Does anyone have experience with the above within our a-frame camper universe? If ‘yes’ - was it resolved, panels replaced or was the entire trailer was written-off?

There’s a plethora of ‘roof leakage’ issues reported but none (that I was able to find) on whole roof panel waterlogging.?

A bud’s Jayco a-frame trailer has definitely experienced waterlogged roof panels. Roof panels were getting increasingly heavier. Friend was NOT getting any weaker! Replaced all 4 torsion rod corner lift assists. No change. An RV repair shop cited ‘waterlogged roof panels’ and corrected another customer’s identical issue by leaving panels upright for two weeks, drilling strategic drain holes and running ventilation fans to dry out the moisture. Problem resolved apparently.?

Got me wondering if:

1.) This forum’s frequent reports of ‘inability to lift roof panels’ could be caused (at least in part) by roof panel waterlogging (in addition to elderly weakening bodies?); and ?if ……

2.) Waterlogged roof panels are endemic to ALL fixed flat roofed trailers without owners’ knowledge unless owners are regularly weighing their rigs with identical content weight each time (very unlikely!).?

Jeff G.?

Whose 2002 Chalet Arrowhead trailer is (fortunately) garage stored.?

This is a common problem.? Some have had the interior roof skin fall off while towing and splat down on the bed.??

The most likely way the water gets into the roof is the seal between the metal roof edge and the panel leaks, and then water gets inside, and flows along the bare roof panel edge for up to 12 feet.? Then it exits through the lower corner, and at least in Chalets, flows outside the trailer so the owner is probably not aware of the leak.

The best way to fix a waterlogged roof is to replace the roof panels.? You may as well replace the skylights and vents at the same time since those only last about 10 years before they get cloudy and/or crack. Plus removing skylights on some trailers breaks them. But you can reuse the aluminum roof edges.

That's expensive, though, so some have patched roofs in places that are rotted.? Its hard to get the new pieces of roof skin under the roof edges when you do that, however, so the repaired roof may not be as strong as the original.

I'm very surprised that a dealer was able to dry out a roof after drilling some holes.? There's a sheet of something on the inside of my roof that looks like it's waterproof.? I think it would take years for a saturated roof like mine to dry through some holes in the panel, if it ever dried at all.

The term “waterlogged” implies that water is saturating something in the roof panel. IIRC the roof panels on most A-frames are made of styrofoam sandwiched between 3 mm sheets of plywood with a thin fiberglass skrim on the outside. A small amount of water might get trapped in the plywood, but that would quickly be apparent because it’s so thin. Other than that I don’t see how any significant amount of water could accumulate in the roof panels.

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