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DwnSth's avatar
DwnSth
Explorer
Jul 19, 2013

Roof weight limit?

Had to climb on roof the other day to install hard start capacitor in AC for generator. I didn't really think too much about how much weight the roof could handle, after all, there will be maintenance to do up there on a regular basis. I didn't stand, but mostly crawled and scooted around to get AC cover off and had to kneel in order to put capacitor in place. At one point, moving back I placed my hand down to shift position. I heard a mild snapping noise from under my hand. Could I have cracked something or could this have just been normal giving noises from roof? I'm about 205 but don't think much weight was no my hand at the time. After that I was careful and simply scooted around while sitting.
I could not find in my documentation anything about the roof, weather it's walkable or weight limit. If it's not designed to support a person, how is someone supposed to re-caulk or do maintenance if the roof is not supposed to support any weight?
  • You should be-able to go up on the roof as long your not morbidly obese, I went on my roof of my 5th wheel to install a 3rd A/C and it handled me(20 pounds overweight) plus a 96 pound Air Conditioner.
  • It depends on the trailer. Call the manufacturer for weight limits if they are not in your owner's manual.

    The plywood trick works pretty well. X2 on the rounding corners recommendation.

    Happy camping!
  • I have done the same plywood "weight distribution" trick.

    Make sure the corners and edges of the plywood are rounded over to prevent puncturing the roof or leaving a splinter in the roof.

    Steve
  • On the two trailers I had before the one I have now I used to use 2 2X4 ft piece of plywood as a weight spreading board to be able to do things on the roof. I'm heavier than you and didn't want anything to break with me up there. I always was concerned about that roof not being strong enough.