nuevoboy Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Hope someone can enlighten me on this subject. We picked up a few brochures at the NEC Show as we're contemplating upgrading (possibly to an A-class). Several of them had options to upgrade from an aluminium roof to a GRP/polyester one. Having read one of the other posts about the (loose?) Rapido polyester skin (re: fitting a Solar panel) I'm somewhat confused as to the manufacturing process. If one orders the GRP roof, is this simply built with an additional skin or is the whole assembly different? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Depends on the manufacturer, if the standard roof is a bonded construction and they offer a GRP capping it will be what is says a capping on top of the original roof. Do not know if the capping is bonded to the roof you would need to ask the individual manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I think you'll have to check with each manufacturer what they do. I know ours has GRP sheets overlaid onto, and bonded to, the standard aluminium sheeting. I don't know if this is so on all current Hymers with this option, but would think it likely. However, I believe some may substitute a GRP covering for the standard aluminium covering, and of course some have GRP in some form as standard. So, the usual rules apply - there are no rules! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 GRP is certainly more substantial than just a thin sheet of alloy ..............and unlikely to be damaged by hailstones ;-).................often they are found on vans at the quality end of the market............like ours :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I'm confused WHY would you need to pay for an additional roof covering? Surely the original one should be sufficient? As regards the hailstone comment - how likely is it that you will be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get ones big enough to be able to damage your roof badly? Surely if you need to then you would have it repaired afterwards ... I'm all for what I see as sensible items that hopefully will never be needed (air bags etc) but an extra roof covering? To me it sounds like a way to 'fleece' prospective purchasers ... like charging extra for cab air con, cruise etc which is what used to happen and now comes in most cases as standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 You may reconsider Mel when you have been in a continental hail storm with hail stones the size of golf balls, quite common in Spain in mid summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 She obviously hasn't seen the pockmarked roofs of a lot of German vans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 You are both missing the point ... I understand that vans DO get hail damaged, but WHY are people paying to have an 'extra' of a plastic roof? If it happens then claim on insurance surely ... that's part of the reason you have it! :-S If people want to opt for the GRP roof then so be it, but it makes me wonder what manufacturers are going to be charging 'extra' for next! Perhaps they'll make a 'van bodywork protection kit' to fit round the outside and prevent it getting damaged when you reverse into something ... no doubt some people would think that's a good thing to buy too ... just in case!!! *-) I have seen the damage caused to MHs by a hailstorm, and have been in one too - we were in Paris back in 2005 and a massive storm hit just as we got to the campsite in our Rapido, we 'hid' it as best we could under a large tree so didn't take any direct hits, but it was 'interesting' to say the least! 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 MelB is bang on the money, of course it shouldn't be an optional extra, what a con. ;-) tell them to include it in the price or find a dealer that will. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Mel B - 2013-12-18 11:26 PM You are both missing the point ... I understand that vans DO get hail damaged, but WHY are people paying to have an 'extra' of a plastic roof? If it happens then claim on insurance surely ... that's part of the reason you have it! :-S If people want to opt for the GRP roof then so be it, but it makes me wonder what manufacturers are going to be charging 'extra' for next! Perhaps they'll make a 'van bodywork protection kit' to fit round the outside and prevent it getting damaged when you reverse into something ... no doubt some people would think that's a good thing to buy too ... just in case!!! *-) I have seen the damage caused to MHs by a hailstorm, and have been in one too - we were in Paris back in 2005 and a massive storm hit just as we got to the campsite in our Rapido, we 'hid' it as best we could under a large tree so didn't take any direct hits, but it was 'interesting' to say the least! 8-) All very well to say claim on the insurance but do you really want to have to get the roof re-skinned on your lovely new van, with all the work involved is there any guaranty it will be as good as the original unless you can get it done at the factory. Should manufacturers cap the roof as standard - maybe but they live in a competitive world and are always looking to bring their products to market at a price point. Hymer have GRP capped roofs on the B Class, B Class SL, Starline etc., but on their cheaper ranges like the Exsis it is an extra and yes I have thought it worthwhile to cough up 500 quid for the capped roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Mel B - 2013-12-18 11:26 PM Perhaps they'll make a 'van bodywork protection kit' to fit round the outside and prevent it getting damaged when you reverse into something ... no doubt some people would think that's a good thing to buy too ... just in case!!! *-) /QUOTE] malc d We used to have bodywork protection ' kits ' on our cars years ago. They were called ' bumpers ' Bit before your time though Mel I should think. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Whole swathes of vinyards were decimated by hail stones down Bordeaux neck of the woods last year,we were very lucky in missing them, although with our ( then ) PVC I'm not sure what the result would have been, and it's not an uncommon experience, so given that so many of these CB vans do not have roofs to even give you a fighting chance of being unscathed is a joke, but there you go, I'll let you know how we go in the Rapido if we get caught in one this year :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 pelmetman - 2013-12-18 6:06 PM ....often they are found on vans at the quality end of the market............like ours :D These days you even get them on Hymers, and they are as common as muck ...... