Quote:
Originally Posted by boywonder
FWIW, my top is about 20 years old and the plywood looks new since it's never had a leak around the bottom of the canvas.
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Same, and mine's 32 years old. I attribute that partly to the van having spent a lot of its life west of the Rockies where it doesn't rain a lot.
I would definitely figure out why water is being trapped in that area. The gutter seal is mostly to reduce wind noise; the primary way this area is protected is by the overhanging edge of the top, and because water naturally drains outward due to the slope of the underlying roof. Even without a gutter seal you should not have water pooling at the base of the canvas.
Did you inspect the corners for fatigue cracks while you had it apart? SMB's corner cuts weren't radiused on my van and I had cracks working their way outward from two of them.