No caulk- bottom of front end cap

hilltool

hilltool

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
1,256
Location
Wisconsin
I was out finishing up lubricating the cables today and the slides. I had not noticed it before- but the bottom of my front end cap has no caulking. In addition, I noticed it is "warping" between the screws leaving some impressive gaps where the plastic meets the body of the tailer. Same with rear, as in no caulking though there are no gaps. Is this normal, the fact there is no caulking there? I realize it is not as critical as the top- but i would think that moisture could be forced up in there from puddles and spray while traveling. So-I'm thinking of caulking it.

Rick
 
My 2209 has a foam weather strip under the bottom of the front cap and no screws. Screws tend to crack the polyethylene cap especially if tightened to tight.
 
I just added 5 screws to each side of the front end cap. At the bottom, there was a 14" space between the bottom screw and the next screw up. There was at least a 1/4 inch bow in the end cap. It would have taken a ton of caulk to fill up that space.

PopRichie77 said:
My 2209 has a foam weather strip under the bottom of the front cap and no screws. Screws tend to crack the polyethylene cap especially if tightened to tight.
Click to expand...
 
My 2209L had the same problem. There was a huge gap at the bottom. Mine was caulked to seal out water. The caulk was a rubber type, maybe silicone(?).

In any case, I removed the old caulk, added five screws, and recaulked, using Lexell brand. The distance between the two screws at the bottom was so large, I was able to evenly place 2 screws there.

hilltool said:
I was out finishing up lubricating the cables today and the slides. I had not noticed it before- but the bottom of my front end cap has no caulking. In addition, I noticed it is "warping" between the screws leaving some impressive gaps where the plastic meets the body of the tailer. Same with rear, as in no caulking though there are no gaps. Is this normal, the fact there is no caulking there? I realize it is not as critical as the top- but i would think that moisture could be forced up in there from puddles and spray while traveling. So-I'm thinking of caulking it.

Rick
Click to expand...
 
The sides and top are fine with some type of caulk/ tape. There seems to be plenty of screws along bottom edge but no caulking. I found an old roll sof foam tape I had for a weather seal on an old truck cap.... So I may try backing out screws and seeing if that will work where the bigger gaps are. I may have to add a couple of screws where It is really warped to bring it back in. Or. Own that case. I may justw go with caulking.

Rick
 
Just a thought, wouldn't you want to leave just a little open space at the bottom in case of any condensation collects behind the end cap. It would allow for a little air circulation. The reason I mention this is that I noticed along the way that the fiberglass end caps on our 2310H both have small holes on either side of the bottom edge. I assume they were put there for that purpose.
 
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I am re caulking my trailer. There is a large gap between end cap and roof what should be used to fill gap before caulking? It was filled with caulk. Should I fill it with butyl tape and then caulk?
Thanks
lincow
2002 Towlite
 
lincow, my suggestion would be to pull the screws in the affected area, clean it out best you can. Then install butyl tape, reset the screws and run a bead of Lexel caulk. Sounds easy, but may take two people. One to hold the edge of the cap up while the other puts the tape in place. If you can get 1/2" or better under the cap great!
Tree
 
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