Memorial Day UFO's and other unintended objects

[DrDaveCA]

Well Memorial Day weekend was interesting. We were tooling along I-77 in NC heard a thump, thump, thump, crash. I looked in the rear view and what did I see, our AC shroud going south (we were of course headed north) . As luck would have it that night we had a thunderstorm and guess what, the water falls in NC are not all beautiful , we had a bucket in the middle of the living room until I could get a tarp tied down over the roof.

It seems when I had the AC serviced a couple of weeks ago the tech found 3 screws (Dometic had 4) holding the shroud on the front AC and apparently only put 2 back when he finished (or at least that is all that remained when I finally got up on the roof to look at the damage). It took a cross wind and about 6 seconds and off she went, luckily there was no one behind us (and it flew over the toad). I have since replaced the shroud and now have a total of 8 sheet metal screws (#8 x 1/2") with washers holding that sucker down (I also have an additional annual checklist item ).

I believe those shrouds suffer from UV exposure in addition to tech inepitude) and become less resilient with age (don't we all). If you have a chance get up there and check yours (and maybe add a few extra hold down bolts, just in case) or you might also be seeing UFO's !

[jerry davis]

Slow down Dave.

[gjstacy]

I often complain to the hubby that I am hearing too much noise around our front air conditioner as we are bopping down the road. He swears that our tech checked it out and all is tight up there. Your story has prompted me to put that on the check list again for our tech.

[bcbowers]

Gail & others,

We bought our coach knowing that the front A/C wasn't blowing cold but figured it just needed servicing. We eventually discovered that the previous owner must have lost the cover on his trip to meet us. Had a dealer paint & install a new cover.

Made our first trip to SD in which my wife kept saying that something was rattling on top. Eventually, the cover came flying off just before Cheyenne on the return trip. The dealer replaced it at no charge.

Made the next trip to NC by myself. My son & his wife joined me in the coach and eventually proclaimed that something was rattling on the roof. We stopped and found only 2 - screws still holding it on with multiple fiberglass cracks. My son & I determined that the cover is actually too big for the mounting. We used 1/2" weatherstripping tape to fill the gap, used bigger screws (#10?), added more screws (2 - 4 along the sides), washers & lock washers to help hold it on better. Ultimately, I used a 2' bungee cord across both AC covers for "peace of mind" while ignoring the "appearance issue".

They've been like that ever since and I don't plan on removing the bungee cords any time soon! I prefer to drive down the road and NOT worry about covers flying off!!! Knowadamean?