I must admit, doing any caulking (silicone or otherwise) is my least favorite part of maintaining the travel trailer. However, that being said, it is essential that you constantly check all your possible water intrusion points. If you find anything needs to be resealed, you should take care of it quickly. In this case I needed to seal the sidewalls to the front cap.

We are fortunate that our travel trailer sits under an overhang on our shop. So, the sense of urgency is not quite the same as if it were outdoors. However, I still like to deal with things as soon as I notice a problem.

Removing old sealer is not fun. In fact, if you are not careful you run the risk of damaging decals. It’s a bit easier if you don’t have decals to worry about. In my case with the sidewalls, there were plenty of decals to be concerned about.

I will tell you what products I used to do this but PLEASE do your own research. There are many products on the market and about a thousand different suggestions on how to remove and replace sealant on an RV. What works for me, may not be right for you.

The first thing I did was to use acrysol to soften the old silicone. I did not spray it on. I soaked a small piece of towel and then folded it over to make a narrow-wet edge. Then I rubbed it over the caulk. Doing this provided some protection for the decals.

Next, I used a plastic scraper to gently remove the old silicone. You must be very careful not to rip the decals under the existing silicone. After the majority of the silicone was up, i cleaned up the remainder of the silicone with the above acrysol step again. This whole “Ordeal” takes quite a bit of time. While it may take a lot of work to get it completely clean, it is the prep work that makes the difference between success and failure. New Silicone will not stick to old Silicone.

Since I was dealing with the front sidewalls where they meet the front cap, I wanted to make sure it looked good. I taped both sides of each seam so that I ended up with a clean look. Then I applied Sikaflex 221. Sikaflex 221 is a Multi-Purpose Polyurethane sealant/Adhesive. Again, do your research and decide which product is right for you.

I ran my finger down the bead of sealant to smooth it out. While I did try using vinyl gloves, for some reason they put lines in the sealant. So, I resorted to using my finger with water. I believe my gloves were probably too large, a smaller size probably would have worked.

I then removed the tape, and I have to say, I was quite impressed with the results. The video above shows an overview of the process and the end results.