Anyone know how to safely remove a previous coat off roof?

Drivers side - self-explanatory
Coach (or patio) side - the side of the RV that has the entrance into the "House" (living space of the RV, be it a trailer or MH)
Class A - a motorhome where you're not looking out over a hood with an engine under it and it has an expensive windshield (should it need replacing).
The difference between a Class C and Class B/B+ is the cabover. The Class C's cabover area is a sleeping berth. The Class B/B+'s cabover is more aerodynamically streamlined with the cab for better fuel efficiency and is for storage and/or an entertainment center.
FW (or 5er) - Fifth Wheel trailer
pull trailer (or bumper pull trailer) - same as a travel trailer
FT - Full Time
FTer - Full Time RVer
genset - (auxiliary power) generator

Some times you might hear someone say "coach" or "house" instead of "RV". As in: "Come over to my coach and I'll show you the leak." They are talking about their RV - whether it be a MH or trailer.

I live fulltime in my MH. When I'm staying in an RV park I generally don't refer to my MH as my RV or refer to my RV site (or site # even). It's a mindset thing, because where I'm parked - for as long as I'm parked there - that site, that patch of earth is my home. I am more likely to say "Come over to my house." or "I'm going home to make dinner."

To expand a little on Ron's list, a coach is the part of the motorhome built by the coach works, ie, the motorhome manufacturer, such as Winnebago or Phoenix. It does not include the chassis, nor the cab on C class units with a cab manufactured by the chassis manufacturer, such as Ford, Toyota, etc. Your coach is the big box mounted on that Toyota cab and chassis.

At least thats my definition and I use it to differentiate between the coach and the chassis, usually in discussions about who manufactured or equipped the motorhome with a particular item of feature. Batteries are a good example. There is a CHASSIS battery, that is used to start the engine, etc, just like the batt in your car. Then there are COACH or HOUSE batteries, that power the lighting, fans, water pump, etc, in the coach part of the vehicle.

Charles

Welcome RV noobs,

There are many strange terms on RV forums. You'll eventually figure them out. Here are some off the top of my head. Some terms are nautical in nature like with boats. I hope I understood these properly this past 10 years.

coach = motor home
shore power = electric via your thick extension cord from a power pole
boondocking = camping without any hook-up to electric, water, or sewer
galley = kitchen
toad = a vehicle that is "towed" behind the motor home
tv = tow vehicle, and a television too
dw = darling wife
dh = darling husband
tt = travel trailer
5th = 5th wheel (the kind of trailer that is towed from inside the bed of a pickup truck)
super C = a class C motor home like you have, but the chassis is a real truck instead of a van
B+ = a class C motor home, but without the overhead bed, just an aerodynamic cap like I own

Without photos it's difficult to advise what you should do. Since it's an 88 the repair needs to be inexpensive due to the low resale value of the RV.

Based on what you describe I would cut away or pull off any loose patching material. Clean the entire roof and make sure it is dry. I would use eternabond tape to seal all seams and tears and then use Eternabond sealant to coat the roof. See this website for more info
http://www.eternabond.com/RV-Leak-Repair-Products-s/22.htm

I'd really like to post pictures, but can't figure out how to on my iPhone.

Please excuse my total and complete lack of knowledge. I'm not sure what you mean by "coach". It's an 88 Toyota Seabreeze 900, does that help? It seems like the front of the ("cab over?") and the first two feet of the roof are metal. Then there's a seam and it turns to fiberglass. Someone tried to patch a few spots and I'm not sure what it is. It almost looks like it has some type of super thin black fabric underneath when I peel it off.

What coach do you have-- other than end caps, most have the same material over the whole coach?