REDUX - MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - Coating our Fiberglass Roof on the Motorhome

Since it's the boring winter months, and we are not travelling yet, I thought I would do some repeats of my most-read blog posts on RV repairs.  This one had over 6,500 views when I first posted it. We coated our roof on October 7, 2009

Coating our Fiberglass Roof on the Motorhome

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! 

3 years ago, 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.  

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 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) 

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... 

The next day after work at 3pm, we both got up there and got busy!

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

Using blue painter’s tape, we taped off the sides where the white roof meets the blue colored sidewalls. 
 
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! 

 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. 

 
(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)

We used almost a full gallon with the first coat. 
This is a wide body motorhome almost 40 feet long. 
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 before we ran out.


Whewww!

  

It was a job well done.  

Wonder what the next project is going to be???

*added note: it is now 2016 - 

8 and a half years later, 

and it still looks great!

Mouse Tales and RV Roof Prep

Yesterday was occupied by running Steve back to High Cliff for an administrative meeting.  It's 250 miles round trip from here, so I drove the Tracker. (stick shift was hard for Steve to clutch with his left leg yet)  We stopped off in Waupaca for a nice impromptu supper with his older brother Mark and lovely wife Shirley.  So that pretty much took up the whole day.

We got back about 8 p.m. and had a little time to visit with Paula and Mel before turning in.

Oh poor Paula and Mel... about 10 p.m. Paula noticed a little black thing scooting across their floor in their house.  We could hear the screams from our motorhome...  EEEEEEKKKKKKKK  the little bugger of a mouse had come in from the open patio door earlier in the evening, and must have hung out till he thought the coast was clear.  Mel hoisted the couch, the coffee table, the cabinets and the lamps while in hot pursuit of the little bugger.  First, Paula tried to sweep it out the open patio door with a broom.  No go. Then on to the next idea: Mel tossed his sweatshirt on top of the mouse, he would STOMP on the sweatshirt....much to Paula's horror.  But each time the mouse was far gone under another piece of furniture.  Finally Paula got a bucket from the garage, and they dumped it over the mouse, while sliding in a piece of cardboard underneath.  The mouse was deposited outside as a trophy to show us this morning about their late night mouse-hunting escapade!    We were wondering what all that screaming was about????   Sadly, the little guy died from internal injuries.

As I type this now, my feet are up on the Mouse Urn .... a bucket (with lid) over the carcass of the little bugger.  Tomorrow we will dump him in the woods.

Because... today we were soooo busy!

Mel and Steve completed a few other jobs today on Mel's motorhome...

• Finished the grease/lube job on all lube points and the fan zirc too
• Examined the door deadbolt lock and figured out a repair
• Lubed the antenna mechanism 
• Lubed the pac brake

Then it was time to work on the BIG project for the day....  They trooped on over to the local RV dealer and equipped themselves with all of the supplies needed to do their motorhome roof.   They are lucky to live 1/4 of a mile from Kings Campers, in Wausau, WI


Up went the ladders and out came the power cords to the driveway and got plugged in.  Time for these guys to get serious about this roof recoating with Elastomeric paint.  Our Safari motorhomes have a special roof material called "Filon" which is a fiberglass and nylon type material.  It is not fastened tight, but is allowed to flex and shrink with heat and cold.  After 10-12 years of exposure, this material is known to develop tiny microscopic cracks which could allow water intrusion.  The best practice is to clean it well, and then coat it with an elastomeric paint.

Here is the blog post from when we did our roof on our rig:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2009/10/coating-our-fiberglass-roof-on.html

So it was time to get the prep work done in order to do the roof in the next few days, now that Steve's knee is feeling pretty good.  Steve goes back to the doc on Monday to get a release to go back to work.


Mel has this wonderful tool from Harbor Freight, and Steve used it to remove the old caulk along the front and rear end caps.  On sale for about $18.

They stripped off the old caulk along both the caps, and cleaned the surface good with thinner.  Once it was all dry and clean, they applied the Eternabond tape (bought at Kings by the foot for 40 feet they wanted for both caps, around the skylight, and around fridge vent)

Then I got up on the roof with my handy dandy wooden rolling pin, and a wall paper roller.  The more you roll and squish this stuff, the better it activates the glue inside the membrane.  It was stuck tight and I took care of the rolling.  You blog readers never get to see ME doing the jobs, just my pics of Steve and Mel doing them.  So this time, Steve grabbed the camera and snapped one of me!

Tomorrow will be scrubbing the roof with TSP

Saturday will be coating with elastomeric paint (if the weather cooperates)

We ran outta daylight, so it was time to make supper-----

Yummmmm a local meat market has wonderful tenderloins on sale for $7.59 a pound, so we stocked up enough for supper and filled our freezers with enough for half a dozen more meals.

Boiled baby red potatoes, a tossed salad with fresh tomatoes, and a bowl of Lemon Fluff.  We eat like Kings with hanging out with the Stuplichs, that is for sure.


Another little treat are these Bartels and James Margarita Wine Coolers, we pour them over crushed ice and salt the rims... voila!   Quick margaritas!!!!!

My RV camping buddy, Canadian Dan Dan the Camping Van Man showed me about these.  Great when you want ONE margarita and don't want a half-used bottle sitting in the fridge.

Okay, it's dark now, the bugs keep flying into my laptop screen, and I am ready to head to bed.

Tomorrow is another day.

We know someone who could use some extra thoughts and prayers during a health issue tomorrow, so please if you can, send a prayer this way?


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