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Quality British motorhomes like our present AutoTrail have GRP roofs as standard. To be fair our French Rapido did as well. How well they would stand up to golf ball size hailstones though may be questionable. If anyone's interested I'm thinking of marketing an airbag type roof that inflates in hailstorms to protect the roof and avoid waking the occupants if they are asleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Colin Leake - 2013-12-19 5:11 PM If anyone's interested I'm thinking of marketing an airbag type roof that inflates in hailstorms to protect the roof and avoid waking the occupants if they are asleep. Colin, Connect it to your reffillable system and fill it with gas then you can use smaller cylinders :D Not that it's ever been done before :D :D :D Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Keithl - 2013-12-19 8:06 PM Colin Leake - 2013-12-19 5:11 PM If anyone's interested I'm thinking of marketing an airbag type roof that inflates in hailstorms to protect the roof and avoid waking the occupants if they are asleep. Colin, Connect it to your reffillable system and fill it with gas then you can use smaller cylinders :D Not that it's ever been done before :D :D :D Keith. It works on air. When activated a small twelve volt pump inflates the air bag. When the danger has passed the pump can be used in reverse to extract the air out and suck the bag back into its concealed housing. It's a very neat and sophisticated system and it's all British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Colin Leake - 2013-12-19 10:40 PM Keithl - 2013-12-19 8:06 PM Colin Leake - 2013-12-19 5:11 PM If anyone's interested I'm thinking of marketing an airbag type roof that inflates in hailstorms to protect the roof and avoid waking the occupants if they are asleep. Colin, Connect it to your reffillable system and fill it with gas then you can use smaller cylinders :D Not that it's ever been done before :D :D :D Keith. It works on air. When activated a small twelve volt pump inflates the air bag. When the danger has passed the pump can be used in reverse to extract the air out and suck the bag back into its concealed housing. It's a very neat and sophisticated system and it's all British. You wouldn't even need the 12v pump, have it connected via a 'switching box' to your exhaust and when the engine is running you can divert the exhaust gasses to the bag! However, some members of this forum wouldn't even need to do that, they could just 'breath' into the bag and with all the hot air they produce it wouldn't take long to inflate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Nah. Connect it to the toilet, especially the ones with SOGs, and it would fill with methane which could then be used for cooking and heating. Just don't smoke! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I remember the 'inflatable roof air-bag' being suggested in the dim distant past by a forum-member who was fed up with birds hopping about on his motorhome's roof at dawn. I also vaguely recall some sort of 'last hope' bag-type device that could be fitted below a vehicle and be explosively inflated to provide emergency braking. I think it was intended for vehicles to be driven on ice and was studded like a huge hob-nail boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Mel B - 2013-12-18 11:26 PM You are both missing the point ... I understand that vans DO get hail damaged, but WHY are people paying to have an 'extra' of a plastic roof? If it happens then claim on insurance surely ... that's part of the reason you have it! :-S If people want to opt for the GRP roof then so be it, but it makes me wonder what manufacturers are going to be charging 'extra' for next! Perhaps they'll make a 'van bodywork protection kit' to fit round the outside and prevent it getting damaged when you reverse into something ... no doubt some people would think that's a good thing to buy too ... just in case!!! *-) I have seen the damage caused to MHs by a hailstorm, and have been in one too - we were in Paris back in 2005 and a massive storm hit just as we got to the campsite in our Rapido, we 'hid' it as best we could under a large tree so didn't take any direct hits, but it was 'interesting' to say the least! 8-) It is, presumably, the case that an insurance company would wear the cost of repairing a hail damaged roof. However, might act of God be cited, or am I being a cynic? After all, most, if not all, of the damage is merely cosmetic, the dents do not stop the roof functioning as a roof. Does anyone have direct experience of this kind of claim? Might be interesting to hear their experience. However, the time required for repair, plus the inconvenience to the motorhome owner while the van is out of use, would be considerable. AFAIK, the great majority of motorhomes are not roofed with GRP, most being sheet aluminium. Extreme hailstorms are not that common, so I guess it is just a case of offering the extra protection to those who want it. Whether sheet aluminium is actually cheaper than sheet GRP I don't know, but the GRP moulded roofs as on Rapido and AutoTrail must be substantially more expensive. So, it must be possible that universal adoption of GRP as roofing would have some cost impact. The attached (not very good) pic shows a hail damaged roof, so the impact on re-sale value if not fixed can be imagined, as can the extent of repairs necessary to fully make good. Folk just have to decde for themselves if they think the extra cost is worth bearing. After all, there is no compulsion to take up the option, nor to buy motorhomes in the first place, for that matter. Yer pays yer money, etc! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Taken from Rapido's website, not that I am any the wiser ! except I've got one apparently. RAPIDO uses polyester on its vehicles' panels and roofs. Thanks to this, the entire range offers excellent hail impact resistance (which is not the case with metal walls and roofs), as well as resistance to scratches and small impacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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