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Topic: Regular Eternabond versus Webseal? (Read 10 times) previous topic - next topic
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Regular Eternabond versus Webseal?
Yahoo Message Number: 147218
So, our adventures continue with our "new" '85 rig. With a long spell of nice, dry weather, we got on top and started dealing with the mess of an escape hatch.  There was such a large amount of sealants around it, I knew it had been problematic for the previous owners.  I was going to title this post "How One Discovers That The Previous Owners of Your RV Were Idiots" or "Old RV Archaeology: What Were They Thinking?".

To keep this brief, here is a synopsis of what we found.  Last layer was painted on and like white Sno Seal.  It covered nearly the entire aluminum frame (inc. hinge area), plus half the lid. In places, very thick, even forming a tent under the hinge area.  Under this, in some places, was a cream colored painted on product, that was very hard and brittle.  Looked almost like the original paint of the rig, but was shiny.  Under that, on top of the hatch flange, on about 1/2 the frame, was either plumbers putty or putty tape.  In other areas some kind of translucent sealant, probably a silicone (?), which had turned very dark and hard in some places, but remained in very flexible in others.  It did not come off easily.  The putty area came up very easily.  And yes, it was on TOP of the frame flange, not between flange and roof body.   Additionally, when removing it, and the Sno-seal, from the hinge side, I discovered they never even cleaned it out before applying all this stuff. There was all kinds of debris, and embedding tree pieces, in the painted sno-seal.  The deeper I dug, the more my head was shaking.

After getting the putty off, we studied the area where the frame meets the roof and it appears there is not any kind of seal or gasket material between the two.  After pealing some of the really thick sno-seal off parts of the lid cover,  my suspicions were confirmed that it had many breaks and those "creative" folks had attempted to repair it with the sno-seal.  When we were trying to figure out what lid to order to replace it, doing all the measuring, and finding some things not adding up.  The conclusion is, we think they replaced the hatch frame at some point (which would have been the old style Elixir), with a new style frame, but it had a lid cover on it that was old-style.  Because the old style lid did not fit properly, they added a lot of extra weather stripping under it, so it would meet the frame gasket.

Since we're not 100% sure about the frame being new v.s. old style, and it needs to be reseated anyway with butyl between it and roof, we are just going to order a whole new exit hatch unit.  Then, we will know lid works with frame.  So, after all that, here are my questions.

After screwing down the new hatch (with butyl tape UNDER the flange), I want to run a bead of Dicor around the perimeter.  Then I want to use Eternabond tape over that.  I am wondering, though, if the E-bond Webseal would be a better choice, since it has the stretchiness to go over the screws and edges.  We have some other attachments that also have lots of hills and valleys.  With the regular roof seal tape, these kinds of areas can be problematic.  But, if I get the Webseal, will also have to purchase the additional top coating (UV protector), to go with it.  Does anyone have experience with both kinds of tape?  Those of you that have redone your seams with the regular Eternabond, have you also used it for around vents, etc.?

Thanks for any and all help, thoughts, etc.  Headed out to continue roof cleaning.
Patti