Phil The Hat Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Has enyone out there with a Hobby Toskana Exclusive ( tag axle) found a way of stopping water collecting on the roof ? I always seem to have a swimming pool on the roof which either cascades down over the cab when you pull away or causes a flood behind you !! I am worried about the integrity of the sealer on the roof. Any ideas ? Apart from park on a hill !!! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Other than parking on a slope,I'm not sure what can really be done,to be honest... Although we don't have a Hobby,we had a similar situation with our van,whilst it was sat on our drive'..so one thing I do now is to park the front wheels up on a couple of short sections of scaffold plank,which in our case is just enough for the water to run off... However,whilst I was looking at this,I did take some time to tidy up(cut'n'cleaned up)and "rebeaded/capped" the sealant(sika 512)that was around the rooflights,aerial etc.. I also had,would I thought,was a "vulnerable looking" seam,which ran across the width of the van(the join between the roof and the shaped overcab section)...... What I did with this seam was to "bond" (again sika 512)a length of 3" *pvc moulding over it(..leaving 1" short either end so as not to make it "captive".).. (* I think this moulding was less than a fiver for a 3-4mtr length). Although having said all of that,from what I can gather,water pooling on roofs is quite common,especially on the modern vans which tend to have flat roofs with the lateral/side "upstands"... It's when it doesn't run off and ends up coming back in through vents that we need to worry!... (lol) (..as happened to a forum member(michele),with her new Autotrail :-S ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 park it on ramps.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 If you get onto the roof, I think you will find there are two main cross seams. One at the front, between the aly roof sheet and the GRP over-cab fairing, and one at the rear, between the aly roof sheet and the GRP rear wall moulding. Both seams stand about 10mm proud of the aly roof sheet, acting as dams, and trapping water on the roof. The only short term fix, as suggested, is to drive the van onto ramps, or possibly better, boards, so that the roof takes on a slope. As your van is long, you will need to lift whichever end quite substantially to make an appreciable difference. However, it will not be possible to fully eliminate the ponding, as there will always be a puddle of some size against the "downhill" seam. Cross-roof seams executed in this way are an inherent weakness, that places excessive reliance on sealants, and could easily be eliminated with a little extra thought. The sealant used is an excellent product, but should never, IMO, be the sole line of defence against water ingress. Your best bet, long term, will probably be to get a roof cover such as one of the Hindermann products, that are made of laminated thin fleece/microporous fabric layers, to keep the rain off the roof altogether when the van is overwintering. However, I have recently been advised against doing this while the van is under warranty, not because it will affect the warranty, but because it is liable to disguise weaknesses until after the warranty has expired! You make of that advice, what you will! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Van Master make their caravans with slightly curved roofs so that water simply can't pool on it. Why the hell motorhomes aren't made with roofs that prevent pooling is beyond me. I used to be in the construction industry before I retired with a company that specialised in refurbishing blocks of flats and converting industrial premises in London into luxury flats. First thing we did if a flat roof was involved was to convert it to a pitched roof. If a local authority ever said they did not want us to do this we walked away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Flat roofers are always busy in snowy winters when the melt begins. The slush holds an extra depth of water exploiting holes any opened up by the recent frost. This probably applies to camper van as well. Driving on end of the van onto ramps etc to give a slope is the obvious answer but putting the ramps just on one side gives almost twice the gradient for the same lift. It reminds me of a flat roofed with raised edges van MMM had on test many years ago( Sad to relate it was British but I forget the maker). It had a side drain through the roof edge at the midpoint on its nearside. No prizes for guessing the location of the habitation door. If the pitch sloped a tiny bit to the offside putting a foot on the step when the roof was wet resuted in a soaking. For any doubters, it was fully reported along with a number of other undesirable features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil The Hat Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks for all the reply's, the 'van is parked on a slightly sloping drive so the water collects at the back during lay off. It is obviously a design fault and I see I am not alone with my Hobby as other makes suffer the same. I just hope the sealant ( which has turned black in places) holds up. !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 If the slope not enough to help drain roof, either turn van around or use leveling ramps to get it up higher in whatever direction aids the run of. leaving water on roof around seals really not a good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs T Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 In addition to Colin's view on roofs, never buy a house with upright edging at the base of a pitched roof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.