Push bar for Topaz 2

[crowles]

Hi Topaz 2 owners
I am considering installing a push bar to raise the roof. For those who have fitted this after raising the roof manually, how much easier does it make the task?  Thanks.

[Rob M]

We have had one since new and find the lifting quite reasonable for either of us. Cannot comment on a comparison as have not tried to lift a roof without one.

[Ropetangler]

I realise that this thread is old but having had the roof of our Topaz apart for repair, some of the following may be useful info for those contemplating fitting a roof Easy Lift or push bar. The photos show both the new replacement and the original badly corroded strengthening beam which the lifting handle pushes against to raise the roof. I do not know if all Topaz roofs had the strengthening beam fitted or just those ordered with a lift mechanism, but if you look at the roof and it has a double row of rivets with about 90mm separation between rows, then you have the beam (most likely). If no beam then you need to consider how you can strengthen the mounting points.
Sorry but can't seem to upload the photos, but can e-mail them if anyone wants, or perhaps better if someone can explain the system of attaching photos from an iMac, I can upload them to this forum. Cheers,
Rob.
It seem that the issue is that the file extension id .JPEG which is not allowed while .jpg would be ok. Rob.

[Harry Lissimore]

Hi Ropetangler,

I would love to see the photos of the strengthening bar - the corroded one in particular, as I seem to have a slight bulge in the top of the roof going from one side to the other about where the ezy lift is.  I have had water in the roof section and have mentioned the bulge to Track, suggesting that something may have corroded in the roof section but they said that could not happen.

Cheers

Harry

[Ropetangler]

Hi Harry,
I have bee busy today with my solar install, but I will try and send these to you now. If I have difficulties I will PM you with my e-mail address and if you reply with your e-mail address I can always send them to you direct. Hopefully though this will all go well[/img]
Sorry Harry, not having any luck in uploading photos to this forum. You had better PM me your e-mail address, and I will send them to you asap.
From what my roof was like I would imagine you may have the same issue that I had unfortunately.
Rob.

[Ropetangler]

I seem to be having some issues with the forum software here, perhaps it is because it is a bit different to the vbulletin software that most other forums that I frequent use, but I didn't think any of the photos that I wanted to attach ha worked, - none had shown up in the preview, but one did attach when I posted. I will try again to get the other to go with this post, but I still have quite a few others which I don't even get tho opportunity to upload for some reason. I would have thought that with Macs being so intuitive and all that, that I would have been able to go to my photos collection, make a selection and upload from there. It doesn't even work that way with V bulletin software either I will try that other photo to see if I can post it this time, Cheers,
Rob.

[Harry Lissimore]

Thanks Rob, I did get 2 photos.  That rust/corrosion is amazing.  I would expect that all Topaz that have had a roof leak (and that would be most I reckon!) would have this sort of rust issue.

How much water could be stored in the roof?  I'm asking this question because this would add weight to the Topaz.

My email address is harrylissimore@optusnet.com.au

Cheers

Harry

[Ropetangler]

Harry if you do the calculations for the roof space, it is around 100 litres of space, but of course the foam fully occupies that same space. If it was a truly closed cell foam, very little space would be left for the water, but that foam when effectively held under water, eventually saturates. I have no idea of the ratio of solids to "airspace" of this foam, but I can report that one narrow strip, around 300 mm wide as I recall, and as long as the width of the roof, say 1800mm± weighed over 12Kg when I first removed it, and 3 weeks later, having dried out in a heated bathroom with a dehumidifier running as well, it weighed around 1.8 ±Kg.  If I had to guess, I would say that I had an extra 50 - 70 Kgs added, certainly enough to make raising the rood difficult, even with new gas struts rated at 600 Newtons. My wife would have to support the already raised end while I lifted the Kitchen end or else it would just fall down as I lifted the other end!
I have many more photos of the whole process, if you would like to see them, just sing out.
I should add that the replacement strengthening bar was folded out of some 5000 series Al alloy, sot sure which one now, but if doing it again I might opt for stainless steel for the extra stiffness. Having said that the 50xx alloy is similar to what they use for road signs, not as tough as steel but not like alfoil either.
Unfortunately TT made a number of bad choices with the roof design on the Topaz in my view, - the Bostik sealant was not UV resistant, the skin was in three parts + the cover strips which were all riveted together with steel rivets. On my Topaz at least, there was no sealant under the cover strips, (where it would have enjoyed UV protection), but just a bead run down the edges, and the flat roof design was asking a lot of the bonding between the foam ant the upper and lower surfaces to maintain structural integrity. When I removed my degraded flexible solar panels which had been glued down, two main observations struck me. 1. there was a dip in the roof about 25mm in the centre and 2. the rivets along the cover strips which had been under the glued down panels had corroded to the point that they in some cases would knock through if I tried to drive the remains of the mandrel down prior to drilling them out. I think that Stainless rivets would have been a better choice if aluminium rivets were not considered strong enough. Also there was the steel used for the strengthening rib, and not Aluminium or SS. Cheers for now,
Rob.