roof system on a 1996 T1700 Solaris?

[Tracey]

What type of roof do I have? The Sunline Brochure for my model and year says "a Dicor Brite-Ply Roof" The RV place says it is an aluminum roof. What is the best way to protect and maintain either one? Thanks!

[JohnB]

Hi Tracey,

All Sunlines used to come come with metal roofs on the older models. As time went on, in the early 90's, longer campers started to have rubber roofs pending model, and the shorter ones still had the metal roof.

By 1993, the size/length of the camper dictated 15-22 ft length campers were metal and 23 to 30 ft were rubber. This trend continued into the 1995 models.

And you are right, by the brochure, 1996 "model" campers were declared as all having rubber roofs.

What may have occurred in your case since you have a shorter camper, somewhere in actual 1995, Sunline made the conversion to rubber on all campers. In early 1995 they had the combo metal/rubber for the 95 model year campers. Come mid to later 1995, the 95 models stopped being made and they started making the 96 model year campers. (Just like the auto industry flipping model year and actual year.)

What may have occurred on your camper, it was made right at the turning point of when the shorter campers converted to rubber. It is possible, that a 1996 model shorter camper built in mid 1995 could still have a metal roof until all the metal inventory was depleted. Not sure how many campers that may have been that way, but we have seen similar design changes could of gone either way on what was installed when the manufacturing date rolled between two model years.

You may very well have the metal roof assuming the RV place was accurate.

If you can do this, it will help us give you a better answer to help your situation. If you can have someone while on a ladder, from the side, (do not climb on the roof) take pictures of the roof vents, tank vents, fridge vent, side wall seams and a few general roof overall pictures and post, we can see the condition your roof is in, we can confirm what your have, the condition it is in, and then explain what needs to be done.

Depending upon the condition of the caulk on the roof now, and what a prior owner did with it, you may need to either add more caulk or it may need to have the old triple globed up old caulk taken off and start with fresh new caulk. We have seen all kinds of things done to camper roofs, some good and some not so good.

Now to what to treat the roof seams with and the roof membrane if needed? I can give you a generic answer but it may not apply to your specific camper depending on what a prior owner did to your roof.

The metal roof has 3 main parts to it:
1. The membrane, this is the big open areas of sheet metal making up the main roof.
2. Metal roof seams. The membrane is seamed to join sections every few feet.
3. Penetration's in the membrane which are sealed with caulk. This is any hole put in the membrane, like tanks vent, fridge vents, antenna's etc. anything that puts a hole in the membrane. This also includes gutter rails with screw holes through the membrane or other moldings that hold the membrane down.

Rubber roofs have no 1 & 3 above and normally do not have no 2's as the rubber is all one piece. The caulking on either metal or rubber used in item 3, is normally the area that fails and allows leaks to get in. The membrane can last longer and pending metal or rubber membranes there are specific coatings for the large open areas and seams.

Once we see what you have, we can help make better recommendations as to what to use and if you need to take old caulk off first.

Hope this helps

John

[VTviking]

Tracey's question is similar to what I'm wondering about, so your answer was very helpful. I suspect the old caulking will need to be removed- it looks very old and cracked. No apparent leaks yet though. But here in Vermont, winter's coming so we need to deal with this soon! Is it OK to put a big tarp over a trailer (18.5 ft) for the winter?

[mainah]

I'm in Maine what I did was build some short saw houses for under the tarp to shed the snow and rain. It now lives with the rest of the gear in a 36X36 barn!

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by VTviking

Tracey's question is similar to what I'm wondering about, so your answer was very helpful. I suspect the old caulking will need to be removed- it looks very old and cracked. No apparent leaks yet though. But here in Vermont, winter's coming so we need to deal with this soon! Is it OK to put a big tarp over a trailer (18.5 ft) for the winter?

The big tarp is better then not doing anything if you know you have caulking issues. Going a winter with known caulking issue can make a bigger problem come spring. You may/can get some mold under the big tarps as they do not breath well in many cases. That is one issue with the big tarp.

When we bought our first new 2004 T2499 it was November. I had no building with a door large enough to put the camper inside then. So I used the big tarp. But, since we had a new toy... I was lifting the tarp up to get inside about every week or so. That amount of airing the tarp out seemed to not create any mold in the mid west of Ohio. We had snow, but not like you will have snow. Come April, the tarp was off and the issues gone.

They sell breathable RV covers, Adco is one brand. They work better then the big tarp and have zippers to get in and out of the camper.

Hope this helps

John

[VTviking]

Yes- this info is VERY helpful! Thank you John!