Adhesive or bolted to roof

Carrotts

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Hi. Have read many threads on adhesive to fix something to roof of Moho. Lots say. No no. Dangerous. Must be bolted. As well. Ok my question is. Has anyone actually had a piece of equipment that had been adhesived to roof come off in a storm or when driving. Etc Only answer if you personally know. Not my friends aunts sisters husbands neighbour new someone down the road who’s cousin .......🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 so anyone what’s the verdict. I have had 7 mohos over the last 43 years and have never had anything come of the roof unless deliberately taken off. Brian
 
Not heard anyone having problem.
If your concerned think about removing the paint in the area the panel fixings are to be mounted.
I used sikaflex activator and wet and dry sand paper to take any contamination/wax off the fixing area.
Four panel brackets and a full tube of sikaflex ebt+. Solid as, checked regularly when cleaning roof or panel, any signs of gaps starting and bolts can be applied.
 
I believe it was the topic of a thread on ‘fun’ were a poster lost a panel held by adhesive.
There is an informative article about fitting and appropriate adhesives on aandncaravans website, which may give you a few more pointers.

Davy
 
Solar panels and large Maxview sat dish both been stuck down with screwfix fixal 8 yrs still there
www.screwfix.com

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This is an interesting topic. Being a bit old and crusty and growing up with Brunel as my hero, I like a good mechanical fixing. The one overriding aspect of a good hard fixing is that it will not let go. Many modern adhesives are extremely good, exactly how they perform over time and when subjected to differing environments I’m not totally convinced.

Perhaps a more important aspect of this is what happens in the event of say a solar panel coming loose and causing damage/an accident/injury.
I witnessed an accident on a section of the duelled A9 south of Inverness. A bike carrier on the tail of a people carrier came off and caused mayhem. This included one car on its roof in the opposite carriageway, a truck ploughed into the back of another vehicle and a whole array of other damage. My own car was damaged from debris.
The driver of the people carrier was done on a whole raft of charges without mercy. The driver at court told the court that they would not ever want to drive again, as they felt so traumatised.

Okay, extreme circumstance, but it did happen. So for me it’s belt and braces, hard fixing and bonding!
 
And it is not just a matter of how good the adhesive is. Or even how good the prep is. How secure is the paint that the adhesive is sticking to?

How many people have complained about the paint just peeling off their Ducato Vans?
 
Red Dwarf said:
This is an interesting topic. Being a bit old and crusty and growing up with Brunel as my hero, I like a good mechanical fixing. The one overriding aspect of a good hard fixing is that it will not let go. Many modern adhesives are extremely good, exactly how they perform over time and when subjected to differing environments I’m not totally convinced.

Perhaps a more important aspect of this is what happens in the event of say a solar panel coming loose and causing damage/an accident/injury.
I witnessed an accident on a section of the duelled A9 south of Inverness. A bike carrier on the tail of a people carrier came off and caused mayhem. This included one car on its roof in the opposite carriageway, a truck ploughed into the back of another vehicle and a whole array of other damage. My own car was damaged from debris.
The driver of the people carrier was done on a whole raft of charges without mercy. The driver at court told the court that they would not ever want to drive again, as they felt so traumatised.

Okay, extreme circumstance, but it did happen. So for me it’s belt and braces, hard fixing and bonding!
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Was the carrier held on with bolts or adhesive?
 
Ref Australia motorhome. Yes I saw that. Read about 5/6 bits on it. Saw no mention of self fit or motorhome. It said solar panel became dislodged of caravan. No mention of bolted. Glued. Or how fixed. Driver new nothing about the loss till stopped later on and told about it. Brian.
 
I have fitted panels to three vans and only used sikaflex, I haven't had any problems.
Make sure the roof under your fixing points is properly cleaned and keyed with sand/emery paper and use tile spacers to give you a gap between the roof and fixing surfaces using a generous amount of sikaflex, there isn't a necessity to use screws or nuts and bolts.
 
