So the cards had finally fallen into place! The moment we had been waiting for had finally come; Gaco! Not only would this make Our Ohana waterproof; it would help pull in the rattled parts of her motorhome together and support her body with a tight membrane, as well as help insulate her. So you all have seen this process a few times on this blog, but I’ll still touch base on the steps lightly as we go through the post. 😎 We began the process by giving the Ohana a prep session. (Honestly, we should have went even heavier on the prep, but it still took as a chunk of time.)
As you can see in the pic above, I removed the marker lights. I was going to paint around the bases and seal them in, but when I went to open them the plastic housing just crumbled; so eventually we would be putting on new ones! We pulled up and cleaned off all of the tape and caulking that was plastered and bulging around the bottom and front edges of the overhead cab.
We had to use a post and jack up the overhead to be able to access underneath the support bracket. Rather than remove the metal trim piece that was running over the bracket, we bent it down to clean up the space above it as much as possible.
With the expansion of the RV cab as went into summer we had developed a little bit of a door rub on the top passenger side against the overhead cab. I sanded down the outside fiberglass side panel to align it with the bottom.
Next we sucked up the bottom of the overhead using firestone washers and some large “timberlock” type screws. It allowed us to grab up inside the stronger plywood and get passed where the outer layers had been compromised.
After the sides of the overhead were cleaned up I got the pleasure of cleaning up all the water-resisting mess I had created this winter trying to seal the front window. 😅
With scrub down complete…
…we were on to taping. The back corner took quite a bit of tape to suck it back together.
It looked rough- but we had to keep in mind that this was one of our roughest repairs yet, and that the Gaco process works…
With that being said, it was time to crack open the liquid tape, stir it up, and start applying it while the other taped.
Laura Says:
Hello There- Laura here! During this time of taping we encountered a new kind of tape! Yes, this tape was SIX inches wide! This tape was going to be perfect for sucking together the Ohana- and man could she have used some ultra wide tape to hold her seams in! We were excited about this product. Only to be sorely disappointed when the ‘tape’ arrived. This product, was mesh…only mesh. No mastic putty on one side to press into the contours and help hold the corners together. We had to paint Gaco on each side of the mesh and then hold it in place while it dried. This product is one to Stay Away from when using the Gaco product line. Buy the right tape- the 2 in tape. 😉
We worked our way around the RV, covering all the Gaco tape, screw heads, and areas where there might be more movement with the Gaco Liquid Tape. (A thicker and fiberglass thatch re-enforced version of the Gaco)
And here is how she sat at the end of Gaco Day 1…
Taping and Liquid Taping Complete!
The next morning we were back at it in full force. Today we had RJ painting The Ohana with us, as well as Lia here to carry on the family tradition of slinging some Gaco!
It was this day I decided to waste a bunch or time! (in retrospect) The original roofing Gaco had not liked the re-inforced plywood that had been originally installed under the rear roof rack. It had came up over time, and rather than replace it; I chose to patch it up and add some traction pieces down where people’s feet would be sitting while on the sky bench. Overall it was in hope that we didn’t have to tear it up…
After another long day of painting; here is The Ohana at the end of Day 2.
Day 3 was another day of painting, giving the Ohana another solid coat of Gaco. So with the morning the work began again…
After getting started I went up to inspect how our skybench floor area had faired. Like I had feared, the Gaco was still reacting negatively to the plywood up there. We should have treated it better before painting it, but it had occurred during our pinch hit roof repair in the shop that previous winter. With not a proper surface to bond due because it had been saturated with moisture deep in the plywood and fully dried out, the membrane was failing just on the plywood. Knowing what we had to do, we tore it up to replace it.
After it had been removed, I gave it a good clean and then wipe down to dry it. Then we would let the warm weather do the rest for now.
Other than needing to fix the roof support area for the skybench and the endless touch-up that would follow the Gaco painting, the rest of the day went smoothly. (As it can anyway when painting Gaco…)
So that evening this how The Ohana sat, proudly letting her final coat dry!
Our Ohana was so close to being water proof!
Geoff Murphy 7/21/2020
Good times!! 🙂