snow load on 17' Boler

Bracing from the inside merely adds a second set of forces.

A little research shows that the issue is that Bolers were built to be very lightweight and so the very brittle fibreglass develops stress cracks under relatively little snow load. Adding a brace inside would just cause more issues.

That goes to my original post of recommending a whole separate roof over top.

Snow load caused this



Living in the Sierras, my opinion about snow load is to shovel it off the roof. A foot of slush can concave the roof, bulge the sides and cause nightmares. No way to avoid damage, where a pillar from ground straight up does not protect the rest of the roof sags.

Straight out of the School of Hard Knocks

What about bracing from the inside?

The OP says it's mentioned in the manual so I think it should be a concern.

Don, it's not a simple calculation.

The basics are, it's X inches of snowfall, at Y pounds per cubic foot (varied by temperature, warmer snow equals more weight per cubic foot), divided by the slope of the surface, the steeper the slope, the more snow slides off.

The short answer is though, IMHO, a 17' trailer with a rounded smooth slippery roof doesn't have much to worry about, to err on the side of caution, build a simple pitched roof over it clad in the cheapest steel roofing you can find.

Snow load is always a concern. No roof, house or RV, can carry unlimited snow load. So what can a '77 Boler take safely? Forty years old? The $64 question. The answer will come from a special branch of the weight police.