Sealing a hole in the roof..

[Wully]

I’m removing the satellite system and telly in our B524.
The easy to remove gubbins inside is already gone but I need to remove the satellite dish on its pole from the roof which will leave an 85 mm hole..
Any advice on filling and sealing this?

Current though is to carefully cut up a fridge freezer compartment door I liberated from the local recycling place and glass/silicone seal into the hole.
Alternatively buy a sailing dinghy hatch cover and rivet/screw/silicone seal into place.

 

[Mikeco]

Normally settalite dishes are fixed to a plate which is either stuck or screwed to the roof, when you remove the dish you leave the plate in place. Never seen a dish on a pole.

 

[Wully]

Normally settalite dishes are fixed to a plate which is either stuck or screwed to the roof, when you remove the dish you leave the plate in place. Never seen a dish on a pole.

This is a manual dish that you tilt/rotate from inside the MoHo on a pole..

 

[DavidG58]

sounds an odd arrangement but why not leave the pole in place, cut it down in height, then find a cap and silicone it on top

 

[Mikeco]

This is a manual dish that you tilt/rotate from inside the MoHo on a pole..

I have a manual crank up dish but it’s not on a pole, However if you have a hole just use an oversized piece of aluminium or plastic stuck down with Sika 512 or similar.

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[Lenny HB]

What about fitting a small mushroom roof vent, it would look better than a patch.

 

[jollyrodger]

Or remove the dish from pole mechanism, and put a directional wifi lan repeater antenna on it ,feed the correct cable down through, and pick up/ enhance wifi reception

 

[pappajohn]

Tilt and rotate.......Do you mean dish or is it a Status aerial.

 

[Just smiffy]

Stick a piece of chequer plate over the hole giving a couple of inches overlap and stick down with sika flex....

What you do with the inside is up to you but it would be good access for any future accessories you add ie: solar/mifi aerial etc....

 

[pappajohn]

Proper blanking plate for status aerial which will be big enough to cover most holes. Probably 100 to 150mm diameter.

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[Zigisla]

Amazon product ASIN B002WZ7CN4
Size of plate is 9cm so just big enough

 

[Wully]

In the end I up cycled a domestic fridge freezer compartment door which I cut a square of plastic from. I trimmed this to perfectly mate to a stainless steel vent plate from our local yacht chandler , spread silicone sealant over all the mating surfaces and around the hole in the roof then screwed it all down snug with 6 stainless steel screws- which were coated with silicone before mounting.
From the inside I smeared all around the (thick!) insulation in the roof with more silicone and will cut a plug of insulation from the fridge door to ensure no cold bridge.
Just waiting for some rain now....

 

[Wully]

Tilt and rotate.......Do you mean dish or is it a Status aerial.

View attachment 317497

That is pretty similar to what was there - recon I’ve stripped about 25 kilos of excess weight and about 1 MPG off now...

 

[pappajohn]

That is pretty similar to what was there - recon I’ve stripped about 25 kilos of excess weight and about 1 MPG off now...

The plate that zigisla and myself linked to is the proper blank plate for the job.
Silicon sealer deteriorates with time in exterior environments, you should have used Sikaflex.

 

[tonyidle]

The plate that zigisla and myself linked to is the proper blank plate for the job.
Silicon sealer deteriorates with time in exterior environments, you should have used Sikaflex.

Silicon is useless for this purpose & why more screws?

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[Lenny HB]

Agree with others should have used a PU like Sikaflex, no need for screws. Silicon will give you grief.

 

[Wully]

“Generally speaking, silicone sealants are more versatile and flexible than polyurethane sealants and they work better in most environments. The inorganic composition means that silicone is resistant to UV rays, making it a better option than polyurethane sealant, which will eventually revert back to its natural form.”

I’ve been using silicone sealant for many,many years on my boats- all of which are still afloat

 

[Wully]

Silicon is useless for this purpose & why more screws?

1. Why useless?
2. ‘Cos the plate has 6 holes
machined into it, would be rude not to use them.

 

[pappajohn]

I’ve been using silicone sealant for many,many years on my boats- all of which are still afloat

That'll be why motorhome converters use PU (Sikaflex) and nothing else then.
Your choice, your future problem.

 

[pappajohn]

1. Why useless?
2. ‘Cos the plate has 6 holes
machined into it, would be rude not to use them.

6 holes, 6 screws, 6 potential sources of water ingress.

If Sikaflex is adequate on its own to secure solar panels and satellite dish mounts without screws its certainly adequate to hold down a foot square flat plate without screws.
It's also used by the converter to secure door and window frames, body joint trims and roof lights.

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[49780]

Papajohn, Sikaflex is used by lots of people that have no idea, sadly some of those portray themselves at professional repairers, Sikaflex has its limitations, there is no one fix solution to every problem, it is very unfair to tell people because installers and converters use a product its the right one for their job.

I have been repairing boats, cars caravans and motorhomes for some 30 years now and some of the suggestions here are testament that malpractice sometimes ignorance is still prevalent.

Why am I thinking indemnity insurance all of a sudden?... Not for me that's for sure.

 

[Vic. Parsons.]

Papajohn, Sikaflex is used by lots of people that have no idea, sadly some of those portray themselves at professional repairers, Sikaflex has its limitations, there is no one fix solution to every problem, it is very unfair to tell people because installers and converters use a product its the right one for their job.

I have been repairing boats, cars caravans and motorhomes for some 30 years now and some of the suggestions here are testament that malpractice sometimes ignorance is still prevalent.

Why am I thinking indemnity insurance all of a sudden?... Not for me that's for sure.

Although silicone will seal the job very well, silicone does not bond as securely to the surfaces as Sikaflex, hence the comparative ease with which items can be removed after attaching them with silicone compared with the extreme difficulty of removing items bonded with Sikaflex.
This explains why solar panels are attached with Sikaflex and not silicone.....the silicone bond is inferior and I for one, would not trust a solar panel to stay on the roof if it was done with silicone.
I always have a tube of CT1 handy, which is similar to Sikaflex and can be bought in most building supply shops. Its stuck for good with this stuff, probably a nuclear blast might remove it but even then, I reckon the item would leave with part of the roof still attached.

 

[49780]

Mmm,this why I love the right to turn down jobs that have little or no chance of aquiring a satisfactory repair, Happy Bodging?

 

[Vic. Parsons.]

Mmm,this why I love the right to turn down jobs that have little or no chance of aquiring a satisfactory repair, Happy Bodging?

Seems like everyone but you is a bodger then?
But carry on doing what you're doing, after all, if you've been doing it for 30 years then you've probably got used to the idea that your way is the only correct way of doing it....... happens to us all eventually I guess........old dog, new tricks and all that!