Roof Disaster - Insurance and repair advice wanted

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sgtsilvermane

sgtsilvermane

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Jul 6, 2013
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We were travelling east from San Diego en route to Tombstone, our first trip outside California with our 93 Winnebago Vectra diesel pusher. We encountered high crosswinds in the mountains, slowed to 40 mph or so and were being passed by all manner of semi's, rv, and cars. Suddenly our large awning blew up and out, crashing to the road with the lower arms still attached to the coach. We stopped by the side of the road and removed the pieces of the awning, and brackets, storing them inside of the coach. We restarted driving to get to an exit and within 1/4 mile, the entire roof blew off the coach and over the side of the road into a canyon! All that is left on top is the foam insulation. We limped off the highway at 5 mph and have secured temporary storage in a RV park.

If anyone on this list has experience with this type of repair and/or insurance interaction, your advice is requested. Although this is a 20 yr old coach, it is in great condition (except for the roof) and I hope the insurance will not want to total the vehicle.
 

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Oh my goodness, that's a new one.  Is it safe to assume you haven't been inspecting your roof to sidewall joint?  You need to give owner relations a call tomorrow.  I would have several pictures ready to email them.
 
That has happened to three members in our WIT Club. Roofs were ordered from Winnebago. I believe all three had them repaired at Pleasureland in St. Cloud, MN. The last one was a partial replacement, about the last third of the roof tore off and they only replaced that portion. They were all Adventurers. Insurance payed for all of them.
 
If you have insurance coverage leave it in their hands.  They should guarantee the work performed at their recommended shop.  Being from the East coast I don't have a shop recommendation in your area.
 
Losing an awning in crosswinds is not all that unusual, but losing the entire roof is a a big deal. There is a lot of labor involved and RV shops are pricey, so a "total loss" is a real possibility on a 20 year old coach.  But you can accept the total loss figure and then buy back your coach at its salvage value and have the repairs done anyway.  Don't be afraid to negotiate the salvage value down if you end up going that route. I would get prepared now by getting some salvage quotes on the rig, so that you have an idea of what the buy-back price might be. RV Salvage yards can probably tell from a  few pictures what they would offer.

There is a list of RV salvage yards in the forum's RESOURCES section.
 
John Hilley said:
That has happened to three members in our WIT Club. ..
Click to expand...
Holy cow - I've heard of partial loss but not the entire roof.  It also looks like the cap was damaged but that can probably be repaired.  Keep us updated.
 
We were at a park in Haines, Alaska, about 7 years ago when very strong winds came up. It was hard at 10 mph to keep our  small car in the  lane.  A Winnie Adventurer had one side of the roof open up like the flap on an envelope, and all sorts of foam pieces were blown out and scattered about the park. The owner secured the roof with a LOT of duct tape and rope, we were told later that insurance covered the repair.
 
It's more than just the side seams. I have two different places on the roof that the fiberglass has released from the top. What's interesting is that at high noon you cannot see it, but when the sun is low on the horizon you can see them. It's shuttle enough it wouldn't surprise me if what I see is common elsewhere. I called Winnie about it and they seemed surprised, but I wonder. We talked about how to get in and inject glue but I never got specific suggestions on exactly what to use, how to get in, and how to seal.

Anyone have an email that I can finish the conversation with them?
 
Since our complete roof replacement in 2006, you can see the "seams" of the plywood/1/8" paneling underneath the filon on our roof.  ::)  Not real thrilled, but it hasn't got any worse over the years. 

Oh....and I haven't replaced the caulking on the roof side edges yet, as the caulk looks good.  The overlapping of the top filon underneath the side awning rail occurred in 2002 I believe, and that mostly did away with the "must" for the caulking issue.
 
Don't know about Winnie, but the fiberglass sheeting on my American Tradition roof is NOT glued down across 100% of the under-surface. And American Coach (part of Fleetwood) says that is the way they install it - basically glued just around the edges.
 
John Canfield said:
Jeff - you're talking about the center area of the roof?  The Filon is coming un-bonded from the roof supports or the substrate??
Click to expand...
Front right edge and right rear. I have pix i can post after my marathom drive back from Austin
 
Hooray! After 2 months we got our coach back today with a new roof. And it's the first rainy weekend in months! Kudos to Discount RV in Lakeside, CA for their efforts. The roof looks great, and the fiberglass repairs are invisible. Here's hoping for a few uneventful months if RVing. We also replaced our dead rearview camera with a new ccd unit from Tadi Brothers. It looks great.
 
Congratulations. I live just up the hill from Discount RV and drive by them every day. I've always wondered what they do. I thought they were a sales outfit but it's nice to know they do those kinds of repairs. By the way, I just posted some pictures in the "Motorhomes" section showing some wind damage that occurred to another MH today that was eastbound on I-8, east of the mountains. My friend was driving behind the MH when the wind peeled something back on the roof (I immediately thought of what happened to you). My friend thinks it was part of the roof but it's hard to tell from the pics. It could be the awning.

Glad you're back in business.

Kev
 
Always nice to hear of a positive outcome. Did insurance pick up most of the cost?
 
Hi Jerry & Patsy.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, our insurance, Foremost, picked up all but our deductible and the back up camera which I had added. BTW, the insurance company was very pleasant to deal with. I am impressed.

Bob & Gina
 
Hi Kev,

Thanks for your comments. The pictures you posted are scary. Having been there, I feel for that MH owner.

In a way, it is nice to have these heavy rains this weekend as an acid test of the quality of my repairs. So far so good.

Bob
 
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