Brian Clemens

[Battchief]

We all appreciate your input and accessibility. This is another one of those times. My assessment of the roof construction on an Isata 3 is fiberglass caps on the ends and sides of a roof which is aluminum trusses covered with 1/4” plywood covered by a membrane material.EPDM, PVC, rubber , etc. Others say that the roof is a one piece fiberglass roof. Which is it?

Thanks




Battchief

[Sandiegodoug]

Aluminum Truss Structured Roof with Crowned, One-Piece Fiberglass Skin

[Battchief]

Flexible , fiberglass skin which will tear? mmmm. What say you Brian Clemens?


Battchief

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by Sandiegodoug

Aluminum Truss Structured Roof with Crowned, One-Piece Fiberglass Skin

This is correct.

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by Battchief

Flexible , fiberglass skin which will tear? mmmm. What say you Brian Clemens?


Battchief

"Tear"? How? Its one piece so unless you cut into it there is nothing to tear.

[Whalenss]

Originally Posted by Battchief

Flexible , fiberglass skin which will tear? mmmm. What say you Brian Clemens?





Battchief

Why do you think it will tear?

My I5 was built mid-16 so 5 1/2 years old. I’m on the roof once a year for cleaning and maintenance check. No tears or holes. Unit is outside 24 / 7.

[Battchief]

Because I have seen it tear when driven under a low tree limb. A one piece fiber glass roof might crack but it does not tear. Perhaps our terminology is different. FRP or GRP is what I consider to be fiber glass construction. Either hot or cold molded. Clearly that is the type of construction used in the end caps. Whatever the product is that covers the majority of the roof is a soft, pliable material. I am interested in finding out exactly what it is.

Battchief

[Desert Boat]

From the website.

But I think the important term here is fiberglass skin. It is not like an old Egg Harbor hull, 1” thick hand laid fiberglass with inherent structural rigidity, but a thinner (maybe 1/4 to 1/8) fiberglass manufactured piece that is flexible, needs the underlying truss for rigidity, and prolly could be cut with a knife.

I suspect for repairs you could use a traditional fiberglass repair kit, or temporary repair with Eternabond tape.

[Desert Boat]

We tend to forget that Dynamax has a good online owners manual library.

This appears to be the roof material document:

https://forestriverinc.help/#/dynama...ultiple-709278

And too late to edit my prior post, but since this appears to be a plastic filled (GRP) material instead of epoxy filled, I would not use a traditional fiberglass repair kit without testing how the plastic reacted to the hot epoxy.

[1HasBeen]

The whole industry gets into this "word salad". To me, if something is fiberglass it is gel-coat fiberglass. FRP, Filon, etc. are fiber reinforced panels, but not equivalent IMHO.

[bclemens]

Originally Posted by 1HasBeen

The whole industry gets into this "word salad". To me, if something is fiberglass it is gel-coat fiberglass. FRP, Filon, etc. are fiber reinforced panels, but not equivalent IMHO.

I' not sure you can blame the industry (maybe blame it on the english language). The literal term for fiberglass ..
1. a reinforced plastic material composed of glass fibers embedded in a resin matrix.
2. a textile fabric made from woven glass filaments.

It is a pretty broad area.

In the industry and in the field of fiberglass, what you refer to would be called "molded fiberglass" though even for gel coat sheet goods they use a mold (though it doesn't seem like it).

We try to be as transparent and clear as we can, which is why we use the term skin. vs. molded fiberglass roof. The weight alone of a molded fiberglass roof makes it unusable in most applications...not to mention the waste unless you are building one length.

[johndjmix]

For the guy who mentioned repairing it with a fiberglass repair, I’m sure not if that is recommended, however, I accidentally dropped about a 2” square epoxy covered piece of fiberglass matt on the dx3 roof when working on an antenna. It ain’t coming off. Very solid adhesion. And that’s with a clean non scuffed surface. Due to this I think the fiberglass repair would work well.