Community Forums

btadlock · 03-06-2013, 11:06 AM

When did they figure out that a curved roof was a better design that a flat one? The roof on my 86 Pace Arrow is so flat, with a slight raise at the seams, that it can hold water, and holding water on a roof is never a good thing.
The '96 Itasca's curved roof forces water off, such a simple concept, wondering why they did not go to a curved roof earlier.

Doggy Daddy · 03-09-2013, 10:12 PM

The curved roof existed beginning with Prairie Schooners and covered wagons over a hundred years ago. Airstream and Converted Busses had curved roofs and even in the late 1960s slip on truck campers with aluminum flat roofs and 2x2 wood roof frames had an additional 2 inch raiser under the vents and ACs to divert water away.
Change of design materials like metal frames, seal and gaskets, and roof skins [aluminum, fiberglass, rubber, etc] along with keeping construction prices down was a factor for some manufactures to design RVs with flat roofs.
The roof of my RV is flat but sloped to allow water run off and my eyes were open when I bought it.

emoney · 03-10-2013, 04:36 AM

Not sure what made the decision, but my '84 is curved. Course even the sides are curved on her so maybe that was a factor? Yeah, there's got to be some slope, even a little, or water will just pool and that's never a good thing. Could be there's a tad bit of sagging which is causing some of the flatness too.

btadlock · 03-11-2013, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doggy Daddy

The curved roof existed beginning with Prairie Schooners and covered wagons over a hundred years ago. Airstream and Converted Busses had curved roofs and even in the late 1960s slip on truck campers with aluminum flat roofs and 2x2 wood roof frames had an additional 2 inch raiser under the vents and ACs to divert water away.
Change of design materials like metal frames, seal and gaskets, and roof skins [aluminum, fiberglass, rubber, etc] along with keeping construction prices down was a factor for some manufactures to design RVs with flat roofs.
The roof of my RV is flat but sloped to allow water run off and my eyes were open when I bought it.

Thanks for the response, it was not really a complaint, but just an observation. Not sure what to make of the "eyes were open" comment, I have had the flat roof 86 for over 10 years and I knew what I was buying when it was purchased, just pondering the why behind building with flat roof...