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Maddog7 · 02-04-2014, 04:45 AM

I need your help. My '04 Monoco Safari Cheetah was damaged when I wrongly had all 4 slides out durning a storm that produced over 65 mph wind gusts. 3 of the 4 toppers were torn and the "rail" where the topper attaches to the body of the coach has pulled loose. My question is: "When I replace the topper material (ordered from Chris at Vos Stone), how do I re-attach that "rail" back to the body?" It appears to simply utilize some type of adhesive tape on the backside of the rail and it covers the seam where the roof and the side panel comes together.

Thanks,

Maddog7 · 02-04-2014, 04:48 AM

I had forgotten to include my signature......hopefully it is attached on this one!

Maddog7 · 02-04-2014, 04:50 AM

One more time.....

nodine · 02-04-2014, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maddog7

I need your help. My '04 Monoco Safari Cheetah was damaged when I wrongly had all 4 slides out durning a storm that produced over 65 mph wind gusts. 3 of the 4 toppers were torn and the "rail" where the topper attaches to the body of the coach has pulled loose. My question is: "When I replace the topper material (ordered from Chris at Vos Stone), how do I re-attach that "rail" back to the body?" It appears to simply utilize some type of adhesive tape on the backside of the rail and it covers the seam where the roof and the side panel comes together.

Thanks,

Maddog,

The topper has a rod sewn into the end of the fabric. If you look close you will notice a grooved channel on the side of the roof. At the end of that channel is a screw. Remove that screw and make sure the old rod is not still in the channel. If it is then slide it out. Chris may be expecting you to re-use that rod on the new fabric. You must open the slide and wind the tube to tension it. Then place a Phillips screwdriver in the hole on one end to keep the tube locked while you install the new fabric. It will help to have two people. You must slide the new fabric into the the two channels, one in the tube and one on the roof. Once the fabric is installed replace the screw to keep it in place. I belive Chris has instructions on his web site.

Most likely what happended was the thread on your old toppers was rotten from UV rays and allowed the wind to rip the fabric from the railing.

Bob

Maddog7 · 02-04-2014, 05:31 AM

Thanks Bob for the quick reply!

Chris at Vos Stone has been terrific to work with, and his material replacements does include all new beading and complete step by step instructions how to replace the fabric. My biggest problem is how to re-attach the "railing" that the beading slides into on the body. About 18" of the railing where the beading slide into has pulled loose from the body. How do I re-attach that?? It covers the seam where the body side adjoins the roof........and simply appears to utilize an adhesive tape.

RustyTools · 02-04-2014, 08:45 AM

Same thing happened to mine a couple years ago during a tropical storm in the Keys, altho the slides were in. Wind still got under the fabric on one slide and tore it off the roller-side. I was out there at 2am in 50mph winds, cutting the rest of the fabric off the coach-side so the flapping end wouldn't destroy the coach. A night to remember!
Anyways, the storm also pulled about 6 ft of the curved roof-to-wall piece off too, and the channel you mentioned came with it. You can find several other threads in here about repairing the curved piece that the channel is attached to, since it seems prone to pulling loose. Monaco used pop-rivets but I removed that plastic molding right under the channel and used some big stainless screws to made sure they went all the way into the wall-framing. IIRC, I'd ran some smaller screws thru that channel piece too for additional security.

I'd also suggest giving Monaco a call.

HTH,
Rusty

RustyTools · 02-04-2014, 08:52 AM

Not to pull this too far off-topic but coincidently I'm working with StoneVos right now in getting all of the toppers replaced. Seems to have been a yearly project to remove the old ones, get 'em resewed and put back on. This time, they helped me see the light and I'm going for new ones.

I'd noticed that the old fabric didn't seem to reach from end to end and Chris said it was common as Sunbrella shrinks and Carefree often shorted the material. The new material doesn't do that. Now I know why I've had to do repairs on 2 slides for water that was running down the slide-side and not channeled off the slide at all.

StoneVos is great to work with!

adcockj · 02-04-2014, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maddog7

I need your help. My '04 Monoco Safari Cheetah was damaged when I wrongly had all 4 slides out durning a storm that produced over 65 mph wind gusts. 3 of the 4 toppers were torn and the "rail" where the topper attaches to the body of the coach has pulled loose. My question is: "When I replace the topper material (ordered from Chris at Vos Stone), how do I re-attach that "rail" back to the body?" It appears to simply utilize some type of adhesive tape on the backside of the rail and it covers the seam where the roof and the side panel comes together.

