Palomino B600 Roof Rebuild

[dpt]

I have read through a few threads that have been very helpful in assessing and giving me direction in my rebuild, specifically SLO's Skamper thread, Jrod420's 1993 Starcraft Roadmaster threat, and Scoutmaster's FWC rebuild. I started a thread on RV.Net but got little attetnion and found this site last weekend and seems to be much more active. I bought the camper early this summer in Phoenix, AZ and drive it home to Homer, AK. The interior looked clean but I wish I knew now what I did then! I knew there was an issue on the front of the roof and the PO has caulked up the rear corners but when I got into these issues I have realized that all the roof sides are bad and I am in the middle of refabricating side walls. I will post pictures after this post.
My main issue I am running up against right now is the roof itself. I have removed all the wood that lines the edge of the roof and have found that the two pieces of wood that span the distance from side to side and divide the roof into thirds is rooted and most of the back third of the foam is wet. I am told that the white foam does not dry out! I am not excited about removing the aluminum skin. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[dtimms]

Good luck, I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

 

[dpt]

Here is the start of my rebuild. I removed the OSB from the front roof side panel and replaced it with Azec plastic trim as I thought that was the only piece I was going to replace. I have a few pin holes in the aluminum and not sure how to fix those, maybe eternal bond tape? Now I am thinking about painting the whole roof with a truck bed liner paint. Saw someone who did that and was happy with it. Here is a picture:


As I got into the rear to try and took the corners apart I realized that the sides are rotted also. My goal is to replace all the wood and put back together, with both Dicor tape and silicone. I have not decided if I will use marine grade plywood or not. Any suggestions? Here are the sides:


I am having trouble with posting pictures but on my screen, the attached pictures at form the better of the two roof side walls; the other one was literally falling apaprt. The top of this side was in almost perfect shape so it appears the water was coming from the bottom edge, not the top

 

[dpt]

The rear was hacked together by the previous owner and he plastered the whole thing with caulk that was already pulling away by the time I got hom. I was going to remove caulk and silicone it but saw the damage to the aluminum and have decided to fix or replace the back aluminum piece. I think I am thinking of cutting the aluminum off about 2 inches below the top edge and slide a new piece of aluminum under the remaining aluminum put dicor tape and silicone it then put the drip edge back on that goes along the top. This piece should cover my seam I create. I plan to use Dicor tape then paint it with the truck bed liner or use silicone if I don't go that route. It seems like the best option, especially for the rear roof wall as it is pretty damaged.Here are pictures of the rear side wall:

 

[dpt]

The roof itself is styrofoam with a wood trim around the edge and two pieces of wood spanning the distance from side to side. Both rotted on the passenger side. I am not sure how far in the rot on the wood 'beam' spanning the distance from side to side as I cannot get to it. I have removed the wood form the sides of the roof as they were rotted; not sure what to do with the wood support 'beams.' As I said in my first post, the back third of the foam on one side is wet. I am told that the white foam does not dry out!

 

[dpt]

So I have now fabricated solid wood for side and rear roof wall and am set to glue the aluminum back on. Thankfully, I have a friend who has a wood shop and loves to work with wood! He has all the tools and the replacement pieces are much better than what I cold do with basic tools. Here are my questions:

1. Going to use Heavy Duty Liquid Nails unless someone tells me otherwise.
2. Don't know what to do about the wet foam on the rear third on drivers side. Any suggestions?
3. I am really considering hard painting the whole top after putting trim pieces back on with a truck liner paint, then put in new rubber sleeve that fits in trim pieces. This will take care of any pin holes, and make it permanently waterproof. I would still have to seal up the corners.
4. Also thinking of putting in new weather stripping along the roof and base where it comes together when it is closed to create a better water proof seal.
5. Also thinking of putting another piece of aluminum along the front to keep rain water from driving between the roof and base while driving.
6. Not sure what to do about the wet foam. IT will freeze in the winter and may create a problem with swelling.
7. I plan to weld together the two rear brackets together on the lift mechanism. I think this will give added stability and take some pressure off the roof.

