I am in search of an opinion.  My 1998 Patriot has a fiberglass roof.  In the two years we have owned it, we have cleaned the roof with mild detergent only, and about once a month weather permitting.  I dont know about previous owners, but when we bought this MH, the roof clear coat was in above average condition.  A few months later it started peeling, and is getting pretty bad on the end caps and side rails.
We live in Washington so too much sun isnt a problem.  This came from Florida.
Does someone have an Idea for the cause and a repair?
Thanks much!

My 2001 has an un-finished roof.  I don't know how the 98s came.  I suspect that the prior owner had the roof re-gel coated and refinished.  New clear coat was applied over existing clear coat on the edges and caps.  That would account for the peeling.  To repair it you might have to have at least the area where the clear coat was doubled refinished.  

You need to have a really good paint shop look at it.  Bruce Benson at Beaver Coach Sales will be able to help you.  

Bruce

If you are talking about the painted area around the edges of your roof that is peeling, it is probably sun damage and stripping the clearcoat off and repainting is probably what you will have to do. But if the white section of the roof is peeling also, it is not a clearcoat problem since that section did not have a clearcoat applied to it. If all of the roof is peeling, you have sealer of some kind that the former owner applied to stop streaking on the side of the coach from the unpainted fiberglass roof.

Since I am not a body and paint expert by any means, one of our other members may be able to spread more light on the subject and be of more help.

Gerald  

The 2000 Patroit I have is peeling big pieces of Clear Coat on the front and real caps, also the approx. 8 inch area above the drip edge, this 8" area is part of the roof cap radius.The rest of the Clear Coat is in great condition, my guess is the UV from the sun caused it, is this happening to anyone else? Any  body shop recommendations in central Florida?

http://www.creativecoach.com/ seems to be pretty busy and did all of Buddy Gregg's work when they had the Lakeland Store.  Also http://www.alliancecoachonline.com/ who supports us with an add and is at the old factory service center"Camp Monaco" in Wildwood. They did some sllde seal work for me with good results and they have a body shop.

The sides on the roof and end caps began peeling all at once last spring.  We had it repainted.  I was amazed how it started at the same time!  I suspect sun, pollution and parking near conifers did the damage.  I waxed the area twice a year and felt I was doing it a favor by parking near the shade of pines.

http://www.rvtruckclearcoating.com/ Is another location in central FL that I sent an inquiry to last June and got a reply today. Really "prompt" but they may be OK but check them out very well.

When we purchased our 42' Marquis from Bend, the clear coat on the roof was shot and every morning when the dew collected and ran off the roof, the coach sides were covered with white streaks.

CLEAR COAT WILL ALWAYS BE A PROBLEM NO MATTER THAT YOU LIVE IN WASHINGTON OR ARIZONA. It just goes faster in Arizona.
We were Airstream owners for a number of years and the clear coat was always the biggest problem.

What I did was to contact a company that makes a material that is used to spray in the bed of a pick up truck.
It's an upscale technology from the Armor product. It's used for roads and bridge coverings.

They stripped everything off the roof, sanded it down and applied the coating with a color match close to my coach. Over that they applied an UV coating from American Rubber Roofing with a 30 year life. This treatment also took care of all the small hair line cracks in the roof fiberglass

My roof looks fantastic, I can go up there and dance on it if I want.    No more streaks!!!!
I will never have to deal with roof clear coat again with this coach in my life time.
By the way, we live in Oregon.

