This week just keeps getting Worse !!!

[rob_fla]

Well our move to Texas just keeps getting worse.
First our Glide Plate on our Trail Air Tri Glide Pin Box Broke and we had to stop, take the lower jaw off and get it welded to be able to continue our trip.
Now we arrived in Weatherford TX, the Pin Box Weld repair is holding up good but I got out to check in at the Campground where we will be for a couple of weeks and looked back at our Redwood, the Front Roof Membrane was billowed up about 6 to 8 inches from the front cap all the way back to the 1st Attic Vent.
Also the Attic Vent Cover is gone and the membrane material is pulling out of the vent base.
Called Redwood customer service about 4:40, phones already turned off for the night so I left a message.
I went up on the roof and do not see any tears or damage to the membrane.
Called a local RV Tech to come and look at it and access the situation and see what we need to do to prevent further damage in case it rains.

[Rosey]

I'm so so sorry that you're going thru this. I'm awaiting our appointment to have our new 39mb bedroom slide leak addressed later this month so I can relate to your frustration.

[atom ant]

Oh no!

Usually it is the front seam at the front cap that pulls lose and catches air, but you say that is still good?

[Shane Wood]

Sorry to hear of your problems. Which vent are you talking about on the roof. Could it be when the vent cap came off it allowed air under the membrane to star it to lift. Do you have any pictures

[slideone]

Shoot, I hate to hear that Robert, thank goodness you were not traveling in the rain, I guess waiting around to leave Florida was a good idea. It could have been a horrible mess if it were raining. We will be anxious to hear how quickly you can get it repaired. Hopefully there is no rain in the immediate forcast.

[travelin' texans]

It was billowed up after you stopped? If so it must have stretched the membrane? Hope you can get it resolved quickly!!

[RWJSIM2003]

I would get a Tarp and have it on the roof for now until you can get it in and repaired. sounds like you will be getting a roof replaced soon.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

It was billowed up after you stopped? If so it must have stretched the membrane? Hope you can get it resolved quickly!!

Yep, we stopped at Oak Creek RV Park in Weatherford TX to register and I looked back at our Redwood, the roof membrane was billowed up about 6 inches high from the front cap all the way back to the first attic vent.
It slowly deflated as I registered at the CG, similar to my deflation when I saw it.
After we got setup, I went up on the roof to look, no tears, rips or damage and yes the membrane is stretched pretty bad, it now has a bunch of wrinkles and air pockets in it.

[Ford truck guy]

Can you get your hands on some eternobond before it rains ? You may be able to patch it down until it gets corrected ??

There is a local place near me that sells it , If you cant find any local, I can get a roll and ship it UPS RED to you today . . If I know early enough . . .

[rob_fla]

Its Raining now with pretty heavy rain expected today.
There appears to be no seam rips of tears, there are a couple of places on the front cap sealant that looked poor and the Attic Vent Cap is gone.
Used a lot of Gorilla Tape to seal up the Attic Vent Cap and cover the weak sealant areas on the front cap, nothing on the sides and no rips or tears in the membrane.
I used Gorilla Tape to seal up the last roof failure at the rear cap when the metal strap that attaches the Rear Cap to the Ceiling poked up through the sealant, towed it 300 miles and the Gorilla Tape was still in place.

[Ford truck guy]

That's good stuff.... Glad to know that worked for you before , I always keep a roll on hand.

[rob_fla]

Update on our travel to Texas problems with our Redwood FL.

When we arrived in Weatherford Texas and I saw the Roof membrane billowed up, I just sighed and thought what next.
I am not one to get mad and raise my blood pressure when problems or challenges arise, I just figure out the best solution for the current situation and move on.

After seeing the Roof membrane billowed up, we went ahead and checked in at the Campground and got our Redwood setup at a site.
I asked the CG managers if they knew of a good mobile tech to come look at the roof issue with me. They gave me a card of a local mobile tech, I called him and he stopped by just before dark and we went up to look at the roof membrane.
He was expecting to see self inflicted damage like a tear, cut or rip, to his surprise there was no tears, cuts or rips in the membrane. It was stretched out pretty bad and had deflated back down to the roof structure. The membrane did not pull out of the front or sides either, it must have happened during the final stages of our trip. Our Attic Vent Cap is missing so I covered it with Gorilla Tape to keep the water / rain out.

