Roof Leak

[brian19889]

Was cleaning up inside the Shamrock the other day, and I noticed that there was some wavy-ness on the roof paneling in the left, back corner. So I climb up to the roof and see that there's some damage underneath the rubber roof material, from what I can see. A little further inspection revealed a deep cut on my FM antenna boot, the whole way through it. I sealed that up. Not a doubt in my mind that was the source of the leak. So my question to you guys....what do I do?

Do I take the beating on a trade and run on a new model? Here's the problem...I financed it like an idiot (10 years, thinking "Hey, I'm going to have this for a long time, why not go for a 100 dollar payment?"), so needless to say I still owe a nice chunk...

[CNYCamper]

We were also underwater on our old one (2008) as we were looking for low monthly payments - we weren't sure at the time how much we would be RVing. Turns out we love it! We thought a new one at this time would be cost prohibitive or would have to dip into savings, but interest rates dropped like a rock from 2008. Also, nothing sells for anywhere close to MSRP (at least in my area). Asking price on the new one was more than reasonable, worked with the dealer and paid more than asking in order to roll my old RV over. Lender was OK with the deal and we were surprised how little our payments increased. Sounds like you solved the leak problem. Lot of experts on this forum who can give advice on repairs. FYI: my dealer was Wilkins in Bath, NY.

[Jmcdev]

Quick question. What type of roof does your unit have. Looks very similar to mine.

[rockfordroo]

Fix the leak and keep camping.

[stugilmour]

Brian, also curious about the roof structure.

Is the roof a flat panel with no curvature to the roof top? We had that type of roof on our older (2008ish) Jayco hybrid. The roof panel was very dependent on the interior paneling for structural strength. Our replacement 2014 Roo is different; the roof structure is made up with trusses that form a curved roof top. Was one of our main considerations in a new camper. Also note that Jayco went away from the structural panel design in later years, which probably says something. Not sure what the earlier Roo's used for the roof though.

We had severe leaking around our air conditioner on our Jayco hybrid. When we checked on repair with expert shops, the only method was removal and replacement of the entire roof panel, which was going to cost thousands. However, ours had delamination of the inner ceiling panel. We ended up replacing the camper, and the Jayco was unfortunately sold off for salvage. In our case the damage inside was severe enough that continuing to use the unit was not an option, and the weight of the air conditioner was going to cause roof failure; it had sagged enough that water was ponding around the air conditioner seal.

So, check the roof type and see if the inner ceiling panel is OK. If it is OK and the structure not compromised, I would also advise monitoring you leak repair and continue camping. I am assuming the value of the unit will be fully depreciated at this point, so if you are not seeing further issues (leakage, mold, rot, whatever) I would carry on. If you feel the upper roof panel is rotting from the enclosed moisture but the structure is still OK, perhaps the roof membrane can be lifted in the damaged area, dried out and resealed, but I have no direct experience with this type of repair.

HTH

Stu