Carrotts said:
Hi. Have read many threads on adhesive to fix something to roof of Moho. Lots say. No no. Dangerous. Must be bolted. As well. Ok my question is. Has anyone actually had a piece of equipment that had been adhesived to roof come off in a storm or when driving. Etc Only answer if you personally know. Not my friends aunts sisters husbands neighbour new someone down the road who’s cousin .......🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 so anyone what’s the verdict. I have had 7 mohos over the last 43 years and have never had anything come of the roof unless deliberately taken off. Brian
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I glued a plastic "C" section channel to the (side of) the roof of a caravan - to accommodate a Kador rail. Lasted well for a few years

About 15cms came away while attaching an awning in the wind - before I had a chance to clip in the restraining straps.

It's now been re-glued - but with the addition of a single self-tapping screw near the end of the rail. Fingers crossed is ok so far.

Our is a Vango Galli awning and it can easily be detached by sliding out the Kador rail. So in big blows (forecast + 45 mph gusts) I do this - just in case.
 
I’ve had 4 motor homes with solar panels and satellite dishes glued to the roof without any problems.
But, a friend of mine, doing a self build on a Transit, had 2 solar panels fitted to the roof, screwed through the steel roof into wood blocks on the inside. Both panels came loose on the first trip out, one left the roof completely. Luckily, no one else was involved.
I think the main problem here was that the panels were raised with air flowing front to back which may have caused them to be ripped off
All my solar panels had air dams at the front to stop any risk of fast flowing air getting underneath.
 
TBH I would say the quality (or lack of) of the fitting was more an issue than airflow in that instance! On my camper I have 4 panels in a row, all raised and air can go underneath and they are not shifting as they are bolted to rails and the rails are bolted though the roof with penny-washers acting as spacers inside.

However, when I have stuck down panels (using 3M VHB tape rather than tube adhesive), I do put a blocker on the front so air cannot enter the front and create any lift pressure.
 
I had the perspex sucked out of a front hatch on a sailing boat during a storm while ashore. The 12mm perspex fitted into the alloy recess and was sikaflexed. The sikaflex remained attached to the alloy. After that I routed a groove around the edge of the perspex to give a mechanical lock with the sikaflex, which cured the problem. I think some plastics are easier to bond than others. Roughening the surface seems to help. Presumably the corner mounting brackets for solar panels are designed to be used with sikaflex or similar adhesive, mine certainly have remained attached to the campervan roof .....
 
No personal experience, but I have heard of the issue. A few years ago, there was a major recall of Hobby and Fendt motorhomes due to a sunroof flying off while a motorhome was in motion. There are a number of posts regarding this on other fora, to which I will not link but easily found with a web search, and the issue is referred to here: https://www.devonwindscreens.co.uk/hobby-motorhome-sunroof-recall/ The rectification work on UK vehicles was handled by Hobby dealers and by the coach windscreen teams of a major windscreen replacement company.

My preference is for mechanical fastening and I am not averse to going for belt and braces and using adhesive as well.
 
Carrotts said:
Hi. Have read many threads on adhesive to fix something to roof of Moho. Lots say. No no. Dangerous. Must be bolted. As well. Ok my question is. Has anyone actually had a piece of equipment that had been adhesived to roof come off in a storm or when driving. Etc Only answer if you personally know. Not my friends aunts sisters husbands neighbour new someone down the road who’s cousin .......🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 so anyone what’s the verdict. I have had 7 mohos over the last 43 years and have never had anything come of the roof unless deliberately taken off. Brian
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Yes and no! Panel was fitted/glued by MH company. It is checked at yearly service. 3 yrs later it came away whilst travelling. Never found the main panel whist collecting the debris. MH company fitted new smaller panel in different place as most of the original glued parts were still intact and would cause damage if tried to remove them. Guessing it was deliberately taken off! Van is high, I am short with gammy leg, panel not visible without a climb. Solution is to get a new van though I am rather attached to 'Vicky' but never want to go through that experience again. Pam
 
Silkaflex without a shadow of a doubt. I tried removing brackets on a van I sold a few years ago that I fixed with silkaflex and could not get them off , even with a crowbar. If you fit the solar panel to the brackets with screws then put the adhesive on the brackets, fit in place and leave for a few days, it's a good one.
 
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