Winnebago Adventurer Roof issues

[fenwickfam]

Hi there! I'm hoping somebody out there has some insight for us on this topic:
We have a 2005 Winnebago Adventurer 38J
Over this past weekend (a very windy weekend, I might add!), we were traveling south on I-29. As a semi went by us (we were only traveling around 50 mph due to wind and visibility), we heard a noise. I told my husband that I thought he had blew a tire, as it was a sound I hadn't heard before. When he went to pull off at the exit, we heard an awful sound from above (like somebody wobbling a piece of sheet metal). When we got out of the MH to look, the tires were all fine, however, the roof wasn't. The roof had came out of the seam from above the driver door to behind the front slide out. I called our insurance company, who told us to secure it as much as we possibly could, and continue to drive it.
We used tape (all we had available) and drove it to the nearest campground. I spoke with the insurance company again on Saturday. Of course, no adjuster available, so was told to try to drive it home, and yes, they would still cover the damage if we drove it home. As we headed north on a back highway, the wind was once again terrible from the west, once again hitting us on the driver side. This time, it got under the tape, picked up the roof and tore it. Once again, I climbed up and taped it down as best I could... we turned around and went south and dropped the MH at our sons place, because there was no way we could get it home without even more damage.
Now, our insurance company today tells me that this is a common issue with Winnebago Adventurer roofs, and that they may not cover it.
Has anybody else run in to this problem? Is this a common Winnebago Adventurer problem? I did call one Winnebago dealer service shop that said that they are unaware of this being a common problem.
I would like any information anyone could help me with to argue with the insurance company about coverage on this.
Unfortunate timing, as I am changing insurance companies to the Good Sam Insurance as of October 4th. However, that doesn't change the fact that this occurred while under this insurance company.
Thanks for any information!!

[fenwickfam]

Just so you know, KPetrick... we had already made the decision to drop this insurance company effective October 4th... we went with the Good Sam Insurance 😉 ... and they are aware of this.

[KPetrick]

If you would like to send me a private message with your contact information I can call you to discuss and offer you some ideas. I have over 30 years in the insurance industry.

Keith Petrick
Director of Good Sam Insurance Agency

[fenwickfam]

Well... I spoke with the gentleman that went and looked at the MH today. He didn't sound too encouraging. He said the cause was that the bond went away between the roof cap and the MH and the wind got under it.
This, we had already figured out, but...
He asked about the maintenance done, and I told him that, as many rv owners do, it was self maintained.
I mentioned to him that neither person I spoke to on Friday or Saturday mentioned, or even hinted at, that this might not be a covered claim. He informed me that on Friday and Saturday, after business hours, I had spoken to a claims handler, not a claims representative, therefore, they were not responsible to tell me that it may not be covered. The claims representative informed me of this in his call on Monday (3 days after the fact). So...were we supposed to wait until talking to a claims rep before moving the thing??? Uggg...
I was told by a service shop that because we pay our insurance premiums, it should be covered, and if the insurance company has a problem with it being a manufacturer 'defect' or 'design problem', that the insurance company would have to go after Winnebago. Thoughts on that?
I feel like I'm way out of my league having to fight an insurance claim... I never dreamed we'd ever have to!

[Bruce_Brown]

Mile High wrote:
I agree, but he did say he was in high winds. That might be enough.

True. Friends of ours had a TT come apart while towing in high winds, their insurance company covered it. IMO the delamination was the root cause, 1000s of TTs drove home that day without coming apart, the insurance company didn't see the prior issues first.

I wish the OP good luck. As noted earlier I would suspect it may be considered a total loss. Certainly the repair will be expensive.

[Mile_High]

I agree, but he did say he was in high winds. That might be enough.

[rgatijnet1]

With Comprehensive coverage, your insurance company pays for damage to your vehicle caused by an event other than a collision, such as fire, theft or vandalism. If you hit an animal, or if your auto is flooded or stolen, Comprehensive coverage will apply.

I somehow doubt if they will cover a design defect or a lack of owner maintenance which is what Winnebago will claim. I guess you will find out. I wish the OP luck.

[Mile_High]

fenwickfam wrote:
The insurance person is supposed to go look at the roof tomorrow. We will definitely find out more at that point. As I had mentioned earlier, had they even hinted when I called on Friday AND Saturday that this may not be a covered event, we would never have tried to go any farther with it... it would be sitting at a repair shop in Watertown SD! Good Sam Roadside offered to come try to stabilize it and tow it to where ever we needed. However, I called them before the insurance company, and wanted to talk to the insurance company before we moved it anywhere. After talking to the insurance company and having them tell us to stabilize it as best as we could and go ahead and drive it, we didn't feel there was any need to have Good Sam tow us, as the MH was driving perfectly! So... after asking the insurance company, specifically 'ok, so if we drive it, and it does any more damage, it will still be covered? You will not say, well, because you drove it and made it worse, we won't cover it", and they, once again, told us to go ahead and drive it, we drove it, as carefully as we possibly could.
Having comprehensive insurance on it, and talking with the insurance company on Friday and Saturday, I never dreamed that it wouldn't be covered until I talked with their RV 'specialist' on Tuesday.
Once again... I guess I need to just wait and hear what they say after they see it tomorrow. I'm just beyond upset that it was not mentioned to us ONCE that this may not be a covered claim. I would have had Good Sam tow it to Watertown. A little too late now. Definitely something to chalk up to a learning experience. On another note.. we bought this unit in May of 2015. I understand it was a used unit, however, from a dealer, I would never have dreamed of having such an issue with owning it for just a little over a year. I've been on the roof a few times checking around vents, etc... but it never would have dawned on me to check to see that the side of the roof wasn't ready to come off.
I do appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. Obviously, we still have a lot to learn.. this was just a very expensive lesson!

