Roof tent fixings

[oliver]

I have just alradited mine back in...some of the inserts I managed to get off the screw, so glued these back in individually, the ones that were stuck on the screw, I glued back in regardless and wedged tent frame against auto-top with bits of wood. This was all done with the roof slightly lowered to take pressure of tent. I waited around 3 hours for it to set (the syringe alraldite I used said 1 hour before rough handling), then replaced remaining screws.

Two days on and it all seems to be fine. Thanks for advice everybody.

On another issue, had some mildew on the tent...struggled to find good product that is easy to use, so used dettol mildew remover (bottle states not suitable for textiles!) sprayed it all over the inside of the tent and it is now shiny new!!

[Ron Miel]

Huh, they all pop out at the same time it seems! Just been out to shut up our roof after doing some work on the Bongo and guess what 3 of ours have also popped out as well

Sounds like we have all caught the AFT pop-out virus

Hope it's not really all peeps but yes, we've got it too. Just back from our first long Bongo-trip, 3 weeks overall including 2 great weeks in SW Ireland. Will put some pix on Photobucket in the next few days - and some updates on dreadful Irish road maintenance, or total lack of, post Celtic Tiger era, and other travel stuff.

Think our plastics probably popped when we were caught with the roof up, by high winds and horizontal rain, during one night at Doolin, on the Burren in West Clare - where the weather comes straight onto the campsite from the Atlantic just 50 yards away. In case anybody still needs a picture of the problem, here's the front nearside of our AFT when I noticed it a few days later:



The black fitting clamped onto the front centre of the frame, seen at top right, stopped further spread, and by keeping the roof down whenever there was any further significant wind, we got it home in one piece. The only real problem was that the gap gave an excellent way in for County Kerry midges which were on the increase before we left

Won't be fixing this for a day or two, as we've domestic stuff to catch up with first, but at first glance, it only looks easy to get Araldite on to the leftmost plastic insert. The question was asked here if further dismantling had been necessary or attempted. Anyone any experience?

[Alison01326]

Good to see you back, David. Look forward to an account of the trip along with photos.

[mikeonb4c]

Welcome back Ron (Dave!)

Mike

[Ron Miel]

Hi Alison and Mike, and thanks for the welcome. Good to be back, although we'll be off again soon

Did the repair this afternoon after all, seizing the moment when Mrs M decided she could spare some time from her garden to help. Hey! Three weeks in The Tardis, and we're still on the best of terms

Thought that jacking up to meet the Araldited tent frame might perhaps be safer than lowering the roof onto a block of wood, as control would be more sensitive. Our problems being in a front corner, was able to support the jack, through the tent fabric, on one of the front folding arms, as here:



As I said Alison, I'll get some Ireland photos up on Photobucket in the next few days. Haven't even had time to go through them myself yet but meanwhile here's one I'm definitely pleased with - Lake Caragh, above Glenbeigh on the Iveragh Peninsula ("Ring of Kerry"). Hopefully, with Missfixit/Kirsty also still away (I think), I'll get away with the off topic content

[mikeonb4c]

Wow - what a stunning pic. Bongo Calendar stuff I think.

I'm impressed you've got on and mended your inserts so quickly. I've been vexed by mine for 2 yrears, imagining I'd have to get them out in order to get a proper smear of Araldite around them. How did you do yours?

[Ron Miel]

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I've been vexed by mine for 2 yrears, imagining I'd have to get them out in order to get a proper smear of Araldite around them. How did you do yours?

Sorry Mike, failed to say that I found that no further dismantling was necessary, and with a good dose of brute force and ignorance, it was actually quite easy to do. I just took a deep breath, shoved a swadging great screwdriver in the gap, and used it as a lever to open it up even further, to get easy Araldite smearing access. Used an empty matchbox tray to finally mix the Araldite (Rapid) blobs together while already up in the roof, and with a matchstick was easily able to get good smears on all the plastic plugs well within the specified 4 minutes working time. Mrs M then helped by observing plugs alignment from the inside, while I fiddled them into their sockets, from outside on a step ladder. She then lowered the roof to nearly meet the jack, I wound it up, still inside the 4 minutes, and finally applied some gentle downward pressure from above the roof until the joints also had the 10 minutes initial curing time needed. Took the jack out an hour later, and it all seems solid as a rock. If you need some help, let me know and I'll head over - or if we overlap long enough on the Friday at Stourport, I can help out there.

