2001 Symbol. Mystery Leak.

I moved into Cumbria in the 1960s 3 years ago moved down on the Fylde Coast ..our Symbol is 3 yrs old we have had her 2 months and done over2000 miles . off again soon . rain or no rain .. we were in a field with the awning out it started to rain . do. we Put it in no it will pass   I was sat on the seat OOO I am being dripped on .. the sliding door was open a bit .. slam door shut ok... I think the rain  came across the roof over the seal strip capillaried across the strip into the van and dipped water will capillary across a horizontal  surface until its big enough to drip.. water is a Right Drip at sneaking where it can get .. I will have a play one day in the rain . But I will cover the seat /bed first ...keep the Boss happy . suggestion make sure as we will the door is shut tight .. I drove a van with sliding door many years ago . it would drip in   on you if in the back with the door not tight shut ..

Dave/Pat wrote:I moved into Cumbria in the 1960s 3 years ago moved down on the Fylde Coast ..our Symbol is 3 yrs old we have had her 2 months and done over2000 miles . off again soon . rain or no rain .. we were in a field with the awning out it started to rain . do. we Put it in no it will pass   I was sat on the seat OOO I am being dripped on .. the sliding door was open a bit .. slam door shut ok... I think the rain  came across the roof over the seal strip capillaried across the strip into the van and dipped water will capillary across a horizontal  surface until its big enough to drip.. water is a Right Drip at sneaking where it can get .. I will have a play one day in the rain . But I will cover the seat /bed first ...keep the Boss happy . suggestion make sure as we will the door is shut tight .. I drove a van with sliding door many years ago . it would drip in   on you if in the back with the door not tight shut ..

We had a similar incident to yours a year ago... with the sliding door not being firmly shut, but it is deffo not that because the recent leak was dripping from an inch or two above the door seal. Water will track along surfaces and even suck vertically by capillary attraction, but doesn't flow upwards.

I thought I better bump this topic up again because I've had so very little response.

What was a one-off leak has since been repeated. I found the seat cushion by the sliding door had got wet following heavy rain a couple of weeks back.

Logic suggests it is most likely due to a failed seal between the GRP roof and the steel body in the immediate area just above the sliding door.
I was going to remove the black plastic gutter and have a look but got put off by a number of horror-stories of the now irreplaceable plastic gutter trim breaking when removed.
I've learned of some stuff called Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure which I though might be worth a try by trying to flood/seep it (once everything is thoroughly cleaned) into any hairline crack that might be present, but visibility behind this gutter trim is already poor enough without the awning immediately above making eyeballing anything behind that black trim almost impossible.

I could do with seeing something along the lines of a cross-section cutaway drawing of the the construction of this GRP-to-Steel area so that I can work out a plan. 
Does anyone have one? If not, I'll have to contact Auto-Sleepers.

Alternatively, can anybody suggest another plan?

Roopert wrote:I'm trying to recall if anyone here ever had a leak between the fibreglass roof and the body, and I can't think of a single example in the location you refer to. The only examples I can think of are where there has been very serious rust above the windscreen, and that's rare. As I understand it, the overlap area between roof and body is large enough to make a leak unlikely.

Based on the number of past cases, I would think the highest probability is a leak around the window frame above, tracking behind the trim panel before appearing above the sliding door.

In my experience, CTCCC will stop a leak around one of those roof windows, but not permanently. Eventually, the flex of the body and roof will cause it to leak again (or at least, that's what happened on mine).

Thanks for the input Roopert.
I in fact thought I'd replied, but I think I got distracted and forgot to click the "Send" button.

Wise words from you I think. 
I discounted the top window as a potential source because the seals all around it look good and I did give it, and everything else for that matter, a long and thorough soaking from a hose... without a single drip occurring. I might then have possibly gone for the worse-case scenario in my paranoia. 
I'll be having another, and even closer, look at that window seal in the next few days and, even if I can't find any fault, give it some CTCCC for good measure. While I'm at it with the CTCC, I think it wise also to treat all around the edges of the 3 angled mounting blocks through which the awning is mounted on the GRP roof. 
I can't for the life of me understand why, but these 3 blocks are made of wood (!!!) blethered all around with white Sikaflex. I'm assuming that Auto-Sleepers mounted the awning, but I can't believe they'd use wooden blocks instead of plastic ones to mount the thing on. I did originally treat these three anchor points... especially the middle one... as a potential source of the leak, but the hose test proved negative.
I'll get some CTCCC ordered up, give it a few doses, and wait a few months before I dare declare this rare and fugitive problem cured. Either way, I'll let you know.

Talking about those skinny top windows has brought me back to a problem I discovered in our first trip out in the van after we bought it in late 2017. If you try leaving those top windows open to ventilate when it's raining, the rain runs off the roof onto the plexiglas windows and drips from the semi-circular ends into the channels of the rubber seals. Because the roof they are mounted on angles inwards, so does the bottom of the rubber seals. When that bottom channel fills up the water spills over... inwards... onto the beige cloth roof lining inside. I've left the faint tide marks as a reminder to myself to do something about it.
I spoke to Auto-Sleepers Technical about this and they claim to have never heard of the problem.
I'd thought that bonding some form of gutter-like drip bead just above the top rubber seal might work. But until I try it, I won't know. If it don't work, I'll have the job of removing them and the Sikaflex I'd stuck them on with.

Roopert wrote:

pilchard wrote:
Talking about those skinny top windows has brought me back to a problem I discovered in our first trip out in the van after we bought it in late 2017. If you try leaving those top windows open to ventilate when it's raining, the rain runs off the roof onto the plexiglas windows and drips from the semi-circular ends into the channels of the rubber seals. Because the roof they are mounted on angles inwards, so does the bottom of the rubber seals. When that bottom channel fills up the water spills over... inwards... onto the beige cloth roof lining inside.

That sounds familiar - my van had the ParaPress windows, which I suspect are the same as yours, and I can recall thinking what a stupid design it was for a roof that slopes inward.

I did consider drilling a small drain hole in the aluminium outer trim, at each end, but I wasn't confident that I could do it without compromising the seal from outside to inside - so I never did it. Fortunately the roof vents were good enough for most occasions, and so I seldom needed to open the roof-side windows.

They DO sound like the same windows, and I also thought about drilling some holes but never explored the practicality. I'll have another suss of the prospect when my CTCCC arrives. Need to do it soon as temps are dropping and this stuff needs 7 degrees plus to cure.
Our van has a large panoramic Heki roof window which isn't really suitable to use for venting while raining, and if we use the vent above the cooker to provide night-time ventilation the rain hits the roof and splashes horizontally through the gap the raised vent creates. You just can't win!