Do you think they have a record of the call you made when they said to continue on? I think that would play in your favor if you had to contest it.

Comprehensive is usually not challenged much - I would be surprised if they said no, unless it really is a common issue.

[Effy]

Mile High wrote:

Bruce Brown wrote:
I never said anything about the roof blowing off and killing people, however there have been many reports of them blowing off.

By the same token I've never heard of a rubber roof blowing off. Ballooning yes, blowing off, no. And a ballooning rubber roof doesn't leak. :W

I think the biggest issue is the continued use of a known poor design.

I'm not saying rubber is better, but it sure is better than missing fiberglass.

This whole thread is a perfect example of "fiberglass roof" doesn't always mean "quality roof".

I'd take our the BriteTek roof on our Newmar over the fiberglass system Winnie uses - every single time.

Well good for you! Let me go over to a Newmar thread and start smashing them about overloading their axles with no real resolve from the factory.

If we are done measuring ourselves now - we all have what we have and we work with it. No need to slam and slam, especially from some like Effy in the peanut gallery that don't really know much about it other than what they read on the forum.

LOL

[fenwickfam]

The insurance person is supposed to go look at the roof tomorrow. We will definitely find out more at that point. As I had mentioned earlier, had they even hinted when I called on Friday AND Saturday that this may not be a covered event, we would never have tried to go any farther with it... it would be sitting at a repair shop in Watertown SD! Good Sam Roadside offered to come try to stabilize it and tow it to where ever we needed. However, I called them before the insurance company, and wanted to talk to the insurance company before we moved it anywhere. After talking to the insurance company and having them tell us to stabilize it as best as we could and go ahead and drive it, we didn't feel there was any need to have Good Sam tow us, as the MH was driving perfectly! So... after asking the insurance company, specifically 'ok, so if we drive it, and it does any more damage, it will still be covered? You will not say, well, because you drove it and made it worse, we won't cover it", and they, once again, told us to go ahead and drive it, we drove it, as carefully as we possibly could.
Having comprehensive insurance on it, and talking with the insurance company on Friday and Saturday, I never dreamed that it wouldn't be covered until I talked with their RV 'specialist' on Tuesday.
Once again... I guess I need to just wait and hear what they say after they see it tomorrow. I'm just beyond upset that it was not mentioned to us ONCE that this may not be a covered claim. I would have had Good Sam tow it to Watertown. A little too late now. Definitely something to chalk up to a learning experience. On another note.. we bought this unit in May of 2015. I understand it was a used unit, however, from a dealer, I would never have dreamed of having such an issue with owning it for just a little over a year. I've been on the roof a few times checking around vents, etc... but it never would have dawned on me to check to see that the side of the roof wasn't ready to come off.
I do appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. Obviously, we still have a lot to learn.. this was just a very expensive lesson!

[Mile_High]

Bruce Brown wrote:
I never said anything about the roof blowing off and killing people, however there have been many reports of them blowing off.

By the same token I've never heard of a rubber roof blowing off. Ballooning yes, blowing off, no. And a ballooning rubber roof doesn't leak. :W

I think the biggest issue is the continued use of a known poor design.

I'm not saying rubber is better, but it sure is better than missing fiberglass.

This whole thread is a perfect example of "fiberglass roof" doesn't always mean "quality roof".

I'd take our the BriteTek roof on our Newmar over the fiberglass system Winnie uses - every single time.

Well good for you! Let me go over to a Newmar thread and start smashing them about overloading their axles with no real resolve from the factory.

If we are done measuring ourselves now - we all have what we have and we work with it. No need to slam and slam, especially from some like Effy in the peanut gallery that don't really know much about it other than what they read on the forum.

[Bruce_Brown]

I never said anything about the roof blowing off and killing people, however there have been many reports of them blowing off.

By the same token I've never heard of a rubber roof blowing off. Ballooning yes, blowing off, no. And a ballooning rubber roof doesn't leak. :W

I think the biggest issue is the continued use of a known poor design.

I'm not saying rubber is better, but it sure is better than missing fiberglass.

This whole thread is a perfect example of "fiberglass roof" doesn't always mean "quality roof".

I'd take our the BriteTek roof on our Newmar over the fiberglass system Winnie uses - every single time.

[Mile_High]

Bruce Brown wrote:
Dave,
It is an all too common problem so be darn sure to do your regular resealing.

And it's OK Mile High, while I have never owned this Winnie design (our Itasca didnt have this design) I certainly have worked on them - and fixing the damage caused by the leaks. When I get back to my PC I'll be happy to post the pictures if you'd like.

I could care less about your leak pictures - believe me rubber roofs are the master of that - now if you have a picture of the entire roof leaving the top of the motorhome and killing people behind it, go ahead and post it.

I'm not condoning the design and I'm sorry to see W still uses it, but they are not road hazards as some would lead you to believe, anymore than ST tires, bikes on ladders, unraveling awnings, or all the other **** that we get involved with as RVers

[pegdiver]

Had a Winnie Adventurer 1999 - had the same roof system. Solved the problem with tape. Taped all the seams and never had to worry about it again. An easy fix. Seems like some units have a slightly smaller roof and it pops out of the channel easier.

[Bruce_Brown]

Dave,
It is an all too common problem so be darn sure to do your regular resealing.

And it's OK Mile High, while I have never owned this Winnie design (our Itasca didnt have this design) I certainly have worked on them - and fixing the damage caused by the leaks. When I get back to my PC I'll be happy to post the pictures if you'd like.

[D_E_Bishop]

I am sorry to hear about your misfortune but I had never heard of the problem and looked forward to the fiberglass roof when we bought our Adventurer. I will have my maintenance guys look at it next week when I'm at the storage yard.