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I contacted Redwood / Crossroads customer service representative Mark. He took my information and send me the contact info for 2 area dealers and 2 area approved mobile service companies. He also mentioned due to our fulltime status and need for timely repairs I would probably have better luck with the mobile service companies.
I contacted the closest mobile service company and they could not even look at our Redwood for a week. I called the second mobile company and talked to the owner. He was great, very informative, helpful and said sure he was busy but for fulltimers in our situation he could move stuff around and accommodate us.
He could do a Roof membrane replacement and would file the paperwork with Crossroads.
During all of this I also investigated the RV Armor Roof Lifetime System solution. I contacted Mark and Crossroads and said we wanted to go with the RV Armor solution.
I got RV Armor to send a quote to Crossroads / Redwood for approval. I probably bugged Mark and Crossroads / Redwood way too much to get the quote approved but as you know the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I want to say, Mark in Customer Service and Tech Chris at Crossroads / Redwood have been absolutely fantastic to deal with, even with my daily calls and emails they were always very professional and responded quickly.

We got the RV Armor Roof System Quote approved and are on their schedule for the Roof Repair / Installation next weekend 11/13 to 11/15.

Now we are working on the Pin Box repair, with the RV Mobile Company in Dallas we had contacted earlier. Timing will be tight to get Redwood / Lippert to approve and ship replacement parts since we are planning on leaving Texas on 11/18 heading towards Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

Keeping cool and working with the team at Redwood has been a great experience to come up with a satisfactory resolution for all parties. I think going with the RV Armor Lifetime Roof System was the right move for us and will be a good roof system solution that we will not have to worry about.

I saw RV Armor install their roof system at the Redwood Rally last August, nice looking system but since it is a "Bright White" product, the side wrap of the roof really stood out on the unit they did at the rally. Our Redwood is Tan and Maroon paint, I asked could they do the side wrap of the roof on our unit in a Tan color material, they told me yes they had a tan colored product and could do the center part of the roof in the standard "Bright White" product and the side wraps in the tan color. I also think the "Bright White" on the main roof will be cooler in the summer sun / heat we get in the southeast.

[atom ant]

Any idea what caused the roof to separate or where it got air Rob?

Also, will they be stripping your existing roof membrane to install the spray on stuff?

[rob_fla]

It looks like sealant failure at the front Cap.
I had the Redwood techs look at it during the Rally last August, they added more sealant at the front and rear cap
When we looked at it after arriving here, it looks like there are pockets / voids in the sealant between the Roof Membrane and the Front Cap.


They will not strip the entire membrane only the front part that bellowed up and stretched.
Their normal procedure is to apply their lifetime system on the existing membrane.
The rest of the membrane from the front attic vent back looks fine.
The will remove the front part, apply a direct apply product then seal the membrane seam and then apply their product to the whole roof.

[travelin' texans]

Sounds like things are going your way, but what a HUGE PITA!
Are they shipping an entire new hitch (Flex air hopefully) or just replacement parts for that one? I guess if you've welded it up it's not repairable, it'll have to be replaced. Did RW/Lippert have advice/suggestions on what the rest of us need to look for to possibly prevent our hitches from falling apart & losing our rigs on the highway, a recall maybe? Or were you just the fortunate one? I can hear it now, "oh that's never happened before, it's probably lack of maintenance".

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

Sounds like things are going your way, but what a HUGE PITA!
Are they shipping an entire new hitch (Flex air hopefully) or just replacement parts for that one? I guess if you've welded it up it's not repairable, it'll have to be replaced. Did RW/Lippert have advice/suggestions on what the rest of us need to look for to possibly prevent our hitches from falling apart & losing our rigs on the highway, a recall maybe? Or were you just the fortunate one? I can hear it now, "oh that's never happened before, it's probably lack of maintenance".

Working on the Pin Box issues now, I wanted to make sure the Roof issue was done with first.
Now that I had such a major failure of the Trial Air Pin Box, I have lost confidence in the design, I have requested a Flex Air Replacement.

