This past winter, the winter of 2023, seemed to last about 3 years. In early February we had a heavy snowfall followed by another heavy snowfall. And when it finally began to melt, we discovered that the seam around the fan on the van roof had been compromised by all that snow and ice.

It looked OK from the outside, but a few weeks later, Debbie went to the van to fetch something, put her hand on a cushion, and felt the cold, wet squish of a waterlogged pillow. We covered the roof with plastic sheeting and hauled everything out of the van to dry.

Living in a rainforest meant that we had to wait about 3 months to be able to fix it. The Eternabond tape and caulk needed warm, dry weather to work, and that meant waiting until late May or early June. We finally had a hot spell (too hot, if you ask me) to make the repairs.

Not unlike the paint job, we needed to clean and dry the area before starting the work. The Eternabond is amazing tape, super super sticky tape that seems to be a staple of the RV crowd. We are certainly converts. It's easiest to work in small strips and mold it to the contours.

And the roof of the van? It's got those channels I know so well, so we supplemented the main tape with smaller pieces to the front and back of the fan for extra protection.

Once we had the Eternabond tape in place all around the fan, Debbie went through and caulked the seams on the tape, again for a little more protection.

It was already almost 80 degrees and not quite 10am, but the caulking went very quickly. The repair looks great, and now it just needs a week to cure. As Debbie said, "I didn't know that van repair would be a new hobby for us."