Caulking gap after tonneau installation to avoid water in bed?

Hi everyone -

I recently installed a Lomax Tonneau cover and tested it through some heavy rain this past weekend in Houston. I expected it to leak where the double sided tape curves in a bit toward the back of the bed, but I found some water toward the front of the bed in the corners as well.

Have any of you guys tried using caulk to seal further to prevent water from coming in?

If so, what type of caulk?

 

Caulk is kind of permanent. Try something like foam rope. I just excepted some leakage and don't put anything in the bed that can’t get wet.

 

Check out this thread. You may want this part.

I personally filled that area with black silicone and smoothed it out. Looks fine.

 

My cap guy always uses Butyl putty in those odd areas that need to be sealed. When I sold my cap after 8 years, the stuff was still flexible and removed fairly easily.

 

You can also buy adhesive backed foam on mcmaster.com, or maybe butyl tape. Could be rough removing the caulk later

 

Thanks all! The area I’m trying to seal along the rails is pretty small so don’t think foam or tape will work. I think it will have to be the butyl putty or caulk.

I've always seen caulk as semi-permanent? I've had good luck removing caulk in my showers / outdoors when areas need to be re-caulked. Of course, chemicals needed to be used to aid the process..

I saw there is a block of butyl putty I can get - I may try that as a first step!

 

I have an update on this. Success in stopping the water leak in main area of concern toward back of truck bed.

I used a high heat black silicone caulk (image below)

Steps taken:
1) Clean area with soap and water
2) Let dry well in garage to prevent dirt / debris from getting into gap
3) Wipe with alcohol when dry
4) Use painters tape (4 long pieces). Don't break up pieces to get as uniform of a line of caulk as possible
5) Lay down bead of caulk and use finger to smooth out
6) Pull off painters tape and inspect. Fill in any areas you may have missed and smooth out. This caulk sets fast (20-30 minutes) so I suggest doing one side first then moving to other side.
7) Let the caulk set in the garage overnight - again to prevent dirt / debris from getting on the caulk
8) Test with hose next day.

As I mentioned the leak along the truck rails is gone, but toward the cab in the corners there is still a small leak because there is a larger gap. I'm going to try duct seal compound and see if that works next.