Delamination of panels (1 Viewer)

[Stubear]

Advice welcome please - I have a 2007 Rapido A class where there are signs of roof delamination - I am in the process of bonding brackets to the roof for a sat dish and solar panels - do you think it a good idea to drill some small holes under bonded brackets and squirt some liquid glue in the holes in the hope it might spread around and re- glue some areas that have separated - if so what sort of adhesive

 

[Diabalo]

I could be wrong but I think some motorhomes have a floating roof.

 

[Geo]

Indeed they do and along with rubber roofs should be screwed and bonded
if your outer skin is loose all over the roof it is by design and not delamination

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[Stubear]

Thanks for replying but the roof is not delaminating all over

 

[barsteward]

My Swift Bolero 2013 had just such a roof. I would check your manufacturers specs before attempting anything like that. Personally I wouldn't drill any holes in a motorhome unless it were absolutely necessary.

 

[Stubear]

In response to my roof delamination query I emailed Rapido and they very quickly replied - the roof is a ‘floating’ type as some of you suggested which I never new - Anthony Pfaff ( tech guy) at Rapido actually rang me the next day to explain it to me - what a brilliant service from them - it’s nice to know customer service is alive and well at Rapido

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[funflair]

In response to my roof delamination query I emailed Rapido and they very quickly replied - the roof is a ‘floating’ type as some of you suggested which I never new - Anthony Pfaff ( tech guy) at Rapido actually rang me the next day to explain it to me - what a brilliant service from them - it’s nice to know customer service is alive and well at Rapido

Great service indeed but the information given would then make me question the idea of just bonding the sat dish and solar panels to a floating roof skin.
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[Terry]

Great service indeed but the information given would then make me question the idea of just bonding the sat dish and solar panels to a floating roof skin.
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If it was my roof (we actually have a Rapido floating roof) I would take Martin's advice and not simply stick the brackets on I would both stick and screw the brackets- Screw on dry / remove fill holes with sealent and stick/ screw brackets on make sure that the sealent ozzes out from under all the bracket (clean excess off ) that way no chance of frost getting under forcing bracket up causing a leak

 

[Lenny HB]

Techno knows all about fixing things to Rapido roofs.

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[Stubear]

Anthony at Rapido says to never screw to roof only bond - he said the roof rails are actually screwed and glued and over time can leak - this has happened to our 2007 Rapido and he suggested removing and re- sealing - interestingly my old sat dish plastic brackets on roof are glued and screwed but when I replace them I will just be gluing

 

[Terry]

Anthony at Rapido says to never screw to roof only bond - he said the roof rails are actually screwed and glued and over time can leak - this has happened to our 2007 Rapido and he suggested removing and re- sealing - interestingly my old sat dish plastic brackets on roof are glued and screwed but when I replace them I will just be gluing

On our roof it's a 3 mm plastic coating sheet so if you want to chance glueing anything big to that then good luck That's why I suggested filling screw holes before sticking brackets on as above.
Edit
I would ask Anthony if the rails have had the screw holes filled and sealed or as I think in the factory they will simply stick on surface and screw dry. Chances are after a few years the screws will have let small amounts of water in if not sealed

 

[CazPaul]

I don’t really get it, if you are screwing right through to the inner panel then in some areas it’s not really a floating roof as you have screwed it down. Could that then pool water in areas due to the floating roof indentation created when screwing it down?

Im not sure when they decided on the floating roof it was thought people would be screwing it down to the inner roof.

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[Terry]

I don’t really get it, if you are screwing right through to the inner panel then in some areas it’s not really a floating roof as you have screwed it down. Could that then pool water in areas due to the floating roof indentation created when screwing it down?

Im not sure when they decided on the floating roof it was thought people would be screwing it down to the inner roof.

You are not screwing to the inner roof just to the top ply beneath the floating roof bit
The roof is made of a sandwich construction. Probably 3 mm ply inside 20/30 mm styrofoam then ply and topped off with in our case 3 mm plastic sheet

 

[funflair]

I don’t really get it, if you are screwing right through to the inner panel then in some areas it’s not really a floating roof as you have screwed it down. Could that then pool water in areas due to the floating roof indentation created when screwing it down?

Im not sure when they decided on the floating roof it was thought people would be screwing it down to the inner roof.

I understand what you are saying Paul, as in as you screw things down the roof doesn’t float anymore, I don’t know the answers other than I would not want anything heavy and subject to wind forces just stuck to it, Terry’s suggestion seems sensible to me.

I will add that Rapido should know as they must be fitting extras at the factory

 

[Terry]

When they fit roof light's they are sandwiched from top to bottom inner roof. so in effect screwed down if you remove the RL then the top plastic is loose but once fitted it becomes fixed.
My feelings are Anthony works at a dealer's not at the factory hence he has to get over factory faults,hence my suggestion on how to get over the problem. Each to their own

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[clanjones]

I am not trying to be a clever clogs but have you asked yourself why you need a satellite dish given the ability to stream almost everything these days? This may be your personal preference which is fine but I think doing forward this platform has a limited lifespan.

Just a thought!

 

[Techno]

The GRP roof skin is dual purpose in that it is cosmetic and protects the roof from hail stones. The structure beneath is a sandwich of foam with a ply skin inside and a barely 1mm thick aluminium skin outside. I don't think that a screw in less than 1mm alloy provides a feeling of security IMHO.
My solar panels have now been on since 2008 sikaflexed to the floating skin only.
If I were to fit a sat dish I would mark the feet and use a hole saw inside the outlines to remove the GRP skin only without damaging the aluminium. The more holes the better will provide more area to get a secure bond.
Personally I use a dome so I'm not concerned with wind pressure.

As Terry pointed out the grp skin is secured to the roof by all the roof lights

Thin wall hole saws with 4mm pilot too short to go through the whole roof.

You would of course never remove the sat dish fixing base again but why would you?

 

[Sundowners]

The (very thin) ally roof on our last American demountable camper was not glued to the ply underneath (floating)----- I believe that had I only glued the solar panel on it would have very quickly ripped neat holes in the roof sheet------ it was screwed and sikaflexed----- no problems with leaks or panel parting company!!!!

The N+B flair had ally fixed----- I just used sikaflex to very securely fix the panels on.