Opening in underbelly

[FL-Guy]

I was inspecting the underbelly of my Imagine 22RBE and found an open area that had previously been sealed with black silicon???
I appears the membrane had been cut in several places to install or work on the grey and black tank lines and valve cables. Does anyone know if this is commonly done at the factory or was this a repair job?
My thought was to put a few zip ties to hold the membrane together then recaulk. I think I should be using black silicon, right?

Thanks for any advice.

[4x4dually]

Looks like a hack repair job to me. Someone didn't want to take the time to drop the entire panel and just butchered it. $.02

[FL-Guy]

Looks like a hack repair job to me. Someone didn't want to take the time to drop the entire panel and just butchered it. $.02

I contacted Grand Design. Told me that is defiantly not a factory install. Someone cut probably to access the tank valves.
His advice was to cut away a 48" strip of underbelly material in between crossmembers full width of the trailer and replace it. Screwing it onto the crossmembers. Also said I could cut some 3 sided access flaps into the underbelly material and cover them with a bigger patch of material that could be held on with automotive body screws (plastic)
Sound like a pretty big job that I'm not sure I want to tackle right now.

If a patch of material is okay to put over a cutout "access flap" I think I might try putting a patch using plastic body screws over this cut after I recaulk the cut. Its about 12 inches long total so not a structural problem for the underbelly

[FL-Guy]

Being the retired Emergency Physician that I am, I decided to "suture" the wound.
I removed to old sealant, poked a few small holes on either side of the cut area and threaded some 4" zip ties across the "wound" about 2" apart. I then squirted in some new RTV silicone sealer, cinched up the zip ties and put a generous coating of silicone over the top (bottom). Definitely stronger than the original repair using sealant only. I'll check on my patient after my next road trip see how that's holding up.

[traveldawg]

I think it might be better to use some Skrim Tape rather than silicone or some other type of sealant.

[FL-Guy]

I think it might be better to use some Skrim Tape rather than silicone or some other type of sealant.

Do you know if that tape is good for the newer membrane underbelly material. Outer coating is like a very thin mesh material bonded to the board. Its not the plastic like coloroplast

I was thinking of maybe trying Flex Seal tape over my zip ties and silicone

[wudwork]

Skrim tape, as linked above, is excellent. Countless feedback suggest not to cut any more of the belly than necessary. At some point, we all need to get back in there to replace a black/grey valve.

• HERE is the black spray foam they use to seal around pipes
• Best if you use THIS gun.

HTH, Tom

Do you know if that tape is good for the newer membrane underbelly material. Outer coating is like a very thin mesh material bonded to the board. Its not the plastic like coloroplast

I was thinking of maybe trying Flex Seal tape over my zip ties and silicone

[traveldawg]

Do you know if that tape is good for the newer membrane underbelly material. Outer coating is like a very thin mesh material bonded to the board. Its not the plastic like coloroplast

I was thinking of maybe trying Flex Seal tape over my zip ties and silicone

I have coroplast and not familiar with your product. But if Flex Seal Seal will work then the Scrim tape should work OK. But it might be less expensive to use the Flex Seal, or maybe even Gorilla Tape (although Gorilla Tape hasn't worked that well for me.

[jasonl78]

I had a similar thing happen. Brand new unit. Picked it up from the dealer. Drove the 90 miles home and only noticed when I got home. There was something dangling under the trailer. Got underneath and saw someone cut the coroplast and did a junk job trying to tape it up. Called the dealer and asked what happened. Said someone must have needed to access the unit and cut a flap. I ended up taking 5" wide black gorilla tape and sealing it off. It's held up perfectly for the last 4.75 years thru hot and humid summers and bone chilling MN winters. Attached is the picture as I found it. Laying under the unit, looking up and the poor tape job dangling at the right side of the picture.

[FL-Guy]

I had a similar thing happen. Brand new unit. Picked it up from the dealer. Drove the 90 miles home and only noticed when I got home. There was something dangling under the trailer. Got underneath and saw someone cut the coroplast and did a junk job trying to tape it up. Called the dealer and asked what happened. Said someone must have needed to access the unit and cut a flap. I ended up taking 5" wide black gorilla tape and sealing it off. It's held up perfectly for the last 4.75 years thru hot and humid summers and bone chilling MN winters. Attached is the picture as I found it. Laying under the unit, looking up and the poor tape job dangling at the right side of the picture.

My membrane is different than coroplast. It has a "fuzzy" feel to the outer surface more like a very thin fabric, not plastic like the coroplast. Here is a link to the product https://www.granddesignrv.com/owner-...s/detail/58392. From reading other posts it looks like GD may have switched to this underbelly material last year.
I don't know which tape would stick on that. Looks like maybe the Scrim tape mentioned by traveldawg.
I think those zip tie sutures will be stronger than any tape I could put under there. If the silicone starts to come off, I'll try taking it all out and using tape over the zip ties