Roof tent detaching from AFT roof

[Four Oaks Bookworm]

Our roof tent is detaching from inside one of the rear corners of the AFT roof. The screws and their plastic housings have come out of the (female) sockets in the roof moulding, and where previously it was only the one or two in the corner, they're starting to pop out all along one of the long sides of the roof. The tent material seems unusually taut in that corner (and now the weight of the tent is pulling the others out obviously) but there's no unevenness or distortion of the actual fibreglass roof moulding itself. Any ideas how to arrest this process and reposition them so they don't keep popping out? thanks!

[g8dhe]

Very common problem see here;

AFT Roof frame coming away from the roof.

This problem is caused by the aluminium roof fixing blocks coming away from the fiberglass roof when the epoxy glue fails.
Quite often there will be several blocks pulling out at the same time as any single one failing will be supported by others.
The best solution is to unscrew the upper tent frame from all the blocks, remove all loose blocks, clean them and then re-glue them in again with a two part epoxy (Araldite or similar), then when set, screw the frame back up.

Removing the screws - this is usually the most difficult part! The threads have anti-vibration compound on them so getting them to loosen up is the problem - you need the right size probably a JS size screwdriver head to fit the screws as you are going to be applying a LOT of torque and the screw heads are mild steel hence very easy to damage. Its best to use a torque head rather than a standard hand screwdriver as this allows you to push up hard and at the same time maintain a turning torque for several 10's of seconds whilst the compound loosens. Once the screw starts to "give" then normal forces are adequate!

Once all are out drop the tent frame down and then the blocks will be seen, its likely that the loose ones will come out still attached to the frame, use grips to hold the blocks whilst the screws are removed. Clean up all the loose blocks with a wire brush or file to remove the old glue.

The holes the blocks are glued into do not have an air hole behind them, so when applying epoxy to re-glue them back in, put the glue only on the upper end - not down the sides - push the blocks back in when the glue hits the end it will spread back down the sides of the hole pushing the air out rather than trapping it behind the blocks, otherwise you will find that the blocks are likely to push back out due to the trapped and compressed air!

Once the glue has set then screw the upper frame back in, it may be helpful to lower the roof a few inches to give some slack in the tent material and to allow easier access with the screwdriver in the front upper ones.

Also have the motors used for raising the roof checked, they use the same style blocks and if the others are coming loose so may these, which can end up with an expensive roof repair job!

[Allans]

This is one of the jobs I've done on mine during lockdown. Its a fairly common 'wear & tear problem.' Geoff explained it well and its worth doing.

[Four Oaks Bookworm]

Many thanks, v helpful. Will follow detailed instructions!

[mickc]

I changed the roof tent on my Bongo last year due to rot. Most of the plastic sockets came out with the screws but as said, clean them and Araldite them back in.

I tried to find some socket heads to replace the original screws but they are an odd size, 7mm x 1.25mm pitch as I recall so the old screws were cleaned and Loctited back in. It's been fine ever since.