July 16, 2011
I have a 2002 Coleman Bayside camper that the rubber seal on the roof became separated from the plastic base. The seal had separated around the front right corner (facing the camper at the hitch) and caught on the folded side area while raising the roof. This caused the seal to separate along the entire front, right side and right rear corner.
I called my Coleman Dealer, PECO Campers in Atlanta, GA, for advice and was advised they no longer had any roof seals in stock with Coleman Folding Campers out of business.
So, my brother-in law and I examined the roof seal assembly. The seal looks to be composed of two separated materials, a plastic base glued to the roof and the rubber seal that is glued to that plastic base.
We then planned the following repair, with the camper closed up and the roof open only about 5? from the base:
1 Cleaned both plastic and rubber assemblies with solvent cleaner (IE Goop at Home Depot). This allowed us an inspection for damage to both units.
2. The plastic was lightly sanded with a sanding pad to create a rough surface for bonding.
3. The rubber seal was lightly scraped where old glue was encountered to remove it and then the contact surface area was also lightly sanded.
4. Both assemblies were cleaned with a clean cloth and solvent cleaner. Then both were allowed to thoroughly dry.
5. A small bead of a plastic epoxie, (found at Home Depot) was applied and coated the rubber seal contact area. We took care not to over apply too much on the area, to control excess run off onto the camper base. Note: due to the large amount of seal needing repair we did the front area first and 1/3 of the front right side. The roof was closed and latched to allow this section to set. A thin wood scraper was run under the seal and base bed to ensure the rubber seal was not inadvertently glued to the camper base. After a period of at least an hour, we opened the roof back to the 5? mark and repeated the process on the remaining right rear side and rear.
Lessons learned from this repair process.
1. A front left area of about 6? had gotten damp during the application process and did not bond properly. This was redone again in a dryer location and the second time was successful. Also, the center front seal was redone and a paper shim was placed between the camper base and seal. This was due to the bow in the center front of the roof, 12? in from each corner.
2. This process is VERY MESSY so have plenty of clean rags and solvent ready for clean-up.
3. ALLOW THE SEAL AT LEAST 24 HOURS TO SET THE EPOXIE BOND. We were camping when this was done and the above area described for the second repair getting wet complicated the process.
Good luck and I hope this helps you complete your repair.
