My Superior RV is in Tijuana Mexico for an GALVANIZED STEEL Roof Reskin.

mytoolman · March 02, 2022, 04:45 AM

:)rotflmao Hi All My 1973 2200 Superior Motor Coach is at a commercial truck and trailer repair shop in Tijuana Mexico to have its GALVANIZED STEEL roof replaced ( a roof re-skin). I live in San Diego, CA so getting it to them is something do able for me. It was about a 25 mile trip to get there.

My friend David had worked for a guy who buys dry storage trailers from auction etc and sends them down to this shop in Tijuana, B.C. Mexico to have them re-furbed. He already had this connection and a relationship here so this part was easy.

I took the chance to drive into Mexico and weathered the paperwork and procedural process that the Mexican Government has for allowing a Motor home to enter Tijuana. it took about the same two hour time frame a typical California DMV visit takes and $60 for a life of the RV permit to complete the process. David speaks fluent Spanish and was with me to make the process work better than if I had tried myself.

The main very serious process besides the actual clerical paperwork, was to have the VIN verified vs my California Ownership documents. The other important part, and one I was not really emotionally prepared to have, had a drug sniffing dog walk the rig. I was not completely sure there was not some nook or cranny that the prior owner may have stuck some contraband in years ago that this dog would now uncover. This part was an unknown and I have to tell you I was not that relaxed about experiencing that. Obviously my rig Ive named "Casita" or Cassy came up clean or I would be currently languishing in a Mexican Jail right now...

To make sure I get what I should can the brain trust here tell me what thickness of steel sheet I should expect...I see that .025" is sold but I read of a guy who found .040 that he claims he got for the same price back in 2017 when he posted his story. Im not sure if thicker is better except for being better able to resist tearing....obviously the thicker material is heavier also. Maybe it is also harder to install....what is typical for aluminum roof thickness?

Where is a good (cost effective and good quality of materials) place to buy enough in one roll to cover my 8 foot wide by 24 foot long coach? I want to supply the materials as much as I can for these guys....they deal with trailer reskins regularly but I want to make sure I know something about this anyway....they seem like genuinely nice and competent folks...and I have seen the work they end with...I haven't seen what any of that work looked like before they did their work.

I have the idea that I want to put insulation under the this new roof skin...is this viable? Shoould I consider any other repair or maintenance or addition while they are in doing this work?

What ever pearls of wisdom you all can offer is greatly appreciated.

I think I will be ok with them labor cost wise....they want to trade me their service for tools so this will be an adventure also....

eXodus · March 02, 2022, 05:52 AM

.0040 vs .0025 I don't think it will make a large difference - further the weight is distributed over the whole RV. I would take the thicker one, just more resistant to impact.

How close are you to your weight limits?

Any modern RV has insulation on the roof deck. But the roof is usually a sandwich. So you got, Aluminum, Luan (Plywood) then you got your insulation layer. Inside the insulation are also the trusses and then you got your internal ceiling.

more insulation is always better and doesn't weight anything. Your A/C will thank you, but you will be adding height. So that's something to think about.

mytoolman · March 02, 2022, 07:28 AM

eXodus. thank you for your input. I am not close to the weight limits at all presently,,,,Ill be changing out tanks etc so weight will have to be considered though....

Oz · March 03, 2022, 12:21 AM

You can check with these companies about the aluminum specs, etc.

http://rvsiding.com/

https://kerfkore.com/lightweight-panels-panel/worklite-xps-foamkore/

mytoolman · March 05, 2022, 05:42 AM

thanks Oz.

Nate · April 07, 2022, 05:12 PM

I'm curious, why did you decide to go with aluminum instead of replacing it with the original steel? Are you having anything done to inhibit galvanic corrosion?

mytoolman · April 13, 2022, 10:43 PM

I just found 4foot by 10 foot 22 gauge GALVANIZED sheets of steel...I bought 10 sheets. The shop in TJ has had them for a week now so far they have not put the RV back in the line up to get them installed....The original skin lasted 50 years. Im not worried about them rotting out again. I will have them painted and keep the paint in good condition. i will do my best to not let tree branches or anything else tear the metal....Sometime this month my Superior should have its new skin on its roof....

mytoolman · April 13, 2022, 10:47 PM

Quote from: Nate on April 07, 2022, 05:12 PM
I'm curious, why did you decide to go with aluminum instead of replacing it with the original steel? Are you having anything done to inhibit galvanic corrosion?

I used GALVANIZED 22 gauge sheets Galvanized is what was on there from the build originally and what was removed. It will be painted to inhibit galvanic corrosion.

Mlw · April 14, 2022, 07:32 AM

One more warning, Because my roof is delaminated the aluminium roof was banging away like crazy with the storms we had. It was like sitting in a thunderstorm. Imagine what's going to happen when you are driving.

With the original setup the aluminium is glued to the Styrofoam hence prohibiting it from "banging" are they going to do this again and if so how?

I'm very curious about it because I have seen a lot of video's where they removed the Styrofoam, make a wooden frame, put rockwool between the aluminium roof and the ceiling and be done with it. I always wondered if they then didn't experienced the same thing?

mytoolman · April 22, 2022, 03:14 AM

Update photos

mytoolman · April 22, 2022, 04:31 PM

Quote from: Mlw on April 14, 2022, 07:32 AM
One more warning, Because my roof is laminated the aluminium roof was banging away like crazy with the storms we had. It was like sitting in a thunderstorm. Imagine what's going to happen when you are driving.

With the original setup the aluminium is glued to the Styrofoam hence prohibiting it from "banging" are they going to do this again and if so how?

I'm very curious about it because I have seen a lot of video's where they removed the Styrofoam, make a wooden frame, put rockwool between the aluminum roof and the ceiling and be done with it. I always wondered if they then didn't experienced the same thing?

Sorry for not seeing your post until now for more than one reason! I don't know if the repair shop is considering gluing the new sheets of GALVANIZED STEEL to the Styrofoam or not. I will have to ask them. Now that you mentioned this... The pieces of steel that were removed DID have the Styrofoam still sticking to those sheets of steel that were cut out. So what you are mentioning has validity. The shop has already installed about half the panels...I need to look at this sites settings to have it email notify me when a reply to one of my posts is done....

zekmiester · April 25, 2022, 10:18 PM

Good day

Can you share the contact information for the TJ shop? What was your cost? TIA

Mlw · April 26, 2022, 01:22 PM

Well, you've read it now

Yes, please ask them and let us know the outcome. I saw a tremendous amount of video's of people stripping down to bare aluminium, make a frame and replace the Styrofoam with rockwool. you can of course screw the aluminum to the frame, but then your making holes again.

For me, I'm going to replace the aluminium with wood that I will completely cover in epoxy, make a frame, screw the roof to the frame with sunken screws, fill the holes with epoxy an paint the whole roof with Marine Double D lacker. It will not be the cheapest solution, but I'm really fed up with the leaky roof I have right now.