Aluminum Roof Holes

Spray a tea tree oil mixture To kill mold

Tearing out more ceiling.
Steel tubing in ceiling rusted out pretty bad in spots, so glueing oak wood to reinforce it. The cold is slowing things down.
I may put a couple of screws in, but might be pointless given the rust.


Dry ceiling (until I wash roof)


This is all I am replacing for now.Temp fix, hoping it last years.
Why: pulling out the wet wood and foam is easy, the good part is very hard to remove as it is bonded well, and too much potential to damage good part of roof, no reason to replace good roof either.


Rusted out frame that supports AC unit. Sistering the steel with oak wood, and will support all that with a cross-member such as is used for bathroom area.
AC held in with 3 long bolts only. Hex head. Remove bolts and whole thing drops easily.
I'm tempted to put AC unit in garage since I rarely used AC this year.


The rusted out steel I am dealing with.
Have since ground out rust with brush down to clean metal and glueing supports on for strength.


Wall, to be finished after ceiling.

More work done since these photos.
I tested out some bonding glues.
Glidden's Gripper paint works very well to glue foam. The test showed the foam will rip apart before the paint releases.
Wood to wood or wood to aluminum using Gripper for glue is not any better than wood glue, so will use LN for that.
Gripper is about $20 per gallon, and 1 gal should be plenty to glue all the foam, even for entire roof.

Next up is a 13 foot angle iron at ceiling/wall to support the door sag.
I will have to weld together two pieces to get the length I need then bolt two together if I cant get 13 footer in the door…

Sistered in some oak boards to help give strength. A couple of screws through the rusty steel frame just for fun. When I put in the crossmember then this will take load off the steel frame under the AC, so I think this will be strong enough.



Next step is wait for warmer weather, wash roof, which will get ceiling wet again, then put on rubber roof coating, then I can install ceiling…

I really like the buttressing of the roof, looks good.

Thanks, hope it holds. Lots of rust, and wire brush could not get in every dimple.
I need a covered carport to work under, rain everyday possible the next week or more now.
I cant put in ceiling until roof is coated, and cant coat until I wash it and have time for rubber coating to dry before rain hits it, and cant cover the roof without tarp touching wet coating, cant put solar panels on until coating is down.

My thoughts when I ever do replace entire roof is to use the 2 inch foam panels instead of the stock 1 inch size. My first camper build had 5-6 inches of fiberglas insulation in roof, and thick insulated walls. On a cold night I'd turn on the heat for five mins and that was all I needed for hours. (Had smaller windows and covered then with cardboard at night too, so less heatloss there).
Anyone tried thicker panels?
I'm wanting to add another inch os foam insulation above the bunk bed somehow to make it useable on cold or very hot days…

Glued, with LN, thin plywood to the roof from the inside. (Rubber coating the roof at the same time, but the cold stopped that for a while, but I think roof water tight now.)
By leaving the roof on means having to scab a bunch of plywood pieces into place in and around the frame. Slow going without unlimited number of braces.
Am actually glueing the first foam insulation in now.


ceiling glued in, which gives roof support.

You can see the board with the screws in it. It is a one inch board, same as frame. This supports the rusty frame supporting the AC area. I will run a board across the ceiling to support this board. Same as is for bathroom.
The board has pieces of sheet metal, steel, screwed to it top and bottom on both ends, so it sandwiches the frame.

AC unit removed. I put it on a long wide board, slid it over to old camper roof,which is the same height, and left it there. No lifting involved. interior parts just dangling. Got an offer on the old camper, so need to find somewhere to put AC now… lol

Looks like you had to go all in

I ripped out 1/4 of the ceiling at least. ½ of the wall on that side.
Hoping no moisture left in ceiling where I left alone.
But, yes, all in for that area. Going easy, just taking too much time letting it dry and waiting on my supports (speaker stands) to be free for the next gluing.
I have started installing ceiling foam, and that should go quicker.

I am using Glidden Gripper paint for foam glue. I used LN in spots where I needed to fill gaps or on uneven surfaces like where the plywood does not match up level.

Time will tell…

That’s some nice work there - the Glidden Gripper is interesting, I hadn’t run across that in my own rebuild.

I also like the inside-out approach to the roof. I feel like you can get some better compression of the layers using the supports from underneath like that. I think my outer skin was too far gone to do the same thing (I had nothing to compress against with any reliability) but I like it.

Keep it up.

Thanks.
The Gripper worked fantastic in my bench test. The foam ripped apart before it pulled away from the board, but board to board glueing did not work, so is just for foam.


The foam I glued with Gripper last night is solid so far. Doing next batch now…

I would be very interested to know how the factory assembles the roof/ceiling. Is it pre-assembled on a form then lifted into place, or is it built around the frame on top of camper…


Homemade ceiling support. I needed more supports. So made this. two boards and one c-clamp. push up hard and clamp. You can always put boards at slant and kick it upright making it taller.

I used liquid nail

Ceiling is done, walls on their way…


Orange tarp for rain.
I used some LN Sub-Floor cause it said it cures as low as 20 degrees. It is not as heavy duty as the Heavy Duty LN, takes a lot longer to cure, so I left the clamps on for a few days.
Hoping it holds over time.
I clamped where I could but used 2x4s and just screwed through the wall. Will make repairs later, but had to ensure the wall was held tight.


beam glued in for extra support under AC unit. This is where, on the right side, that the steel frame was so rusted. I had sistered up some sturdy wood to the frame, but this board will be my insurance policy. Plus the newly laminated ceiling is not as well laminated as factory, so weaker.


Ceiling is all back up and cabinet installed. I will paint it later. Right above the green bed frame you can see the pine board that runs across the ceiling, supported by vertical boards on the walls. I will paint white later. This will help support the AC unit and keep roof up.

A tree fell on the roof, right where all the repair was made. No real damage, just minor. The roof came unstuck from the insulation foam in that spot. I punched a hold in the roof and injected 8 oz of Glidden Gripper paint there to maybe stick something together.
Later I will tackle the inside as a small 2-3 sq foot ares of ceiling has come unglued also (from the tree). It is still up but needs attention.
Everything else is holding up great. Over 20,000 miles and many many nights camping all over the country so far.
Still have not painted interior.

Hadn’t noticed that new beam on the roof - great idea there.

Yes, thanks. The board/beam on ceiling is working great. Also gives good place if I want to put a curtain rail up.
I should get photos of the finished interior too.

The wall panels did not hold. I knew glueing it in the cold was bad idea, but had no choice, I had to have finished by Feb. This is not an issue so much, but I want to fix it. I may just re-drill the holes I made in the wall and drip in some adhesive then bolt the wall together and leave the bolts in. I can find some flush mount bolt heads that will not look odd I think.

A heated garage would have been ideal, or warmer weather.

Today I finally was home long enough and there was no rain for long enough to put another rubber coat on the entire roof.

The curtain idea is certainly an interesting one, I hadn’t considered that. It works well on the back end to give some separation, it could be nice in the front too. Worth pondering a bit at least.