'Crazy' amount of caravan water leaks discovered

Water leaks are a big issue in the Australian RV industry but Epping, Victoria based company RV Leaks reckons it's found a good way to minimise them.

The company, founded in 2020, uses air pressure in the cabin and sprays soapy water on the outside of the 'van to locate air escaping, and therefore a potential source of water ingress. The leak detection service is available for private owners, dealers and manufacturers as well as pre-purchase inspections.

The company now tests for leaks in new caravans for more than 35 manufacturers and dealers, including Supreme, Great Aussie and Titanium, while some of the bigger volume manufacturers including Jayco, New Age and Crusader have invested in similar equipment to keep their leak-testing process fully in-house.

“We have a purpose-built HVAC system which we hook up inside the caravan to pressurise it, then spray all the exterior seals looking for bubbles," explained RV Leaks Director, Carlo Maranzano.

Maranzano said that he has been in the industry for 15 years and noticed how much of an enduring problem water leaks were.

“It’s one of the biggest problems in the industry; the most notorious and unpredictable. The number of caravans we see that leak, it’s crazy,” he said.

Maranzano started RV Leaks after spotting a gap in the industry.

“I noticed a big problem with leaks, with no one doing anything about it. I then decided to start doing this,” he said.

While the general idea of pressure testing is not new, Maranzano claims that the RV Leaks process is unique.

“We pioneered the process (in the Australian RV industry), but the idea did come from the US.” 

He says one of the most common RV leak issues is due to failure of joint or hatch seals.

“Caravans are built by hand, are all sealed up with silicone, not like a motor vehicle," he explains.

"Roof hatches and J moulds, begin to split, resulting in leaks... These appear to be the most affected areas, with either a lack of silicone or movement causing separation.”

Maranzano said that finding leaks could be extremely time consuming in the past.

“With this process, we’re taking out the guesswork...”

RV Leaks now has 10 staff operating out of its facility in Melbourne's northern suburbs, where a lot of caravan manufacturers have nearby factories.

He said the cost for assessing leaks for private customers starts at $500, with extra costs for any repair work required. The leak testing itself takes about two hours and current booking times are about one to two weeks out.

As we touched on recently, re-sealing a caravan or motorhome is a maintenance issue that owners often don’t take seriously.

Maranzano said he hopes his services might go some way to avoiding problems down the track, including denied insurance claims.

“We have a preventative maintenance program for private customers. It’s not always necessary to have a leak problem to come see us. Owners can also run into insurance problems. We work with the insurance companies, and find that leak problems can be a lack of maintenance issue rather than a direct cause of impact damage," he said.

The company also works with caravan manufacturers, with some surprising results.

“Our business works closely with manufacturers in the manufacturing process part of production line in Quality Assurance. Companies tell us that our work has reduced warranty claims by 80 per cent on leak-related claims," he said, something that Lotus Caravans recently touched on after the Melbourne manufacturer used RV Leaks for a period of 12 months.

Although competition from rival businesses is growing, RV Leaks is hoping to expand its services to other states.

“Currently we’re getting our services into Queensland. Based on our research, the majority of caravan owners are in that region," he said.

"We also hope to expand further and explore franchise opportunities.”

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