roof window leak in Compact Jr. - Fiberglass RV
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 02-08-2009, 05:43 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Trailer: Compact Jr
Posts: 14
I own an early '70's Compact Jr. The previous owner glued dairy board to the top, which makes it heavy to lift and with the added weight puts a sag in the roof which has left a window leak. Tried silicone caulk in and out, still get rain/snow melt in. Any suggestions about why they might have added this board and how to get it off? Thanks!
Tami is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2009, 07:03 PM   #2
Moderator
 
Frederick L. Simson's Avatar
 
Trailer: Fiber Stream 1978 / Honda Odyssey LX 2003
Posts: 8,222
Registry
Send a message via AIM to Frederick L. Simson
Unhappy

Quote:
The previous owner glued [b]dairy board to the top
It took a LOT of Googling for this City Boy to understand what you are talking about...

Link: Is This "Dairy Board"???

My 1971 Compact Jr. had plywood wall paneling glued to the ceiling with construction adhesive when I bought it, it looked like a factory installation and not a previous owner's modification.

In addition to providing a finished surface for the ceiling, the over-sized piece of paneling structurally stiffened the fiberglass roof, [b]as it was bowed up while it was glued in place. This originally made the roof surface "crown" theoretically to shed rain. I didn't like the look of mine, so I removed it, causing my thin fiberglass roof to sag in the center collecting a puddle of water in the depression.

I can speculate that your "Dairy Board" may have been meant to perform the same function... Or it may have replaced the original paneling to look more like a conventional "ceiling", and the installer didn't force an upward bow into the board to make a "crown" in the roof.

I just used a putty knife/scraper to pry the panel away from the glue.
__________________
Frederick - The Scaleman
Frederick L. Simson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-09-2009, 11:45 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Steve Hilby's Avatar
 
Trailer: Compact Jr
Posts: 274
My sister's Compact Jr. has carpet glued to the inside of the popup, but underneath it are signs that it had some kind of plywood glued in at one time (probably 1/8 or so door skin). Her roof vent leaked, and her roof sagged, so during one of the fix-up sessions I built roof bows to hold the roof into a slight arch. Once the bows were in place, holding the roof in the proper shape, I replaced the roof vent, using butyl tape as a sealer. Here's a link to a couple posts I made in an earlier discussion, with pictures:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=228566

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=229602

Her roof vent has been pretty well-behaved ever since, although I think she's had a bit of water blow in past the hinged lid's foam gasket a couple times.
Steve Hilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-09-2009, 07:30 PM   #4
Junior Member
 
Trailer: Compact Jr
Posts: 14
Thanks for taking time to find out what dairy board is! I like the pictures with the tubes and will try that when the weather warms, as I think it may be impossible to remove the glued board. If there was nothing on the roof but the orig. cap, would it let light through? Might it be thin enough in spots to leak? Is the replacement vent hard to find? Enjoy! T
Tami is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-09-2009, 09:29 PM   #5
Moderator
 
Frederick L. Simson's Avatar
 
Trailer: Fiber Stream 1978 / Honda Odyssey LX 2003
Posts: 8,222
Registry
Send a message via AIM to Frederick L. Simson
Unhappy

Quote:
My sister's Compact Jr. has carpet glued to the inside of the popup, but underneath it are signs that it had some kind of plywood glued in at one time [b](probably 1/8 or so door skin) .
My Compact Jr. had 1/4" wall paneling glued in, stressed to form the upwards crown. It made the poptop heavy in my opinion at the time, which is why I removed it. Later I came to feel that removing it was a mistake, but by then I had already done the damage.

Mine never had a roof vent. It had triangle shaped zippered vents in the fabric that opened for ventilation. We added nylon screen sewed over the triangle openings.
Attached Thumbnails
trailer02.jpg  
__________________
Frederick - The Scaleman
Frederick L. Simson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-10-2009, 08:44 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
Steve Hilby's Avatar
 
Trailer: Compact Jr
Posts: 274
Quote:
Thanks for taking time to find out what dairy board is! I like the pictures with the tubes and will try that when the weather warms, as I think it may be impossible to remove the glued board. If there was nothing on the roof but the orig. cap, would it let light through? Might it be thin enough in spots to leak? Is the replacement vent hard to find? Enjoy! T
If your Compact has been painted, then I doubt light coming through would be a problem. If it's the original gelcoat only, yeah, then I think light would come through.

I sure hope your trailer's previous owner wasn't counting on dairy board to keep his roof watertight!

Vents seem to come in two sizes, 14 inch and 9 inch. My sister's is a nine-inch, and it's available from Dyer's (and probably other places). There seems to be only one manufacturer of nine-inchers; they used to be made by Elixir, but the last one I installed (Sis had a misadventure trying to see if her trailer would go into her garage--it won't ), although identical to the Elixir, came in a cheap Chinese cardboard box and was labeled "Hong's".
Steve Hilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Roof Vent Leak barryra Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 8 08-04-2010 02:27 PM
Leak Around Roof Vent of 78 Trillium 4500 susan s. Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 13 06-17-2010 01:28 PM
Window Leak cyndi H Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 22 06-06-2010 02:59 PM
Roof Vent Leak on a 1980 Bigfoot ROIDON L Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 5 08-13-2009 11:40 AM
Roof Vent Leak Fred G. Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 3 08-31-2006 11:08 PM

» Upcoming Events
No events scheduled in
the next 465 days.
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.