RE: We re having a problem, need advice (sorta long)

The Eagle and the Hawk · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

We are having a problem with the roof of our PU, and need some opinions/advice from the experienced PU ers.

2002 was the first season for us in our new (to us) 1996 Coachmen Clipper. We used the camper for the last time in October, and everything went great. Set it up in the driveway to unload/clean/winterize, and when I went to put it down, I noticed the seal between the roof and the camper body was not right. Normally, when the roof is down, the seal is very tight such that you have to pull extra hard to open the door. Now, the door swings freely, and when you look, the edge of the roof on the door side is out from the side of the camper. It was never like that before. There is a gap now that I can stick my fingers into when the roof is down and the door is shut. It seems like that side of the roof is bowed out. The other side is fine.

Nothing happened that I am aware of that would have caused the roof to go out like that.
We are worried about rain getting in while traveling in wet weather.

In November, I took it to our local RV dealer. They are small and sell used RV s mainly, they are not affiliated with any manufacturer. They carged me $28 to confirm my problem, say there is nothing the can do, and recommend that I take it to the Coachmen dealer. the only reason I did not take it there first is because it is over an hour away.

Anyway, I made an appointment with the Coachmen dealer, and it is in two days. The service guy I spoke to on the phone while setting up the appointment did nt sound too hopeful, saying that he didnt think they could do anything except replace the roof. I also called Coachmen in the meantime, and the guy I spoke to there thought that replacing the roof was drastic, but did not offer anything else to help the situation.

By the way, the roof on our Coachmen is wood covered with aluminum, the same as the camper body.

We don t want to spend thousands of dollars on a new roof, since that would probably come close to the value of the camper.

Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this? Any thoughts you could share? Any advice would be appreciated. We are not sure what to do and are very worried about it.

CampNfan · Jan 08, 2003, 11:33 AM

The Eagle and the Hawk

Quote2002 was the first season for us in our new (to us) 1996 Coachmen Clipper. We used the camper for the last time in October, and everything went great. Set it up in the driveway to unload/clean/winterize, and when I went to put it down, I noticed the seal between the roof and the camper body was not right.

I Just got to ask......
Are you 100% sure there is nothing blocking the roof from coming all the way down? sounds like you may have something in the way? Just a suggestion. A roll of paper towels will keep some roofs from closing all the way. I would double check to be sure if I where you!

Jeffrey · Jan 08, 2003, 12:59 PM

The Eagle and the Hawk

QuoteIt seems like that side of the roof is bowed out. The other side is fine.

This is a complete guess but.............

On some PU s you have to raise the roof slightly before opening the door.
Mine is this way, I have to unlatch and raise it maybe a 1/4" before the door will
clear the metal edge of the roof. Usually I can unlatch the roof and just lift it enough to get the door open.

Was your PU sitting someplace where someone might have tried to break into it.
I think they would have to pull pretty hard to damage the roof, but could happen.

If this was the case, insurance would cover any damage.

byrdr1 · Jan 08, 2003, 01:54 PM

The Eagle and the HawkI have to agree with jeffery. I have to raise my roof about an inch to open the door. I believe this is safety type thing, but for the roof to be bent out or up something has pried on it, or something is keeping it from going all the way down..
IMHO..
Good luck and I hope it doesn t cost an arm and leg..
Randy

The Eagle and the Hawk · Jan 08, 2003, 11:33 PM

The Eagle and the HawkThanks for the opinions. I triple checked to make sure there was nothing holding the roof back (the Coachmen guy had same advice), and the first RV place I had it to checked also. Between the time it was ok and this happened, it was in my driveway, and popped up. When i put it down was when I noticed the problem.

the door always opened ok when down and latched, just tight enough to make a good seal.

Well, I am off to the Coachmen dealer tomorrow morning. Will let you know what they say and how we make out. thanks .

iwantapopup · Jan 09, 2003, 11:33 AM

The Eagle and the HawkJim,

Sorry to hear about your problem. We had to do some repair on our roof with the side pieces and one of the old members replaced their whole roof and he is still around on another board but if it comes down to that, he may be able to help.

