Yakima track leaks

[whitewhale]

After smugly following Jage's mega leak story, I found myself with a similar mysterious leak. Water was dripping around the edge (screws rusted) of the hard liner inside the penthouse ceiling. By the time I found it, there was some mildew. Further inspection showed fungus growing on the outside under the penthouse overhang. Since the bolts for the Yakima tracks come through outside the canvas, I thought those could not possibly be the source for the water inside. Wrong. Taking off the tracks revealed a very poor sealing job by Sportsmobile. Although water was dripping off the ends of the bolts, it was also getting into the internal voids in the roof structure, then coming out inside the penthouse. I don't know exactly the route of travel, but it surely was finding its way. After cleaning and resealing the tacks and bolt holes with real sealant, no more water has shown up inside or outside (dripping off the bolts). I hope this makes sense; but the bottom line is beware of any penetrations either inside or outside, and use the best sealant, rigorously applied, you can find.

[daveb]

Good that you caught it. I had the same thing happen where SMB drilled through the top for the solar and power. I'd like to see a better water seal than just silicon for that. I had water travel from the front of the top where it came out the front light fixture.

Dave

[whitewhale]

I found a photo (see my gallery) of a x-section of part of the penthouse top, showing how the various layers fit together. This illustrates how water can enter, even outside the canvas enclosure, and travel a long distance to come out somewhere other than than the site of the penetration. It also shows how water can be trapped inside the voids and may not leak out until the vehicle is tilted just right. In my case the vehicle was parked on a slope such that the water entered through the Yakima track bolt holes along the mid-left side of the roof and came out inside the canvas along the front right corner of the ceiling. Another possible consequence of this kind of leak: rot in the plywood strips, weakening the entire roof structure. It's an ideal place for fungi to grow: moist, dark, warm.

[tazman49]

I bought a 1999 350 Quigley 4x4 last year with the Yakima racks....... boy was I bummed out when it rained !! The fiberglas raised roof leaked like all hell and the smell was bad because it was a month since I went in it. I tried unscrewing the bolts holding it on, but they were frozen and disintegrating. Two just snapped off and the others just spun. I was astonished that they were not stainless steel !!! Whey would a company use something that is always open to the environment and will oxidize? Oh well, lesson learned ! I had to use a grinder to take the ends off........