We will see what happens, they could replace the lower Jaw with the Flex Air Jaw, it would save them money and be a fairly easy fix.
Now that I have had the lower Jaw off to get it welded, it is a fairly simple R&R.

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[travelin' texans]

If by some chance they just send you the Flex Air lower jaw, please try to find out who/what/where to get one. I'm with you on losing confidence in the Trail Air lower plate, especially after your close call.

[S&K]

So glad all of the issues are being taken care of, and hopefully in a timely manner before Thanksgiving! Sure glad you're safe tho.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

If by some chance they just send you the Flex Air lower jaw, please try to find out who/what/where to get one. I'm with you on losing confidence in the Trail Air lower plate, especially after your close call.

I will update on the Pin Box repair process

[mstan]

Originally Posted by rob_fla

Update on our travel to Texas problems with our Redwood FL.

When we arrived in Weatherford Texas and I saw the Roof membrane billowed up, I just sighed and thought what next.
I am not one to get mad and raise my blood pressure when problems or challenges arise, I just figure out the best solution for the current situation and move on.

After seeing the Roof membrane billowed up, we went ahead and checked in at the Campground and got our Redwood setup at a site.
I asked the CG managers if they knew of a good mobile tech to come look at the roof issue with me. They gave me a card of a local mobile tech, I called him and he stopped by just before dark and we went up to look at the roof membrane.
He was expecting to see self inflicted damage like a tear, cut or rip, to his surprise there was no tears, cuts or rips in the membrane. It was stretched out pretty bad and had deflated back down to the roof structure. The membrane did not pull out of the front or sides either, it must have happened during the final stages of our trip. Our Attic Vent Cap is missing so I covered it with Gorilla Tape to keep the water / rain out.

Attachment 1646

Attachment 1647

I contacted Redwood / Crossroads customer service representative Mark. He took my information and send me the contact info for 2 area dealers and 2 area approved mobile service companies. He also mentioned due to our fulltime status and need for timely repairs I would probably have better luck with the mobile service companies.
I contacted the closest mobile service company and they could not even look at our Redwood for a week. I called the second mobile company and talked to the owner. He was great, very informative, helpful and said sure he was busy but for fulltimers in our situation he could move stuff around and accommodate us.
He could do a Roof membrane replacement and would file the paperwork with Crossroads.
During all of this I also investigated the RV Armor Roof Lifetime System solution. I contacted Mark and Crossroads and said we wanted to go with the RV Armor solution.
I got RV Armor to send a quote to Crossroads / Redwood for approval. I probably bugged Mark and Crossroads / Redwood way too much to get the quote approved but as you know the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I want to say, Mark in Customer Service and Tech Chris at Crossroads / Redwood have been absolutely fantastic to deal with, even with my daily calls and emails they were always very professional and responded quickly.

We got the RV Armor Roof System Quote approved and are on their schedule for the Roof Repair / Installation next weekend 11/13 to 11/15.

Now we are working on the Pin Box repair, with the RV Mobile Company in Dallas we had contacted earlier. Timing will be tight to get Redwood / Lippert to approve and ship replacement parts since we are planning on leaving Texas on 11/18 heading towards Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

Keeping cool and working with the team at Redwood has been a great experience to come up with a satisfactory resolution for all parties. I think going with the RV Armor Lifetime Roof System was the right move for us and will be a good roof system solution that we will not have to worry about.

I saw RV Armor install their roof system at the Redwood Rally last August, nice looking system but since it is a "Bright White" product, the side wrap of the roof really stood out on the unit they did at the rally. Our Redwood is Tan and Maroon paint, I asked could they do the side wrap of the roof on our unit in a Tan color material, they told me yes they had a tan colored product and could do the center part of the roof in the standard "Bright White" product and the side wraps in the tan color. I also think the "Bright White" on the main roof will be cooler in the summer sun / heat we get in the southeast.

Robert first of all I am so happy for you that you were approved for the Roof Armor system. But i am now ROYALLY TICKED as I requested the same thing and was denied. Primeaux RV in Lafayette, LA has now had my RW for 6 weeks this time. And all that was supposed to be done was painting the edges of the roof since they didn't get it done when they replace the roof. Extremely disappointed that my request was a denied for Roof Armor. Happy for you.

Mark