We purchased a 2002 Salem by Forest River 27' bunkhouse from my childhood neighbors last fall. We parked it & over the winter the inside ceiling panels rippled down the entire length of the camper. The rippling begins at the side walls (but the walls are fine) & extends up to a foot towards the center of the camper in some spots. Obviously we bought a dud & have water damage. We brought it to a local rv retailer (who didn't even get up & look at the roof) & was told it is totaled. Our insurance will do nothing. SO we decided to have a buddy who worked at an rv retailer in service just reseal/recaulk it as best as he could & we would just use it until we couldn't anymore. He found a tear in rubber roof, so we told the insurance again (who denied the claim again). So he did do most of the resealing/recaulking before he found this tear. He also filled in the tear for now. So then we started thinking twice - should we keep this & fix it, should we sell it as is (& lose a ton of money on a camper we used a few times this past summer), should we part it out?Well - the rest of the camper (outside & in) is beautiful & in great shape according to everyone who looks at it. We had upgraded from a pop-up, so I love the room (we have 3 kids) & my husband loves the conveniences like air conditioning. SO - we decided to baby it along as long as we could. DOES ANYONE HAVE ADVICE ON HOW TO BABY THIS CAMPER ALONG IF WE CAN'T AFFORD TO REPAIR? We have had a "when it rains it pours" year & just can't afford much (the lowest quote we got to replace rubber roof down to ceiling panels was $4800 up to $9200 at a retailer...not in the cards for us right now) & WE ALSO CANT AFFORD INSIDE STORAGE RIGHT NOW. We live in a climate with a ton of snow. Do we just tarp the roof of the camper (I have seen not to wrap a tarp around camper itself) & make sure snow is shoveled off all winter? What would you rv'ers do?

Our 5er doesn't leak but I tarp it every winter. Never had enough snow on it to shovel it, as it would take quite a bit. If it was built to hold a person standing upright, it can take some snow.

The roof can be fixed. If you know a good finish carpenter, the panels can be replaced.

If your husband is handy you can repair the damage yourself. Several on the forum have put on a new roof, It is a major job. You might find a mobile rv tech that would do it for less money then a RV shop as well. If you don't want to deal with it you can sell it for a loss to someone who will repair it. Do you have pictures of the damage?You should inspect the roof every Spring amd Fall for damage so it does not turn into a major repair.

Stock up on beer and BBQ. Buy the materials and invite all of your handy friends over for a weekend roof party. Make it fun. Without beer and vittles, the material costs should be under $500. Even less, if you shop carefully. A caveat: I've repaired a few RV roofs and read a lot here. I've never seen an RV with substantial roof damage that didn't have water in the walls. Be prepared.

Thanks for all the ideas so far! We did get a quote from an rv retailer for over 9 grand. We found a private rv repairman who quoted $4800. We, however, did not even spend this much on buying the camper! We have asked around for other people who may do these sorts of things as side jobs, but have found no one so far (we'd be willing to spend a couple thousand, but we know it is a major repair, so it would be hard to find someone for the job).I don't have pics of the damage yet - we have it parked outside of town at my in-laws & are going to get it all packed up for the winter in a few days - I could add photos then. We would rather just baby it along if people think that we could for a few more years! We'd rather tarp it maybe & take our chances getting a couple more summer's worth of use out of it if we can than selling it for a major loss. But we aren't huge camping people - this is our first big one, so we aren't sure! This summer everything that could break in our house did - we just can't afford another huge repair...& unfortunately I am the "handywoman" in our house ;) My husband is not handy at household fixes at all! I'm lucky I got him to figure out how to hook the camper up, tow it, & take it off the truck to park it ;)

JL81

Explorer

Oct 31, 2014

Travel Trailer CEILING/ROOF WATER DAMAGE - need advice!

We purchased a 2002 Salem by Forest River 27' bunkhouse from my childhood neighbors last fall. We parked it & over the winter the inside ceiling panels rippled down the entire length of the camper. The rippling begins at the side walls (but the walls are fine) & extends up to a foot towards the center of the camper in some spots. Obviously we bought a dud & have water damage. We brought it to a local rv retailer (who didn't even get up & look at the roof) & was told it is totaled. Our insurance will do nothing. SO we decided to have a buddy who worked at an rv retailer in service just reseal/recaulk it as best as he could & we would just use it until we couldn't anymore. He found a tear in rubber roof, so we told the insurance again (who denied the claim again). So he did do most of the resealing/recaulking before he found this tear. He also filled in the tear for now. So then we started thinking twice - should we keep this & fix it, should we sell it as is (& lose a ton of money on a camper we used a few times this past summer), should we part it out?

Well - the rest of the camper (outside & in) is beautiful & in great shape according to everyone who looks at it. We had upgraded from a pop-up, so I love the room (we have 3 kids) & my husband loves the conveniences like air conditioning. SO - we decided to baby it along as long as we could. DOES ANYONE HAVE ADVICE ON HOW TO BABY THIS CAMPER ALONG IF WE CAN'T AFFORD TO REPAIR? We have had a "when it rains it pours" year & just can't afford much (the lowest quote we got to replace rubber roof down to ceiling panels was $4800 up to $9200 at a retailer...not in the cards for us right now) & WE ALSO CANT AFFORD INSIDE STORAGE RIGHT NOW. We live in a climate with a ton of snow. Do we just tarp the roof of the camper (I have seen not to wrap a tarp around camper itself) & make sure snow is shoveled off all winter? What would you rv'ers do?

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Travel Trailer CEILING/ROOF WATER DAMAGE - need advice!

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