Sealant on my roof?

[Fred Cook]

 Not even sure if I have to do this, but my roof appears to have been a stripped down thoroughly but it does not appear that sealant was ever put on it. Whenever I am on top of the coach, white residue gets on my pants. Did someone take off the old sealant and not put on new stuff???  This may sound dumb but, how can I make sure I have sealant on the roof?

[David T. Richelderfer]

Whenever it rains my roof drips white lines down the sides of the coach.  My understanding is the white stuff comes from the sun decomposing the roof paint.

[LaMonte Monnell]

I cleaned my roof super good, resealed all the front and rear cap seams with eternabond. Then I applied two coats of Dicor fiberglass roof paint with a paint roller. No white streaks and now just a quick wash with a brush and dawn and it sparkles.

[Steve Funk]

http://beaveramb.org/acadp_listings/protecting-your-rvs-roof-rv-roof-coating/

Follow the procedure in the BAC "technical tab" "common problems" on the home page and you will have a perfect solution to the problem you are experiencing. 

I used maybe three qts of the Rustoleum deck paint on mine roof and really glad I did the job.  Not to hard of a job at all.  Cleaning the roof was the hardest part.  Painting "no sweat."

No more chalky residue running down the side of the coach.

Good luck 

[Stan Simpson]

Not even sure if I have to do this, but my roof appears to have been a stripped down thoroughly but it does not appear that sealant was ever put on it. Whenever I am on top of the coach, white residue gets on my pants. Did someone take off the old sealant and not put on new stuff???  This may sound dumb but, how can I make sure I have sealant on the roof?

To answer your question, Fred. That is the original sealant coating becoming chalky with age. There are a number of threads about it in this forum. If one follows the procedure outlined by Ed Buker, there is a permanent solution. I think Ed did his about 5 years ago, and has reported no problems with white streaks again.

[Fred Cook]

 After looking at my roof more closely, I can see that someone had use some kind of a strong stripper that actually stripped all of the gelcoat off the caps down to the bare metal.  Some of the it bled down over onto the coach itself but not very much and not very noticeable from the ground.  Whoever used the stripper did a very poor job in my estimation. I fear that the stripper was also used throughout the entire roof to strip off the gel coat possibly causing some damage to it. I believe it is necessary to put something on the roof now before it deteriorates even more.  Has anyone had this experience?  Is there something else I need to do now besides putting on just a new coat of Dicor fiberglass sealant or some other product?

[Gerald Farris]

Fred,
There is almost no chance that someone used a stripper on your roof. The white section of your roof was never painted, and to stop the gelcoat from calking, you need to paint it with one of the items mentioned above. My choice would be Rustoleum Top Side deck paint. As for the painted areas of your roof, that deterioration is probably caused by UV damage to the clear coat. Clear coat sun damage is extremely common on a coach the age of your unless it was used very little and always stored inside.   

Gerald

[Fred Cook]

Thanks Gerald!  Feeling better now.  I will get some Rustoleum Top Side deck paint and get started on it.  Fred

[George Harwell]

Fred, just clean the roof thoroughly and then sand with 100 grade sandpaper to help the paint adhere better. Wipe it clean with paint thinner and you are ready. I applied 2 coats about 4 or 5 years ago and it is still looking good. Just remember you are 12 feet from the ground.

[Joel Ashley]

Like many, I too have the UV damaged clear coat on the upper parts of the coach that have body paint, as Gerald mentions.  Be aware this is different from the central part of your roof with white gelcoat damage.  Gelcoat is the outer surface on Fiberglas, not metal.  Gelcoat oxidizes over time.  The Rustoleum treatment described is meant mostly for that white area to stop the oxidation, and consequent unsightly sluffing of white residue down the sides.

You can Rustoleum beyond the white area and over the peeled clearcoat, but it will show from the ground if you overlap the radius.  That compromises to some degree the look of the coach, especially the front cap, but that's only my opinion, and others may not put as much personal credence to that.  The minimum estimate I received for repainting the radius and caps on mine was $4000, the high bid was over $7000.  It involves sanding down to good paint and properly feathering new paint into old, then the many coats of clearcoat.  According to Guaranty in Junction City, Monaco didn't use as many coats as claimed. When ours was new BCS discovered that, like many of that year, our rear cap-to-roof Fiberglas job was also short-changed... something like 4 layers of Fiberglas instead of the prescribed 7.  BCS ground it all down, put on more glas, and repainted under warranty.  But even that has deteriorated in ten years.

At least one member here managed to sand down, repaint, and re-clearcoat his caps and radius himself.  Matching paint is tricky, but the clearcoat is available in spray cans;  just be careful to buy the best quality one.  When I've recovered (if ever) from a recent medical issue, I hope to take a shot at such an endeavor.  I'd rather maintain the original intended look of the radius matching the body sides.  One might extend the Rustoleum further back toward the rear cap radius, as the factory ran paint a few feet onto the roof there, and the clearcoat is damaged most in that section.  The Rustoleum would mean not having to ever repaint and reclearcoat that large area again.

Joel

[Samuel Sperbeck]

This topic is timely for me because I have a roof leak. The previous owner had someone reseal around all the items on the roof. However they didn't remove the old hardened caulk and some of it is coming loose. My plan is to remove all the caulk, clean the roof of any residue, and apply new caulk. Is there any solvent that will remove the caulk residue without damaging the roof fiberglass? After applying new caulk I want to paint the white area of the roof following the  previously linked method in this thread. The instructions indicate using a 6" roller. Is the roller foam or napped? I will probably have many more questions as this project progresses.

Thanks for any help, Sam

[Gerald Farris]

Sam,
There is no solvent to dissolve the old sealer. You just have to scrape it off. One of the osculating multi-tools with a scraper blade works well for some people, but you need to be very careful if you use one because you can damage plastic parts like the fan and refrigerator vents very easily.

When I painted my roof with Rustoleum Top Side paint, I used a standard napped roller like the ones you paint the walls in a house with.

Gerald

[Mike Shumack]

 I read on the iRV2 forum that "Acetone" and/or "Mineral Spirits" will work to clean off the residual caulking (Dicor) material (after you scrape off the majority of it). It was also reported that heating the Dicor with a heat gun (hot air. No flame) will help it come off.

There have been some threads speaking highly of the Dicor brand roof fiberglass RV roof paint.https://dicorproducts.com/product/roof-renew-kit/
and
https://youtu.be/fFF3EsaYtvk  if you are considering recoating the entire roof.

[Fred Cook]

 I just finished coating my roof yesterday just in time before cold weather sets in the next couple days. I used rust oleum topside paint as suggested by Gerald and it really looks good. There Is some pitting in some areas of the roof, very small but still visible.. and I ensured that the paint filled in those areas. Also, I did not remove any of the caulking except for the satellite dish that I took off and also the two roof vent pipes where I put on new cyclone sewer vents.   I really hope that this last for a good while and that the sewer smell inside goes away.