Roofing problems

[Coby 78]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone tell me that when a boat is built do they put any kind of coating on the roof? We bought our boat just over a year ago and it already had fake grass all over the roof. After having all the heavy rain last week we developed a leak inside the boat. My other half went up and ripped the lot off but there’s a red kind of coating which is quite thick in places and then very thin in others. We are starting to panic about the whole situation and are having nightmares about the fact that we’ve bought a dud! I hope that the pics can shed some light on the subject! Can anyone please advise? ?

Many thanks Coby

[Ian F B]

Don't panic! Trace the source of the leak, you have solar so check all mounting points and cable entrys first,I would think it's quite unusual to get a roof as a whole springing a leak,Good hunting!!?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

What he said ^^^^^. 99.9% that the water is getting in through a hole that has been drilled through for the panels, or around a roof vent. Water is sneaky stuff and can travel a long way before you find it, so the source of the leak may not be directly above where the drip is happening.

Usual practice is to paint steel boat roofs. Putting anything on the roof that can trap moisture between it and the paint will lead to rusting. Artificial grass, coal sacks, tree trunks etc. A job for when the weather warms up again next year will be to strip all the horrible stuff, old paint and rust off and repaint. It takes a long time for a roof to rust through, but it could happen. This is almost certainly not what has happened to your boat.

 

Jen

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Coby 78 said:

We are starting to panic about the whole situation and are having nightmares

Worry not. Both of the above posts give good advice: you’ll just have a small leak somewhere. It happens

[MtB]

 

The colloquial term for the red stuff you are asking about is "paint"....

 

It's coming off due to the dopey plastic grass laid over it and trapping water underneath. Not a terminal problem!

 

 

[Coby 78]

Hi!

Thank you for your post. If it’s paint then why is it three mm and then pretty much a light coating in other places?????

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

What he said ^^^^^. 99.9% that the water is getting in through a hole that has been drilled through for the panels, or around a roof vent. Water is sneaky stuff and can travel a long way before you find it, so the source of the leak may not be directly above where the drip is happening.

Usual practice is to paint steel boat roofs. Putting anything on the roof that can trap moisture between it and the paint will lead to rusting. Artificial grass, coal sacks, tree trunks etc. A job for when the weather warms up again next year will be to strip all the horrible stuff, old paint and rust off and repaint. It takes a long time for a roof to rust through, but it could happen. This is almost certainly not what has happened to your boat.

 

Jen

 

2 minutes ago, Coby 78 said:

Hi!

Thank you for your post. If it’s paint then why is it three mm and then pretty much a light coating in other places?????

 

[Sea Dog]

It looks to me like your solar panel brackets have been bolted through the astroturf - with that between the brackets and the roof, I'd be more amazed if water didn't leak around those bolts! This, I suppose, is good news for you as it's a relatively easy leak fix, but there's sure to be damp and rot behind your head lining which will also need addressing in the longer term. Don't put the grass back, ok?

 

[dmr]

Previous owners knew putting grass on the roof could risk rust so first they painted on a special "grass underlay"

I dunno what it is but its going to have to come off.

The big decision you will face is whether to take the entire roof back to bare metal (a big job) or if you can just repair any rust patches and paint over the existing sound paint (but not that thick stuff).

 

Do not neglect the roof, get it sorted next year. 4mm steel can rust through given long term standing water. I had some rust under a chimney collar and the deepest pits were about 2mm....but this was after 20 years.

 

...............Dave

[WotEver]

58 minutes ago, Coby 78 said:

Thank you for your post. If it’s paint then why is it three mm and then pretty much a light coating in other places?????

Because the red stuff is some kind of gloopy adhesive to stick down the fluffy green stuff. The grey you can see below it - that’s paint. 

[MtB]

23 minutes ago, dmr said:

Previous owners knew putting grass on the roof could risk rust so first they painted on a special "grass underlay"

 

The green stuff in the first photo is rotted carpet underlay. 

