roof slide bolt latch

RicoV

RicoV

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
292
Location
Vail, AZ
Well, I've finally done something that probably would have happened sooner or later (inadvertently, of course) no matter how much care is taken. On my latest trip out I was setting up camp for the night and forgot to disengage the roof slide-bolt latch (inside rear of camper) before starting to raise the roof of our '11 Grandby. (Note, my usual procedure is to: 1) disengage the latch; 2) raise the front roof; 3) raise the back roof; I know most of you do steps 2 and 3 in a reverse order, but this is easiest for me given my setup). As the front was raising I realized my goof, but by then the front struts (the only ones) had done their job, so the front was fully raised and I looked back to see the latch still engaged: GULP!

So I quickly dropped the front and then went back to disengage the latch and then went about raising the roof without any particular difficulty, although there were a few audible 'buckling' sounds from the roof area. A later visual inspection of the rear portion of the roof, both inside and out, made it appear that no real damage had occurred from my boneheadedness, and the roof dropped down and secured just fine as per usual upon leaving.

However, it got me to wondering... Has this happened to others? Is there likely some hidden damage that I just haven't discovered yet?

And btw, just what useful function does the slide-bolt latch serve anyway? I could understand if the latch was intended as a fail-safe for the front end of the camper if the outside-front clamps were to dislodge or something while driving, but what value does the latch add in protecting the rear roof portion? Should I consider not engaging it at all?

Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Rico
 
Rico,

My guess is that there is no easy way to configure such a latch to the front, as there is to the rear, due to the front push bar. How would you get to it?

Besides wearing a belt plus suspenders is cool. :)
Paul
 
Like iowahiker, I've forgotten to release the latch while raising the roof a couple of times. Same experience, a loud bang when it releases but no visible damage. I have also forgotten to latch it after lowering the roof a couple of times. So far no sign of wear on the top of the cabinet by the fridge where the panels rest, but if I forget enough I imagine it may start to show.

Hmmm, I seem to be forgetting that latch a lot. Early signs of dementia? :unsure:
 
I've done it a few times. Loud pop as it releases but no damage. It's really there to keep the lift panel from sagging.
 
Thanks for the good info everyone, and for putting my mind at ease about the latch. Rock on, WTWers.
 
I haven't done that yet, where I had some off but forgot others. I did start to raise the roof with all of the latches latched one time when we arrive at our camping site late. It didn't take long to figure that one out. What I do now seems to be the best way to prevent a problem. As soon as I have unlatched the 6 latches I actually make a complete walk around the camper to verify that all are unlatched and it is safe to raise the roof.

When I lower the roof I get up and make sure the fabric is tucked in at all 4 corners before I start latching. When I'm done I walk around the camper to make sure all 6 are latched and we are ready to drive off.

When I picked up the camper Sean Dempsey had me raise each corner of the roof and make sure the fabric was folded and completely inside the roof. Each time I lowered the roof last year it folded on the crease and I just had a little work sticking my hand in and making sure everything was tucked tight.

On our trip to Big Bend, the last couple of times lower the roof, the fabric at both front corners didn't fold in properly and was sticking 1" - 3" outside and I had to crease it and tucked in. Not sure why that happened.

Also, I notice a little wear on the outside of the fabric at the crease like the top finish (surface) had come off on the drivers side front. Has anyone seen any wear on theirs? jd
 
I have now gotten in the habit of closing the door and running the fan full to make sure all the fabric
gets pulled in.I only do this to lower the front as it's easier to pull he roof down since I have lifters.
Than open the door and lower the rear without using the fan.
Seems to work nice.
Frank
 
I've never done that but I did wonder what the purpose of the latch was.

I wonder if I'm the only one. I never tuck in the fabric. Though the factory guys demonstrated it I've never seen the need. The bungies keep it all neatly inside. So far I haven't seen any unusual wear from this practice.
 
I have never done it either. I always raise the back first and then the front. When letting down I do the front first and then the back. I normally don't have to tuck either now that my thermal pack has been in place for a while.
 
djg - here you go.
 

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idahoron said:
I have never done it either. I always raise the back first and then the front. When letting down I do the front first and then the back. I normally don't have to tuck either now that my thermal pack has been in place for a while.
Click to expand...
This is how FWC Instructs to do it in the manual. There are a few reasons i can think of for doing it this way.
1 air flow. It's a lot easier to raise the front with the additional air volume introduced from open the rear first.
2 air flow again. It's a lot easier to lower the roof and have the panels pull in properly.
3 you don't forget to undo the panel bolt latch first.

I can think of a few more reasons as well. I'm a big guy. It easier for me to kneel down and pop up the rear first. This then gives me lots of room to stand up and then open the front. I also find that pushing down a few inches on the lift assist on the front panel prior to attempting to lift it makes if much easier. Don't push down a lot, just a inch or two, just enough to pick the center of the lift panel up an Inch or so. If you hadn't lifted the rear portion of the roof first. The lift assist would be fairly well pinned between the bed and the roof making this impossible to do.
 
Yep, I had always done it the 'official' way, that is, up until I installed interior 60-lb gas struts in the forward area (aligned with the business end of the lift assist bar) awhile back. After trying both protocols several times to compare, I concluded that this alternate way works best for me and my dicey back (easiest to raise): 1) disengage the roof latch; 2) raise the front roof; 3) raise the rear roof. And reverse the order for dropping and securing. For sure, your results may vary from mine, esp. if your upper body strength exceeds my own (highly likely in fact). One thing's for sure: I'll be double-checking the results of Step #1 before I do any more roof-raising.
Rico
 
Seems like when some folks make this mistake the latch bolt pops out of the hole and no harm is caused. Perhaps look at relocating the bolt latch so that in the closed position it is not so far into the hole and then it might pop out more easily when the next mistake is made. Not too much though because you don't want it to disengage on a rough road.
 
Good Post - my 2010 Hawk has the bolt latch removed - I have stayed in my camper for about a 110 nights since I got it in 2012 - Can anyone tell me the intended purpose of the bolt-latch? I use it successfully without - there is some wear where the panel rests on the fridge, but other than that no issues. What's it's for ? Am I doing any damage with out it installed?
 
Ramblinman said:
Good Post - my 2010 Hawk has the bolt latch removed - I have stayed in my camper for about a 110 nights since I got it in 2012 - Can anyone tell me the intended purpose of the bolt-latch? I use it successfully without - there is some wear where the panel rests on the fridge, but other than that no issues. What's it's for ? Am I doing any damage with out it installed?
Click to expand...
FWC dealer Sean Dempsey told me that the latch is to provide support for the roof which would sag without it; which as you noted, can cause wear from contact with the fridge/icebox cabinet.
 
The bed at the front of the camper supports the bi-fold lift panel when the roof is lowered.

There is nothing to support the rear bi-fold lift panel when the roof is closed.
The bolt latch stops the rear bi-fold panel from bouncing while driving.
 
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