Moisture is an RV's mortal enemy, and leaks are things that must be combated year-round to ensure the longevity of any motorhome, travel trailer, or fifth wheel rig.

The most common place leaks occur is on the roof, where there are seams galore for water to find its way into—and it will, given time and opportunity, because these things are basically long, poorly built boxes that twist and rattle around as you go down the road, creating new leak entry points and occasionally reopening old ones.

Using self-leveling sealant is the recommended way to repair and/or prevent most leaks, but sometimes you're in more of a hurry to fix something, or you just don't like dealing with the inevitable caulking gun mess. That's where EternaBond tape comes in.

This stuff is a godsend, I've used it to repair many a leak over the years, along with covering up the occasional crappy sealing job done by a prior owner. Once you apply a length of this tape over a problem area, it's essentially there forever and it does an amazing job keeping water out.

You can also use EternaBond on slide-out seams and other vertical surfaces.

The underside of the tape (which you have to remove a plastic film from before applying) is like a super sticky, quick-setting putty. It can be squished out a little along the outer edge, creating a waterproof barrier that cures within a day or so.

I've very rarely had to re-address any problem area that I used EternaBond on — even years after the fact — and it works on both horizontal and vertical surfaces equally well. I will continue using it as long as I'm doing this RVing thing.

EternaBond comes in a whole bunch of roll sizes, including...

• 2" x 50' ($45) ← the one I buy most often
• 3" x 50' ($53)
• 4" x 50' ($56)
• 6" x 50' ($83)
• 3" x 10' ($19)
• 4" x 10' ($19)
• 6" x 10' ($29)
• 4" x 20' ($37)
• ...and probably others I'm missing.