Oh boy. We're in a mess. Roof rebuild FAIL.

[sillynikki]

My parents gave us their pop up. The roof was completely rotted inside due to a leak. DH claimed he could rebuild it. He was able to get all of the rotted wood and foam out. What looked like success has suddenly turned into failure. He used Contact Cement to glue the 1/8 inch luan to the roof. Then he put the layer of foam and then another layer of luan. We let it cure for a week and then sealed/painted the luan. Well, after turning the top right side up, it appears that there are areas where the glue isn't holding.
:S

His plan was to apply the bedliner to the top today, but being as it appears the glue isn't holding in spots, I told him NO WAY was I sleeping under that! Now he doesn't know if he should just take it all apart again and start over or just put screws in to hold it all together, seal all around the screws and then apply the bed liner.

The camper is OLD, needs work and was given to us for free. We really don't want to invest a lot of money into it because we plan on getting something else eventually. So far, he has put almost $300 into repairing it. We just want to be able to use it a couple times a year for maybe the next 2 years.

WWYD? Scrap it, start over (take it out and reglue it), or leave it as is and secure it with screws?

Oh, and last night, he cut out the square where the air conditioner will go, and the release of glue fumes was unbelievable. We smelled no fumes before he did that. Right now, he's got it sitting out in the full sun/90 degree temps to see if that will help release some of the gasses.

*He said I left out a lot....He Glued the luan to the shell, put 1 by 1/2 inch frames around. Put tresses, framed hole for air conditioner, put styrofoam in, laid another layer of luan, nailed it to frame and tresses.

[Ryanincc]

How does the story end? Sold it? Did you get your money back? What was the black? Canvas ok? *eating popcorn

[PAThwacker]

sell it for scrap or keep it as utility trailer. All pups bottom out around 350 to 500 depending on frame and gvw.

[2oldman]

..

[bondebond]

SirLancelot, that's a bit of a moot point at this stage.

You can sell it as is with full description of the issues in the listing. There are enough nut cases out there like myself that would probably take a chance on it for $500.

Is the mildew on any of the vinyl tenting material or is it just within the roof? If it is only the roof, that helps for reselling it. If it's all over, then I would part it out and use it as a utility trailer or take it to a salvage yard.

[SirLancelot]

I used liquid nails when I did my roof rebuild. It's held (and still holds) fantastic and I don't recall any odors. Why would you use multiple layers of Luan though? That'll add extra weight and contribute to the failure. Just a thought.

[opnspaces]

Is it black with mildew because it was stored with wet tenting, or is it black from some unknown chemical reaction? If mildew I would bleach water it off and move on.

[Mike_Up]

Can't sell it with hazardous fumes. I would not be happy if I bought it and I'd let you know. The fact that it's turning black is very scary.

I take the tent, roof, and lift system off and make it a cargo trailer.

[sillynikki]

Just thought I'd give an update. We got ONE camping trip out of this after the repair. It's been sitting out back since and we just opened it. Half of the entire ceiling is black.

So now do we try selling it for a couple hundred dollars, do we scrap it or do we turn it into a trailer for hauling things?

[BigBaron]

Not a bad mess. You're going to ditch the trailer in a few years, so just make it sound and enjoy!
Gassing - drill the through-screw holes for the roof in a 24" x 24"(?) pattern and let it gas out.
Reinforcing - Using carraige bolts, put the bolts in with large fender washers (2") and coat the roof.

Have you thought of putting in two cross braces on the front and rear of the A/C? This would be the time, and it wouldn't take much to support the A/C unit.

[sillynikki]

It's actually rotted by the door. Not a large area, but we hate the fact that it's even there. DH pulled back the vinyl flooring to show me.

It would be a fine camper for someone (if the fumes would go away), but not for us. Our girls are teens and it is just too tight for my liking for 4 adult sized people and 2 medium/large dogs. Plus, call me spoiled, but I need a toilet! I have a broken foot (am in a cam boot for 3 more weeks)and the bath house was far from our site and down a huge hill. I opted to peeing in the woods vs trying to walk down there at 3am. My knees can't handle the squatting like they used to! lol

[bondebond]

I am sorry that it has turned out this way for you. Perhaps leaving it opened as much as possible in the garage will help with more of the out gassing.

And when you say the floor is rotted by the door, is that from visible signs of rot or from flexing? Flexing happens quite a bit in PUPs in such areas and doesn't necessarily mean that rot is involved. Several have reinforced the floor from underneath by anchoring 2x4s to other parts of the frame.

If it is rot, then there's nothing for it but live with it, replace the section or entire base floor or sell it.

I hate to see that much work go into something and it not meet expectations. I can sympathize in other projects I've done.

[sillynikki]

Well, we survived our first camping trip, but it wasn't pleasant. The glue smell came out every time we had the air or vent running for more than 30 minutes. It was really, really strong. Will it ever go away? DH had it open and running for days before our trip. I'm wondering if the condensation or moisture from the humidity outside was causing the vapors to be released. Who knows.

Also, we discovered a small rotted spot in the floor by the door.

The mattresses are so worn out that it was like sleeping on the wood itself. I would have preferred sleeping on a blow up mattress, but one won't fit on the bunk ends.

Needless to say, we aren't going to keep it. Maybe we can at least get what we put into it ($300).

Other than that, the roof held up well and feels solid.

[opnspaces]

It looks great from my perspective. As far as the sink and counter, if it's not a health hazard you can always leave it for now and consider this a comfortable tent.

[sillynikki]

Updated pics....This thing may turn out pretty good after all! We're taking it on a test trip about an hour away in a few weeks. He was hoping to have the floor, sink and counters replaced before then, but I don't think that will happen before we go because he's not got much time off work between now and then.

Anyways, he put a layer of bullseye primer before he put the bed liner on. Then he painted over the bed liner with the Bullseye. We tried to scratch it in a few places to see how easy the paint may come off and I'm happy to see that it didn't.