Roof Repair

Well, it didn't take long for me to abuse my new 2008 Hawk, but that's another story.
Leave it to say, I let my roof rack beat a 3" x 6" hole in my roof while driving an extremely rough road.


I'm a contractor and can just about fix anything (or think I can). So when I had to patch my roof I applied a lot of the same technology I use in my residential construction experience. I took photos of the work and thought I would share my experience with the crew that visits this site.


First step: Locate materials
Lucky for me, I live an hour away from FWC in Woodland. I visited the shop and Terry was very helpful. I was given a tour of the factory and was very impressed with their attention to detail. It's very clean and organized. I was there to buy a scrap (given free) of roof material, which is textured aluminum siding, and some sealant. They recommended a product called Silaprene (Royal Adhesive & Sealants 800-999-4583). The tube cost $9.99 BTW, a new roof skin, done by the factory was $575 I think


Second step: Define the work area
The roof damage was jagged, so I got out the snips and squared off the hole.
I took a file to remove the burrs and also sanded the area surrounding the hole to get better stick-tion (a tech term in the trades).
Note: I've masked off the perimeter of the work area. That's the Yakima roof rack next to the hole.
After thinking about it, I left the rack rail in place, but cleaned out the caulking to make a channel to tuck the new roof metal into.

Third Step: The Big Band-aid
FWC recommended riveting the roof metal over the hole, and using the Silaprene beneath and on top as a sealant. I wanted more than one level of waterproofing, so I went into my construction shed and found a roll of Fortiflash.
http://www.fortifiber.com/fortiflash.html This stuff has a peel-away paper to expose a super-sticky-bubblegum-on-a-hot-day surface with a backing membrane. It sticks to everything, including your fingers.

Originally I was going to put a big bandaid of Fortiflash over the hole, but decided to go one more level of protection. I cut strips about an inch wide and slipped them inside the hole. With some care, I stuck the flashing to the bottomof the roof metal leaving about half of the strip exposed. The thinking here is that the strip will provide another seal to the bottom of the big bandaid (5" x 7" Fortiflash) and to the bottom of the roof metal. Probably redundant, but hey, who needs a leak??


I found if I slipped the strip with the peel away paper intact, I could install the strip without sticking to everything in sight.


The styro insulation was beaten down so I had a bit of a hole. I looked around my garage and found a piece of mylar insulation from a windshield sunscreen. I cut a chunk and slipped it in there to shim up the space.

Here I am sticking the big surface mount Fortiflash to the roof with the strips in place. Notice how sticky the membrane is.

The Big Band-aid is in place! Frankly, this stuff is so bombproof, I could probably stop right there and it would not leak for ten years!

Step Four: Put a cap on it
But let's make this look right. I cut a piece of textured aluminum to fit and formed it a bit with my hands so the edges were bending downward. I fit it about 1/4" under the yakima rail and drilled for 1/8" aluminum rivets (sourced at local lumberyard) about 2.5" inches on center. The rivets only hold the metal in place.
I sized the aluminum to overlap the Fortiflash by about 1/2" on three sides. My next step (no photo unfortunately) was to lay a nice double bead of Silaprene inside the footprint of the aluminum patch. I squeezed a nice 1/4" bead into the channel under the yakima rail so I could push the metal patch right into the Silaprene. It worked great.
My goal was to get a small amount of caulking to squeeze out from all the edges of the patch, but not a bunch which would be a mess. Final touches included squeezing a small amount of caulk into each rivet head.

Details, details . . .
The FWC paint is pretty weak I have to say. I had knocked off a bit while powerwashing the front edge of the camper and even masking tape pulled off some paint around the patch area. Terry at FWC recommends getting a small can of appliance paint for touch up. So that's the undone piece.

Does it work?
Ha ha. I'll let you know I let the caulking cure for two days, but am going home today to give it a good flood test. But there's the caulking and aluminum to go through, then the Fortiflash in two layers, so I don't think it could leak. Actually the weak point of the whole system is the d*#@g rivets. They go through the whole enchilada, so they couldleak, but they are easy to touch up with caulk if there was a leak.

Hope that's useful to anyone else who has dinged their rig!

Not sure why photos are not uploading or why this site wants an URL when you add a photo instead of a direct upload from your hard drive.

If the photos are not visible with my post above, visit http://www.pbase.com/lighthawk/fwc to see a gallery of the images.

Not sure why photos are not uploading or why this site wants an URL when you add a photo instead of a direct upload from your hard drive.


