Tent roof rails pulling out of AFT

[Mark Norton]

Some of the roof screws that go through the aluminium bars that hold the cloth tent to the AFT roof have pulled right out. There is plastic from the roof around the screw threads which seems to make it impossible to get the screws out from the bar.

Any advice for repair would be most welcome.

[cwilliams255]

This sounds like a common issue although it only happened to me on removal. The screws are in the holder things and the holder things are epoxied into the roof. I separated the holders from the screws by clamping in vice and then glued them back in, there is a tip about just putting epoxy on the sides and not the base when refitting I believe - something I forgot on my second bongo so they ended up ever so slightly proud

[g8dhe]

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 JIS (Philips will fit but not as well) 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!

[Mark Norton]

Many thanks, those screws were almost impossible to loosen, managed to do the minimum to gain just enough access to re glue & screw.

[g8dhe]

Yes they can be tough! I ended up having to use extraction tools to get a couple out.