 

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

The green stuff in the first photo is rotted carpet underlay. 

Yup. And beneath that is some kind of red adhesive, and below that appears to be some grey paint. 

[Bee]

Crikey. What a mess. Don't worry though, it won't be hugely expensive, the important stuff (the steel) should be perfectly ok but its going to take a lot of scraping and sanding to get it back to a flat surface that you can paint. You'll find the best way after a while, sanders, scrapers etc.  then prime it, undercoat it and put at least 2 coats of top coat on, a thin paint layer will scratch and rust. Hopefully someone else will come along and advise more on painting - 2 pack maybe?

[Richard10002]

The OP should watch John Barnards videos over the winter. All of them

 

http://www.johnbarnard.biz/tips-tricks-videos/

 

IIRC, the first video talks about preparing the steel for painting.

[jddevel]

Probably a silly idea but I wonder if a wallpaper steamer would help getting the old stuff off?

[Slim]

I would hire a scarifier and take it back to bare steel.

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, Slim said:

I would hire a scarifier and take it back to bare steel.

What is one of them? I thought it was a gardening tool.

I have heard of a scabbler, is it the same thing?

[jonathanA]

A bit to late use a scarifier now the grass has been taken off...  ??

 

a scrabbler might be what you were thinking of ? 

[rusty69]

Just now, jonathanA said:

A bit to late use a scarifier now the grass has been taken off...  ??

 

a scrabbler might be what you were thinking of ? 

Is that someone who plays scrabble?

[jonathanA]

Yeah the idea is the game and players are so boring the paint will throw itself off the roof and into the cut to get away....  ????

[Richard10002]

Once you have got all the surface crap and cleared the panels and anything else off the roof, it may just need a good sanding with a rough sandpaper. My roof was bad a couple of years ago. Very rusty in places.

 

A good rough sanding, Vactan on the rust, 2 coats of undercoat and 2 coats of Craftmaster Light Grey Raddle, and all is looking good 2 years on.

[Slim]

29 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

A bit to late use a scarifier now the grass has been taken off...  ??

 

a scrabbler might be what you were thinking of ? 

I did in fact mean scarifier not a lawn scarifier. That's what it was called when I hired one and what hire companies call them. Tried to a provide a link but couldn't .

[LadyG]

On 06/10/2019 at 20:23, Slim said:

I would hire a scarifier and take it back to bare steel.

a scrabbler?

On 06/10/2019 at 20:28, rusty69 said:

What is one of them? I thought it was a gardening tool.

I have heard of a scabbler, is it the same thing?

A scrabbler is like a manic wire brush, on steroids, you will need to check you have correct voltage, and enough power available as these are industrial grade. https://www.wh-surfacepreparation.co.uk/hire-hand-scabbler-150mm/101 . Most places hire out generators.

I see HSS have a similar gadget, describer as an aggressive grinder.

Whatever you do, you must buy premium face masks [about £5 each] and really good safety goggles, ear defenders,  and probably a boiler suit and a cap. This is likely to take at least a week of good weather,  and you need to ensure all the crap does not go in the canal, so a wet and dry vac might help [or brush and dustpan] 

I bought a chisel thing [Hultafors], it is pretty good, about £9.00. Don't use screwdrivers, they will never recover.

Edited October 16, 2019 by LadyG
pp

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

a scrabbler?

A scrabbler is like a manic wire brush, on steroids, you will need to check you have correct voltage, and enough power available as these are industrial grade. 

Triple word score for saying it twice. 

[LadyG]

On 06/10/2019 at 20:17, jddevel said:

Probably a silly idea but I wonder if a wallpaper steamer would help getting the old stuff off?

only if it has been wallpapered! You are thinking of a steam cleaner, which is a wallpaper steamer on steroids.

[Sea Dog]

6 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Triple word score for saying it twice. 

Although the acual word we're looking for here is "scabbler"...