Cracked Skylight on 2021 Reflection 337RLS

[TucsonJim]

Santa61

Jlawles2 , pull up and stretch the roof material? If the TPO material bond to the underlayment was healthy, why would any manipulation be required? Could this "stretching" have been an EPDM roofs or something in the past that I don't know about?

Howard

Howard. When I removed the lap sealant on my skylights, the roofing material stretched a little when removing the lap sealant. No matter how careful I was, it couldn't be avoided. I got the same result whether using heat or not. I tried rolling the sealant off, scraping it, and pulling it. It was bonded so tightly to the TPO roofing material, that it couldn't be avoided. The stretching doesn't hurt anything, but it is unsightly. You can read more about it in my skylight post you linked to in response number 2 above.

Jim

[howson]

Santa61 -- excellent work and documentation, thank you! That Icon skylight looks great.

Can you please enter the 337's VIN in your profile?

Jlawles2 , pull up and stretch the roof material? If the TPO material bond to the underlayment was healthy, why would any manipulation be required? Could this "stretching" have been an EPDM roofs or something in the past that I don't know about?

Howard

[Jlawles2]

Santa61 Good looking install. Thanks for the writeup.

In removing the old one, did you pull up or stretch the roofing material?

[Santa61]

Keith,

I had the same issue with my 2021 Reflection bathroom skylight. Two of the corners had vertical cracks emanating from the location of the fasteners. This caused a significant leak during a rainstorm. I too described this to GD as stress cracks. Besides the two corner cracks, I noticed elliptical cracks at nearly every fastener location all the way around the skylight. GD offered to send a new skylight, but research indicated ICON brand made one of a more robust material. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

If you go this route, they recommend a butyl sealant, such as Surebond SB-140 T, since the standard sealant deteriorates polycarbonate. I never received a comment about this sealant from GD, so you may want to check first.

The third party tech that installed the replacement blamed it on this wedge shaped screw they used to hold down the skylight. He said it wouldn't have enough downward holding power and it should have been a cap type screw.

I'm including images of the screw, two cracked corners, and the elliptical cracks that existed at nearly every other fastener.

Good luck

bsktcas1 and others,

Here is an update on the skylight replacement for our 337RLS. Thanks to you and others for input and insight on how best to manage what I believe is a defect in installation by Grand Design.

I replaced the OEM skylight with the ICON white skylight. I went with white since my wife was concerned that the smoke option would possibly be too dark and the clear was obviously going to emit too much light. The ICON skylight is a much thicker material vs. the OEM and it is shaped more as a constant radius thus it seems to be more durable to wind resistance and debris.

The biggest issue that was uncovered was the same as what was experienced by bsktcas1. GD used tapered wood screws for installation and in at least two locations missed the hole in the skylight flangers completely when installing thus cracking the skylight immediately in one instance. A piece of the skylight outer flange was missing upon removal of the dycor.

I used a CAMCO skylight installation kit which included butyl tape and flat head screws. This worked perfect. Finally, I applied the dycor self-leveling caulk.

Here are pictures of the installation. Note: the final picture was taken immediately after the application of the self-leveling caulk thus it had not settled.

[Santa61]

Here is the latest update on the skylight of my 303RLS. I ordered the ICON skylight (white) and a CAMCO installation kit which included flat head screws and butyl tape. I already have Super Flex self leveling compound (unfortunately it's grey but I don't think too many people will be looking at the top of our rig.)

I have included a few photos to show what occurred and the result of water intrusion in the skylight framing. All has dried and you will see I have covered the cracks with duck tape.

[bsktcas1]

Keith,
The water followed the roof membrane down to the lower side of the skylight, where some dripped into the shower every 2-3 seconds, but the rest followed the roofline to the sidewall. The top few inches of the entire length of the shower wall was saturated.

I haven't had a chance to follow up about the screw choice with GD, so perhaps could pass along the info.

[Santa61]

Keith,

I had the same issue with my 2021 Reflection bathroom skylight. Two of the corners had vertical cracks emanating from the location of the fasteners. This caused a significant leak during a rainstorm. I too described this to GD as stress cracks. Besides the two corner cracks, I noticed elliptical cracks at nearly every fastener location all the way around the skylight. GD offered to send a new skylight, but research indicated ICON brand made one of a more robust material. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

If you go this route, they recommend a butyl sealant, such as Surebond SB-140 T, since the standard sealant deteriorates polycarbonate. I never received a comment about this sealant from GD, so you may want to check first.

