legendsdad Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Sup yall, just bought a new to me 1990 dolphin, love it already. Wanted some suggestions to what the best product is to re seal the roof, and also the seams where the roof meets the fiberglass siding, any advice is welcomed as this is our first motor home! Thanks for any help, best investment ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphinite no longer here Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Sup, yerself...so what's your roof made of? If its aluminum, probably the best stuff is white, elastomeric roof coating. Lowe's and H. Depot both carry the stuff as well as any RV supply store. Put two coats on 24 hours apart. You can use a roller or brush. I use a combination of the two. Make sure it isn't going to rain for at least 24 hours after each coat. As far as "where the roof meets the siding", I'm not really sure just what you mean. That seam is usually covered by an aluminum molding strip that's screwed onto the motorhome and the screws are then covered by a vinyl strip that fits in a slot in the molding. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Right after I bought my Toyhouse, (like on the 1500 mile drive home) I stopped at an RV Supply place in Tulsa Oklahoma and I bought 6 tubes of the self leveling RV Roof sealant. Next door at the hardware store, I bought a cheap 6 ft ladder, paper towels, a cheap caulk gun, paper towels and a gallon of acetone. I did this in the Hardware store parking lot. Took about an hour to do the whole thing. . I went around the roof edges on top and cleaned with acetone and paper towels. just get any dirt and mildew off so the sealant would have a clean surface to stick to.. I cut the bristles on the paint brush so they were about an inch long. Then went all the way around and caulked the sealant around the top edges, then used the paint brush to kind of brush it in to make sure it was in all the nooks and crannies.. That lasted the winter. In the spring I replaced all the roof vents (they were leaking), I installed them with bytyl tape, but then went around with the roof sealant as added protection. You can see how the plastic frame roof vents leak here CLICK HERE And you can see where I replaced the roof vents here CLICK HERE NOTE When these units are new, the roof material folds over the edge and they use butyl tape. If you were going to restore one of these to actual factory condition you would not use the self leveling sealant. You would remove the side top trim, seperate the roof from the side, re-tape it with the buytyle tape, and then re-install the side trim.You do something similiar to this with the windows when you remove them and re-seal them with butyl tape.John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YVR Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Regarding your roof issue. Like waiter in response #3 says, the ultra best way is to remove the trim piece and replace the tape underneath. However like you, I only wish to apply an external sealant to those seams. Eighteen months ago It was suggested to me by an RV repair shop that I apply Hengs Alkyd Fibred roof coat to my aluminum roof seams. Firstly I removed the old sealant with a heat gun, chemically cleaned the seams, and applied the Heng's product. My advice to you is don't use Heng's! After one year this material which isn't supposed to harden, is rock hard and full of hairline cracks. I wan't a product that's going to stand up to the multitude of weather conditions mother nature throws us, and is still serviceable after a few years, is this too much to ask? So if an owner can tell me his externally applied sealant is holding up satisfactorly (for a least a couple of years) please tell "legends dad" and myself what that product is so that we can apply it soon. By the way I'm going to Copy Heng's on this thread. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiter Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 You shouldn't have to re-seal the entire roof, Aluminum doesn't go bad.NOW, With that said, I did find an unusual crack in the aluminum that was a source for a pesky leak that took a long time to find.http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=4156 John Mc 88 Dolphin 4 Auto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90seabreeze Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 What about Liquid Roof? I think I am going to buy some and re-do my roof with it soon. http://www.epdmcoatings.com/liquidroof.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 lap seal the seams IF IF they are bad. there are different roofs- for instance mine is metal - thin shiny looks likes a sheet of time. Lap sealing is easy to put on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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