Doing The Unthinkable

Bob297

Yep, doing the unthinkable. Putting holes in a perfectly good roof. Yes, I have a phobia about this…..haven’t done it yet, working up the strength. Putting this off for about 2 years now….
What have others used for sealant? Thank you

zgfiredude

A little butyl tape under them and you'll be fine.

WilliamA

Holes are handy. Don't be afraid of them. I like to use multiple sealing techniques. Fill the hole with a gob of caulk before assembly. Use butyl or other gasket material. Seal around the outside after assembly with bathtub caulk or equivalent. Accept that there will be maintenance chores down the road.

Here's a tip:
When making holes in anything that has a wood (luan plywood) or fiber (backerboard, fiberboard etc) substrate, drill the hole, insert (to cut the threads), then remove the screw and squeeze a dab of Elmer's waterproof glue in the hole. Then use your chosen waterproofing technique on the outside. Moisture tends to collect on metal exposed screw threads and will, over time, soften and rot the substrate material from the INSIDE. The glue will penetrate the substrate and make it much more resistant to that. It won't stick to the screw so removal is still easy. Use the shortest screw necessary. (Again), water/moisture condenses on exposed screws inside a cavity. The longer the screw, the more condensation. Water is incredibly lazy. But it never takes a day off either.

Ask a sheetrocker....

WilliamA

Bob297

Thanks for your input this all helps me 1000% I readjusted location. It’s the same lights from NuCamp, just purchased somewhere else 2 years ago. They were around $4.00 ea. Don’t have time this weekend. I’m nervous as hell.

beaky

SikaFlex

Bob297

@beaky said:
SikaFlex

From what I read, this will make the LEDs permanent and I won’t be able to remove if necessary. Am I right or wrong?

LuckyJ

I say, go big and go camping! 😎

@LuckyJ said:
So, something I have always been scared of, is getting slammed in the back of the trailer, because of distracted drivers or a driver that did not see my trailer lights.

So, I wanted to do a clean and complete job, higher brake light, that also included flasher and driving/parking light. So I went a head and purchased something very similar to the OEM lower brake lights. Took me a while to install them, cause I new that I would need to do some digging in order to connect them.

1st, opening the upper fan acces on boths side, where the hole would be drill for the connector and them pass the cable toward the center to get acces to the ac lower plenum.

2nd, remove the TV and the panel (I still have the original configuration ot the behing the tv empty space. Almost did the mod, but ran out of time. and did the left and right cable junction and drop into the AC plenum.

3rd, remove the lower fan acces panel to drill the lower hole to take the cable to the light cable under the trailer near the frame to splice the wires.

4th, reinstall in reverse order, after sealing all the new holes, lights and cables pass and wire junctions.
And I also reinstalled so reverse lights. Previous install needed some rework, and it was quicker to go a head woth 2 square LED light I had from an other project.

Let their be light!

Bob297

Installed, but not connected. All connections are at one location including the marker lights power. Checked LEDs to make sure they worked before install. Went with butyl tape and caulk.

LuckyJ

@Bob297 think it will look nice! 👍
Any pics with them ON?

Bob297

Thank you. Nope not yet. All the wires are behind the Mandy Mod. I also used 1/4” wire loom. Just need to combine the 3 lights and connect to the wire that goes down to my license plate relocation mod. Then I just jump the pins on the harness and light them up. I’ll try to take pics of wires and with the lights on.

Bob297

It is finished……
And yes, that is my backup camera in the spot where the old license plate was located.

LuckyJ

Nice job! 😎