"Check for window leaks. Then check again....and again....and again..." (Volume 1)
We literally just left the shop that fixed the van's broken speedometer/odometer. We left late in the day on the way out to visit my great aunt and uncle in Washington.
We stopped at a Target in St. George, Utah to pick up a few things I needed to tidy up the solar/charge controller/battery installation and decided we should rest.
While we were resting, it started to rain...hard. The sound of the rain didn't wake us, but the bizarre, cold, wet sensation sure did.
The long, custom, sliding window behind the driver seat was letting a lot of water in, and upon closer inspection, it appeared that it had been letting water in from that spot for quite some time.
The wood was darkened, perhaps moldy from many a rainy night.
Aside from being woken up from water coming into the living room, the largest concern was that the water was coming in directly on top of my solar charge controller and batteries!!
Julie and I scrambled to find the source of the leak, but it didn't make sense. It seemed like the water was coming in from under the window, along the wood frame that the window was on top of.
After searching for a long minute or so, and after removing the curtain rails and some window framing, I found that the water was pooling in two areas.
One area was because of the gasket for the sliding window. It was absorbing so much water from the outside that the entire length would soak and oversaturate, then pool in the metal rails before spilling over, soaking the area below.
The second area was at the top of the window on the outside. The seal had dry rotted at the edge and the pooling water was entering, running down the inside frame of the window, soaking the wood beam and upholstery beneath the window and then dripping down to the charge controller and batteries.
After drying everything up, I ended up having to....find a way to rip out that entire piece of soaked, rotting wood framing and paneling behind the converting bench/bed behind the driver's seat.
It was difficult as that large piece was the first thing that was installed so I had to disassemble it where it was before muscling it out from behind the bench frame.
Check for leaks. Spray high pressure water from every angle at every window and door!
Lesson Learned.