for over two weeks now and we are both still alive!! Wasn't sure if we could survive living in a small space together for a long period.

We've had some hard rains since we have been here and have discovered some leaks. Last week we had a couple days off and went to Springfield, MO to do some shopping. The weather was nice when we left, but while we were there it started to rain. When we got back we found our little pavilion we had put up over the picnic table had collapsed. The rain had pooled on the roof and the weight was too much. The metal tubes for the frame got bent  and the whole thing was on the picnic table. But that was minor compared to what we found later inside the RV.

When we went to bed I discovered the bedding was wet under the window. At first we thought it was condensation from the window. We dried everything and thought we'd just have to make sure the condensation didn't run off the window again. Several days later it rained again and this time I saw water was building up between the window and the frame. At first I tried using a towel to mop up the water. This is the emergency exit window, so I opened it to let the water drain out and wiped the frame. Later when the rain stopped I went outside and looked at the window. I found a break in the seal at the top of the window.

The gray line is the seal. This is where the break is in the seal.

The break in the seal just happened to be almost exactly under where a stream of water was coming off the roof from a low spot on the roof. On one of our days off this week we went shopping again, this time to Rolla, MO. At Lowes I got a tube of bath and tile caulk.I figured this would be the easiest to work with as I don't have a caulking gun with me and I could just squeeze the tube to get the caulk out. This window wasn't the only leak we had found, there was another in the bunk area over the cab. I used that tube of caulk to redo some seams in the bunk area and to fill the gap in the seal on the emergency exit window. When I caulked the seal on the window I filled the gap and then did a thin layer all the way across the top. I sprayed the frame on the window with Pam and hopefully I'll be able to open the window again without it being sealed shut. If it doesn't leak while we are here, I won't try to open it again. Also went around and redid the caulk at the top of the window frames on most of the windows until the tube was empty.

Water on bed platform. It was the escape window on the side that leaked.

Other than the above problems, The Guppy seems to be holding up pretty well. We've been here over half the month and the propane tank is still over half full. We've used the gas for cooking, heating water and the furnace. (The first day and night we were wishing the A/C worked as it was in the 80s. A couple days later we turned on the furnace for awhile.) We usually only run the furnace long enough to warm the place up and then shut it off. We don't leave the furnace turned on at night and some mornings it is quite brisk. We also have an electric space heater for when it's just a little chilly. We may have more cool weather from here on out, but if the tank runs out, I can hook up a 20# tank that I have with us. The previous owner put a tee and valve in the propane line so you can hook up a small propane tank. (Or even a 100# one, but the hose I got is too short for that.)