Thanks,

I had a similar thing happen on my 04 Dynasty a number of years ago. To reattach the rail to the body, I glued/sealed it with some heavy duty clear sealant, then used a stainless steel screw at the end to really secure it to the coach body. It's held up fine ever since.
/Jerry

Maddog7 · 02-05-2014, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyTools

Same thing happened to mine a couple years ago during a tropical storm in the Keys, altho the slides were in. Wind still got under the fabric on one slide and tore it off the roller-side. I was out there at 2am in 50mph winds, cutting the rest of the fabric off the coach-side so the flapping end wouldn't destroy the coach. A night to remember!
Anyways, the storm also pulled about 6 ft of the curved roof-to-wall piece off too, and the channel you mentioned came with it. You can find several other threads in here about repairing the curved piece that the channel is attached to, since it seems prone to pulling loose. Monaco used pop-rivets but I removed that plastic molding right under the channel and used some big stainless screws to made sure they went all the way into the wall-framing. IIRC, I'd ran some smaller screws thru that channel piece too for additional security.

I'd also suggest giving Monaco a call.

HTH,
Rusty

Thanks Rusty. I really appreciate knowing this is not an isolated incident and certainly will apply your proven methods of repair!

Maddog7 · 02-05-2014, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adcockj

I had a similar thing happen on my 04 Dynasty a number of years ago. To reattach the rail to the body, I glued/sealed it with some heavy duty clear sealant, then used a stainless steel screw at the end to really secure it to the coach body. It's held up fine ever since.
/Jerry

Thanks Jerry for the input. It seems you and Rusty experienced similar issues and similar methods of repair. I really appreciate your suggestions and will use those before I install the new toppers from Vos Stone.

Maddog7 · 02-05-2014, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyTools

Same thing happened to mine a couple years ago during a tropical storm in the Keys, altho the slides were in. Wind still got under the fabric on one slide and tore it off the roller-side. I was out there at 2am in 50mph winds, cutting the rest of the fabric off the coach-side so the flapping end wouldn't destroy the coach. A night to remember!
Anyways, the storm also pulled about 6 ft of the curved roof-to-wall piece off too, and the channel you mentioned came with it. You can find several other threads in here about repairing the curved piece that the channel is attached to, since it seems prone to pulling loose. Monaco used pop-rivets but I removed that plastic molding right under the channel and used some big stainless screws to made sure they went all the way into the wall-framing. IIRC, I'd ran some smaller screws thru that channel piece too for additional security.

I'd also suggest giving Monaco a call.

HTH,
Rusty

Rusty, How long were the screws you used on the sides?

RustyTools · 02-05-2014, 01:20 PM

How long? Awwww, now you're going to have make me get my brain to work. It's been awhile since I did that job, but I looked in my bin of spare hardware to see if maybe I had any leftovers, but doesn't seem like it.

Sorry I can't come up with the screw size, but I do remember them being quite large - like maybe even as big as #12 and about 2" long (don't quote me on this though). I do remember using hex-head, didn't want regular phillips-type rounding off when the screw started biting into the backing-metal. I know I used smaller screws with little heads (They were maybe #6?) to go inside the channel, even so it's a tight fit when running the fabric in there.

HTH

Maddog7 · 02-05-2014, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyTools

How long? Awwww, now you're going to have make me get my brain to work. It's been awhile since I did that job, but I looked in my bin of spare hardware to see if maybe I had any leftovers, but doesn't seem like it.

Sorry I can't come up with the screw size, but I do remember them being quite large - like maybe even as big as #12 and about 2" long (don't quote me on this though). I do remember using hex-head, didn't want regular phillips-type rounding off when the screw started biting into the backing-metal. I know I used smaller screws with little heads (They were maybe #6?) to go inside the channel, even so it's a tight fit when running the fabric in there.

HTH

Thanks again Rusty. I will get on this project as soon as I receive the new topper material from Chris.

nodine · 02-06-2014, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maddog7

Thanks again Rusty. I will get on this project as soon as I receive the new topper material from Chris.

Maddog,

Sorry but I misunderstood your original post. FYI, ACE Hardware is a good place to buy stainless steel screws. You can buy one or fifty, what ever you need.

Bob