The Eagle and the Hawk · Jan 09, 2003, 11:37 PM

The Eagle and the HawkLinda, what type of repairs did you do?

We visited the Coachmen dealer today. They said that the top of the roof is sagging, which is pushing the bottom edge out. They said the only way to fix it is to replace the roof. The rough estimate he gave us sounds like the cost of roof replacement will possibly exceed the value of the camper. I contacted our insurance company, but am not sure if they would consider covering such a thing.

We can t decide if we should try to live with this problem. The roof currently latches fine, the only problem is the gap above the door when closed up. We are afraid of water getting in while traveling in wet weather. Dealer told us this will gradually get worse, we dont know if this is true.

Anyone else out there heard of roof sag problems on a non-Coleman, standard aluminum roof? Dealer said he never saw this before.

Jeffrey · Jan 10, 2003, 01:43 PM

The Eagle and the Hawk

QuoteAnyone else out there heard of roof sag problems on a non-Coleman, standard aluminum roof? Dealer said he never saw this before

Sorry to hear that.
I don t think I ve ever heard of it before either.
Except when one had alot of weight sitting on it, I don t know what else could cause it.

The Eagle and the Hawk · Jan 10, 2003, 05:30 PM

The Eagle and the HawkYea, the strange thing is we have never had anything on the roof. We don t even have AC. I guess, however, we do not know what previous owners might have done. But we owned and used this camper for 7 months before this showed up.

Camping Coxes · Jan 13, 2003, 05:23 PM

The Eagle and the HawkWhen I was looking into a used Coachman, I was told to check for damage from water as Coachman had a defect problem with the roofs of certain years. I m not sure if this is the same year, but it seems the dealer would have known about that.

I have kids, and kids do weird things. Any chance they played on the roof of the trailer?

The Eagle and the Hawk · Jan 13, 2003, 10:00 PM

The Eagle and the HawkOur kids are too little to get up on the trailer without help.

The thing you heard about water damage is very interesting, though. I had planned on contacting Coachmen to see if they will do anything. I might mention that I heard this and see what they say. Thanks for the information!

Horscampr · Jan 14, 2003, 07:28 PM

The Eagle and the HawkI am sorry to hear about the problems you have been having. I can tell you from experience that many dealers can be a real pain to work with. While there are probably a few decent ones out there, most of them will only see an " older" trailer with " problems" and try to convince you to buy a new one. Most of them KNOW that there would be no point in buying a brand new camper if the old one can be fixed at a fraction of the cost of a new one. They want to make money and they re not going to do it with small repairs to older campers, so their best defense is to tell you it can t be fixed (even if it can).

The first thing I would do if I was in your shoes would be to get the address for the Coachman manufacturer (and not a dealer) and send them a detailed letter with pictures outlining the problem. Ask them to call you and see if they can give you " any" and " all" recommendations that they can come up with. If they don t call you whithin a reasonable time, then call them.

If they do not have a solution, I would think you would have two options. You can either live with the problem and see what happens (If the door already swings open " freely" I don t see how the problem can get that much worse....that comment sounded to me like its coming from some salesperson who wants you to buy a new trailer... Its not like the door can swing any " more freely" ....DUH).

The other option is to replace the entire roof. You can either pay to have the manufacturer do it which, I agree, will probably cost you an " arm and a leg," or you can do a roof rebuild yourself. There was a former member of this board that did do a roof rebuild on his camper and you can contact him if you d like. I personally know him and his wife and they are both very nice people. I saw the camper that they did the work on and the rebuild was magnificent. Anyway, they are now over on the IRV2 camping board and their board name is " Colenry" if you would like to look them up. You will have to go into the travel trailer section of the board to find them. They recently traded their PU for a TT and have been hanging out there. Like I said, they are great people and I m sure they would be willing to help with advice if you want to contact them.

