Rhino ECO Roof Replacement vs. TPO or Rubber???

I posted this a couple of years ago. Sorry that the pictures didn't come through. Roof still looks great. Look at the DRV Forum, under Problem & repairs to see pictures


This year, I took on completely re-coating my RV roof with Henry 877 Tropi-Cool 100% Silicone White Roof Coating.
Products cost about the same online or Home Depot. $239.89 for large tub of Henry's coating and $12.99 per tube of caulking.

If you see from my previous post a couple of weeks ago, I did a lot of research trying to find the best product to repair/re-coat my RV roof with. I worked like a dog for nearly a week trying to beat the Fall weather. Wished I could of done the roof repair/coating in better weather conditions. Sweating bullets all week worrying about the possibility of rainy weather.

Below is my step-by step process, along with before/after pictures.

CAUTION! Slow down on the roof. If you fall off you will probably spend a lot of time in the hospital recovering if you are lucky!

My Process
Well it took me most of a week to completely re-coat my RV roof!
Tuesday Morning
Using a mixture of bleach, TSP, and water, hand scrub the entire roof (I did use a pressure washer to get the dirt out from under the roof air conditioner units). This took me a good part of the day alone!
Peel off the old, very thin rubber coating

Three and a half days later, wearing out a pair of leather gloves, I thought I gave it my best shot at getting off the old coating

Saturday Afternoon
Apply the new coating
Clean out all of the old caulking above the roof gutter and replace it with new Henry's caulking.
Mix the coating with a drill. Pour out about one quart into a paint tray. The Henry 877 coating pours out like the thickness of pancake syrup.
Use a leaf blower to blow off any material laying on the roof
Begin applying the Henry 877 using a four inch paint brush to do the corners, sides, roof pipe outlets, vents and air conditioners. I only did a 5 to 7 foot section at a time.
Use a 9 inch long by 1/2 inch nap paint roller to spread out the Henry's roof coating. This took about two to three hours to fully cover the 8 foot wide by 34 foot long 5th wheel roof with one coat.
On the next day, apply a second coat. I used about a full 5 gallon tub/container to do two coats.



Lessons Learned:
Try to apply the coating on fairly calm day. The wind can carry the coating in the air when applying it.
I applied the coating when the temperature was in the mid 60's to upper 68 degrees. Sun helps, but I cannot imagine trying to apply Henry's coating or any other roof coating on a day when it is approaching upper 70 degrees or higher. Too hot for me to do a roof!.
The roof must be completely dry before applying the new coating. During the Fall season, moisture in the morning is hard to dry off the roof, you may have to wait for the sun to come out. Dampness or morning dew can take several hours to dry off the roof.
Give yourself plenty of time to do a good job. The faster you try to apply the roof caulking or roof coating you are most likely to do a sloppy job and have a mess.


Conclusion
Got lucky this time around! Henry's 877 when on fine, thick enough to be impressive and I believe I made the right product choice.











* This post was last edited 11/26/20 05:30pm by Chuck

Durability of either Rhino or Line-X? Let me put it this way.....I had my bed sprayed in my 2001 Dodge the day after I picked it up 2001. It was still in GREAT condition in 2016 when I sold that truck (300,000+ miles). Oh yeah....I owned a construction company the whole time. It was used daily. Yea. That stuff is worth every penny. But, as most readers here are thinking, why would a 2018 roof need replacement? My present SunnyBrook 5th wheel is 20 years old. I just pu a coat of Heng's on it two years ago. Functions great, looks new.

bowler1 wrote:
Hi,
Anyone have thoughts about whether to do this or just go with a standard TPO or rubber roof?

Pay the premium and get commercial/industrial TPO !

Well I have read a few horror stories about the Rhino roofs if not done exactly properly such as can never remove the covering without pulling up the underneath wood membrane and it on for life. Others love their Rhino roofs and swear by them aggressively and defend their Rhinos to the de.

I have had excellent results with my original rubber roof on my R-Vision 2003 TT and they are both easy to clean and repair. Not even minor maintenance issues with my rubber roof after 15 years of harsh exposure to the elements. For me they were fun to clean and apply a non needed fresh rubber coat in pleasant weather conditions as I practice TLC.

The ADs portray the Rhino as macho tough and sexy tho and that chit sells in America.