lagrandeurp
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2020
- Posts
- 3
I Have a 2016 Jayco 12HFD folding hard-wall a-frame trailer.
It has the front and rear roof panels that rise up, with the torsion bars front and back which are supposed to make the lifting totally easy.
And it was easy, when the trailer was new.
Over the past four years, the roof panels got heavier and heavier.
This spring, I was unable to lift the panels, they were so heavy.
At first I thought it was the torsion bars at the hinges that were fatiguing.
I had the bars replaced this year but it made no difference.
The roof panels are still just as heavy.
I'm hearing now that there may have been water ingress into the roof panels, causing their weight to increase.
And that the solution may be to erect the roof, remove the interior frames around the skylights and roof fan, run the fan continuously to air out the interior, and hope that water will come out of the roof panels.
The composition of the panels is: 3/16" exterior fiberglass sheeting, 1" of popcorn-style closed-cell styrofoam, and 0.5 millimeter thick aluminum sheeting on the inside.
When I look in the exposed cutout around the skylights and roof fan, the layers appear well-bonded/laminated, and there isn't any water!
As well, I tried drilling weep holes in the end walls of the roof panels, into the styrofoam, and no water ran out.
Only a drop or so.
Where is all the water that is supposedly adding all the weight?
Maybe the hinges are seized up but they don't squeak at all.
So, what I'm wondering, has anyone else with an a-frame camper trailer ever had this problem and what they did about it, and is it even possible to dry out the roof panels.
It has the front and rear roof panels that rise up, with the torsion bars front and back which are supposed to make the lifting totally easy.
And it was easy, when the trailer was new.
Over the past four years, the roof panels got heavier and heavier.
This spring, I was unable to lift the panels, they were so heavy.
At first I thought it was the torsion bars at the hinges that were fatiguing.
I had the bars replaced this year but it made no difference.
The roof panels are still just as heavy.
I'm hearing now that there may have been water ingress into the roof panels, causing their weight to increase.
And that the solution may be to erect the roof, remove the interior frames around the skylights and roof fan, run the fan continuously to air out the interior, and hope that water will come out of the roof panels.
The composition of the panels is: 3/16" exterior fiberglass sheeting, 1" of popcorn-style closed-cell styrofoam, and 0.5 millimeter thick aluminum sheeting on the inside.
When I look in the exposed cutout around the skylights and roof fan, the layers appear well-bonded/laminated, and there isn't any water!
As well, I tried drilling weep holes in the end walls of the roof panels, into the styrofoam, and no water ran out.
Only a drop or so.
Where is all the water that is supposedly adding all the weight?
Maybe the hinges are seized up but they don't squeak at all.
So, what I'm wondering, has anyone else with an a-frame camper trailer ever had this problem and what they did about it, and is it even possible to dry out the roof panels.