The foam has really got me stumped and want to close it all up as is and hope for the best or buy a new roof but living in Alaska will make shipping too expensive and I already have most of the work done. When I removed the aluminum from the good side wall, I basically had to peel it off and that bent and warped the aluminum. I think it will glue ok but am concerned about the roof. I don't want to have a wavy roof that would tend to collect water in spots.

Any suggestions, recommendations, advice is welcome!

 

[dpt]

It has gone from bad to worse. I was trying to glue the aluminum back onto the wood roof side walls I cut out. One of the them had warped from drying out and one of the aluminum pieces was too stretch out from removing it that it would not lay flay on the wood. I got a new piece of 1x6 and cut out a new wood side wall and am going to purchase aluminum flashing for the aluminum skin. It won't be dimpled but it will work, hopefully!

I also spent some time last night looking at forums for pull behind pop ups about replacing foam and am leaning towards peeling away the aluminum ceiling and replacing foam. A 4x8 sheet is $30 at my local lumbers store (this is AK)!

Any suggestions? David

 

[kerry]

There are a couple of threads on here with pictures about rebuilding a roof. I'd start there.

 

[dpt]

I am in the process of gluing the aluminum back on. I got flashing to replace some of the aluminum I removed as it was stretched and would not lay properly. I would be concerned about the thickness of the flashing if I was not going to coat the whole top with bed liner. I will post pictures. I am doing it a friends shop and keep forgetting to get pictures. I used heavy duty liquid nails but have read about an adhesive that Scoutman used and will pick that up for the actual roof

 

[dpt]

I started on the roof panel yesterday. Removing the inside aluminum skin by sections. The panel is made up of four sections with seams connecting each section. I took the first seam apart but have not decided if I am going to take all the seams apart. I debated whether to do the outside or inside and chose the inside; no real reason. I am using a couple of machetes to removed the aluminum from the foam. They are working great - good reach, and get some leverage, and not bending or stretching aluminum at all. Got almost halfway in a couple of hours; moving faster than expected.
Have the roof laying on a few saw hourses. Will put some lumber under it the next time I work on it as the roof is losing its stability as I remove the ceiling panel. Looks like I found an adhesive to glue the panel down to new roof. Not sure if I am going to remove whole panel or not. I am going to look at it this week. The foam on the drivers side 2/3 way back was wet but when I removed some of the interior screws on the roof lid, they were rusted so am leaning toward removing whole panel. Not sure if the leak came from the sides or not. I did find a pin hole on the exterior side of the lid at the section where the foam was wet. Not sure that could let in that much water or not. Here are pictures of the roof:

 

[Scoutman]

I am in the process of gluing the aluminum back on. I got flashing to replace some of the aluminum I removed as it was stretched and would not lay properly. I would be concerned about the thickness of the flashing if I was not going to coat the whole top with bed liner. I will post pictures. I am doing it a friends shop and keep forgetting to get pictures. I used heavy duty liquid nails but have read about an adhesive that Scoutman used and will pick that up for the actual roof

I feel your pain here and wish you good luck with your repairs. The adhesive that I used was mainly for attaching the filon exterior skin to the structure and foam so that it had a flexible bond layer to allow for expansion and contraction of the skin. I used liquid nails, gorilla glue, stainless screws, and coated deck screws in other places bonding wood parts together. I hope to get the last few hurdles crossed in the coming week in prep for the Expo East.

Rusted screws, staples, stains, etc are a good indication of water and if you get it all dried out and the leak fixed then you should be good as long as the structure of the frame is still intact.

 

[dpt]

Scoutman

Thanks for the response. At this point, the roof is total rebuild. So I am replacing all wood and foam on roof lid and walls. Still looking for 3/4" closed cell foam board; may have to use styrofoam. Still have not decided on product for gluing aluminum to foam.

Thanks, David