RE: Coleman Roof Sag

[Tim5055]

 
I was sitting looking through the board and discovered we have not had a good discussion on " Coleman Roof Sag"  on the new board.  So here goes my usual  rambling about the history of ABS roofs:
 
 Coleman introduced the ABS (plastic) roof in the 1996 model year. During the early years of introduction the ABS roof was included on almost all Coleman Pop ps, including some in the Destiny series.  If you are looking at a 1996/97 Destiny series, check the roof for type.
 
 Coleman manufactured the ABS roofs themselves in their Pennsylvania assembly facility. It was soon found that some roofs began to ?sag? for unknown reasons. The first thought was that the A/C unit caused it and they had dealers retrofit A/C installed units with a metal bar inside the camper to provide additional support. This bar was added as a regular item to ALL pop ups manufactured sometime in 1998 and a retrofit kit was made available for all older units.  The absence or presence of a bar in a pop up does not denote a " new"  roof.
 
 They continued having problems and other factors were investigated, such as exposure to heat. It appeared that pop ups in warmer climates experienced a greater number of ?sag? cases than cooler climates. Coleman tried different formulations of ABS plastic but roofs continued to sag. Additionally, the problem appeared more in 12 foot box pop ups than in 10 foot boxes.
 
 The final cause (as well as anyone can like us can figure out) is that roofs manufactured under certain climatic conditions (temperature and humidity) did not allow the ABS plastic to cure properly. It was these roofs that eventually sagged. The number I hear thrown about is that 10% of the ABS roofs manufactured were bad. I think this number is a little high, but who is to know other than Coleman.
 
 Sometine around 1999 ? 2000 Coleman finally stopped making the roofs themselves and began buying ABS roofs from an outside. At his point the the sagging problem seems to have lessened o s degree or disappeared. Now those roofs being supplied by the outside vendor began to exhibit other problems, which have been chronicled on the PUT forums.
 
 They include:
 
 Delamination: Part of the ABS plastic delaminates from the core of the roof and a blister forms on the surface.
 
 Bowing of front & back seal: The seal area of the front and back portion of the roof, where it contacts the box in the down (or travel position) bows up sufficiently to allow water penetration during driving in rain. This condition appears to go away after 24 ? 48 hours sitting in the down position. Some believe that the ?shepherds hook? used to push out the bed end canvas pushes up into the seal during use and bends it out of shape.  At least 2 differnet styles of seals/gaskets were introduced in an attmpt to correct this problem.
 
 Both of these problems appear to be limited to a small number of roofs.
 
 If you are the original owner of a Coleman pop up defective ABS roof you have nothing to worry about. The ABS roof has a lifetime warranty. Second and subsequent owners do not have the protection of a warranty, but as has been reported by some people Coleman seems to be working with these owners to find a solution. The most common solution that has posted here is that Coleman will supply a new roof to a Coleman dealer if the owner will pay shipping and labor for the installation. They will not ship one to an owner for self installation. Parts prices for the roof itself have been posted at between $1,200 and $2,000 with shipping and labor running between $700 and $900.
 
 Starting the 2003 1/2 model year, Coleman is phasing the ABS roof out  and replacing it with the new AlumiTite Krystal Kote Composite Roofs for the GT and GTEs.  When the supply of ABS roofs is depelted warranty replacement roofs will only be the new style.
 
 

[campingeyedoc]

 tim5055
I just spoke with the local dealer at the Western NY RV show and they said they replaced somewhere between 20 and 40 roofs last year (sorry I can t recall the exact#)No probs with my 2000 (yet!)

[wavemaker]

 tim5055
i have a 2001 coleman, i bought it brand new, in 2 months my roof was sagging
 i only have a 5 yr warrenty on the roof its not lifetime.. firt question is why only 5 yrs warrenty on the roof?? now im leaving mine until about 4 1/2 years
 then im going to have it replaced.. because hopefully ill get a new type of roof
 im not sure but i believe its an abs roof
 
 Dean

[tlhdoc]

 tim5055
The Destiny line with aluminum roofs, which the Timberlake is part of,  only has a 5 year roof warrenty.   The Grant Tour line with the ABS roof has the life time warrenty.   I haven t heard of an aluminum roof sagging before.[]  Can you post any pictures or describe the type of sag you have?  Why don t you have them replace the roof now?

[kathybrj]

 campingeyedoc

 

ORIGINAL:  campingeyedoc
 
 I just spoke with the local dealer at the Western NY RV show and they said they replaced somewhere between 20 and 40 roofs last year (sorry I can t recall the exact#)No probs with my 2000 (yet!)
 

 Our dealer, which has 3 locations in the Capital District of New York told us they haven t replaced many roofs at all and that they do not see or hear from customers about the issue.  They claim it s because of the climate, but that would contradict the fact that a western NY dealer has replaced so many.
 
 Perhaps our dealer doesn t sell many Coleman Grand Tour series pop ups or they just don t look for the problem (which could be the case- they tend to sell lots of the bigger rigs).
 
 Our 2002 shows no sign of problems as of now, but I inspect it often. If it has to be replaced, I don t have an opinion on the new roof one way or another, but DH said he would hate to lose any head room, because of his height.

[tlhdoc]

 tim5055
I don t have sag, but if I did I think I would like the new roof.  I think the shade on the drivers side would be nice to have.[]

[SCCS]

 tim5055
No roof sag on the front or back, but a little outward push on the street side over the push out dinette.

[tlhdoc]

 tim5055
Is there a gap?

[PI]

 tim5055
We don t have the roof sag because we have the metal bar. We do have the gap in the front and back. It does not go away in ours even in the heat in 24 or 48 or whatever hours. After talking with the dealer, it sounds like we can only get the new roof after all the others are used up. I am not having another ABS roof put on--What is the point? I don t know why they won t just replace with the new  Alumtite one. So it sounds like we will spend another season taping packing tape across the front to prevent the rain from getting in....and it does! Great advertsing isn t it?

[tlhdoc]

 tim5055
PI did they have any idea when the ABS roofs will be out of stock?

[Cudaman]

 tim5055
Own a 2001 Utah, we re in south florida with lots of sun but haven t noticed any sag.
 
 Nockin on wood.

[wavemaker]

 tim5055
tlhdoc,
 
 ill get some pics and put them on my website, probably tommarrow its raining today yaa-hoo we dont get much rain down here, its been realy dry,
 and when it does rain ya have to go outside (under the porch) where its dry
 and just watch it...
 
 Dean

[PI]

 tlhdoc
tlhdoc,
 They gave us no indication when we would be getting the new roof. Sounds like we could be going through another season with this thing. There is an RV show this weekend and our dealer friend may be there so I will ask him again about this.  
 PI

[Bearnkat]

 tim5055
We ve got a 2001 Santa Fe and we ve noticed no sag on ours.
 
 Chuck