Our RV Had 3 Years of Hidden Water Damage — THIS is Why You Don't Want to Find It Late

We knew it was bad. We didn't know it was this bad. In 2019, Gary pulled a caulk tab from our Host Cascade and a five-gallon pail's worth of water came pouring out. Three years later, we finally made it to Penpac in Oregon for the full RV repair — and what we found behind the nose cap and side panels stopped us cold. Mold, delamination, corroded aluminum stringers, and a structural situation that would have been catastrophic if Host had used wood framing instead of aluminum. We document every step: removing the nose cap and side panels, sistering the stringers, reinforcing the jack mounts, and what we're doing to make sure this never happens again. Lora is laughing instead of crying. Gary is grateful for aluminum. Both of us are ready to get back on the road. 00:00 The Damage (And Why We Were Dreading This Video) 00:53 How It Started — 5 Gallons of Water in 2019 02:40 First Look Inside: Mold, Delamination & Shock 04:42 Nose Cap Removal 05:11 Vertical Panel & Water Tank Door 06:07 Vertical Reinforcement in the Nose 07:21 Prepping to add Aluminum Tubing 07:56 Aluminum Pitting 08:30 Driver Jack Mount 08:46 Strengthened Nose 09:29 Driver Jack Mount Reinforcement 10:17 Life at The Penpac Repair Shop (The Night Noises) 11:16 Driver Side Fiberglass 12:27 Aluminum vs Wood Frames - Why the Aluminum Frame Saved Our Camper 13:50 Dinner at Chateau de Penpac 15:06 4 Weeks In — Reflections & What's Next #truckcamper #rvrepair #rvmaintenance 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 *💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 💖 * 🚛 WHO ARE WE? We're Lora & Gary — full-time travelers living and working from our 2018 Host Cascade Truck Camper and Sherptek-modded 2020 Ram 5500. We share the wins, the fails, and everything in between so you don't have to make the same dumb mistakes we do. 👇 🔔NEW HERE? Subscribe for weekly truck camper adventures, RV tips and maintenance, and full-time truck camper life. HELP US OUT! 👍 🙏🏼 Watch and share our videos! 🙏🏼 Give us a like or a comment on our videos! 🙏🏼 Subscribe, because you're awesome! 🛒 Use Our Amazon Store — https://www.amazon.com/shop/journeywi... 🛒 REC PRO — 5% off your order — use JJOURNEY5 at checkout — https://recpro.com 🛒🗺️ Gaia GPS — Save 10% off your new subscription — https://alnk.to/7MdHpjG We may receive affiliate commission from the links above, at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!