Devon Roof Issue

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Nipper

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Hi guys, I got my bus last year after the summer, so this is my first summer with it😁. Now because of the heat we’ve been having, it’s causing an issue with my pop top lid. It’s the vinyl they have covered the roof with, it’s basically shrunk and is unglueing so much I had to pull over because it was flapping around…

Has this happened to you and what would be my options? Any advice welcomed and appreciated 👍
 
If it’s an early Devon roof, one of the popular mods to stop them leaking was to glue vinyl over the whole damned thing. This was a Devon approved dealers mod. The original roof design had some fab points as in the crinkly fabric bellows joining the pop top to the roof because it’s so easy to drop the roof without the fabric catching everywhere because it folds itself up. The flat roof on the top has been a bit of an issue since about six months after they came into production. The issue is that the flat roof surround / frame is connected to the centre ally plate section with a big rubber gasket that sits higher than both the things it joins so the water needs to get almost a half inch deep before it can run off over the gasket.the roof holds a large puddle which weighs a lot so gradually makes the roof sag and the puddle gets bigger and heavier etc etc on the proviso that it isn’t leaking through the rivets which it usually is. A large piece of vinyl glued over the whole thing is helping immensely but is prone to coming off mainly because it’s all balanced precariously on top of an old van that keeps wriggling about and everything is flexing and as you’ve spotted , sometimes the heat can soften the glue too. The roof cap that Johnny refers to above is about the best solution overall but may also need extra strong springs to help lift the extra weight unless you strip the roof out and rebuild it but lighter. There’s a pretty good rebuild of one over on the LateBay but as long as you keep using the two sections and rely on the gasket, I’m pretty sure you’ll be on a loser. I’d clean it up and use a different type of adhesive to get you through the summer, but my top tip is use a couple of different types of adhesive as you’re trying to make something stick that may go soft when warm and you’re trying to stick it to two bits of ally that are constantly wriggling around.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,very good looking roof too :mrgreen:
 

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