Community Forums

alanjan · 04-10-2014, 08:48 AM

My 2008 National Seabreeze 34' Motorhome has visible cracks in the fiberglass roof. The roof seal along the front and rear edges also seem to have some weakness. Our local dealer says that repairing the fiberglass is not a good solution and recommends covering the fiberglass with a new rubber roof (cost, about $6,000!). Do any of you have thoughts on how I should proceed?

Thanks!

Alan Cameron
Boise

gtony2 · 04-10-2014, 09:05 AM

Go to rv-armor.com and check this company out...

gtony2

JohnInAz · 04-10-2014, 02:53 PM

I have some surface cracks in my roof as well. The service place I took it to said not to worry about it. If they are deep cracks where water could penetrate than you could put some eternabond tape over the cracks and see what happens. That's what I will do if the cracks seem to be getting worse.

Papa_Jim · 04-10-2014, 11:15 PM

Any crack in the roof must be regarded seriously because it may leak. It doesn't necessarily mean that it needs an extensive and expensive fiberglass repair. Eternabond tape is an excellent idea. Troweling a 2" wide coating of an elastomeric coating over the crack is another good idea. Once the cracks are dealt with this way, then painting the entire roof with a good roof coating is another great idea. I think there's lots of practical, inexpensive ways of dealing with this. The issue is to prevent roof leaks.

Jim

alanjan · 04-11-2014, 08:04 AM

Thanks to all for your advice. I visited the RV-Armor site and it looks interesting but I have some concerns. I built a roof over a patio 15 years ago and covered it with an elastomeric roof coating that was painted on in liquid form much like this product. However, it did not last. I have to restore the covering every 4 - 5 years to maintain watertight integrity. For gtony, have you had experience with the RV-armor roofing system? Is it as good as they say? Thanks again to all!
Alan.

hydro45640 · 04-12-2014, 05:05 PM

I have a crack about 12 inches long just wher the roof starts to roll over the edge. I put a bead of seif leveling calk on. It has been there about 3 years and I have had no problems. As for the front and rear seams, scrape and dig the old stuff out with a sharp putty knife and reseal with self leveling caulk on the flat part and non self leveling on the rest. Clean the area with mineral spirits before applying the new sealer.
I did both ends in about a half day.

alanjan · 04-12-2014, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydro45640

I have a crack about 12 inches long just wher the roof starts to roll over the edge. I put a bead of seif leveling calk on. It has been there about 3 years and I have had no problems. As for the front and rear seams, scrape and dig the old stuff out with a sharp putty knife and reseal with self leveling caulk on the flat part and non self leveling on the rest. Clean the area with mineral spirits before applying the new sealer.
I did both ends in about a half day.

Thanks for your input. My crack is also on the radius edge just forward of midship on the passenger side. It has gone through what for us was a very rainy period and I saw no evidence of a leak. It sounds like the repair you describe may do the trick.

Alan Cameron
National Sea Breeze 34L (converted to a 34C)
2008 Jeep Wrangler toad

jettajo · 04-23-2014, 10:53 PM

I would not put a new rubber roof on your rig. You may want to consider a product from Rhino Eco-Coat. It has a lifetime warranty and requires no annual maintenance. It can also reduce interior temps up to 30 degrees. It is eco-friendly and fire retardant. My roof is a fiberglass roof and I wish I could spring for a replacement. It would be somewhat less than $6000 for sure.

Good luck.
Barb

workinrvers · 04-24-2014, 04:57 AM

I found a small damaged place near the rear corner of my roof the other day, looked like maybe a tree limb or hail stone type damage/crack to the fiberglass roof. I just bought a fiberglass repair kit (Bondo brand) and did the small repair myself. The damaged area was slightly less then then the size of a 50 cent piece and I was able to spray paint the repair area after the fiberglass cured/dried. Not a "body shop perfect" repair but after all it's on the roof and I needed to get it done before more damage was caused by water or it got any bigger.

terry735001 · 04-24-2014, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanjan

Thanks to all for your advice. I visited the RV-Armor site and it looks interesting but I have some concerns. I built a roof over a patio 15 years ago and covered it with an elastomeric roof coating that was painted on in liquid form much like this product. However, it did not last. I have to restore the covering every 4 - 5 years to maintain watertight integrity. For gtony, have you had experience with the RV-armor roofing system? Is it as good as they say? Thanks again to all!
Alan.

even with the a TPO or the rubber roof your going to be up there every 1 or too to maintain

if you still want the rubber roofing go on ebay and get it for under 200$ for 40 feet of it but its still going to chock as that they call self cleaning

TPO is the 30 year roofing that i installed on my RV cost more and has to be installed right

but if it was me i would fix it with fiberglass there are some tips to help on YouTube

alanjan · 04-27-2014, 09:51 AM

Thanks again for all comments. The more I look into this, the more I am leaning toward doing the fiberglas repair.

Alan Cameron
2008 National Sea Breeze 34L (converted to a 34C)
2008 Jeep Wrangler toad

rebel510 · 05-10-2014, 10:30 PM

Hope this helps a little. I had Camping World install a Direct T.V. on the roof of my R.V. and they used a rubber polymer that looked surprising similar to one that I have used on several houses that I own. It has worked great and I think it may work for you. It is called Gaco.