Well I coated the roof

craig333

craig333

Riley's Human
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
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Sacramento
Time will tell if its a good idea or not.
I used Henry's tropi-cool at 59 dollars a gallon. I knew this would be a messy job but somehow I underestimated just how messy. I have a new set of painting clothes now :) Wouldn't have been quite so bad if I hadn't decided to go around the outer edge first but I wanted that to get a double coat.

Being in a hurry didn't help. I did this after work with rain forecast for the next day. I started peeling up all the loose sealant before using a stiff nylon brush which got out a lot of the loose sealant that didn't just peel up. Next I used a commercial cleaner and a soft brush to scrub the whole roof. Rinsed well and popped the rear to let the water run off. The sun was out with a light breeze so it didn't take long to dry. Next step was to mask off the camper with blue tape. You can see I left about an 1/8th of an inch overlap. Then on to the application. I used a 2" paintbrush and two rollers, one standard, one extra thin.

I should mention I did not remove the solar panels. Because of the way they're installed its a major pita to take them off. Should I have waited for a weekend of nice weather for this project? Sure but I'm not that bright.

Here is with the max trax reinstalled.


As forecast, it did rain the next day so I had to wait another day to go out and recoat whatever got missed, running right up to the recommeded 48hr recoat time.

As you can see, I got some coating on the panels, the rack bars, etc.




I do expect it will add a bit of hail protection. Supposed to last a lifetime. If for some I need to remove a screw? That might get interesting. Replace the vent? I hope I never have to find out. I'm pretty sure it won't leak now but we'll have wait a few years before I'm ready to recommend this for others.
 
I think I have this stuff on the roof of my 2005 Hawk. Looks very similar. Removing screws and such to mount my solar panels was no problem. I resealed any breaks in the surface I made by using Dicor.
 
So Craig,

Why did you do this in the first place? Were there leaks? For looks? It does look pretty smart!
 
Camper is nearly 14 years old. Time for some maintenance. The old sealants were no longer doing the job. Some just lifted right off. Nothing lasts forever and if it didn't leak now it soon would. Most people do it the hard way, pull each screw and seal them individually with new sealant. I'm lazy and thought I'd try this way. The tropi cool is nothing like the stuff from the old days. Its flexible yet incredibly tough. Should help keep the camper a bit cooler though I have no idea what it'll look like after a good dusting. Will it rinse off better? Dunno. I figured someone should be a guinea pig though so hopefully when the time rolls around that your roof needs maintenance, and it will, we'll know if this is a good option or not.

I have had a couple leaks and I patched them as best I could. I thought its time to either reseal the traditional way or try something else. Would I use it on a one piece roof? Probably not but, if this stuff is as good as they claim it might be worth doing right off the bat, before it gets more difficult with all the crap we toss up there, solar and so on.

Of course you could always pay someone to do it. http://www.thervroofman.com/forever-rv-coat.html I like the instructions "do not ingest" yeah.
 
Thanks for the info.

There is one follow on question.
4.75gal - .25gal ==> 4.5 gal. Assuming 7 lb/gal ==> ~32lbs added to weight to lift roof.
So, are you going to spend additional hours in gym pumping iron? Or, are you going to replace the gas springs with some 8 to 10 lbs stronger? :)

Paul
 
Whoa, that would be heavy. I linked the 5gal just because it was easy. Actual application was .75 gallons. Rereading my post I see I did not make that clear. Sorry. Its not enough weight that I can feel it lifting.
 
Thanks, that makes it clear. I saw an easy conclusion and jumped to it. (A personal failing that tends to get me in trouble at home. ;) ).

Your job looks good. Any additional deposits on adjacent structures just adds character. In my case, I'm the adjacent structure that generally accumulates the most added character.

Paul
 
You know whats sad? I purchased paper coveralls and decided it was too warm to wear them. I used them when I recoated. I'm slow but I do learn eventually :)
 
Not in a silicone product that I can see. I think one trip to the desert would convince you its a bad idea. Would it even work with snow covering it?
 
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