Pop-Top - yes, it's leaking...advice please!

[samk]

Hi All,

I'd like some advice on fixing my pop- top. it's a slightly long (OK looong!) posting so please bear with me.

Firstly, it's a 1983 Autohomes Kamper - with the hard sided pop - top.
I bought my van back in december fully aware that the pop top was letting in a bit of water - not running down anywhere but seeping into the plywood top around the edges. It appears to be particuarly bad around the front 2 corners.

I've been prepping the roof for fixing and so far have removed old silicon and some paint from an old DIY job done done by a previous owner. At the weekend I decided to step up a gear and nitromorse the poor thing - this has started to uncover a few things i wasnt expecting - suprise suprise!

Here are the problems

- the seal at the front has moved away from wood - this is letting water soak into the wood from the front (I knew about this)

- i think there may be some water getting in along the sides by the rubber seams - not sure if its been running down from the front though

- there are small dinks in the thin metal roof covering - these have been filled with what looks like fairly standard filler

this is what i was originally planning to do

- properly clean up the roof and side seals - including removing old paint

- fill the front gap with frame sealant and then pipe frame sealent round the entire seam

- drill 2 holes and then screw the front seal back into the wood

- put flashband on the edge of the roof - covering original seal and a small section of the roof top

- then finally paint the roof top (was thinking of oil based gloss)

now i'm thinking i need to do something a little more drastic to make it fully watertight. Would anyone recommend using some epoxy resin on the top? could i do this and paint over it? or, is there a special waterproof paint that i'm not aware of? it's tempting to cover the entire rof in a waterproof substance but perhaps it doesn't need it.

unfortunately I've had troube getting photos down to the right size to upload. I'd apreciate it if you could look on my flickr site. i've added descriptions http://www.flickr.com/photos/32435214@N02/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated - I'm dying to get it fixed so i can head camping and surfing without worrying too much - it's particularly vulnerable now i've removed all the old sealant AND i just discovered the tarp i put on isn't waterproof - oops!

Thanks!

[samk]

just trying to bump up a little

[kathyshack]

sorry, can't help with fixing it, but i know some people have just removed these types of top and fitted a hightop instead... Timbertechs do a good one.

[jaylo264]

you would be crazy to replace such an ace design of pop roof with a hightop -- these are ok for geriatrics , i guess , but our family of 5 plus 2 dogs have all loved our Kamper .
so -- short term , flashband it IN THE WARM ; for a longer term solution , i would sit a purpose made grp or alloy skin on top, glue it down , then you can leave it out , level ! , in the rain.
jaylo

[jamesc76]

thought these roof were made of weetabix sorry chip board hense they leak?????

[samk]

may aswell be weetabix! the main bulk of roof is chipboard but it's covered in a thin aluminium sheet and sealed at the sides with rubber edged plastic panels.

kathyshak - a high top is probably the sensible solution but personally I dont like the look of them, plus I couldnt afford one at the moment!thanks for the tip off though.

Jaylo, thanks for the post and the PM - they are a great design and perfect for taking friends away on surf trips - i just think they temporarily forgot they were designing them for the UK! I think a simple aluminium sheet would be a great solution long term

[samk]

anyone else tackled a similar problem? Autohomes or not?

[RebelT82]

Hi,
I have the same poptop on an 82, and have the exact same problem hoping to strip it this weekend weather permitting and see what damage is done underneath.

[SYNCRO]

Talk to these guys and get the whole thing replaced

http://www.autovan.co.uk/repairs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SYNCS