‘You’re costing yourself money’: Expert issues warning to people who have RVs
An expert issued a serious warning to people who own RVs about sealing their roof with the adhesive tape EternaBond.
Lemon8 user @ThatRVTech posted a video with his warning on Dec. 8. He is looking down on an RV roof. “Your RV roof is not meant to be sealed with EternaBond,” he said to start the video.
He zoomed the camera into a section of the roof that was presumably sealed with EternaBond. “The root word there, eterna in EternaBond, would insinuate that it is meant to last for an eternity. As you can see from this coach that is barely three years old, that is 1,000 percent not true,” he said.
Expert issues warning to RV owners about EternaBond
He said the RV came out of the factory with the EternaBond sealant applied. In the video, it is flaking off and peeling in various areas.
“Absolutely garbage,” @ThatRVTech said. “I know you guys have seen those idiots in those Facebook groups telling you that you should just cover all your lap sealant in EternaBond and you never have to touch your roof again. That is so far from the truth.”
@ThatRVTech suggested there’s a simple way to tell if the advice you’re getting is sound. “When … all the Facebook groups and videos [are telling you to do this] … and literally every technician and RV professional on all of these platforms are telling you otherwise?” he said. “I think it makes it pretty easy to make an educated decision on which one is actually supposed to be used.”
He concluded, “Lap sealant or EternaBond? And the answer is lap sealant. Not EternaBond. I see way too many roofs covered in this stuff, and not only are you doing yourself a disservice by adding it, but you’re costing yourself money.”
What’s the best way to seal an RV roof?
It might seem obvious, but depending on the type of RV, you might have to periodically seal the roof to keep water from leaking into the cabin when it rains. @ThatRVTech was frustrated by what he says is misinformation floating around the internet misleading people into thinking EternaBond is a quick fix.
@ThatRVTech discussed what he views as the shortcomings of EternaBond in greater detail in this video posted to his YouTube channel in September. He said you should use lap sealant or whichever sealant the manufacturer of your RV recommends. It will likely depend on the material used to make the RV.
Whichever roof sealant you end up using, @ThatRVTech said the important thing is that you don’t rely on EternaBond for the job. “EternaBond is meant for one thing and one thing only, and that is an emergency patch,” he says.
What is his issue with EternaBond?
@ThatRVTech said EternaBond doesn’t last forever, can bubble or bunch up in spots, and can still allow leaks. A Reddit user in a thread on the subject posted to r/RVLiving last year backed up @ThatRVTech’s concerns.
“You will absolutely regret it when you try and remove it once the sun has baked it and hardened it,” the Redditor wrote. "It will make future sealer repairs an absolute nightmare.”
However, plenty of users on the thread said they completely ignored this advice. One user said it’s not a huge deal unless you eventually want to get the roof replaced. In that case, the number of labor hours it takes to peel all that tape off might sneak up on you.
The Daily Dot reached out to @ThatRVTech and EternaBond via email for comment.
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