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Roof Repair

March 25, 2013, 08:04:22 pm

Anyone have a picture of the roof structure of a 85 thru 2000 FT.  Had a bad water leak around forward AC unit in our 88 GV this winter, plywood underlayment over the foam insulation is toast.  Plan is to remove front and side moldings and lift up the fiberglass skin and replace plywood.
Does this sound reasonable?

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #1 – March 25, 2013, 09:19:34 pm

Just a Question:  IF an owner wants to spiffy up his roof, because of chauking, or fears of delamination, slipping because of ...

 has anyone received a quote to add a layer of cloth, mat or woven/roven GRP (fiberglass fabric material) to the roof for substantial strength improvement in the process? 

It seems to me, that once cleaned and sanded, the extra steps/esp for those wishing to have/install solar/so footing was important...would want a strong surface to walk on,, Plus the Non-Skid.

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #2 – March 25, 2013, 10:19:06 pm

Under the fiberglass flat roof sheet is a 3/16 layer of plywood.  When this plywood gets wet it delaminates and expands that causes waves or wrinkles under the flat fiberglass sheet.  When walking on this area it's soft and spongie, and now the area around the AC is higher by about an inch than it should be. You can walk all over other areas of the the roof without a problem it's hard as a dance floor, now the object is to fix this soft spot and put a layer of Rubber Roof over it all.

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #3 – March 26, 2013, 12:43:55 am

If the inside ceiling material is ok and looks good why not take off the AC and sand the fibreglass then put a sheet of aluminum across this area and have the ends curved in a press to suit then laminate with resin etc this over the area affected. Once solid put some glass sheet over the metal and again epoxy over this. It would make for a very solid roof and a lot easier than trying to do something from inside.
IMHO
John H

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #4 – March 26, 2013, 01:58:14 pm

It's fiberglas, cut large pieces out until you get to good wood.
Replace the wood, glue down the pieces of Fiberglass and work and paint the joints.

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #5 – March 26, 2013, 08:51:36 pm

I think John Dold has a pretty good idea. But based on the semi-monocoque body it is best to recreate the original body structure. I think the best way would be to cut out the fiberglass wherever the plywood has delaminated. Remove and replace the wood and reglass the roof as one piece and not reuse the old glass skin. Working fiberglass is not all that tough to do DIY and would would renew the rigidity of the body. However, if it were me and I was planning on keeping the coach, I would take it to Xtreme in Nacogdoches and have them do the work. Rance is one of the best fiberglass guys around and its pretty important to fix this correctly. My opinion FWIW

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Re: Roof Repair

Reply #6 – March 26, 2013, 09:07:15 pm

Agree with last comments.  Repairs on GRP(fiberglass) is not hard to do and since this repair is 'on the roof' no one will be bringing their magnifying glasses to check it out! No one even sees the roof from the ground.  It's functional. Repair it and don't delay/you do not want damage inside.

Extreme is my choice too.  I still believe tho if one gets into this roof repair journey to just lay out some extra GRP to make it a bit stronger in the process, fair it out ...and add some non-skid.

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