Roof Sealant

[Michael Hannan]

Is there a particular roof sealant that has proven to be excellent at the job?  I'm taking about a large area sealant to use on all roof seams and around attachments like AC units & mounted satellite dishes.

Thannks
MJ

[Paul Meehan]

From a couple of months ago Steve Huber made the following post:

"In case you haven’t noticed, the BAC website, http://beaveramb.org/ has added a new feature; a Technical Support tab. It is not meant to replace the Forum but to supplement it."

Subject area (right margin) = Roof Maintenance.  "Protecting Your RV’s Roof – RV Roof Coating"

I found the details provided most helpful.  In fact we (my DW) prepped the roof and applied the Marine Topside paint to our coach this past weekend.  It was a last minute decision and only one Lowe's in Jacksonville, Florida carried the paint.

Thanks to Ed Buker and other BAC Forum members for the information provided in this article!  Love this Forum!

[Paul Meehan]

When preparing the roof for the Marine Topside paint application we noticed significant peeling of the clear-coat on both the forward and aft caps.

Does anyone have a suggestion of how to apply a clear-coat protectant?

Thanks in advance!

[Edward Buker]

Paul,

Nearly every Beaver of that vintage has the issue and there are not a lot of good choices. The "top shelf"
way of handling this is to sand all the peeling surface until all the loose clear is removes and the edges are feathered, solvent wash it, mask and recolor coat the original color and then spray 3 coats of the best automotive clearcoat that you can buy. I would use a PPG product but there are others.

So this would be an experiment, take one small area up top where it is not so visible and see if you can remove the loose clear by gently scraping with a razor blade. If you can get to a good edge with good adhesion while leaving the base color coat. If the visible loose clear is gone then solvent wipe, scuff gently with a red automotive scotch bright type pad, solvent wipe, and you could try and automotive clearcoat spray, something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Spray-High-Gloss-Clearcoat-Aerosol/dp/B0043B7UQY

If you can get a technique that works then you could spot repair some. I think in the long run you would be better off just having the whole job done properly given the clear on the roof is reaching its end of life as a material and you would be chasing this issue forever as a spot repair. Really there are no good inexpensive answers...

Later Ed

[Michael Hannan]

Thanks everyone.  I will be preparing and coating the whole roof.  FYI the cheapest  Spray Max can I found on Amazon Canada was $60 vice $23 on Amazon.com.  Even taking the exchange rate into account we are getting hosed up here.  I think I'll go with the Rust-Oleum Marine Topside Paint which we can get for much less and was recommended in Steve Huber's article on protecting the roof.

Thanks again for all the support offered here. You guys are all a big help!

MJ

[Edward Buker]

Michael,

You mentioned sealant at seams etc..... That would be a product like Dicor lap sealant, that comes in a tube for a caulking gun. That would come first, remove any loose sealant and re lap coat the joints. The air conditioners have gaskets seaing them. The Rustoleum Marine deck paint is to preserve the gelcoated area  and stop chalking of the released gel coat that gets washed off the roof that streaks the sides. That would be second and where possible could paint over the lap sealant to help preserve it. The Spray Max product was a spray can clear coat that would possibly be used to just spot repair just the perimeter area of the roof with lifting clear coat, it is for the area that is painted and visible from the ground only. The deck paint needs no clearcoat. That might be third if it someone experimented and found it feasible method to rework the lifted clearcoat that gave acceptable results. Just wanted to be sure that this info was all clear :-)

Later Ed

[John Bagwell]

What's a good cleaner for getting the white streaks from gel coat off of sides? 

[David T. Richelderfer]

A wet cloth will take off the streaks.  But I usually use a dampened microfiber cloth with some waterless wash & wax commonly used on planes.  For the higher up streaks I use an extendable washing wand without the water hose attached, and with a custom-altered microfiber cloth that will snap-on over the brush.  I clean 5 or 10 horizontal feet, depending upon the amount of dirtiness, and rinse out the dirt before moving on.  I spray new wash and wax on the cloth after every rinsing.