How Should I Repair The Water Damage To My 1984 Fleetwood Wilderness Travel Trailer?

by Michael Gibson
(West branch, MI)

Hello, I have a 1984 Fleetwood Wilderness travel trailer that my parents recently gave me. They inherited it from my grandparents several years ago but never used it due to some water damage to the interior. I was hoping to fix this damage and eventually use it. However, the majority of the damage is to the front ceiling and part of the wall and I don't know how I should go about repairing it.

There is a leak somewhere, probably around the vent, on the roof. This trailer sat at my grandparent's for over 10 years without being used. About 4 feet of the ceiling interior has fallen around the vent and the wall in that area is soft. The wood frame appears to be ok, just the interior ceiling paneling and wall paneling would need to be replaced.

I can't afford to take it somewhere for repair and it doesn't need to look perfect. I would just hate to get rid of an otherwise beautiful 30 foot travel trailer. I'm sure I can find and fix the leak, but the interior is beyond my experience. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Myke Gibson

ANSWER Greetings Michael thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

I am afraid that I am going to be the bearer of bad news. The most important thing you need to do before you attempt to repair the leak or damage to your travel trailer is to confirm that the structural integrity of the travel trailer has not been compromised. If the structural integrity has been compromised it has to be repaired.

You state that "the wood frame appears to be OK". The problem is that you are only looking at the portion of the wood frame that you can see. When water enters the structure of any RV it can travel to different parts of the RV that are not visible to you and compromise the frame of the RV. Any wood rot in the frame itself must be repaired before you should even consider repairing anything else.

Since the interior of the travel trailer has been exposed to moisture for over 10 years, I can almost guarantee that there has been some damage to the structural integrity of the trailer. I am afraid that you have to spend some money to get your travel trailer inspected by a qualified RV Technician to see exactly what damage has occurred.

I will forewarn you that this inspection may involve pulling down some more walls or ceiling sections or at least pulling off smaller sections of the walls or ceiling to inspect it for frame damage.

Since this travel trailer has been leaking for 10 years, there is also a very good possibility that portions of the trailer's 12 volt and 120 volt electrical system has been damaged and could cause a fire or shock hazard if used prior to repair.

Because of the moisture that the travel trailer has been exposed to, there is also a very good possibility that harmful mold has grown in non visible portions of the walls or the ceiling of your RV.

The bottom line is that you are going to have to spend some money to get your travel trailer inspected; how much it will cost I do not know; it all depends on how much work goes into getting the frame inspected. What you want from this inspection is an estimate on how much it would cost to repair all of the current water damage to your travel trailer.

You may find that the repair costs may be more than the actual value of your trailer. Right now the same year, make and model travel trailers in good condition are being sold in the $2,800.00 to $4,000.00 price range.

If you cannot get this inspection done due to money concerns then I suggest that you get a waterproof tarp big enough to cover the whole travel trailer and seal it up to prevent further water damage and hold off on doing anything else to the travel trailer until you can afford to get it done properly.

I know that this is not the answer you wanted, but you have to remember that you cannot put a price on safety, so you are going to have to spend the money to get the travel trailer inspected or make the decision that it is not worth the money and sell it to a salvage yard. It is not an easy decision but it is one that you and you only can make.

Sorry you are going through this.

RVing Al

RVing Al personally uses and highly recommends RV Emergency Road Service from the Good Sam Club

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