Surveyor 263 Questions

[MtnGuy]

After owning a Trailmanor for the last couple of years, the missus and I bought a new 2008 SV 263 in late Sept., and have a couple of questions:

Not being familiar with rubber roofs and the Forest River line of roof structure, is there anywhere to avoid when walking on the roof?? Our unit came with a ladder, so I presume that meant we could walk up there. I cleaned the roof recently, and some areas seemed to give more than others ( I weight 195 lbs). I took my shoes off before getting up there so as not to damage anything, but still wonder if this is the correct way to clean the roof??

The caulking around the vents and roof ends looks like was poured into place, and seems to have small, shallow cracks. Is this a concern, and what do I need to do to keep these areas water proof in the future??

I can see some of the (structure??) seams on the fiberglass sides sometimes when the sun is right. I noticed a Rockwood recently at a campground where the seams were more pronounced, and it maybe even had some delamination problems. I don't see anywhere there is delamination on my unit, but are visible seams the norm??

There will probably be a lot of questions in the future, but for the time being these will suffice.

Thanks, Chap

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by mtnguy

After owning a Trailmanor for the last couple of years, the missus and I bought a new 2008 SV 263 in late Sept., and have a couple of questions:

Not being familiar with rubber roofs and the Forest River line of roof structure, is there anywhere to avoid when walking on the roof?? Our unit came with a ladder, so I presume that meant we could walk up there. I cleaned the roof recently, and some areas seemed to give more than others ( I weight 195 lbs). I took my shoes off before getting up there so as not to damage anything, but still wonder if this is the correct way to clean the roof??

The caulking around the vents and roof ends looks like was poured into place, and seems to have small, shallow cracks. Is this a concern, and what do I need to do to keep these areas water proof in the future??

I can see some of the (structure??) seams on the fiberglass sides sometimes when the sun is right. I noticed a Rockwood recently at a campground where the seams were more pronounced, and it maybe even had some delamination problems. I don't see anywhere there is delamination on my unit, but are visible seams the norm??

There will probably be a lot of questions in the future, but for the time being these will suffice.

Thanks, Chap

The roof is made to be walked on mainly for service, such as A/C, vents etc. As far as roof movement I have the samething with mine and I am at 155 lbs. Why there is movement? I think it's quailty control. All the opennings in the roof should have a frame built into the roof for all penetrations or opennings. I walk on my roof with shoes on, but I make sure that there is nothing on them. As far as the caulking go's mine is the same. The caulk is installed in layers one over top of the other to make a wide bead, what you might be seeing is where one is over laped on the other and it has collected dirt and is sometimes hard to clean. The fiberglass sides are all one piece, the wall is manufactured to size, what you are seeing is the impression of the interior studs, the fiberglass is vacuum bonded to the base wall the air is removed which shows just about everything, it's like placing an object in a zip-loc bag and closing it up and placing a straw in the corner and sucking the air out of it before closing it completely. As far as delamination, that was my very first problem with my Rockwood, the camper was 8 days old and just setting in my driveway and it had not yet be to a camp ground.

[Bama Rambler]

Originally Posted by mtnguy

After owning a Trailmanor for the last couple of years, the missus and I bought a new 2008 SV 263 in late Sept., and have a couple of questions:

Congrats on the unit and to FRF.

Originally Posted by mtnguy

Not being familiar with rubber roofs and the Forest River line of roof tructure, is there anywhere to avoid when walking on the roof??

Just be careful especially around the vents and such.

Originally Posted by mtnguy

Our unit came with a ladder, so I presume that meant we could walk up there. I cleaned the roof recently, and some areas seemed to give more than others ( I weight 195 lbs).

They're all that way. It's the way the rafters are built.

Originally Posted by mtnguy

I took my shoes off before getting up there so as not to damage anything, but still wonder if this is the correct way to clean the roof??

It's actually better to have flat rubber sole shoes (i.e. deck shoes) on because it spreads your weight out more and has some give to them.

Originally Posted by mtnguy

The caulking around the vents and roof ends looks like was poured into place, and seems to have small, shallow cracks. Is this a concern, and what do I need to do to keep these areas water proof in the future??

It is normal but you need to repair them before they crack deep enough to leak. Get some Dicor lap sealant and clean the cracked areas good and apply the sealant. It'll spread out on it's own and cover the areas. Some folks recommend cleaning all the sealant off and replacing it with Eternabond tape.

Originally Posted by mtnguy

I can see some of the (structure??) seams on the fiberglass sides sometimes when the sun is right. I noticed a Rockwood recently at a campground where the seams were more pronounced, and it maybe even had some delamination problems. I don't see anywhere there is delamination on my unit, but are visible seams the norm??

I can definitely see mine especially on cool foggy mornings. Some are more pronounced than others but it's normal to be able to see them. Delamination is where the filon separates from the substrate. The visual manifestation is the appearance of bubbles in the skin.

[rockwood06]

This is delam.

[MtnGuy]

rockwood06,

That is similar to what I saw on a unit camped at Loft Mountain recently, and figured it as such. I kinda figured ours was just the seams showing through, and after reading the above responses, reassured my assumptions.

Thanks to all for the responses. I will have more questions as time goes on.

Chap