'79 Brave front roof cap, glued or screwed in?

[madluc]

Sent: 4/6/2005

Hello All

I've had the Rv for a year.  Decided to replace the front ceiling panel above the driver's seat.  Took panel down, found that I needed to seal the front roof cap where it screws into the metal roof.  I noticed that the wood crossbeam is glued to the roof, but not screwed down anywhere.  Is this normal?  Is there a better way to seal that front seam for better support?  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

[denisondc]

Sent: 4/6/2005 6:30 AM

I cant picture your situation, probably because mine is a 72, and by 79 they were different? Does yours have a fiberglass front cap above the windshield, or is it all aluminum from the top of the glass up and back to the roof?.
I can easily believe a cross beam wasnt held down. The roof skin - aluminum sheet- needs to be held down, and on mine there are screws about every 2 inches down both sides and across the back. Since my roof is a replacement, there is a seam across the front, where the original aluminum roof skin that starts above the windshield connected to the replacement roof skin - and has screws about every 2 inches across that joint.
That is enough to keep the roof on. When parked the roof just lies there of course, and when hauling down the interstate, the many many screws keep the aluminum skin from lifting up and flying off, as well as holding down the roof sandwich structure below it.

[Rick Shaw]

Sent: 4/6/2005 

My 79 had the fiberglass front cap above the windshield.
Rick

[madluc]

Sent: 4/6/2005 6:42 PM

Thank you for replying the front roof cap is fiberglass

Rob

[denisondc]

Sent: 4/6/2005 

I would assume that your RVs front cap just lays atop the first inch of the aluminum roof sheet, with plenty of screws going through the fiberglass and the aluminum, and into the wooden beam. I doubt it would make any difference if the beam were tied in to the walls, as long as it is well connected to that joint between the fiberglass the the rest of the roof. And that seam would also have had sealant put in it as it was being screwed down. For maintenance, slicing out the old sealant that you can reach, and putting down a bead of new sealant would be a chore needed probably every two years, 3 at the most.

[lockman]

Sent: 4/7/2005 

On our D23 Brave we have a one piece alum. roof with front fibreglas cap. The cap, complete with mini eyebrows, goes from above the windsheilds to about 8 -10 inches over the top. The seam where the cap and roof join was well sealed on ours so I don' t how they are fastened.

We removed all old silicone sealant at that seam area.Then used the recomended fiberglas seam tape over front and back seams  and white Snow Coat roof system to completly cover the roof and all of its hundreds of  little holes. The roof in the front area is physically held down by all the screws in the curved side rail caps running down both sides,and bolted thru the steel channel beam just behind the driver seat area.

The bolts coming down thru the roof also are used to attach our two little seat belts used to hold the overhead bunk up in the travelling position. Since we removed all of the inside of the ceiling from this steel cross beam to the rear one, just before the rear beds, there was no attachments of wood rafters to alum. roof except for glue. A chemical reaction with this glue was, I believe, the cause of all the pin holes in the alum skin.

The roof sheet was further attached at four points by  #12 x 3 wood screws down thru the roof and into the corners of each of the interior walls. This keeps the roof on and the walls steady. Needless to say, 26 years of wear and reaction between the large metal screws and alum. roof  left this system useless.  We relaced the screws with lag bolts and used large non ferrous washers to spread out the holding force over a wider area.