Back to the Tarp

Once winter was over and the weather was dry, I hit the roof of the Jayco 806SD camper with two good coats of sealant. That and some caulk along one seam seemed to solve the very minor leak problem (a slow drip in one spot) I observed when it rained.

The other day, though, I noticed a few drops of water in the cabin. I couldn't figure out for sure where they came from, but the roof-mounted AC/heater/fan unit was the prime suspect.

We had frog-strangler of a thunderstorm yesterday, and this morning, as I was working, a mini-torrent suddenly poured out of one vent and onto the top of my mini PC. Can't have that.

I don't use the unit, and it seems like completely removing it would create an even bigger sealing problem. I'll research that, but in the meantime I ordered a new tarp, large enough to cover the entire roof, for delivery later today.

The previous tarp worked OK, but wasn't really very high-quality and was already starting to degrade when I pulled it off in early spring after maybe four months of use. Other than visual appearance (and nobody can see the camper without looking really hard for it anyway), my only problems with tarping were:

1. I thought I might want to use that rooftop unit, but it turned out to be a crappy cooler (I suspect it needs a coolant charge) and heater (no real heat from it at all); and
2. I wanted to get the camper in full "like new" functionality/appearance, which isn't going to happen because replacement canvas would cost twice as much as I paid for the camper itself.

So, a tarp it is. For now. Maybe removing the unit and sealing the roof where it was won't be as big a deal as I think, but this incident increases my interest in either finding a more appropriate camper to use as an office, or moving ahead with the "geodesic dome home office" project I blogged about yesterday.