Forum Discussion

Joe_Y's avatar
Joe_Y
Explorer
Oct 28, 2018

Roof Coating

Good Morning!

I am the proud owner of a retired Cruise America Class C. I have had it for just over a year and we have had several trips already. Fall is in full swing right now and I am doing some maintenance on the RV. I had decided that I wanted to go ahead and coat our roof and seal it to prevent future worries and to stem the leak that I had already found. I have heard many of the horror stories about buying RVs from Cruise America. I am sure that many of them are quite true and I have had my share of problems with ours. None of the major, and cruise America has been right there to assist me all the way through. But putting on this roof coating has uncovered a problem. It appears that Cruise America had to replace part of the roof. It appears that it was replaced with a EPDM roof which is standard for the industry. The problem is it appears that the rest of the RV, 2/3 of it is another kind of roofing material, probably TPO. I purchased the Dicor Rubber Roof Coating System based on recommendations from Cruise America. My question is will the Dicor product work for both types of roofs?
Class C
  • gbopp's avatar
    gbopp
    Explorer
    Oct 28, 2018
    One option would be, install a strip of Etenabond between the two different roof materials. Then use different coatings approved for the roof materials.
    Simple and gets the job done. Practical? I don't know, that is up to you. It would be for me.
  • bobndot's avatar
    bobndot
    Explorer II
    Oct 28, 2018
    Good advice to make a call.
    RV roofs are made to expand and contract. TPO and EPDM do that at different rates and whoever made a 'two-part repair' like that was doing for a cosmetic quick fix using whatever product they had on hand. I've seen shops do this a few times and it's a mistake. They do it to unload the unit.
    I think at this point, for you to cover them both with one type of coating might not work too well because of the rates of expansion differ under your new coating, but that's just my opinion and you should do as suggested to be sure....call Dicor and make sure you talk to someone that knows what they are talking about, like an authorized tech.

    If I was having roof issues and planned to keep my rv I would not try to patch it in order to try to save money. From what I have seen with people doing this is, they have to go back and do it over and end up spending more money. I would replace the entire roof using one product and start from new , that way you know it was done right, eliminating future issues.
    I have a full fiberglass roof on my unit and love it, I would explore that replacement option if you plan to keep your unit .

    One other thing I forgot to mention is, rv roof age might make a difference on what product you use to coat it. Roofs from 2011 are not the same chemical compound as a new ultra TPO made today.
  • NMDriver2's avatar
    NMDriver2
    Explorer
    Oct 28, 2018
    Read the Dicor instructions and/or call them. Not trying to be an @&& but they will have the best answer for you.

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