[mikeonb4c]

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I've been vexed by mine for 2 yrears, imagining I'd have to get them out in order to get a proper smear of Araldite around them. How did you do yours?

Sorry Mike, failed to say that I found that no further dismantling was necessary, and with a good dose of brute force and ignorance, it was actually quite easy to do. I just took a deep breath, shoved a swadging great screwdriver in the gap, and used it as a lever to open it up even further, to get easy Araldite smearing access. Used an empty matchbox tray to finally mix the Araldite (Rapid) blobs together while already up in the roof, and with a matchstick was easily able to get good smears on all the plastic plugs well within the specified 4 minutes working time. Mrs M then helped by observing plugs alignment from the inside, while I fiddled them into their sockets, from outside on a step ladder. She then lowered the roof to nearly meet the jack, I wound it up, still inside the 4 minutes, and finally applied some gentle downward pressure from above the roof until the joints also had the 10 minutes initial curing time needed. Took the jack out an hour later, and it all seems solid as a rock. If you need some help, let me know and I'll head over - or if we overlap long enough on the Friday at Stourport, I can help out there.

Thanks David - thats v useful. I'm encouraged to have a go

[Doone]

Hopefully, with Missfixit/Kirsty also still away (I think), I'll get away with the off topic content

Kirsty may be away but this mod isn't. But you seem to have brought it nicely back on topic so no need to move it to 'Chat'.

[Ron Miel]

Hopefully, with Missfixit/Kirsty also still away (I think), I'll get away with the off topic content

Kirsty may be away but this mod isn't. But you seem to have brought it nicely back on topic so no need to move it to 'Chat'.

Realised that Mr D but it always seems to be Ms K who re-directs me to the sin bin Glad to see she and others are safely back anyway.

[Doone]

Realised that Mr D

Actually I'm Mrs D... Good to see your roof fixings are OK and hope Mike gets his sorted too (and it is a cracking good photo ).

[Ron Miel]

Realised that Mr D

Actually I'm Mrs D... Good to see your roof fixings are OK and hope Mike gets his sorted too (and it is a cracking good photo ).

Apologies Mrs D

Is "Doone" always Mrs D or is it a unisex alias? Better tell me, 'cos at my age, I'm liable to go wandering off dribbling and babbling if I get too confused

Mind you, I'm still (just) sufficiently compos mentis to have worked out that you're Mrs D in the garden birds thread you've also replied on. I'll pop over there now, fully confident that it's appropriate to twirl my moustaches (or would be if I had moustaches) while addressing you. See you there soon

[Doone]

I'm always doone and Allan logs in as Allans.

[HangTen]

I discovered last week that I also had this 'pop-out' problem ...... found some very useful info on here as to solutions, however I felt nervous about the idea of wedging the roof partially open ... especially as it would have meant leaving the Bongo outside the garage overnight; hence I persevered with separating the screws from the inserts - I gave each screw a little squirt of WD40, then left overnight for it to work its way around the threads, then a mole-wrench on the insert and a well-fitting screwdriver did the trick.

After I'd got the (5) screws and inserts apart, I soaked them in meths to remove any traces of the WD40 that might prevent the epoxy glue from bonding - it also cleaned the pink goo from the screw threads, making them easier to tighten up afterwards. I used a 3-minute epoxy on the inserts, which avoided the need to hold them in place during initial setting, but I left them 48 hours to be sure the glue was fully cured before screwing it all back together.

Some photos of the steps below ......

1. the problem


2. separating the screws from the inserts


3. the separated screws and inserts


4. insert glued back into place


Hope this might help someone .....

[g8dhe]

If you removed the loctite from the screws you might want to check them occasionally to make sure they aren't vibrating loose, or put some new loctite 243 on to replace it.