Roof Sealing Tape?

Jugster

Jugster

Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Posts
107
Likes collected
69
Location
Evesham, UK
Funster No
68,399
MH
A Class Hymer 694SL
Exp
3 years
Hi All
On one sunny day I decided to take a look on the roof of my motorhome. It appears that where the Electrical connections for the Awning pass through he roof, it has been masticked (badly I may add) (not by me!) and there appears to be some translucent tape which has been applied on top of the mastic and to finish off around the roof fitting.

My question is, can I easily buy some more of this tape as this is now getting very scruffy and dirty, and also is it normal for tape of this sort to be applied to the roof. I'm confident enough to do a re-tape of this area, but just wanted to know if this tape is USUAL and where I can get it from? Is it a standard type of tape or specific to Motorhomes/Caravans?

Thanks, all replies will be appreciated..
 

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Never seen that tape on a motorhome before, it looks a little like the clear polyurethane abrasion tape used on aircraft fin leading edges and helicopter rotor blades, was the previous owner involved with aviation?


Suggest remove all tape and cut back the excess sealant then apply a tidy bead of Sikaflex.
 
Looking at the photos I assume there are 2 separate inlets - one of them appears to have a very tight kink on the cable coming out of it which I wouldn't be happy with.

As for the mess of sealant etc, I'd be tempted to completely remove it all and the inlets and re-stick them from scratch, if it's that bad on top goodness knows how well they've been attached in the first place.
 
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first question, is it actually mastic? as in still pliable and easy to remove? it may be sikaflex done badly

Is it watertight? and just unsightly to look at

try cleaning it with the help of a toothbrush
 
This type of tape has been used by the motorhome and caravan construction industry to extra seal roof joints for many years recently and a big user of it is the Swift Group. As you say the mastic is normally badly applied and this tape is stuck on top of it. It's referred to as Aircraft Tape by the Swift Group so a local Swift dealer should be able to get you a roll of it if unable to find on the internet.
 
Figaro said:
Looks like Eternabond tape, good stuff but not ideal for location.
I`d strip everything off and start again
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I quite agree, it might be alright today, but not for long, I had similar problems on ours cos the fella we brought it off was a bodger, by far the easiest way on anything like that is to completely remove it and start again
 
I hope that was a DIY job and not a pro fit

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Definitely looks like helicopter tape. It stays stuck on rotors so should stay stuck on your roof. It might not look pretty but if it’s not leaking why mess with it?
 
personally i dont like those cable inlets as there is little surface area to apply sealant to get a ip rated junction box from screwfix and a tube of stixal from toolstation

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I would like at some point to fit solar but it’s the drilling through the roof of a type of vehicle renowned for leaking that puts me off. I’m looking at trying to get the cabling to the battery area without drilling holes in my roof. If I can do that I’ll look again.
 
glenn2926 said:
I would like at some point to fit solar but it’s the drilling through the roof of a type of vehicle renowned for leaking that puts me off. I’m looking at trying to get the cabling to the battery area without drilling holes in my roof. If I can do that I’ll look again.
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It's easy to drill a hole, know where it is and seal a cable inlet cover properly over it. As opposed to a leaking roof where it can take an age to work out where the actual leak is.
 
Jev88 said:
It's easy to drill a hole, know where it is and seal a cable inlet cover properly over it. As opposed to a leaking roof where it can take an age to work out where the actual leak is.
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I know what you mean but my ceiling inside is decorated with soft furnishing and I don’t really want to see a horrible looking cable coming through .
 
I take my cables down into a hole that appears inside a cupboard so not visible.
 
Jev88 said:
I take my cables down into a hole that appears inside a cupboard so not visible.
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Same as me, the previous owner installed the solar panel, and he just drilled a hole in the roof (over the cupboard) poked cables through NO SILICONE, terrible CONSTANT leaks, removed the solar panel and cables, re-installed the panel with a sealed box through the same hole, riveted and silicone seal, no problem now. Even overdo the silicone and smooth the excess around the cover. Good luck
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Jev88 said:
It's easy to drill a hole, know where it is and seal a cable inlet cover properly over it. As opposed to a leaking roof where it can take an age to work out where the actual leak is.
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and when I drilled a hole for the cables from our Snipe dish made sure it had the diameter of a short bit of conduit I had kicking about. Sikaflexed that into the hole projecting 15 -20mm above the roof so if any water did get in under the roof box it had nowhere to go but back out again.
 
Jim I have sussed it, maybe? Running Fun in Edge (Chrome version) and Chrome does not display pasted URL links that I have pasted. No problem in Firefox.

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Weird? At least I know that if I paste a link whilst browsing Fun in Edge others will see it even if I cannot.
 

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