I have the same problem with my 2000 Marquis. Lazydays body shop quoted me approx $3000 to refinish the radius only. (That is the curved rim .) They advised never to paint the white gelcoat that is the centre section that Beaver never painted. They suggested Liquid Roof or Mop and Glo once in a while !! The reason for not painting is the roof becomes very slippery when wet.  I am toying with the idea of Dicor Elastomeric paint...the non acrylic one........and refinishing the clearcoat radius myself by buffing the edges with 1500  paper where it has peeled and then using a brush or spray can to apply more clear coat.
The white streaks which run down the coach sides when it rains are from the unpainted white gelcoat in the centre section of the roof. If you clean this area thoroughly you can apply Mop and Glo with a kitchen mop to seal the gelcoat. Read instrctions on the bottle. It requires 2 applications an hour or so apart brushing in opposite directions and then let dry. I would mask off the radius while applying the Mop and Glo. Walmart sells it for about $5 per bottle.   2 bottles should be more than enough.     Jeremy

The marine deck paint (http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1235438093/) that Ed used on the white portion of his roof should solve the slick when wet concern if you are interested painting your roof.  (http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1286977461/)  
Gerald

I agree Gerald. It might be the most cost effective solution as well as looking pretty darn good. I have used Rustoleum on my Corbin 39 sailboat in various areas with great results. You can add Silicate to the final coat if you wish to make  either the whole roof or masked off walking areas "non skid".  
A big plus with this product is that it must be UV proof  ,whereas Mop and Glo is not. Jeremy

I have been on my roof in both wet and dry conditions, both before and after painting with the Rustoleum deck paint, and I see no difference in how slippery the surface is. I have never experienced what I would consider a slippery surface condition on my roof since I painted it.

My expectation is that a waxed roof, Mop and Glo or otherwise, would tend to be more slick than an unwaxed surface. I have waxed boat decks and have had dramatic changes in how slippery the surface had becomes to the point where I considered the waxed surface dangerous. I have never waxed any of my RVs roofs just for that reason.

I personally chose not to add the Silicate to the mix and from my perspective it is fine although others might chose to do so.  When I do plan on going up and pressure washing I do wear Sperry boat deck shoes for safety as I always did on a wet boat deck. At least the motorhome is a flat level surface that is not pitching or heeling and for that I am thankful. It is really a quick job to clean the roof now, I use a swivel head arrangement with a handle that has a white scrub pad on the bottom that is from the marine industry for scrubbing decks.

The big plus to this approach is cost, relative ease of prep followed by roller application, it should last for years where Mop and Glo would be months at best, and it truly protects the gel coat. I still do not see any downside to this approach but will keep you posted if one comes up.  

Later Ed

I have to agree that the Mop n Glo won't give UV protection to keep the gel coat from oxidizing.  I just Maguiar waxed the entire roof with my Porter-Cable polisher and the white streaks have stopped.  The old boat shoes from the days when we had our live-aboard sport cruiser work great on the slick roof, as Ed indicates.  His is the ultimate solution, though, if you have the time, money, and wherewithall.

-Joel

Joel,

As long as there are no major gel coat issues I found the roof painting to be a relatively easy job. This is a repost of what it took to get it done. Water did not bead on my roof after the cleaning with Simple Green. I had not waxed the roof before so there may be prep variations that one might need to create depending on how the gel coat had been treated and how the surface looked from a water beading point of view after cleaning.

The prep consisted of pressure washing the roof with a Simple Green solution. Once dry I scrubbed the roof surface with a Red Scotchbrite automotive prep pad. I did this by hand but it could be done with an orbital tool with a Scotchbrite pad. Basically a quick light scuffing. The roof being aged and oxidized means it is already roughened microscopically. I then washed the surface with an automotive wax and grease cleaning solvent by 3M. The prep took about 3 to 4 hours. I taped the perimeter and roof structures with two inch Scotch Blue Painters Tape (approx 1.5hrs) and then used a 1 inch by 6 inch roller to roll on two coats of deck paint. (less than 2 hours per coat and 3 quarts of paint total) This job can be completed for about $100 in about 8hrs spread over several days.

To me this is a whole lot less work than waxing the roof over and over and cleaning streaks from the coach surfaces.
Hope this helps.

later Ed

   Today Lazydays cleaned my roof thoroughly and then inspected it. It is rock solid to walk on and has no spider cracks anywhere. I am going to follow  Ed's advice and use white Rustoleum to seal the gelcoat.  It worked very well on the deck of my sailboat .Now I know the roof of my Marquis is firm and solid it should be fine there too.  Thanks Ed.    Jeremy