Bus Owner Nightmares/Anxiety

[rydawg3000]

Hey All!
This is probably a realm not frequently discussed in this forum but I was wondering if I am alone or are there others out there who struggle like I do: I am finding myself constantly having nightmares about what if we were to have massive leak come through somewhere in the bus in the middle of the night and I didn’t wake up to go check on it so I could put a tarp on or something before more damage ensued. This ultimately has led to me waking up in the middle of the nights (2:30 am-5:30am) if it is raining outside from one of these dreams. I then have a micro panic attack until I actually get up and go check in every former “problem” spot of the bus.

We all know the dread that comes with finding the leaks in a newly purchased and fully gutted bus. However, we are fairly far along in our build (walls up, plumbing almost done, Electrical fully wired, etc.) so all the leaks have been addressed and sealed up (at least we pray). We have checked these trouble spots multiple times with both water hoses and torrential Florida Downpours.

Our bus is sealed up. We had one small drip coming through a skylight that was easily fixed by making the clamps tighter. We saw water at the bottom of one of our walls and were able to find the spot in the window that was compromised so that is fixed now. We have used seam sealer and painted the roof with elastomeric as well as Closed Cell Spray Foam on the entire interior (under windows to the floor, on ceiling, in front and rear cubbies).

I read this article (below)concerning people having more vivid/unusual dreams due to this Coronavirus pandemic taking people out of their normal social interactions. Seems interesting.

https://apple.news/Ac73VE99oRZmhVvaDYQS3Bg

So, when did you release the worry/anxiety of leaks getting in your bus?

How many times did you have to see no leaks after a hard rain before you were able to relax?

Maybe it never goes away? This is our first shot at being “homeowners” so maybe this is something every young adult goes through concerning their first home, I don’t know.

[EastCoastCB]

Seam sealer and properly checking it all out are key.
Most folks "Fix" leaks with rubberized paint. WHich is dumb if you ask me, but its happening on youtube so everyone follows what they see.
Rubberized paint is a bandaid at best.

[cadillackid]

ha! all my busses have some sort of leak someplace.. about the time I think they are fixed i get caught in a torrential downpour or I wash one of them and find water drops on the floor.. for me since they arent homes I dont worry about it so much

[rydawg3000]

Right! And we have done it all. Resealed all the windows and they are all good, installed custom extended rain guards, checked every single rivet one at a time, multiple times before painting, and on and on, Everything lol.

I just can’t shake the bad dreams. Lol Maybe it’s because it’s also our first bus and our biggest investment ever. Of course, once we start living in the bus in about a month or so I think my confidence in it will increase because I’ll always be there (even though it currently is in our driveway).

[rydawg3000]

Originally Posted by PippaMcLean

It's such a pain. I understand you perfectly. I had exactly the same situation. Everything will get better, I assure you, the main thing is not to worry more than necessary. Because otherwise you will only make it worse!

Hi! After living in the bus for over a year now and enduring multiple tropical storms and hurricanes (Sally is the one of note) I can say that the bad dreams and middle of the night rain that causes anxiety and the “Did I remember to tarp that?” or “Is the new seal/sealant working?” questions have gone away.

Very grateful for how thorough, and patient we were as well as the amount of leak testing we did at every stage/next step of the build.

[sportyrick]

Did wake up in the middle of the nite to water standing on the floor, the valve stuck on the toilet and flooded the floor with clean water (dump valve was closed all the time). Lost some sleep that nite doing cleanup.