GRP Roof Moulding/Top Section

Hello,

We are new motorhome owners and have recently bought a 53 plate Ford Transit Duetto Autosleeper, it was bought a sunny day, however with the recent rain we have discovered multiple leaks that appear to be coming in where the GRP Roof Moulding/Top Section joins the main vehicle roof.

The leaks are quite bad, currently has 2 tarps on it, I have removed the internal headlining and all of the screws that appear to screw up into the GRP Roof Moulding, on the top side I've removed most of the previous owners sealant and I'm working away at the mastic, my intention is to remove the GRP Roof Moulding, prepare the surfaces then rebond, reseal and resecure with new screws.

My question is, has anyone taken the whole of the GRP Roof Moulding/Top Section off to refit and if so what problems did you encounter?

Many thanks

I agree with Dave, this what a 2003 should look like....

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Hello,
Thanks for your replies, yes, it is similar to the picture only it has a GRP roof moulding, the steel roof has cut outs where the roof lights are for the toilet/shower cubicle, kitchen and saloon area, but the roof lights are fixed to the GRP roof top section, it's this I'm looking to remove, I'll post some pictures tomorrow, if it stops raining  .

I don't know the layout of that van, but I would say that it's very, very rare for an A/S hightop conversions to leak between high top and base vehicle body. In fact I can't recall a single case, though there have been several where people have thought that's where the leak was, only to find that it was actually from higher up.

The main reason is that A/S (having plenty of experience in fitting high tops) ensure plenty of overlap, meaning that water has to flow uphill for a leak to happen. That's not impossible, and can happen due to capillary action, but I would not expect to get any significant quantity coming through that way, and I wouldn't expect to remove the roof to fix it.

The only case that I can recall offhand is where a roof was taken off because of rust creeping up under the overlap between body and roof. It was quite a job, from what I recall, and the owner was lucky enough to have a barn to work in!

Hi, update is, I got the grp roof moulding off, the MDF insert is rotten, around parts of the main roof cut outs the metal has delaminated, this must have been leaking for years. It took a combination of stanley knife, bladed scrapers, wooden mallet and multiple lever bars, in places the mastic tape peeled off when levered, other parts were well stuck and had to be careful not to split the grp.

Next tasks, remove all the mastic tape and sealant, replace all the wood parts, replace 2 of the sky lights and fix with new mastic tape and mastic sealant.

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I was totally unaware of that type of roof construction, never heard of it or seen it on any other models.