Winnebago Adventurer Roof issues

Bruce Brown wrote:
They had a bulletin to do some of them...

Winnie Eternabond Fix

Thanks for that information. I found this thread and started wondering if I'd just bought a "pig in a poke". We haven't even picked up our Winnebago yet - we close on it tomorrow. It is a 2006 model Sightseer, 29R. Once I read the sensationalized stories of "roofs peeling up in high winds" I was thunderstruck. Then, I did some research. The YouTube factory tour was a good start. There I saw that the roof was structurally mounted with one aluminum channel interlocking with another on the wall unit. The interlocked joint was then coupled with self-tapping screws. After that, the offending flap of fiberglass was folded into the sidewall outer groove with a specially adapted float and then bonded with a urethane adhesive. I was relieved when I found This Illustration and it shows that the flap has no structural duties. In fact, it looks like if it is pulled out of the channel there is no water intrusion concern either.

We often run into high winds here in Texas. I am prepared for that. I travel with EternaBond! That stuff is magic. Once we get the new (to us) Winnie home I plan to inspect the edge seams, and maybe put a prophylactic strip of the 4" Eternabond on the roof to front/end cap seams. I also have a 50 foot roll of the 1-1/2" tape on order. Just in case.

So, I don't get it. This is a poor design? Lordy, my wife and I have been RV owners for 29 years now. We started out when the state of the art roof was a jointed metal seam sealed with a fibrous mastic. Those roofs pretty much had to be inspected after each outing. The EPDM roof was space-aged technology to us. I still inspected it regularly and had to patch areas where the Dicor self-leveling lap sealant started exhibiting cracks. Then, our last RV (2004 Terry Quantum 285 RLS) had a TPO roof. Well, half of it was TPO. The PO had backed it under something and stripped all of the roof mounted stuff off to about halfway up. The company doing all the repairs used EPDM for the back half. At least they did a good job on the roof decking and provided a new A/C, vent and a new MaxxAir vent cover. The TPO weathered much better than the EPDM. Now, we are embarking on the road to fiberglass roofing. Heck, I don't mind inspecting the seam for urethane degradation. Nothing's permanent. I will admit that the TPO seam where the plastic front cap of our fifth-wheeler were mated came loose going down the road once. I saw the top ballooning up in the shadow of our rig going down I-20. That's where we learned about Eternabond. It held until we got home and the cap could be reattached using the correct size screws.

I still wonder why the OP fooled around with duct tape and just didn't reset the outer flap back into the channel? I carry a set of plastic "tire spoons" for our bike tires. I think that those would work perfectly for just such a task. At least now I know how that roof system works. Knowledge is power, or something like that.....

Whew. Now to worry about something else. Someone tell me about how the two piece plugs in that vintage of Ford V-10 will cause me heartaches.