One of my great complaints with Bigfoot and Northern is they build a watertight shell and then drill a million holes in it. The problem is they are constrained by the commercially available roof hatches, refer vents, plumbing vents, etc. But they do go the extra mile and drill a hundred more holes for ladders, racks, awnings, etc.
What I would like to see is a molded, slightly raised flat or plinth at the locations of the hatches, skylights, and refer vents. Just an inch rise would eliminate a huge amount of leaks due to the fact that water has run downhill from the beginning of time and is likely to continue. Having it flat would accommodate the flat flange of these hatches and vents without having to either distort them, or pile up a ridiculous thickness of sealant. This would be only a one time cost hit to the mold, and free after that.
For smaller penetrations like plumbing vents they should glue in a short fiberglass spigot that the cheap plastic vent cover goes over (I've described retrofitting this in another thread). These would not leak, ever, and would require no sealing or resealing. Racks and ladders could also have a small plinth.
Their reticence to do this may be the different floor plans offered (sharing the same roof mold) means the location of some of these things move around. However they could also be bonded on secondarily using a separate molding, slightly more costly but at the same time replacing the other necessary reinforcing.
It would not take that much to improve the watertightness of the roof to the point that resealing was rarely necessary (if ever), at very modest cost increase. If they offered a "leak proof" roof at an option price of $500 on a $50K camper, what do you think the uptake would be? At $500 they'd be making much more on that option than the rest of the camper.
