Brown Caulk on Roof Membrane - new 2022 2500RL

[RV Tailors]

Brown calk on roof membrane??????? - new 2022 2500RL. We are looking at a new trailer 5 hours away and I would have to tow our trade-in there and the new trailer back. I don't have a problem with that.

It is seemingly a great deal and I asked the salesman if the membrane was fully fastened. He said he would take lots of pictures. He said the membrane was fully glued down.

Now, what is the deal with the calk. I mentioned to him that the Dicor self-leveling calk or whatever is white on all the new trailers but never got a response. I will push him more tomorrow.

To me it looks like it maybe the roof leaked and they threw whatever the service guys could find up there? And, I can do a much better job of putting down the Dicor than that. Unless they calked over the original white calk. Do we ask to remove whatever calk is on there and redo properly? Can they do it better and not damage the membrane in the process?

I see a couple of places where they might have calked over the white.

Is this a deal breaker? Is the darker calk more vulnerable in the heat? Should we take the car up there to check it out instead of taking our trade-in all that way and the deal is a bust? Get an rv inspector from the area to look at it? Is it not good to overload the calk?

So darn many questions. We appreciate any ideas.

[Guest]

I would call Grand Design to see if there were material shortages during production that resulted in the use of the brown caulk. It looks like there is white caulk at the top of the gutters. This would be the only area that could be seen from the ground.

Ask the dealer for the VIN.

Jim

[howson]

I agree with Jim--check with Grand Design.

[Jlawles2]

Looking at the color of the roof, I would venture to say they tried to match the color of the membrane vs having the white sealant.

A call to GD with the VIN of the unit may help to explain what happened.

[RV Tailors]

Thanks for those comments. Ok, if all else is acceptable, would you buy it if it doesn't leak? The brown calk won't make any difference to me from the ground.

The GD dealer in Bourne TX has one that we are interested in but they don't take cash trade-ins. They have some deal where you borrow the full price from them, they consign it, and we pay off their loan when it sells. If our trailer that we are trading in sells we can pay cash for the balance. But, they have to sell ours before we can close. I am not sure how they work it. We are somewhat confused by their deal. And I think they do their own financing and say the interest is around 6-8%. I guess Explore USA doesn't do cash trades, only consignment till ours sells.

The dealer 5 hours away will do a cash trade-in and we pay the rest in full and take it home. Bring our trailer to trade. Warranty can be done at the Explore dealer.

We save $5000 if we drive 5 hr to pick up the 2500RL. Will be an overnight. Will be sight unseen, only pictures. Maybe we drive up there in our car to look at it, then make the deal?

I will get the VIN and check with GD this week.

John

[Jlawles2]

You might check with PPL in your area about them buying the present unit, or doing consignment on the current unit.

I'm not affiliated with them, but have you checked out https://www.crestviewrv.com/product/...0rl-1714417-29

Also don't know what dealer you are talking with, but if you have a purchase price even by text message confirmed some dealers will do their best to match.

[RV Tailors]

Thanks Joseph. We have a new consignment dealer near us. I will give them a try tomorrow. We bought our first trailer from PPL in New Braunfels. Worked out well. Will call. Check Crestview too.

I will send our price sheet to Explore USA tomorrow and see what happens.

Appreciate your comments.