Roof Membrane Bubble

[IamProStreet]

When we picked up our brand new Flagstaff 529IKRL we noticed a bubble along the rear of the roof membrane. We added it to the list of things we wanted to have fixed. When picking it up from service we were told that was normal and they sent pictures to Forest River and they agreed it was normal. How big of a bubble is normal? This bubble is about 2” long and 16” to 18”wide.

[Ken-m]

Is it not adhered correctly ? No it's not .
Will they tell you it's fine? Yes they will
Can and will the area grow larger? Sure can. In the end they won't do anything.

[IamProStreet]

I would have figured they would have fixed it seeing’s how it’s right on the back edge. Should be simple enough to remove the calk enough to lift up the membrane and get the glue under it and re calk the edge.

[bergy]

That's an awful lot of bubbling. I'd consider contacting Forest River directly. Dealers have been known to stretch the truth (i.e. lie) about contacting Forest River.

[IamProStreet]

Originally Posted by bergy

That's an awful lot of bubbling. I'd consider contacting Forest River directly. Dealers have been known to stretch the truth (i.e. lie) about contacting Forest River.

I went to the Forest River web page and clicked on contact us and sent an email explaining this. I said I would have attached a photo but there wasn’t anyway to do that.

[boeingav8r]

Hi. Yesterday I noticed there are quite a few bubbles in the roof membrane on my trailer. I'm not overly happy about it. I asked the dealer about it and he said FR wouldn't do anything about it. He said it's where the glue did not adhere to the membrane. Brand new camper and they won't do anything about it?? That's bullshirt. I've attached a couple of pics.
In my little brain it seems a guy could take a needle full of glue, poke a hole for the air to get out and then insert the needle somewhere else, squirting in the glue and then using a roller, roll the air out of the bubble, spreading the glue. or I guess if the needle were long enough to stick clear into the bubble you'd already have a hole for the air to get out. Wouldn't this work?

[D W]

Originally Posted by Ken-m

Is it not adhered correctly ? No it's not .
Will they tell you it's fine? Yes they will
Can and will the area grow larger? Sure can. In the end they won't do anything.

X2. It's not normal, and it's only going to get worse. Me thinks the dealer is shooting you a load of crap, probably because they don't want to do the warranty work.

[Ken-m]

Originally Posted by boeingav8r

Hi. Yesterday I noticed there are quite a few bubbles in the roof membrane on my trailer. I'm not overly happy about it. I asked the dealer about it and he said FR wouldn't do anything about it. He said it's where the glue did not adhere to the membrane. Brand new camper and they won't do anything about it?? That's bullshirt. I've attached a couple of pics.
In my little brain it seems a guy could take a needle full of glue, poke a hole for the air to get out and then insert the needle somewhere else, squirting in the glue and then using a roller, roll the air out of the bubble, spreading the glue. or I guess if the needle were long enough to stick clear into the bubble you'd already have a hole for the air to get out. Wouldn't this work?

I get what your talking about with the needles and glue , in theory you think it would work but I don't think it would.
Sunday pic off to the manufacturer of the roofing material to show them how Forest Rivers applying their material , I bet they won't be impressed. It's sad it's just plain sad that they won't stand behind their workmanship and I use that term loosely, kind of like that roof job

[FredV]

Originally Posted by D W

Me thinks the dealer is shooting you a load of crap, probably because they don't want to do the warranty work.

That seems to be a common thread in a lot of RV issues.

Another is the lack of good, accurate information on the products and how they were implemented into the unit.

[mcbridek]

Originally Posted by IamProStreet

I went to the Forest River web page and clicked on contact us and sent an email explaining this. I said I would have attached a photo but there wasn’t anyway to do that.

Let us know what Forest River says. Also, what city /dealer ? You should add that info to your profile…. My EPro looks to have a similar roof membrane and not a single bubble.

Good luck

[phillyg]

The bubbles are fairly normal because they do a crappy job adhering the fabric to the underlayment, and no, most mfgrs. won't fix it. I agree you could probably remove the sealant and stretch the fabric, glue it down properly and use new self-leveling sealant, but I wouldn't mess with it unless the bubbles get larger.

[boeingav8r]

Hi. I talked to a warranty guy at Forest River. He sent my pictures off to a couple different folks asking about it. He'll get back to me. When he does, I'll update this. But I got the impression "it's not a big deal". Well, perhaps to THEM it's not a big deal. I've got a brand new $34,000 camper and I say it is a big deal. Especially since it might not become a big deal until down the line after warranty expiration. I want it documented that the bubbles exist and proof of that documentation.

[FredV]

This is not a warranty or free way to fix it, but let me relate what a colleague in the office said.

He had another brand of RV which had the bubbling, not sure that the manufacturer makes any difference. There was one spot which they had to repair with duct tape as it was not installed correctly.

His son is a foreman with a commercial construction company that does hospitals, and huge buildings. They arranged to take the unit over to a location where two guys who do the rubber roofs on the commercial buildings were able to remove and replace the roof using strap from a job.

It turned out better, and more professional than the RV dealership could ever had done. It cost the RV owner a couple "Franklins" per guy, (unreported), but it only took 90 minutes for a perfect job.

You might want to see if you can find someone in the trades to fix it, rather than depend on a dealer who is sort of a "handyman" in these sort of things. Just a thought.

FWIW, the dealer couldn't fix my electrical problem in a new ePro19FBS. But between myself and an commercial electrician (friend) we found the problem and I'm back on the road.

[Sunseeker16]

Funny how we hear manufacturers say it's not a problem but it's really common to be driving down the interstate and see an RV going in the opposite direction with this huge bubble of rubber roof sucked up in the air. Only a matter of time before the balloon pops.

[sau51]

What you are being told is fake truth from the dealer.
We had a faded roof cap on our Maxx and our current dealer, not where we purchased it, contacted FR and they repainted it over a year later.
FR had gotten a bad batch of grey and honored the warranty. Go to FR directly!

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by Ken-m

Is it not adhered correctly ? No it's not .
Will they tell you it's fine? Yes they will
Can and will the area grow larger? Sure can. In the end they won't do anything.

I agree and would not take delivery.

[Jim S JR]

Keep bugging FR, I have a Rovkwood 5vr, they pretty much repaired everything i had a problem with.

I also have a bubble, its 2 years out of warranty. I didn't bother asking for a repair.

[Ourvlife]

I hope this may help.
https://youtu.be/HaJK_fPn3Yk

If not you may want to have a third party RVIA inspector take a look.

Keep us all posted