Rubber vs Solid Roof
the roof on our tt is a solid fibreglass material, previous tt was a rubber material pros and cons?
Forum Discussion
theoldwizard1 wrote:
Assuming it is standard thickness fiberglass and not just a thin 'glass material like Filon affixed with contact cement.
Fiberglass boat decks/roofs are almost always multiple layers of cloth (many styles and thicknesses). The substrate/"core" is wetted and the first layer applied. More slow hardening resin is applied so that the cloth is thoroughly wetted out and all air bubles can be worked out. Before the resin starts to harden, a second layer is applied, wetted and a third. The reason this layers are done at the same time is because epoxy resin leaves a film (called "blush") after curing which must be sanded off before additional layer of resin and cloth are applied.
Fiberglass boat decks are completely different. It's not an occasional maintenance trip on them to check them out while walking carefully and gently. It's multiple people walking around, anchors being dropped and other hard treatment.
Fiberglass RV roofs don't need to be very thick. The plywood underneath provides the structural strength. Just needs to be enough to be water proof and not to crack due to vibrations.
Seriously doubt, they would use epoxy resin for a fiberglass RV roof. It's significantly more expensive and for standard fiberglass that isn't going to be submerged, just not worth the cost. Polyester resin would be much more appropriate and perfectly serviceable.
Epoxy does generate an "amine blush" which is a waxy material but given the thickness, the glass is going to be put down in a single installation, it's not an issue.
Where Epoxy does make sense is for repairs. It's easier to get good adhesion compared to the less expensive polyester.
If you want a small repair on your roof to be impossible to see, yeah, you need a fiberglass repair guy or some skill but since it's largely out of sight, and ugly but completely serviceable repair is quite easy.
- Wash and lightly sand the puncture or small crack.
- Mix the resin per the directions (use small batches as epoxy in particular generates heat as it cures)
- Paint some epoxy on repair area.
- Layout 2-3 glass patches onto the wetted area (any autoparts store has them). Overlap the area by at least 2-3 inches. Using more resin work them in so they are transparent with no bubbles.
- Sand off the worst bumps and stray strands of glass and slap a coat or two of enamel paint (epoxy will eventually deteriorate if exposed to the sun).
