Metals to use in roof repair

[newbies]

Sent: 4/2/2003


I need some help.  My wife and I purchased a 72 D-20 Brave.  The roof is in very bad shape.  I am going to have to replaced interior skin, foam and the outer skin on top.  Has anyone ever done this and if so how hard is it.  Any info would be greatly appreciated.   Such as where to get the foam and the metal for the roof.  Would this material be available locally.
Thanks in advance,

Newbies

[denisondc]

Sent: 4/3/2003


For the roof aluminum I would check what allrite corp. has, they are listed in the resources links, under supplies somewhere, and in my local area I would look for places that build trailers and repair campers.   From such a small business I bought a roll of painted and seamed aluminum years ago when I made a shell for the back of my 52 Ford pickup.  The foam I would seek from a home construction supplier - and I think I would try for a non-acrylic, non-styrene, like a poly-isocyanate.  The key element would be how well it would hold to glue, and urethane glue would be my first choice, a two part thermosetting epoxy glue my second.   Second consideration would be something that doesn't burn easily.  I plan to re-roof my other winny this summer, and to make the new roof thicker -- better insulated -- than the old one.  I will be doing little roof mock-ups to test the materials and glue compatibilities first though.   I have a Winnebago service manual with a few pages about doing re-roofing, and I could copy the pages and mail them to you - they give you a slight idea of what to do.    denison

[newbies]

Sent: 4/5/2003


I was wondering if galvanized steel would work for the roof?  I have a place in my area that sells it.  They want $24 for a 4x8 sheet.

Thanks Newbies

[Graham]

Sent: 4/7/2003 3:18 AM


I've questioned the use of galvanized sheeting - or even the crinkly plastic sheets - got to be cheaper and an inclined run to the street side would be relatively straightforward.

Anyone tried it?

Graham

[melyash]

Sent: 4/18/2003


Be careful, when combining dissimilar metals together you many times get a Galvanic action and corrosion occurring just from the two metals being together. Not saying it won't work, just know that is a problem with Aluminum in Airplanes.

Matt

[R-Bob]

Being on the final stages of a roof replacement myself, I would discourage the use of galvanized sheet metal for a number of reasons particularly weight, corrosion...etc. If you are dead set on using metal on the roof again, try http://www.rvsurplussalvage.com/. All-rite is way too expensive.

The glue that RV manufacturers use is Sta-Bond E-183, All-rite charged me $100 for 1 gallon. I then went straight to Sta-Bond and they charged me $200.00 (Min order) for 10 gallons. That was just enough to bond an 8' X 24' roof. As for the roof material I decided to go with the EPDM rubber instead. Costs were $212.50 for the rubber versus $355.00 for the aluminum. All-rite wants $124.50 a gallon for the Alpha 8010 adhesive where as RV Surplus wants $45 a gallon for the same stuff.

I would look really close at Handier_Mans roof repair though. He did a really nice job and it will certainly hold up longer than my original design replacement.