BurbMan wrote:
The rubber is typically not glued down to the roof. Watch some YouTube videos on how trailers are made. They roll out the rubber on the plywood, and it's secured at the edges by the trim and also where the a/c, hatches and vents come thru. You should be able to re-use that rubber with no issues. If it's torn, use some EternaBond tape to seal the tears. I just completed a rebuild of a water-damaged truck camper (see link in my signature) and used EternaBond to seal all of the corner seams to prevent any future leaks. In my case, the roof was fine, but every window was leaking.
Most trailers are framed with 1x and 2x material with 1/4" ply on the exterior walls, 1/8" ply on the inside, and 3/8" (or optional upgraded 1/2") plywood on the roof. If you have basic skills they are easy to repair, the biggest challenges are the time it takes and having a dry place to work. I rigged up a 30x40 tarp over the camper with a rope system to keep it off the roof so I could work under it. The winds beat the **** out of the tarp, so I wound up with a 20x30 tarp on top of that one as a rain fly, and it help us nicely, even in tropical storm Isaias. The tarp was up a total of 4 months and kept everything dry while the camper walls were open.
I would also check the floors for soft spots, water that comes in up top usually finds its way into the floor framing at some point.
You say "converting it into a full time home"...if the trailer is already located where it will stay you may want to consider a metal lean to roof like this one from the get go instead of temporary tarps.
If you mean full-timing in the trailer while you travel around, then you need to pay attention to weight of materials used and good strength so it withstands bumps and flexing going down the road. I used a LOT of PL Max construction adhesive on mine.
Post pics if you can, like GDE I've done this 3x now and have a ton of resources in my files.
Thanks for the response. I do mean living and travelling in it full time.
I am going to be replacing the sub floor myself as there are several soft spots. I already knew I would be doing that. I am pretty good with building stuff, and I am not working right now so I have the time to put into a project. Just trying to keep costs down as much as possible.
From what I have seen online, I thought the roof membrane had an adhesive under it to keep glued to the decking. I will have to investigate some and see if it is just being held down by the termination bar or not. If it isn't, that will be very helpful.