One other thing that has come to my mind while I have been writing all this, is this: Are you absolutely sure that your problem is the seal itself? Before doing anything else, I would check to make sure your roof is raising and lowering completely LEVEL. If one of your lifting cables needs an adjustment, this could cause the roof to raise or lower unevenly and might contribute to your problem. I would get a level and check it out thoroughly from all 4 sides. I replaced a lifter cable on my camper last summer and let me tell you, it took a lot of adjusting and effort to make sure that roof was perfectly level when we were done. If the roof is not level, this can most certainly affect the way the seal works...or at least IMO.

I can sympathize with your frustration. I have an old fossil of a camper that I have been trying to fix up and have more than my fair share of run ins with dealers that don t care as well as headaches in trying to do " fix it" work myself with the help of my dad. My old " Poppy" is a work in progress, but I just keep plugging away at an thing that I think could make her work a little better. I, myself, am considering a " do it yourself roof rebuild" in the future. My current roof is holding up just fine right now, but it is definately showing its age and the camper would look so much nicer with a new roof. For the time being, I am kicking around some ideas on how to do this.

I hope that whatever you decide to do that it works out for you in the end[

]
Good Luck and keep us all posted.

The Eagle and the Hawk · Jan 14, 2003, 08:52 PM

The Eagle and the HawkThank you for your detailed response, Horsecampr.

As you might have seen in a new post I put up tonight, I did contact Coachmen, and the initial response is not favorable. We are now thinking that we should just " wait and see" , and if the condition does not worsen, then live with it until it is time for us to get another.

You mention about the roof being level, but I really think that this is an issue of the edge of the roof " bowing out," rather than not being level. The reason it does not seal is because the edge of the roof, in the middle near the door, now protrudes out past the body of the camper. Not by much, mind you, but enough to prevent it from sealing against the top of the door.

As I said in my other post, at the moment the camper is usable. I will just have to figure a way to seal the gap above the door, so water cannot enter when we are traveling in wet weather. I might be able to do that with some flexible pipe insulation I have. I will try it, anyway.

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses, and we will keep you posted on how things progress.

Tim5055 · Jan 14, 2003, 09:07 PM

The Eagle and the Hawk

QuoteORIGINAL: The Eagle and the Hawk
You mention about the roof being level, but I really think that this is an issue of the edge of the roof " bowing out," rather than not being level. The reason it does not seal is because the edge of the roof, in the middle near the door, now protrudes out past the body of the camper. Not by much, mind you, but enough to prevent it from sealing against the top of the door.

OK, just a thought.

Is (or I guess, was) the interior of the roof flat on the top?? If so you could pick up some 1 to 2 inch square tube of sufficient length to go side to side, or front to back in the trailer. Bolting this to the roof (interior) may push up on the sag. You may need to have a flat plate/bracket welded on the end of the tube to bolt to the side that is bowing out to pull it back in. If you use this method, I would probably bolt the bracket to the ceiling using large washers on the top (exterior). The bolts going through the side would probably need to go through a flat plate on the outside. When bolting this plate to the outside, use very long bolts, and try to pull the side that bows out very slowly back in. I mean a couple of turns on the nut each day. Take a week of longer to slowly pull it back in. Doing it quickly may crack the wooden supports inside the roof side wall, but slowly pulling it in may bring it back into position. I can t believe a welding shop would charge you more then about $100 for the square tube with plates welded to each end.

Again, this is just a thought. Some photos of the interior, exterior and the bowing area would help.

Gone-Camping · Jan 14, 2003, 09:09 PM

The Eagle and the HawkWell this may sound like an over simplification of things, but if it comes down to junking the camper because you can t see spending a couple grand on a new top, you might try some type of home remedy. I won t begin to guess as to the exact extent of your problem, but after reading what has been posted so far, it sound like you just need something to pull the side of the roof back in. I don t know how much room there is between the bunk ends when trailer is folded for travel, but if there is anything at all, you might try some kind of brace. I ve seen a few similar " fixes" posted here at PUT with 2nd/3rd owners having similar problems with a Coleman roof. Perhaps something as simple as a 90 degree shelf bracket might be enough to pull that side in.

However, I don t have a clue what is on or under the top and side to attach such a bracket too though, but maybe something to keep in mind if all else fails...

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