Redo ceiling

[Skamper]

Many years ago, some water leaked in around the air vent during a crazy rain storm.  I quickly fixed the leak, but there was a little water damage done to the ceiling inside the camper.  The ceiling seems to have a vinyl covering.  This covering got water behind it, and it bubbled.  I poked holes to release the water, but the vinyl never returned to form, and it later split too.  I have since glued the vinyl hack to the ceiling so it wouldn't be hangin down, but I want to to resurface the ceiling so it looks new again.  Looking for ideas.  Thanks.

[sundawg]

I have completley redone my roof....there are some pix i posted also...Not sure if you can search by my handle or not but there will be lots of info if you search roof repair.

[Skamper]

Just to clarify, I don't need to redo my roof, just the ceiling inside the camper.  I'll search for your posts to see what all you did.  Thanks.

[austinado16]

I completely redid my ceiling due to some bad water damage like you describe.  I peeled off all the vinyl covering to expose the wood "Luan" plywood that's glued to the styrofoam boards that insulate the roof structure.  Then I bought sheets of "Abitibi" that 1/8" thick glossy white wall board that you see used in public restrooms.  I cut it to fit, then glued and air-stapled it one panel at a time.  Then came back and trimed it out with matching white trim.  There are "between-each-sheet" plastic trim pieces, and then I found some white, textured fake wood looking inside cove molding for the corners where the ceiling touches the side walls of the roof.

When done, you couldn't tell it wasn't original, unless you knew it was supposed to have a sort of modeled/textured vinyl covering, and not by shiny white.

You can see my thread here:  http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=63128

[Old Goat]

I had the same problem with loose ceiling vinyl on my first popup camper, a used 1973 Venture. I removed all the vinyl and smoothed and cleaned the luan plywood surface where needed. I went to a material store and found some upholstry material on sale which was a plaid pattern with light colors that matched the interior colors in the camper. I cut the pieces roughly to size and then applied them, top first, two pieces, with help, using spray on headliner adhesive, applied to the plywood surface and the back side of the material. After smoothig out the wrinkles, I trimmed the pieces to fit with a razor knife. I covered the seams where needed with plastic moulding using adhesive and 1/2" 18 guage brad nails. It was a one of a kind headliner that looked great and everybody liked it. It never sagged or came loose during the five years that I owned the camper...

[austinado16]

I'd thought about doing something like that, but my Luan was in horrible shape from so much water intrusion.  I hated to ad to the roof weight because it took about 2-1/2 panels of Abitibi, but in my case, it was the best solution I could come up with.