The photo attachment deal is explained here. If you do it so that there's a thumbnail -- as an "Attachment" (uploaded directly from your computer) -- the limit is 500k total per post.
Or you can place a lot more photos per post if you insert a link to the photo somewhere already on the Web.

Great details and pictures. I would be shocked if it ever leaked.

Nice job. Thanks for taking the time to post the repair pics and details.

Lighthawk,

I'd be interested to know what caused the problem. Did the Yakima rack cause it or was the load on the rack hitting the roof?
I sometimes carry a couple of 60lb kayaks on my Yakima rack and it's distressing to see the amount of flex in the roof.

Camel:

I guess the story of how the roof was damaged should be shared as well.

My used camper came with the Yakima track system, which I was/am unfamiliar with, although over the years I've used a variety of yak-racks on my vehicles with bars, bikes, skis, etc. In addition, the previous owner threw in a set of Hullivators, which are mounted to the end of the bars on the drivers side. They must weigh at least 10 to 15 lbs each.
I then loaded our tandem Old Town kayak which weighs another 69#. You can see where this is going . . .

This off center load was ok for the first 10 miles of rough road, but the set screws came loose and the tower mount started to slide around on the track. I discovered this the next morning after a nice night at Bowman Reservoir. (Nevada County, CA). I thought I could tighten the clamp by opening the lever on the tower, but that only COMPLETELY releases the tower from the track. Hmmm? So I realized I need to tighten the allen heads on the track, which was ok because I brought my bike repair kit which included a nut driver and a set of basic metric allens. Ok so far. BUT, I did not apparently snap the lever/shroud completely down on the tower (hope this makes sense) and that did not lock the rack down. Well, I didn't know and the rack proceeded to jump up and down on my poor FWC aluminum roof cap. I even watched my shadow in front of my truck with my GF and we commented how much it was bouncing up and down. The road from Jackson Mdws. to Bowman is a b*tch right now.

End of story: I did a load check when we got back to pavement and noticed immediately that my rack was sitting askew. Jumping up top I saw a crater of jagged aluminum where the rack tower had beaten a hole into my roof. {delete expletive(s)}. I moved the 'yak off the hullivators and strapped it down on top of the other (intact) towers and drove home on pavement via Truckee with my tail between my legs. No more drama on the way home.

Interesting thing is the Yakima tower is still functional after abusing my camper. Well, it's another lesson: tighten your racks before you go out on rough roads; beware off-center loads; and make d*mn sure you lock that Yakima rack system down if you loosen it.

Older and a bit wiser,

Andy

Bummer - I'll remember to keep an eye on those towers

An old posting...but very helpful!!!

A tree limb fell on our Hawk. Your repair method gives me some additional ideas...especially the photos.

Thanks for posting this.

I'm going to add to this thread as it might help someone. It's so hot here now I just going to add to this bit by bit as I take AC breaks in the house.

A severe storm caused a large tree branch to fall on our Hawk. The camper was on blocks/boards and jacks and the impact knocked it sideways bending one rear corner jack bracket and a jack. One part of the limb penetrated the roof. The roof rack had one crossmember bent. Thankfully this was a glancing blow not vertical, or the camper would have likely been destroyed.

Our first step was to cut the limb up and remove the remnants from the camper. We then covered the camper with a tarp to protect it from further rain intrusion. After the weather cleared, we saw that we had two primary problems. The first was a tear of about 15" x 2" through the aluminum roof sheet. The impact was in a non-structural area and we see no significant roof beam/rafter deflection or damage. The second issue is the damaged/shifted corner brackets and the damage to a Rieco jack. The roof raises/closes OK and the entry door and the fixed windows function normally.

With the tarp off we wanted to do a quick field type patch to the roof. I bent the metal edges flat, cleaned up the area well, and used FlexSeal Tape found at Home Depot to seal the tear. Easy to work with and this made a good temporary roof repair. This and similar products are excellent for this and the remainder of the roll will be kept for any future "holes". This stuff would be good for temporary canvas, vinyl window, or siding repair in the field too.

Photos of my personal "Grand Canyon" and the damaged corner bracket/jack:

About done with the final roof panel repair. Here is what I did, I offer it only as it might help someone or give them even better ideas.

Step 1 was to clean up the penetration tear area and remove burrs and folded over areas. I used some wide lip welding pliers and sheet metal shears for this.

Step 2 was to "back up" the underside of the open area. I had some white vinyl trim sheeting from a home project. This is a 5/16" thick panel of white vinyl. It's fairly stiff and weatherproof. I cut this to fit into the hole and was able to wiggle it into place where it filled about 90% of the "hole". I then used 1/8" pop rivets to tighten it up and secure it into place behind/under the outer aluminum sheeting of the Hawk roof.

