Musty/moldy smell - where is it coming from???

[mojospeople]

I'm stumped by the source of a musty/moldy smell emanating from the overhead cabinets in the front of our 16 TBS. It's coming  from the passenger side and front but not from the driver side. I have looked and I don't see any signs of water leakage/damage. There is some sort of cable routed from the roof through the front O/H near the side O/H. I think it might be the TV antenna. If I leave the doors open it dissipates well but close the doors a while and then open them and it's pretty noticeable.

Any thoughts of what to look for and where, to get to the source of this problem? It's bugging me because I'm super sensitive to odors like this and these are the cabinets where I store our blankets and pillows. Not good.   

Thanks!

[mojospeople]

Just looked again - not the antenna but appears to be the wiring to the exterior running lights. Still no signs of water anywhere.

[pjcd]

Try getting someone to run a garden hose over the roof while you take a look inside. I had a pin hole leak in the  chalking on the roof, (where the roof meets the front cap) left no streaks at all on the inside. 

[Merlin]

Just looked again - not the antenna but appears to be the wiring to the exterior running lights. Still no signs of water anywhere.

If the smell is from the PS front overhead cabinet, I'll bet it's the front top clearance light leaking. Any dirt that's in there could lead to a smell if it gets wet and it takes very little water/dirt inside the walls to do that. Take the over off that top light and use some good caulk to reseal that bad boy. Those lights live a hard life up in the wind.

And also, just for giggles, check that corner of the roof. Some water/dirt sitting up there and making its way in could be smelly too. That seam is a tough one to seal with the aluminum roof.

[Pinstriper]

An alternative strategy to the garden hose would be have someone inside the trailer shine a powerful flashlight at all the suspect areas, at night - this is very important, you do this in the dark - and look for light leaks.

As Merlin suggests, it's more like a dirt smell - there's nothing for mold to feed on. You might get some mildew, though. I'd also counsel that wiping the interior of the cabinet with a lysol wipe would be helpful. You'd be surprised the dirt you find on surfaces you look at and say "yeah, that's clean".

[Diversteve]

I agree with Merlin, we had a leak that turned out to be coming from the front O/H marker light.
The water was coming in around the screws that secure the lens to the fixture.
A piece of tape over the screw holes and the next camping trip in the rain confirmed this.
Caulking was the cure.
Good luck.