MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *R* is Roof Coating With Elastomeric Paint and Babysitting Weekend

Sorry!  I took a couple days off writing the blog. We were "preoccupied" with having a sweet little dumpling come to visit!   This is our youngest grandchild, and we took her over the weekend.  More pics down on the end of the blog....

Now back to the MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS BLOG POSTS:


I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications, a few at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter R now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER R

Roof Coating with Elastomeric Paint:

THIS MODIFICATION WAS DONE NINE YEARS AGO, IN 2009

On our 1996 Safari Serengeti, our filon fiberglass roof can be known to get tiny microscopic cracks and fissures after 10 years of age.... resulting in potential leaks! Although we don’t have any leaks yet, we decided it was a good idea to Git Er Dun! 

In 2006, we had already replaced the sealant tape at the front and rear caps with new layers of Eternabond, removing the OEM sealing tape that was on there.  We also used Eternabond around the sky light, and roof vents.  

These are common places for leaks to start, so we did the preventative thing and had sealed those too the first year owned the rig.  We use Dicor caulk for sealing up any areas around any things that could leak:

So, keeping in mind that we want this rig to last a looonggg time, we decided to take the advice of the guys on the Safari list with rigs the same vintage of ours.  They are all coating their entire roofs with a special elastomeric coating made for fiberglass roofs.... (similar to Kool-Seal, but we had to get the formula made for fiberglass roofs like on our rig) 

There are a lot of different brands of elastomeric coatings out there. You have to find one that works for your type of roof. (ours was fiberglass in this case). Read the cans and find something with a long warranty life. Ours said 7 years if you do two coats. 

Here is the brand we bought, called SealBest at Menards, a mid-west home improvement chain (like Home Depot or Lowes).

(DON'T use that fibered roof coating stuff that is used for mobile homes, it's very thick black tarry stuff that dries silver-- I did that on my old motorhome in the 90's ... not good, and not the right product for a flexing moving structure)

The roof surface on our rig is like a textured sheet of fiberglass that is laid on top of the substructure and sealed around the edges, but left loose in the middle to allow for expansion and contraction in temperature changes. 

But not being sealed down allows for any little leak around vents, AC units, or skylights to let in water and create horrible damages.   Thus the preventative care is very important. 

We checked the weather forecast and found three days in a row of nice 70-80 degree days and warm nights, without any rain in sight.  We hoped.

First,  Stevio scrubbed the roof really good with TSP, a heavy duty cleanser.  He then rinsed with a lot of hot water, and let it dry... Using blue painter’s tape, we taped off the sides where the white roof meets the blue colored sidewalls.

Whew, I sure don't like heights, but with adrenaline rushing and heart pounding, I joined him up there to work fast as a team effort to get it done! 


I sure was clutching that ladder!!!! I HATE heights.. but Steveio needed my help, so I bit the bullet and squeezed my eyes shut and did it. The worst part is when you reach the top of the ladder and have to swing your leg around to get ON the roof. 

Even with Steveio holding the ladder firmly down on the ground, I was still a scared silly mouse. Tee heeeee

I crawled around on my hands and knees, hand brushing liberal amounts around all the vents, air conditioners, skylight and antennas. 

Steveio rolled the remaining parts with a thick napped roller on a long handle. He got to stand, I was too scared to stand!  I built up around the vents with dicor and then coated with elastomeric paint. 

It was a beautiful day and we got the first coat on before noon.

AHHHHHHH
The first coat is all done! 

While the first coat was drying,

on the ground I took care of coating the Maxi Air roof vent covers

We used almost a full gallon with the first coat. 

This is a wide body motorhome almost 40 feet long. 

We waited until the next day after the dew was dry to roll the second coat. We used the second gallon and rolled it on as thick as we could. 

The warranty reads that you must put on 2 coats to comply with the 7 year warranty. There was still some left, so Steve got almost a full third coat done that afternoon before we ran out.

Whewww!

 It sure looked nice,

compared to how it was when we started.

Here we took off the blue tape,

we only coated up to the line where the silvery blue paint 

where the side walls start. 

It was a job well done.  

*added note: it is now 2018 - 

9 years later, 

and it still looks great!

since those photos were taken,

we added 500 watts of solar panels to the roof:

~~~~~~~

Back to the Babysitting! 

We enjoyed some warmth and sunshine out on the front porch. Here she is exploring the newest paperweight to my collection, from her great grandfather!  The grandkids love having the chance to play with something "glass" -- which is really pretty indestructible.  

We bundled her up to take a nice walk.

with her softy ensconced in the little red wagon.

Guess it was too comfy, 

she was asleep before we got to the end of the block! 

It was so much fun to have her all to ourselves.  We cherish our time with all of our Grandkids, and it's nice to take them one or two at a time. It lets us really get to know them without all of them clamoring for our attention.

We gated off the tv and all of the electronics,  This ain't this Granmuddah's first rodeo.  We de-kidderize before any of the grandkids get here.  The rest of the time is spent playing and having fun. No housework or errands or menial tasks are done when the wee ones visit.

Toys are rotated to keep the interest up,

but the Fisher Price Farm from MY Grandma Kafehl

(would be her GREAT GREAT Grandma)

is the number one toy and stays out all weekend. 

Both of our dogs are good with the little ones who come to visit. With adults, they often hide, but they seem to know the little ones mean no harm.  We do watch close for abrupt movements or eye poking etc.  Little Claire has 2 doggies in her own home and knows how to "play nice".

The dogs also enjoy the dropped Cheerios that get scattered about! 

I made this little You Tube from some time spent out in the sunny front porch:

The most favorite book 

for ALL of our Grandkids is 

Brown Bear Brown Bear:

All too soon, it was time for her to go home.  Her Mommy and Daddy picked her up, and the house is quiet again. 

We needed Monday to recover!  

(and take long naps)  

I think the dogs needed it too! 

Monday we also ran up to Green Bay to get our new phone.  After three replacement phones in the last 30 days from Verizon (refurbished ones of the same 2+ year old model each time) it has been determined that the old phone is unable to handle the newest software update.  With the help of our soninlaw, Waylen, I got a brand new phone now and am getting used to new features, set ups and apps that are on it.  I lost some of my contacts, not all, during the transfer, so if I don't call you, you will have to call me first! LOL


We are now facing a colder week in Wisconsin, with dull skies and cooler temps. It was down to the single digits last night, and we heard the furnace kick on quite a few times.  Guess it isn't Spring yet in Wisconsin!