Roof Type

[moomps]

This may sounds like a stupid question, but I have a 1990 Sun-lite 850WT TC and I'm not sure what kind of roof it has on it. So far, it is leak-free, but I want to keep it that way by maintenance. It seems like it's aluminum or something like that with well caulked seams, but I can't tell for sure. Any thoughts on what type of roof they put on this TC and how I should keep it in good shape?

[FreeLanceing]

I don't want to mess up todays science experiment, but it won't be steel. Steel would show rust. Stainless is to expensive for a production unit. I think you can safely assume it is alum. I would put some alum roof coating on it. I use dicor I believe. The white rubberized will reflect heat. I have a 04 and its alm. About that time they quit using it because it became to expensive. The rubber is cheaper and with creative marketing made to sound better . Some of the products are universal and will work on any surface.

[Super_Dave]

moomps,
This product has lots of videos on installation and from what I read, doesn't care what the current material is for substrate to new coating.

RV Roof Coating

[moomps]

Jfet wrote:

moomps wrote:

Gee - I think I understand your suggestion. I'll get out my protractor from gradeschool so that I can make sure it's at a perfect 45 degree angle.

As silly as it sounded, it actually *does* work. After I posted that I went and tested on the aluminum of our RV roof using a 1 inch square half inch thick rare earth magnet. The magnet moved VERY slowly down the incline because the induced eddy currents acted to attract it toward the aluminum. It really is pretty neat.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't suggesting that your plan wasn't valid at all. I just question whether it makes any difference whether the roof is aluminum or steel as to how I go about protecting it. I understand why I would need to know if it was rubber or some metal, but I beleive it is some sort of metal and I am looking for ways to seal it from the elements. Sorry if you took my response wrong.

[Jfet]

moomps wrote:

Gee - I think I understand your suggestion. I'll get out my protractor from gradeschool so that I can make sure it's at a perfect 45 degree angle.

As silly as it sounded, it actually *does* work. After I posted that I went and tested on the aluminum of our RV roof using a 1 inch square half inch thick rare earth magnet. The magnet moved VERY slowly down the incline because the induced eddy currents acted to attract it toward the aluminum. It really is pretty neat.

[moomps]

Jfet wrote:
That is a tricky one. How might one tell if a surface is aluminum?

A magnet will tell you it is not steel (possible exception of some stainless steels).

If you could prick it in two places without damaging it with the pointy leads of a multimeter, you could measure the conductivity (obviously if it were some sort of plastic or fiberglass it would not conduct).

I know! Tilt your camper about 45 degrees and get a flat disc magnet and a equal mass of non magnetic material with the same coefficient of friction. If the surface is aluminum the disc magnet will slide slower than the other non magnetic disc because of eddy currents induced in the aluminum.

I knew there had to be a simple solution!

Gee - I think I understand your suggestion. I'll get out my protractor from gradeschool so that I can make sure it's at a perfect 45 degree angle.

[moomps]

Super_Dave wrote:
They make roller applied roof coatings that renew reflectiveness of the roof and years of life. I don't know how material specific the coatings are but that along with externabonding the joints would be the formula that I would consider.

Any suggestions on a type of roller applied coatings? I think that's probably the best idea no matter what the actual roof is made of. I have some externabond that I will be applying to the major seams but what to use after that's all applied.

[Jfet]

That is a tricky one. How might one tell if a surface is aluminum?

A magnet will tell you it is not steel (possible exception of some stainless steels).

If you could prick it in two places without damaging it with the pointy leads of a multimeter, you could measure the conductivity (obviously if it were some sort of plastic or fiberglass it would not conduct).

I know! Tilt your camper about 45 degrees and get a flat disc magnet and a equal mass of non magnetic material with the same coefficient of friction. If the surface is aluminum the disc magnet will slide slower than the other non magnetic disc because of eddy currents induced in the aluminum.

I knew there had to be a simple solution!

[Super_Dave]

They make roller applied roof coatings that renew reflectiveness of the roof and years of life. I don't know how material specific the coatings are but that along with externabonding the joints would be the formula that I would consider.