The third party tech that installed the replacement blamed it on this wedge shaped screw they used to hold down the skylight. He said it wouldn't have enough downward holding power and it should have been a cap type screw.

I'm including images of the screw, two cracked corners, and the elliptical cracks that existed at nearly every other fastener.

Good luck

bsktcas1,

Thanks for the response, suggestions and pictures. What you have inferred and the information about the screws being tampered makes perfect since to the cause of the cracking. I will take some pictures today of the cracks just as you have in order for others to see what may occur on their units and possibly GD may change their installation of skylights. I had more water penetration than you did since my cracks were larger and I had more of them. Additionally, I didn't find the issue until we had a couple of days of light rain and snow.

I will look at the ICON skylight and the Lexan skylight to decide which will be my replacement..

Keith

[Cate&Rob]

bsktcas1
Thanks for the detailed information and pictures!
The cause being wedge shaped screws (flat head) rather than cap type screws (pan head) makes perfect sense.

Rob

[bsktcas1]

Keith,

I had the same issue with my 2021 Reflection bathroom skylight. Two of the corners had vertical cracks emanating from the location of the fasteners. This caused a significant leak during a rainstorm. I too described this to GD as stress cracks. Besides the two corner cracks, I noticed elliptical cracks at nearly every fastener location all the way around the skylight. GD offered to send a new skylight, but research indicated ICON brand made one of a more robust material. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

If you go this route, they recommend a butyl sealant, such as Surebond SB-140 T, since the standard sealant deteriorates polycarbonate. I never received a comment about this sealant from GD, so you may want to check first.

The third party tech that installed the replacement blamed it on this wedge shaped screw they used to hold down the skylight. He said it wouldn't have enough downward holding power and it should have been a cap type screw.

I'm including images of the screw, two cracked corners, and the elliptical cracks that existed at nearly every other fastener.

Good luck

[Santa61]

Our 303 originally had the smoke skylight. Due to damage to the roof and an entire roof replacement, at the factory, the original skylight was damaged when they removed it. There evidently were no smoke ones in stock at that time, and they replaced it with a clear version. I am now in the process of making up a curtain that we can put on the bottom side in order to cut down on the solar heating and bright bathroom that results from the clear version. If I were to choose, I’d be going with the smoke version.

Tom,

Thanks for the input. Sorry to hear about the need for the roof replacement. That must be a story in and of itself.

Smoke version skylight is where I am leaning. I am trying to avoid the need to use any additional item to screen necessary/excessive light and certainly the need to manage an unwanted heat source.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Keith

[Tom in PGH]

Our 303 originally had the smoke skylight. Due to damage to the roof and an entire roof replacement, at the factory, the original skylight was damaged when they removed it. There evidently were no smoke ones in stock at that time, and they replaced it with a clear version. I am now in the process of making up a curtain that we can put on the bottom side in order to cut down on the solar heating and bright bathroom that results from the clear version. If I were to choose, I’d be going with the smoke version.

[howson]

If you have an opinion, please share.

Check out TucsonJim 's thread where he installed an aftermarket skylight: https://gdrvowners.com/forum/exterio...ht-replacement

Please follow up with what you decide to do and share any lessons learned.

Howard

[Santa61]

I have discovered my skylight in our 2021 337RLS has cracks from the flanges up to the top of the sides. It has occurred on both sides of the skylight. I haven't run into any objects when driving and the top of the skylight is without cracks or damages. It appears that the skylight has cracked as a result of possibly being over tightened when installed or possibly inability of the thin material withstanding Colorado temperatures and snow. I have had to remove the inside lens in the shower to allow for water to void out from the framing in order for all to dry out. Fortunately I caught this in time to not have what appears would have become a major issue of water penetration into the attic.

After searching I plan to buy a Lexan skylight. Please steer me different if anyone believes there is a better choice. I am 1 month past warranty but wrestle with having our GD dealer engage in the repair. I am very displeased with the quality of the OEM skylight. It is very thin and brittle. Additionally, the warranty work I did have done, very minor issues, took more than 3 months. We now are in the beginning of our travel plans for the season and don't want to be without our rig.

Once the snow melts off the top of our rig (yes snow May 11th) I will return to the roof and make a final measurement before ordering the Lexan skylight. Grand Design shows this as part # 540141 14x30 but I want to be exact on the measurements. My wife and I are going back and forth on whether to go with a White skylight or Smoke. If you have an opinion, please share.