I'll note here that if I had a big enough hole to require a hard external patch, I would consider use of this material or similar.

Step 3 was to cut a section of aluminum flashing/sheeting to fit over the tear area with about a 2" overlap. This was sealed/secured with a good wide perimeter line of 3M 4200 Marine Adhesive Sealant between the patch and the FWC roof panel. I choose 4200 over 5200 as it is a bit more friendly should I ever have to remove this patch.

Step 4 was to use some FlexSeal tape to seal the edges. This tape has worked well for me in the past and I'm comfortable using it in this application. Eternabond would be another option...also have had good results with it over the years.

Step 5 will be to purchase either Eternabond or FlexSeal tape in white which will be used to cover the entire patch area with sealing tape. This will provide a nice white finish and an extra layer of weatherproofing.

Photo of repair before Step 5 attached.

I'm interested to see the long term results of this fix.

Now to the corner/jack bracket repairs. Both sides were similarly damaged by the impact of the limb knocking the camper off the jacks & blocks/cribbing thus bending the brackets away from the frame.

The damage is really bad. The internal aluminum square frame structure itself is severed on one side of the Hawk and about half severed on the other side. Note the lightweight thin black aluminum trim just above this area. This trim will be replaced all along the corner from the roof to the bottom of the camper for my repair.

I want the repair to mimic the OEM appearance of the corner as much as possible, be weathertight, and be as strong as the OEM set up. The challenge here is the structural aspect - off pavement travels put stresses on this area and the forces involved when I use the jacks to mount/remove the camper from my flatbed truck are even higher.

I started by removing the jack plates and using a hammer and vice straightened out the slightly bent jack brackets. I then removed the caulking and opened up the access to the upper section where the frame was severed.

Next up I had some left over 1/8"x1" aluminum flat stock. I was able to get a 5" section of this material into place behind the severed area of the main internal support frame. This will serve as a backup plate for the repair. I used some double-sided body molding tape to stick it into place. I pre-drilled pilot holes for the lag screws that would eventually be put through the OEM jack brackets, through the new external aluminum angle frame and through the damaged OEM frame. I also noted that the outside frame sections were OEM filled with a wood stiffener in the repair area. I used some Liquid Nails adhesive on the lag bolts...hoping for a better bite. In holes where the lags did not get a good grip, I upsized them one diameter to get a good hold. The factory lags were 1/4 x 2".

Just before I started to remount the external components of the repair I used a 2" strip of FlexSeal Tape to seal the corner and side panels. On top of this Flex Seal Tape I used Butyl caulking ribbon tape to provide a good caulk seal between the side body panels and the new aluminum angle. All this was run the full length of the corner from the roof trim to the bottom of the camper.

I used a length of 1/8"x 1.25"x1.25" 90 degree aluminum angle as the primary exterior component of the repair. This angle runs from the roof trim to the bottom of the camper and as was painted black to match the OEM trim. The OEM jack brackets are mounted to this angle with lag bolts which pass through the jack bracket, through the new aluminum angle section, through the OEM frame and in a couple of places also through the aluminum backplate material. My thought that this would strengthen the entire corner and use the full length for the critical anchoring lag bolts. The new aluminum angle above the jack brackets was attached with self threading1.25" x 8 sheet metal screws.

I'll wrap up with the comment that I posted these details in case it might help someone else. I know that there are likely other methods of doing these repairs. If I encounter issues with the roof or corner repairs, I'll update this thread.
I chose to fix this myself because I do not have a close by FWC dealer or other suitable repair facility that could both properly fix AND get it back to me in time for my fall camping plans.

OODA & Happy travels folks.

Images...the damage and the repair:

Sounds like you know what you're doing. I can't help but cringe looking at the damage

FAW3 said:

About done with the final roof panel repair. Here is what I did, I offer it only as it might help someone or give them even better ideas.

Photo of repair before Step 5 attached.

Click to expand...

Wow, great repair Frank! Very well documented with great photos.

I'm glad you were able to refer to my original post from THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!
Follow up: I've had no leaks from the repair, but the Yakima tracks, specifically the screws have caused another set of leaks.
Those were fairly easy to fix with resetting the tracks with tape and squirting a bit of lapseal in each screw hole.

But, I'm interested in your jack bracket repair next.

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Jack bracket repair looks bomber to me!
Nice work.

Very nice work!